Repertoire co-founder Brian Taylor understood that better-educated reps sell better
What began as a faxed newsletter to distributor reps in 1993 grew into a company dedicated to training supplier and providers on successful supply chain strategies. Behind that newsletter – now called Repertoire magazine – was Brian Taylor, who, with Chris Kelly, founded Medical Distribution Solutions Inc., or MDSI, publisher of distributor-oriented publications, electronic training tools (Education OnLine, or EOL), databases and more. Recently semi-retired from MDSI, Taylor will be inducted into the Medical Distribution Hall of Fame at the Distributor Insights conference in June.
While operating an independent rep firm, Southern Sales Associates, Taylor and Kelly got the idea for the newsletter from a mentor and former boss: George Blowers, executive vice president, Welch Allyn. “For an old-school guy, George had some pretty modern insights,” says Taylor. “He’s the one who said, ‘If you’re not in front of [the distributor reps], someone else is.’” Blowers suggested that the two fax a newsletter to their distributor reps, as a way of staying in touch while educating them on the products that Southern Sales Associates represented.
“We bought a used fax machine. It was cool at the time – technology,” recalls Taylor. “And we got lots of responses.” In fact, the newsletter created work, as distributor reps began asking Southern Sales to come out and work with them. That field work translated to sales, and underscored the need for educating distributor reps on products and selling skills.
Sports
Taylor grew up on Long Island, New York, but the family moved when he was in the 10th grade to Skaneateles, N.Y., so his father – a salesman – could take a new job.
From an early age, he was interested in sports, and played basketball in high school and college. That interest was to play an important role in the way he approached his sales and publishing careers.
“It didn’t matter what sport it was,” he recalls. “I knew statistics from the time I was a kid. I could tell you every baseball player’s batting average every day. I was very competitive. I wasn’t that gifted athletically, but I made up for it with hustle and hard work.”
That interest in athletics translated well to his later career at Welch Allyn, a company that tended to attract people with backgrounds in competitive sports. Later, when Taylor and Kelly founded MDSI, they sought salespeople with a similar background. “Athletes tend to do well in sales,” he says.
After graduating from St. Lawrence University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Taylor went to work for electrical distributor Graybar Electric as a management trainee. There, he did a bit of everything, working in the warehouse, filling orders, working the counter, fielding customer service calls.
One year later, he joined Welch Allyn, located in nearby Skaneateles, as the company was building a sales force of its own. He moved to metropolitan Baltimore, Md., to take on a territory there.
Sales
Selling was new to him, but he took to it quickly.
“I always enjoyed the relationship side of business. I enjoyed getting to know the dealer reps in my territory personally as well as on the business side. I was newly married and living in a place – Baltimore – where we knew no one, so it was natural to befriend local reps for social interaction as well. I played on one of my dealer’s softball teams – Healthco/Murray Baumgartner. And to this day, I am still friends with some of those guys from 40 years ago.”
If there was one tough part of the job, it was sorting through distributor conflicts. “Often, two or more dealer reps would call for me to demo a product or help them on a potential sale that they both claimed to have uncovered first,” he says. “Many times they were both close friends, so it was hard to step in and make a call without appearing to be playing favorites. I am sure that still goes on today.”
In 1976, Taylor was promoted to Eastern Regional manager, covering the eastern half of North America, from Montreal to Miami. “I had five territories reporting to me, and obviously, all of them were older than me,” he says. “I am sure that caused quite a few raised eyebrows from my sales reps, and understandably so. I tried to earn their respect based on my performance rather than my age.”
Management
Making the transition from salesman to manager presented its own set of difficulties – and opportunities to learn.
“I had success as a field rep and was promoted based on what I had done in the field. That is a common mistake that is still made today – taking a good rep out of the field and assuming they will be a good manager. I had trouble letting my reps make mistakes. If I sensed that happening, I was too quick to jump in and take over, not realizing that I was impeding their growth by not allowing them to learn from mistakes.
“But I think I learned from it. After [Kelly] and I started MDSI, I became a real believer in hiring people smarter than you. There was only so much that Chris and I could do. We didn’t know how to scale the company. We weren’t professional managers. We were very fortunate and wise, if you will, to recognize that.”
