Medical Distribution Hall of Fame
With nerves of steel, he built a national rep firm – twice
Big sales. Big success. Big reputation. But in person, Bill Sparks – a 2019 inductee into the Medical Distribution Hall of Fame – hides it all pretty well.
“Bill had been with Welch Allyn for probably six months or so before we met in person at a national sales meeting,” recalls Brian Taylor, co-founder of Repertoire (who started his career at Welch Allyn). “I had seen the unbelievable orders he was writing with his dealers in the Upper Midwest, which dwarfed the orders of those of us with urban dealers. So when I met him, I expected this larger-than-life personality.
“But my first impression of Bill was like that of many who meet him for the first time – ‘Wow, such a quiet guy!’”
Sparks is being recognized for his pioneering work in developing not one, but two national independent rep firms.
Eagle River
Sparks was born and raised in Eagle River, Wisconsin, which is located in the northern part of the state, just a few miles south of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The city calls itself the Snowmobile Capital of the World®, and is home to the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame.
“I had a wonderful childhood,” says Sparks, who today lives in the mountains west of Denver. “We were outside all the time.”
His father, Bill, was a detective for the county. To support the family, he worked off-hours as an electrician. And he took time out to coach his two sons in their sports activities. Summer vacations often consisted of Bill Sr. and his wife, Edna, taking the kids to hockey summer camp.
“My brother and I were very fortunate to grow up in Eagle River,” recalls Sparks. “My dad was a hard worker; we never lacked for anything. He took his job seriously. And in our house, there was always a clear right and a clear wrong.”
He attended St. Mary’s College (now St. Mary’s University) in Minnesota, where he was goalie on the hockey team. There he met his wife-to-be, Ann. In fact, the two got married in his senior year.
Ann’s father worked for American V. Mueller, selling surgical instruments primarily to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. It was he who suggested that his son-in-law look into medical sales. It so happened that the local Welch Allyn rep had recently left the territory. Sparks interviewed and got the job.
“I wasn’t sure I was cut out for sales,” he says. “Giving presentations to distributor groups wasn’t my gig.” But he learned, and he enjoyed his years with Welch Allyn, ultimately moving to California to become the company’s western regional manager.
A national firm
After some time, Sparks sensed an opportunity to differentiate himself as an independent rep – focusing on the equipment sales skills he had developed at Welch Allyn. With encouragement from DeWight Titus, the owner of a well-respected California distributor (which Titus later sold to General Medical, now McKesson Medical-Surgical), Sparks began his new career in 1984. It was a big move, considering he and Ann had several children and, now, outstanding loans too.
It wasn’t Sparks’ intent to make MedTech Associates a national firm. What happened was much simpler: “I got too busy,” he says. Unable to service a growing customer list on his own, he brought on a couple of salespeople and grew the company’s territory in Northern and Southern California, and then Arizona. He recognized a bigger opportunity – to expand the company nationally, and began buying small rep firms and picking up geography.
“The big difference for me was when I gave up my territory,” he says. Freed from the day-to-day grind of servicing accounts, Sparks was able to develop his growing sales team around the country. Plus, he met a lot of distributors he didn’t previously know. And it allowed him to exercise one of his strongest suits – coaching.
“I was able to make reps and managers comfortable,” he says. “I think I had a knack for figuring out their issues and helping them solve them. And they trusted me. Once you earn people’s trust, and you make an effort to learn something about their families, you’re at a whole different level.” The approach proved itself out. “Over the years, very few people have left on their own,” he says.
With its larger scope, MedTech attracted big, so-called “A” manufacturers. “Having a national sales force allowed us to present a different angle,” he says. The fact that MedTech reps carried multiple lines only increased their importance to distributors – and hence, to manufacturers that used distributors.
Sparks eventually sold MedTech. “I thought I was on my retirement path, but I miscalculated – we had six kids going through college.” In 2006, when GE asked him to put together a team of reps to call on the acute-care market, he started MedPro. Today, MedPro has an acute care division with 20 reps plus a management team, and a team of 24 reps and a management team covering the physician and long-term-care markets.
True professionalism
“Sparky’s vision at both MedTech and now MedPro was to build professionally trained sales organizations that are an extension of manufacturers to reach these markets through the distribution channel,” says Manny Losada, president and CEO of Optimal & MedPro Associates. “The core of our business today remains his vision. His message to both distribution and manufacturers reps is, pick up the phone, meet the person on the other end, and start a personal relationship that will ultimately build your business.”
“Bill’s contributions to the industry are huge,” says Taylor. “He brought true professionalism to the independent rep part of the industry. He was the first to convince the ‘A’ suppliers that independent reps made good economic sense. And he had the vision that an organization could be national in scope and still maintain the quality needed by top-flight suppliers.
“Bill was always fair with distributors, and suppliers valued his insight into how to work closely with major distributors.”
Still a consummate hunter and fisherman, Sparks is fearless “and has the nerves of a gambler,” says Taylor. “He has a subtle sense of humor and he loves to have fun while doing his job.”
In fact, having fun is just one of the many things he learned from the man he identifies as his mentor – DeWight Titus.
“DeWight taught me that even if you’re the owner, president or CEO, you don’t have to be inaccessible,” says Sparks. “He always had time for me – as he did for his own people, whether they were management, sales or in the warehouse. He always returned phone calls. And he taught me it’s OK to poke fun of yourself, and that a sense of humor is always important.”
A family man (six children and, at press time, 13 grandkids), Bill and Ann for years took in infants and kids in need of emergency shelter homes. They were usually kids born into unfortunate circumstances, waiting for custody hearings. “We probably took in 500 kids over the years,” he says.
Providing emergency shelter was not only good for the kids themselves, but for the Sparks family. “I think our kids saw a different side of the world, which they wouldn’t have seen otherwise.”
Speaking of Bill Sparks
Brian Taylor, co-founder of Repertoire
“I was never surprised when I would hear a story about Bill’s successes (or failures), because I knew that he always found a way to work things out for all parties involved. I always attributed his fearlessness to the fact that he had been a hockey goalie in college. Talk about the last line of defense. Bill was willing and able to tackle anything thrown his way.”
Manny Losada, president and CEO, Optimal & MedPro Associates
“When you first run into Sparky, you see someone who could easily be playing backup fiddle in the Charlie Daniels band. His long hair throws you back to a kind of Renaissance man. In fact, many have mistaken him for the famous ‘most interesting man in the world’ commercial. All very true, but to have the privilege of shaking one of the industry’s most trusted handshakes and to become a partner and lifelong friend is hard to describe from a first impression. What I can say from first impressions is, once you have the conversation, you know immediately you are dealing with the truth. Good or bad, you will hear it. It no-nonsense back-to-the-basics business, do what you say you are gonna do, and if you screw up, get back on the horse and try again.”
Mark Seitz, president and CEO, NDC
“Bill was quick to recognize that [for his company] to be successful, his people had to spend many hours on the road, away from friends and family. At Christmas time, Bill provided gifts and wrote notes to the spouses of his team members to ensure that the families of his reps understood that he recognized and appreciated the sacrifice the families were making.”
Scott Adams, publisher, Repertoire
“What would the industry miss had Bill Sparks never been a part of it? For starters, hundreds of young men and women would have never made it to the industry. Bill has employed, trained and mentored many reps. Second, we would have missed an old school ‘give someone your word and live by it’ businessman, who grew an independent rep group nationally, not once but twice. He and the MedTech guys shaped what the independent manufacturer community looks like in healthcare today.”