Fisher Healthcare’s JP Espinosa isn’t afraid to tackle new challenges in the med/surg market.
By Pete Mercer
Starting out in a new industry is always an exciting time for any young professional – you are full of bright-eyed optimism and fresh energy for overcoming challenges, while still figuring out your place in the grand scheme of things. It can also be challenging to find your footing on unfamiliar ground, unsure about each decision you make.
That’s the beauty of this point in your career. Everything is up to you! While that might not be reassuring to everyone, it’s important to note that while these are important moments in your life, they’re not defining moments. You can always pivot, like JP Espinosa did from international shipping to national account executive for the healthcare industry.
Espinosa is an account executive for Fisher Healthcare, the division of Thermo Fisher that services the Clinical Laboratory testing marketplace.
Repertoire Magazine recently sat down with Espinosa to discuss his role at Fisher Healthcare, the importance of communication in a remote environment, and what he looks for from his leadership team.
Landing in the industry
Espinosa started as an inside sales rep with Thermo Fisher and Fisher Healthcare in 2018. Before landing in the healthcare space, he was in international shipping with Norton Lilly International and recruiting for his alma matter, Spring Hill College. Despite learning a lot in those roles and the potential for growth, Espinosa felt that he lacked a sense of purpose.
He found a connection at Thermo Fisher through a family friend who was a rep at Fisher at the time. After learning more about the role, he applied and has been at the company for about five years now. Based in the North Hollywood part of Los Angeles, Espinosa is now an account executive for Fisher Healthcare.
Describing the role, he said, “I make sure that my customers in laboratory spaces, acute and non-acute, are taken care of. We leverage our distribution portfolio to provide solutions to their ever-changing needs, whether it’s helping with back orders on microscope slides, evaluating new chemistry instrumentation, or bringing in testing that’s currently being sent out. You name it.”
Because his true office is the laboratory of his customers, Espinosa considers himself a remote worker. Wherever the lab goes, he goes. He calls on affiliated medical office buildings, independent reference labs, physician-owned labs, hospitals and acute care settings. As a remote worker, he understands the essential need for clear communication across the board.
Communication in the time of COVID
As we all know, COVID disrupted just about everything – especially face-to-face business meetings. While Zoom became an acceptable alternative, nothing beats the in-person meeting. Now that the pandemic has passed, it’s more important than ever for sales reps to get in front of their customers. Relationships mean everything in this business. If nothing else, sales reps absolutely have to be available and reliable for anything they need.
He said, “We learned how fragile and vulnerable supply chains can be and what that impact can have on our customer’s operations, so our ability to consistently but effectively communicate and relay information that is relevant to their market is an effective value add that we can provide that is sometimes overlooked.”
Part of what Espinosa discusses with his clients is the new innovations and technologies available from Fisher Healthcare to the laboratory. As the unsung hero of the medical industry, labs need to stay on top of evolving tools that will help them to provide more accurate diagnostic testing and improved workflow processes to improve efficiency and outcomes.
“You have to be reliable,” Espinosa said. “No one is going to want to work or do business with you if you do one thing and say another. Try to under-promise and over-deliver, be present and leverage your portfolio to offer solutions.”
Because he started in 2018, he saw a sort of transformation of needs for the lab from pre-pandemic, mid-pandemic, to post-pandemic. Espinosa had an advantage for his customers during the pandemic because he was used to working remote – he covered his Los Angeles district from the Pittsburgh office when he started out.
Even when he moved to Los Angeles in 2019, that time in Pittsburgh proved to be invaluable for working through the pandemic. He said, “I was used to working remote and was very comfortable with the new reality. Customers were always looking for updates on back orders and products that were on allocation. Having spent a year in inside sales, I could navigate all of our CRMs independently with ease so I didn’t have to rely on someone from customer service for example, to answer questions about inventory availability or proposing product alternatives.”
Now, the challenges and obstacles have changed. It’s not as difficult to get products as it was, but it is harder to staff the labs. The human resource is dwindling more and more as lab techs face serious issues of burnout. He said that you could walk into just about any lab and find a common thread of lab leadership having a hard time with staffing problems.
“We work with every department in the lab. During business reviews with department heads we regularly hear about staffing issues and the effects it has on their operation. We’ve helped labs increase productivity through the evaluation and implementation of automation. Lab automation enables laboratory professionals to optimize their time to perform higher-values tasks, improve turnaround time and enables growth without adding more staff.”
Professional development and leadership
Part of what Espinosa uses to develop himself professionally and stay ahead of the curve is by using the 70/20/10 learning concept. Essentially, this idea boils down to 70% of your knowledge coming from hands-on, job experience, 20% from interactions with others and 10% from your own self-education: reading books, attending seminars, enrolling in courses.
Espinosa said that one of the ways that he can level up his sales knowledge is by developing relationships with his strategic suppliers and product specialists. He explained, “Our success as distributors relies on staying current, staying up to date with what’s the latest in our industry, and leveraging our deep commercial product portfolio to enable our customers to meet their clinical, operational and financial needs.”
His ability to be nimble is something that he prides himself on, so he naturally looks for that quality in his leadership as well. He looks for leaders who are willing and able to support situations that call for a sort of paradigm shift. Because of the nature of the business, they often have to challenge the status quo to get things done and meet the needs of their customers. “Having a leader who really trusts in my strategic thinking or in my decision to run something a specific way is something that I value and look for.”
As for the future, Espinosa doesn’t see himself as a long-term sales rep. The current plan is to continue to develop himself as a professional in laboratory sales and move into a leadership position when the opportunity arises.
He said, “There’s no forecasting the future, no telling what it holds. But hopefully It’s a step in the right direction where I have a more meaningful impact on my organization.