Henry Schein’s Laura Gerlants loves the thrill and the hustle of her field sales role.
Laura Gerlants can trace her start in sales back to her time as a dental hygienist. Although a bit unconventional, the dental office she worked for wanted its hygienists to promote certain products like electric toothbrushes and whitening toothpaste with clients. It was then that Gerlants discovered she was really good at sales, and genuinely enjoyed the role.
Eventually, she would work for a dental distribution company. Then, a chance LinkedIn message from a Henry Schein Medical sales manager led to a conversation about medical sales, which eventually snowballed into a field sales role within the Company.
Henry Schein’s culture was “hands down” a key factor in Gerlants accepting her role with the Company, she said. Before starting, she reached out to several Henry Schein reps via social media to see if it would be a positive work environment. She found that whoever she talked to would rave about the culture and opportunities. “It made me very comfortable to step into an area that I was unfamiliar with,” she said. “I thought, ‘Okay, at least the culture here is solid.’”
Gerlants knows that if she needs to speak to Company leaders, they will take her call. “My voice is heard here,” she said. “If I have issues with anything, my manager will always hear me out and elevate if need be. It’s just a very close-knit kind of feel. And it’s so important to know that my voice matters. I know there are so many reps. I get it. But every one of us counts the same, no matter what. That’s important.”
Accelerated learning
Gerlants started with Henry Schein in 2021 during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. She knew very little about medical products, so the process of getting up to speed on antigen tests, PCR tests, and thousands of other SKUs so she could speak knowledgeably in front of customers, felt a little bit like drinking from a fire hose. “It propelled me to learn at an accelerated speed,” she said. “We didn’t have a choice. It was a sink-or-swim situation.”
During this time, building relationships with clients meant being reactive to their needs. Most physician offices were coming to distributors for products and solutions. Gerlants learned very quickly that she didn’t only want to sell COVID-19 tests.
But today’s marketplace is different. Gerlants said to succeed now means having a hunter’s mentality. Reps must be more proactive instead of reactive because their phones are not ringing off the hook for COVID-19 tests. “People don’t necessarily need us for those tests anymore. So you’ve got to go out there now more than ever.”
Physician offices are counting their dollars and cents. Earning revenue has become more challenging amid rising inflation and subsequently rising costs. Offices are leaning on their sales reps for help, Gerlants said. “Henry Schein is brilliant at offering solutions, truly. So I lean on those solutions a lot and try to integrate them into the business. In the end, it will benefit a practice’s bottom line and the patients they serve by adding in new solutions. But, cost containment is key to our customers. The economy has changed, and we have to roll with it.”
What drives you?
Gerlants has made it a point to talk to reps from other states to get a better feel for what’s going on in different physician office markets, and what products she should be talking about with clients. “I love making genuine connections, and genuine friends,” she said. “Because there are so many SKUs, it could be daunting to learn everything about every product. But making friends within the organization, understanding what’s working for them, and then trying to bring it to my area has helped.”
She’s also a big proponent of podcasts while traveling or in between calls. Popular business podcasters like Gary Vaynerchuk are helpful in improving her sales game. “Gary Vaynerchuk is one of my favorites because he speaks to the personal connections that you should make through business, which is consistent with the importance our CEO places on the human connection. Stanley Bergman reinforces the sentiment that in today’s digitized world, the human touch is essential in building and strengthening relationships.”
Short-term, Gerlants is fully invested in growing her territory. “The sky’s the limit,” she said.
Her manager, Mark Hoyer, says she continues to help raise the bar for other Team Schein Members.