A blend of field-trip training, deep listening, and relentless curiosity has helped Jim Niekamp turn unmet needs into breakthrough innovations, and transform reps into advisors customers can’t live without
“Owning the relationship,” is not a clever marketing phrase to Jim Niekamp. It’s a philosophy he’s lived by for decades, one he learned from mentors, history, and even family. Don Kitzmiller, one of Niekamp’s early partners, used to quote Theodore Roosevelt: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That quote became the foundation for what Jim and his colleagues call Owning the Relationship – going above and beyond a typical business connection to truly invest in a customer’s success.
Niekamp recalls Scott Fanning, another partner and influential figure in his career, studying the history of companies, both in business and beyond. Examining military organizations, sports teams, and corporations that dominated their fields, Fanning noticed a common thread: the ones that endured were the ones that built deep, invested relationships with the people they served. It wasn’t enough to have a relationship; to thrive long-term, you had to own it.
He illustrates the point with a story from outside his own industry. His father-in-law, a pioneer in robotics, had helped build companies like FANUC, Adept, and Motoman. But he didn’t measure success by his own achievements. One day, he pulled Niekamp aside and said, “None of us are successful because of ourselves. We’re successful because there’s a lot of other people that want us to be successful. Your job in life is to make as many people successful as possible, and you’ll be surprised at how hard they’ll work to make sure you are.”
That advice shaped Niekamp’s philosophy. In practice, owning a relationship means caring more about your customer’s success than your own. It means constantly finding ways to make them more efficient, more effective, and more innovative. Sometimes that comes from your product; more often, it comes from your knowledge. A great representative shares insights gleaned from other customers, offering suggestions and guidance that make a real difference.
Niekamp remembers the reps who excelled most – they were welcomed into every account, invited to share ideas, and trusted with critical conversations. They didn’t just sell; they became indispensable, like an unpaid extension of the customer’s own team. That kind of relationship, Niekamp says, is the fair advantage in business.
It’s a philosophy he carried from Midmark to 95% Share and beyond. “If you hear us talk about owning the relationship,” Niekamp says, “this is what we mean: an extreme focus on helping our customers succeed, building trust, adding value, and ensuring that we are not just a vendor but a true partner in their success.”
In a world where businesses come and go – for example, not one of the 13 companies on the original Dow List are on the Dow Jones List today – the ones that last are those that make themselves indispensable, not by profit alone, but by caring enough to own the relationships that matter.
Reflecting on distributor reps
Niekamp’s work with distributor sales representatives spans decades and reflects a deep commitment to elevating the role of the rep from a logistics-focused representative to a trusted consultant. In the early days of the industry, most reps came from warehouse backgrounds. Their primary focus was ensuring the right products reached doctors’ offices on time, with little proactive engagement in equipment sales. Capital equipment was generally sold only when a practice opened or expanded, and reps were valued primarily for their reliability in delivering products.
Seeing an opportunity to transform this model, Fanning and Kitzmiller developed programs to train reps on sales processes and product expertise. Using their own products as examples, they helped turn distribution reps into consultants who could lead with capital equipment, advise on practice expansions, and offer insights that went beyond mere fulfillment. Through initiatives like the Power Meeting program, reps sometimes doubled their monthly sales, gaining credibility and trust from their customers. Doctors began to see them as knowledgeable partners capable of guiding decisions on labs, equipment, and broader operational improvements.
Niekamp emphasizes that the philosophy is akin to training a professional athlete: fundamentals matter. For sales reps, that means mastering every step of the sales process and knowing customers so well that they can creatively support their success. While much of Niekamp’s later work with 95 Share shifted to corporate training, the foundation was always the same – investing in others, especially distributor reps, to enhance their skills, expand their influence, and ensure they became indispensable advisors to their customers.
Unforgettable lessons
Niekamp has always believed that learning should be unforgettable. He often recalls his own school days when the only classes that really captured his attention were gym and field trips. “I learned more on a field trip than I ever did sitting in that classroom,” he says. The excitement of getting out of the classroom, of seeing and experiencing something new, stuck with him. He carried that philosophy into his work at 95 Share, creating training programs that feel less like lectures and more like adult field trips designed to teach business principles in ways that stay with you forever.
On the very first day, participants might find themselves at the Field Museum in Chicago, far from the bustling crowds on the main floors. Niekamp leads them to the third floor, a restricted area where millions of artifacts are stored, most of which are never seen by the public. As participants wander among ancient relics and rare specimens, Niekamp ties each object to lessons about capturing and keeping customers for life.
One stop always leaves a lasting impression. The flesh-eating beetle room is both fascinating and slightly unsettling. The beetles, used since the time of Aristotle, are the most efficient way to clean meat from bones for research. Niekamp points out, “It’s the most efficient, most effective, most innovative way, and it’s free.” He pauses as participants observe the process, noting that humans could safely put their hands in the aquaria without danger. “They only care about dead, long since dead meat,” he adds with a smile.
