Tough Enough
Selling copiers wasn’t a bad way for Dan Walsh to learn about sales
Walsh and Family
Playing college soccer was good training for a competitive career in medical sales for young Dan Walsh, region account manager, Henry Schein. After all, a large part of sales is competition, particularly in the earliest stages of one’s career, he says.
And if college athletics wasn’t enough, selling copiers for IKON Office Solutions was.
“The copier world is tough,” he says. “At IKON, there were 20 other guys just like me. Young guys with the same mentality. You’re cold-calling, trying to set yourself apart. You’re hitting as many doors as you can, getting your card in as many people’s hands as possible. And if you do get to bid, there are seven other guys doing the same.
“The longer you stay with it, though, the tougher you get. You don’t win every deal, but you learn all the time. It was a great experience right out of college.”
Walsh was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri. His father, Denny Walsh, worked in sales and other aspects of the food and grocery industry. His mother, Lindsay, raised Dan and his brother, Michael.
When he graduated with a business degree from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, “I had no idea what was ahead,” he says. “Sales was a profession my dad knew I would enjoy,” he says. “Being a competitive person and playing sports all my life – it felt like a great fit.”
“Hustle and learning to fail were two lasting impressions from my experience at IKON,” he says. “It was no easy first job, but it instilled the values of learning how to sell, [thinking in terms of] processes, and creating value for customers.”
After two years at IKON (which was acquired by Ricoh in 2008), he was an account manager for DHL Express, selling logistics services. “It was a different kind of sale,” he says. “There weren’t as many competitors,” but what competitors there were – i.e., UPS and FedEx – were big ones. “You have to set yourself apart, market yourself,” he says of the DHL experience. “And once you get the opportunity [to service an account], you have to show them everything you’re about – and not fail.”
In 2008, after seven years at DHL, Walsh joined Cardinal Health’s ambulatory care division, which was acquired by Henry Schein in 2014. Throughout his years with Cardinal Health and now Henry Schein, his primary account has been Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City.
When he first serviced Saint Luke’s, he had responsibility for between 15 and 20 ambulatory sites (the rest being serviced out of a central warehouse). Today, roughly 140 locations are set up in Henry Schein’s system, and more than 100 of them order regularly.
Servicing IDN-owned sites calls for the representative to be mindful and supportive of group purchasing contracts, he says. “But my experience in areas of product knowledge, distribution, GPOs and contracts are all quite impactful on my servicing of Saint Luke’s.”