Working at Welch Allyn also exposed Taylor to a skill he would embrace – training. While there, he was enrolled in the Xerox professional selling skills program, and was tagged as Welch Allyn’s trainer.
Southern Sales Associates
In 1983, at age 32, Taylor started Southern Sales Associates, a manufacturer rep firm in Atlanta. Married with three young daughters, the move involved some risk…and hard work on his part and that of his wife, Pat. “Looking back, it is hard to believe that Pat handled three little ones pretty much on her own,” he says. “She did a terrific job and always supported me no matter what.”
A couple of years later, Kelly joined Taylor as a partner in the rep business. “Chris is a great sales guy and he quickly helped grow our business and strengthened our relationships with dealer reps throughout the Southeast. We both put in lots of hours and lots of miles and had lots of fun.”
Taylor was confident they would succeed in the rep business.
“Back then, independent reps weren’t as highly valued as they are today,” he says. They tended to carry second- and third-tier product lines, primarily for companies that were too small or undercapitalized to field their own sales reps.
“From the beginning, my goal was to provide dependable and professional sales support for the dealer reps with whom I already had relationships,” he says. “We never wanted a rep to question whether they could trust us in any of their accounts without them being there. It was basic blocking and tackling – delivering on promises we made.” Southern Sales Associates focused on physician office equipment, including EKGs, spirometers, products that provided billable revenue to the practice. “It required a bit of knowledge and really entrenched us with dealer reps, as they knew we could close a sale if they provided us a good lead.”
Through Southern Sales Associates, Taylor’s knowledge and appreciation of distributors grew. “We came to respect and understand what they go through. I have said dozens of times that I could never do what they do. They have to deal with customers’ problems and their own internal operations; they need to know a little bit about a ton of products, keep occasionally unreasonable customers happy, juggle the coordination of the manufacturers they represent, and maintain margins in a competitive pricing environment. My hat is off to them all.”
The magazine
As Southern Sales Associates grew, so too did its faxed newsletter. “We intended to provide useful selling tips to dealer reps in our area via a fax sheet that included things like CPT codes, reimbursement updates and the like,” he says. “We also knew that our rep business would grow if we created better-trained dealer reps. In those days, spirometers were considered a high-tech product that needed an expert to sell them. Today, dealer reps are selling spirometers as well as far more complex products, because the industry has done a better job of training.”
With the advent of managed care, the magazine quickly came of age. “When managed care arrived in the 1990s, it was pretty dramatic, particularly for reps who sold products based on reimbursement,” he says. “Almost overnight, a procedure like spirometry that once produced income every time a doctor used it, now became an operational cost to the practice. With bundled payments, practices had no idea how to survive, much less make money. Manufacturers and dealers alike had always led with features and benefits around a financial outcome for the practice.
“We dug in trying to learn all we could about managed care and its various forms. We partnered with a local doctor who was making a career of teaching reps how to sell to doctors in a managed care world. Repertoire became a trusted source for the latest in managed care updates and tips on how to re-position products and services to customers.”
Digital age
A decade later, as distributors faced fears of “disintermediation” with the advent of the Internet and dot-com selling, so too did the founders of Repertoire face the challenges presented by electronic media. Instead of resisting the trend, though, Taylor and Kelly embraced it, launching Education OnLine, or EOL, in 2000.
“We began EOL in 2000 during the dot-com era, although we never intended it to be a dot-com play,” says Taylor. “Our aim was to provide an online learning center where manufacturers could train distributor reps on their products. We knew that reps talked to customers about products they were comfortable with, and this provided just enough training for reps to gain that comfort level.”
The concept was clear, but a bigger challenge lay on the technology side, he says. “At that time, online learning was just catching on, and there was much confusion as to what platform and formats worked best. Many manufacturers were in the process of developing their own websites that included training. One of the biggest obstacles was convincing manufacturers that our aggregation of suppliers’ training efforts was better than each company building their own and expecting reps to access each different manufacturer’s sites for training. We knew that would never happen, and that we could attract them if we had a critical mass of training materials available in a single site.”
At around the same time, MDSI launched Dail-E News, a daily electronic news service – an innovative idea that came from industry veteran Tom Deckert, says Taylor.