Niekamp draws the connection to business. Companies and teams must always look for the most efficient, most effective, and most innovative ways to work. Sometimes that means discovering something new, and sometimes it means revisiting ideas that have stood the test of time. Unlike traditional training where binders gather dust and most lessons are quickly forgotten, these experiences stay with participants. “It’s not a scenario where I don’t know what to do, it’s “am I going to implement it?” he says.
By turning training into an adventure, Niekamp, and his partners have crafted a program that inspires curiosity, rewards observation, and instills a mindset where learning is never over. Participants leave the museum with lessons they cannot forget, and a vision for how to bring innovation and efficiency into every aspect of their work and their careers.
Stories stay with you
Niekamp has spent decades in sales and leadership, but the core of his philosophy is surprisingly simple: the best story always wins. It’s not about the flashiest product, the lowest price, or the most aggressive pitch. It’s about understanding the customer’s world so deeply that you can see the pain points they don’t even articulate – and then crafting a solution and a story about how your product or service can make their life easier, better, and more successful.
He often references Steve Jobs for inspiration. “There’s a misnomer out there,” Niekamp says, recounting Jobs’ philosophy. “Everybody thinks you’re supposed to develop some kind of neat new technology and then figure out a creative way to market it. It’s all wrong. You have to find the unmet needs, the pain points, and then develop the technology to fulfill those needs. That’s when you have something that’s truly successful.”
That mindset became the foundation for 95 Share’s principles behind Best Story Always Wins. Niekamp and his colleagues studied what truly differentiates clients and how sales representatives could translate those stories into daily outreach. It’s about digging beneath the surface, observing behaviors, and understanding the friction points that frustrate customers the most.
He recalls a particularly striking example from his time at Midmark. The company had previously introduced several successful products: box style tables, power tables, and tabletop sterilizers. The results were remarkable. The box style tables went from less than 10% to over 95% market share in about a decade, and the power tables reached the same dominance in about half that time. When it came to tabletop sterilizers, they entered a market with four entrenched competitors and captured 50% of the market in a short period of time, eventually approaching 95% share.
But Niekamp and his team knew that success was not just about developing products. “We weren’t hitting anything that was really exciting the marketplace,” he recalls. Distribution reps weren’t enthusiastic, and users weren’t raving. They needed a process to understand unmet needs. They found a book called Customer Visits by Edward MacQuarrie, which suggested cross-functional teams observe and interview ideal customers to uncover inefficiencies and frustrations. Niekamp and his colleagues applied this approach to sterilizers, despite having never developed one before.
They conducted 30 interviews with medical and dental practices across the country. One of those interviews revealed a pain point that changed everything. An office manager described how, every time a sterilization cycle finished, they had to open the door to let residual steam escape, or the paper-wrapped instruments would remain damp. It was a small task, but at the end of a long day, it became too tedious. Staff would be chained to the sterilizer, waiting 45 minutes for the sterilizing to finish before they could open the door to allow the drying cycle to start. Some even had to arrive early the next morning to ensure instruments were ready for the first procedure. “Doctor, I’m not staying late. I promised my son I’d be at the ball game,” one staff member explained.
This qualitative insight became the seed for an innovation: an automatic door opener that allowed staff to release steam at the touch of a button, letting the sterilizer complete its cycle without tying anyone down. Suddenly, the sterilizer wasn’t just a tool; it was a solution that addressed a critical, previously overlooked frustration. Sales reps could now tell a story that resonated with every staff member, not just the doctor. The story had real weight, because it reflected the daily reality of their audience.
Niekamp points out that competitors, even long-established companies like Pelton and Crane, missed this insight. “They weren’t in the office. They didn’t ask,” he says. “You have to be in the trenches to understand your customers better than they understand themselves.” This approach embodies the Best Story Always Wins principle. By observing, asking, and listening, sales reps learn to identify the unmet needs that matter most and then craft a solution and a story that demonstrates not just product features, but tangible relief from the frustrations and inefficiencies that plague daily work.
He compares it to Starbucks, which transformed a 50-cent cup of coffee into a $6 experience. It wasn’t the coffee itself that captivated customers, but the entire story and experience built around it. “It’s more than just the product,” Niekamp explains. “It’s all these other things that you incorporate to help make life significantly better for the customer.”
For sales representatives, the lesson is clear: find the pain points, observe the workflow, and understand what truly matters to the customer. Then, craft a story that makes them see your product or service as the solution they didn’t realize they needed. By doing so, reps become trusted consultants, not just vendors, and customers become advocates.
Niekamp concludes with a guiding principle that underpins everything: “If you don’t have a process for understanding your customers better than they understand themselves, you’re going to miss opportunities. True best stories come from observing, listening, and uncovering those unmet needs. That’s how you win, consistently and sustainably.”
Through this philosophy, Niekamp has reshaped how sales teams approach the market. The lesson is timeless: technology and products are important, but the story that resonates with the customer always wins.