The company continued to grow. In 2001, the opportunity to acquire The MAX – a database of large healthcare providers and emerging IDNs – presented itself. “Since we bought it, it has changed dramatically, and in my opinion for the good,” says Taylor. “[MDSI Publisher] John Pritchard really took it over and quickly made changes to it structurally, and developed a marketing strategy for conveying the value of The MAX to corporate account teams. It provided not only comprehensive data, but it provided a road map for companies to understand how to better drive compliance on their GPO contracts. As the contracting arena grew exponentially, the dollars at stake became huge, and the value of The MAX as a tool did as well.”
MDSI continued to launch new print publications as well:
- 2004: The Journal of Healthcare Contracting, for IDN and GPO supply chain executives.
- 2007: First Impressions, for dental products/equipment distributors.
- 2010: ACO Insights, focusing on accountable care organizations.
- 2013: Efficiency in Group Practice, for dental group practices and dental services organizations.
“We are as committed to print as a powerful vehicle to deliver messages as we have ever been – perhaps even more than ever,” says Taylor. “Our readers – by a huge margin – respond that they prefer to receive and read their version in print. We, like many publishers, feared the ‘print is dead’ mantra, often tossed about since the Internet age and online magazines appeared.
“We offer the online version, but truly I think that at times we get ahead of ourselves. I think that reps today are overwhelmed with digital messaging, both in their businesses as well as their personal worlds. They are constantly fielding texts and emails from customers and others. I think they welcome the respite from the bombardment that they live with each day. Many reps convey to us that even though they are quite comfortable and facile with mobile devices, their preferred method of really digesting information is through a print product.”
Fun
“I’m proud of the things we’ve done that have been innovative,” says Taylor. “But when I look back, it’s not so much that we innovated as that we dared to do it. We’ve made mistakes, but it’s OK to fail.”
It’s also OK – and, for Taylor, necessary – to have fun while running a business.
“You hear people saying, ‘I don’t ever feel like I am going to work.’ I always wanted our organization to be like that for everyone. I don’t think [a business owner] wants to create a pressure cooker for employees. I think people do their best when they’re not living in fear.
“We have a great team here in Atlanta. We have good people, and they know what to do. We couldn’t ask for more.”
Taylor is grateful for all the people who have joined MDSI, and is proud of the management team of John Pritchard, Scott Adams and Tom Middleton. And he’s grateful to many who have given him inspiration along the way, including George Blowers.
“He was not so much inspirational as he was aspirational,” says Taylor, speaking of Blowers. “He was what I wanted to be when I grew up. So many times in my career, when I would run into a situation that was new or troubling, I would seek George’s advice. Even after his passing [in 2004], I would still ask myself, ‘What would George have done?’ He was tough when he had to be – the old Marine in him. But he was always fair, and he loved to have fun.”
Taylor will remain involved with MDSI on an as-needed basis. And he’s looking forward to enjoying time with his family.
He and his wife, Pat, just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Their oldest daughter, Sara, works in the hospitality and event planning industry. Maria, their middle daughter, is raising two girls and a boy with her husband, Aaron, while also working at OrganWise Guys, a company developing educational materials and tools focused on childhood obesity. Their youngest, Trisha, is raising a son with her husband, Gray, while teaching special education math and coaching girls’ basketball.
“Many people know that I have a slight interest in golf,” he says, deliberately understating that interest. “So I plan on expanding a bit on that, and playing a lot of the great courses I have been adding to my bucket list.”
Optimism
He retires optimistic about distribution, salespeople, and the company he co-founded.
“We see continued consolidation in the industry – of providers, distributors and suppliers. That means reps are tasked with new challenges, bigger accounts to manage, and a lot more responsibility.” Their time is at a premium, and suppliers have a difficult time reaching them. Personal relationships are still important, but they now sit alongside a different set of buying guides. Successful reps must be able to speak to their customers as they deal with healthcare reform.
“We remain committed to distribution,” he says. “I have been in this industry for 40 years, and I have learned that things are often cyclical. It’s dangerous to make wholesale projections. Healthcare is big, and it’s difficult to steer in a single direction. A simple decree or government fiat may not do the trick.
“MDSI will continue to bring relevant information, data and insights to our readers and subscribers. We have expanded our product offerings extensively over 20 years, trying to stay on top of a dynamic and volatile industry.”
And there’s little doubt the company will continue to do the same in the years ahead.
Course of action
Chris Kelly, co-founder of Medical Distribution Solutions Inc., publisher of Repertoire, met Taylor about 40 years ago, at Taylor’s wedding. Chris’ good friend was Jeff Michel, the brother of Brian’s wife, Pat. “I was drawn to his unique sense of humor,” recalls Kelly, speaking of Taylor. The two stayed in touch, and it was Taylor who helped Kelly get a job at Welch Allyn in the early 1980s.
A few years later, when Kelly moved to Atlanta to take a regional manager position with Welch Allyn, he and Taylor started hanging out together, playing basketball and talking about medical sales. In 1987, Kelly decided to buy into Taylor’s rep firm, Southern Sales Associates.
“I would sum up Brian’s approach to sales in one word – dogged,” he says. “He thinks about the needs of the customer or potential customer; thinks through the solution; and once he believes the solution is in the customer’s best interest, he follows it like a dog with a bone. It would happen.” Taylor is always well-prepared prior to making a call, and always makes sure he had excellent products and services to sell, Kelly adds.
“He’s a great salesman when he’s passionate about something. And he always is.”
It was Taylor’s doggedness that helped him create a business in online training (Education OnLine), says Kelly. “It was a great concept, something the industry needed, but it was a tough, high-level sell. If you had handed that to a different type of person, the business might not have been successful.”
Kelly recalls with fondness the late-afternoon and early-evening “What if” conversations with Taylor. “A lot of times, those conversations would take seed and turn into products,” he says. Sometimes things went well, and sometimes they didn’t, he says.
People get to know others particularly well during the bad times, says Kelly. For example, in the early days of Southern Sales Associates, Kelly and Taylor found themselves in arrears with one of their manufacturers, who had made the decision to go direct. “We were upset about losing the line, a little bit shell-shocked.” But Taylor cut through the emotion, worked with Kelly to develop a plan to pay back the supplier, then got on the phone and laid it out. “Brian was very succinct, summed up the situation, summed up the right things to do, and made the hard phone call. That’s what we did, and we followed through with discipline. When I saw how he handled that situation, I knew he was everything I thought he was.”
Taylor is extremely family-centered, notes Kelly, with three great kids of whom he is proud, and a phenomenal wife, Pat, who has always been a great source of support for her husband and his business. What’s more, Taylor has always had great empathy for the distributor sales rep, and unwavering belief in the value of training reps on products and understanding their customers’ needs. “Brian always had passion for that distributor sales rep and making sure he or she were as good as they could be, regardless of what company they were with.
“I’m really proud of what has been built,” adds Kelly, referring to MDSI. “Quality people and great products and a legacy that’s living on.”
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Curiosity is key
Repertoire Publisher Scott Adams first met Brian Taylor at a HIDA Executive Conference 13 or 14 years ago, when Adams was with Sempermed. “He was doing some magic tricks at a reception,” he recalls. “I remember him being incredibly funny, very smart, but so-so at magic.” Adams was to remain at Sempermed for several years, then NDC, before joining MDSI – publisher of Repertoire – in August 2008.
“The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Brian – not just with customers, but with anybody – and what makes him such a great salesperson, is his ability to ask questions – and ask the right questions. He’s curious, like a first-grader. Always asking ‘why?’ ‘How does that work?’ ‘Help me understand that.’ People tell Brian things they wouldn’t tell others, just because he asks.
“And the second thing about Brian is, he’s a great relationship person. He comes across as funny, but when it comes down to brass tacks, he is very professional and he comes up with genuine solutions. And if he doesn’t have one, he is more than willing to tell that to the client.”
Taylor’s genuine interest in others has made him a sounding board for Adams and many others, as they seek advice or input about life decisions facing them, he adds. He has extensive sales experience, and he draws on it every day at Repertoire. Little known fact: Around Christmas, Taylor hands out gift cards at Toys R Us for people who look like they could use the help getting toys for their kids.
“And the last thing is, he is one of the funniest human beings I know. The things that come out of his mouth are just hysterical. A lot of it is intellectual humor, so you have to be on your toes when you’re with him.”
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Lifelong learner
As with so many who know Brian Taylor, John Pritchard’s first encounter with him was on the golf course in the late 1990s. “We hit it off,” says Pritchard, publisher of the Journal of Healthcare Contracting, who joined MDSI in 2000. “Our relationship has changed me unlike any other professional relationship I have had,” he says.
Taylor “never stops learning,” says Pritchard. “He is constantly on his iPad; always up on current affairs, and his knowledge is never superficial.” He brings that knowledge and curiosity to his sales profession too. “I’ve made more important sales calls with Brian than anyone else,” says Pritchard. “He’s thorough; he doesn’t cut any corners. He takes [clients and prospective clients] through the whole story, tirelessly.” Some salespeople believe the way to increase sales is to make more sales calls. And there is some logic to that, says Pritchard. “But with Brian, it’s more important to make really good sales calls.”
Taylor’s unique gift is his passion for the industry in which he has worked almost his entire professional life, says Pritchard. “How many people do you know who have really only been in one industry – and proudly?” he asks. It’s a passion he freely shares with others, including countless young people looking to break into the profession.
“He has touched so many people,” says Pritchard. “I have never seen Brian slough anyone off.” Instead, he’ll take a half hour or hour and help them think through whatever challenge or idea they’re working on. “And he gives them confidence,” Pritchard adds. Some people who have enjoyed success may shake your hand, but their minds are elsewhere. “But Brian is always in the moment, and he wants to share that moment with you, and help you if he can. He always makes time.
“One thing many people will always remember: Brian helped me.”
They’ll also remember Taylor’s infectious sense of humor, adds Pritchard, who recalls taking a plane trip with Taylor soon after Sept. 11. “It was one of the darkest times in our history,” and this particular trip was the first either Pritchard or Taylor had taken since that day. The atmosphere in the plane was tense, no one was making eye contact with each other. That’s when Pritchard looked across the aisle at Taylor, who was wearing a set of silly-looking fake teeth. “I started laughing uncontrollably,” recalls Pritchard. “Brian was the first one to make an uncomfortable situation a little better.”
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Components of success
John Moran, retired Welch Allyn sales and distribution executive, met Brian Taylor 40 years ago at one of the company’s first national sales meetings, held in Skaneateles, N.Y. The company had only a few salespeople at the time. But that meeting led to a lifelong friendship. Through the years, Moran has noted why Taylor is a successful businessperson and leader in the industry.
“The first is basic: He’s very smart,” he says. “He can figure things out quickly, and he can arrive at good decisions very quickly. That’s a gift.”
“Second, he is very confident in himself.” Moran recalls that Taylor left Welch Allyn after nine years to start his own rep firm, Southern Sales Associates. “It was a bootstrap deal,” says Moran. Then, after he and Chris Kelly achieved success with the rep firm, they sold it and started Repertoire. “You don’t do that without a lot of confidence,” says Moran. “But he perceived a gap in the industry” and followed it.
Third, “He recognizes talent. He has a great eye for slotting people. “Brian has always been very objective about areas where people can contribute and do [a job] perhaps better than he can.”
“And he has relationship skills. As with many people in the industry, this is often the calling card.”
Moran recalls an incident close to Christmas in the mid-1970s, when he, Taylor and fellow Welch Allyn salesperson Bill Sparks were in Skaneateles for a sales meeting. “We were young idiots,” recalls Moran. “This particular time, there was a heavy snowstorm; it’s a Friday, we can’t go anywhere; we are stuck for 36 hours.” The three walked to the supermarket, purchased refreshments, then went back to the little hotel where they were staying. “It was the Tice Hotel, run by Mr. and Mrs. Tice,” says Moran.
The three young salespeople decided to take advantage of the situation by staging a snowball fight in the front yard of the hotel. “I’m on the opposite team of Sparks and Taylor,” recalls Moran. “They shoved me down into a bank of snow – probably a foot and a half – and are kneeling on me. They think they’re hysterical.
“Mrs. Tice – who was probably in her 80s – is looking out the window, horrified. She comes out and reads us the riot act, and threatens to call Mr. Blowers at home.” (Blowers was executive vice president of Welch Allyn.) “They [Sparks and Taylor] never let me forget it.”
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Fun and business: A good mix
Brian Taylor has achieved success in the industry by following a simple principle, says Cindy Juhas, president, Hospital Associates, Anaheim, Calif. “He has stayed close to his audience.”
Juhas recalls first meeting Taylor and Chris Kelly soon after the two founded Repertoire magazine. “Brian had left me several voice mail messages,” recalls Juhas, who was in charge of marketing at the time with F.D. Titus and Son, and involved with the Health Industry Distributors Association. But Juhas had been dodging the calls. “I was in line at a HIDA event with no escape route, and who was right behind me – Brian and Chris. I had to talk to them and apologize for my rudeness. The beginning of a long friendship.”
Juhas describes Taylor as honest, forthright and forward-thinking. “The fact that Repertoire is still relevant when many other print materials are not shows how he still relates to the salespeople in our industry,” she says.
“He is at every industry event, talking to everyone, keeping in touch with people who buy his product. By staying close to his audience, he then has figured out where to go next.”
Juhas recalls one of the best times she ever had with Taylor. “Julee Prefer, Scott Adams, Brian and I were a foursome at a HIDA Executive Conference golf tournament. Brian is a good golfer, and I am not. He made me feel I was part of the team; encouraged me throughout the day; and we ended up winning the tournament….He took the pressure off and just made the day fun.
“His penchant for fun mixed with business makes him the endearing personality he is,” she says. “You want to work with Brian, you don’t have to work with Brian.”
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Big picture
“Some people are good businesspeople, some are really good at relationships and service, and some people you just like,” says Gary Corless, chief operating officer, McKesson Medical-Surgical. “Rarely do all those things go together. But that’s how I think of Brian Taylor.”
Corless met Taylor and his partner, Chris Kelly, when Corless was a young rep for PSS in Hialeah, Fla. “Very few manufacturers reps would come down to work with me,” he recalls, joking that most would prefer to work with reps in Boca Raton. But Taylor and Kelly – whose firm, Southern Sales Associates, represented lines that Corless carried – made the trip and helped him close his first capital equipment sale – a Doppler.
“Brian is a guy you like doing business with,” he says. “When I see him, I know I will get a smile and that I’ll be glad I saw him. Once I built my relationship with Brian, I could have called a lot of other people. But why would I?”
Taylor brings a broader perspective to the industry than many, he adds. “Brian has really helped people understand what they’re part of,” says Corless. “Without him and the [MDSI] team pulling all this together, people are out there doing their piece, but it’s just one piece. Brian has helped people understand what they’re part of, and to be really grateful that they are.”
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Builder
Brian Taylor has a couple of unique traits, which have suited him – and those with whom he comes into contact – well, says DeWight Titus, retired head of F.D. Titus (now McKesson Medical-Surgical). The first is the ability to avoid sweating the small stuff, a trait Titus believes Taylor shares with Repertoire co-founder Chris Kelly. “They didn’t dwell on the world coming to an end,” he says. “And that’s an interesting trait; it keeps you from getting bogged down in your failures.” And the second, related, trait? “He’s upbeat all the time.”
Taylor has brought much to the industry, especially information and knowledge, says Titus. And he has shown ingenuity and risk-taking in building an information company from just the one magazine – Repertoire. “Taking one publication and developing all the opportunities they did – nobody else would be able to do that.”
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Perseverance
Brian Taylor is bright and articulate, says Bill Sparks, CEO of MedPro Associates. “But more than anything, he can bring humor into a situation at the right time. That’s what makes him unique.”
Sparks met Taylor in 1975; both were reps – and later, regional managers – for Welch Allyn. Through the years, he has observed Taylor persevere through good times and bad. “He believed in himself and his vision, and it paid off for him,” he says.
His contributions to the industry are many, says Sparks. But his love of family and sense of humor are perhaps his strongest assets.
Having known Taylor for close to 40 years, Sparks finds it difficult to pull out one anecdote to illustrate a salient point about him. There was the time he and Taylor had to climb in through a hotel window because they were a little late for curfew, says Sparks. But the circumstances are still a little murky to him.