MedPro’s Dominic Seymour on what’s changing – and what isn’t.
Artificial intelligence has quickly moved from buzzword to business priority across healthcare. But for distributor sales reps – long defined by relationships, responsiveness and boots-on-the-ground support – the question is becoming more urgent: Where does AI fit, and who does it replace?
According to Dominic Seymour, Regional Vice President of Sales – West at MedPro Healthcare Sales Solutions, the answer is nuanced.
In a conversation with Repertoire Magazine, Seymour shared where he believes AI is already making an impact, how reps are using it today and what separates those who will thrive from those who may be replaced.
Repertoire: Let’s start off with the big question a lot of people in the industry are asking – Will AI replace the distributor sales rep?
Seymour: So for the distributor rep, my opinion is if you are a rep that takes orders – that sits at your desk every day, you email, you make phone calls, you pick up the phone, but you’re not in the field all that often, and you’re not holding significant relationships that would be required in order to obtain that business – your job is in jeopardy.
AI is going to continue to get better. It’s not stopping anytime soon. Three years from now, it’s going to be tenfold what it is today.
Right now, most people are just scratching the surface. They’re using tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini like a glorified search engine. But it goes so much deeper than that – and it’s going to go much further in the next few years.
So will AI replace reps? Some, yes. All? No.
The reps who are safe are the ones doing field work. We’re not building robots yet. If your job requires physical presence – holding relationships on site, walking facilities, speccing out rooms, running demos, doing installations — those roles are safe for now.
Especially in rural facilities, where there’s often less trust in AI, those personal relationships matter even more. If you’re physically there, solving problems, building trust – that’s hard to replace.
Where I’d be concerned is the transactional side of the role. If you’re taking orders, responding to emails, handling quick phone calls – AI can already do that, and it’s only getting better.
Think about what AI does well: It analyzes data instantly. It responds to emails in seconds. It can handle multiple calls at once, 24/7. Humans can’t do that consistently.
So you’re going to see parts of distribution become more “Amazon-like.” A supply chain team could log into a portal, and AI already knows their buying patterns, their preferences – it’s all preloaded. They just click and order. Minimal human interaction.
Where the distributor rep still fits is in specialization and personal connection. Reading body language. Understanding pressure inside a facility. Handling objections. Managing relationships. That human element still matters.
So reps need to ask themselves: “Could AI do what I do every day?” If the answer is yes, it’s probably time to evolve.
Q: How does the question differ for manufacturer reps?
Seymour: It’s similar, but manufacturers tend to be more specialized by nature.
If you’re sitting in an office answering calls, handling customer service, answering basic product questions – you’re on the shortlist for replacement. AI can do that 24/7, in any language, with any accent. There’s no need to outsource that anymore.
But for field reps, it’s different.
Physical presence is still king. AI can’t replicate that. When you’re in a facility, walking room to room, speccing out a telemetry system or a patient monitoring setup – and it turns into a million-dollar deal – no one wants to make that decision based on AI alone.
They want a person. They want trust. They want accountability.
For higher-dollar, complex purchases, the human element isn’t going away anytime soon.
Now, for simpler transactions – ordering a basic piece of equipment, for example – that could absolutely move toward AI-driven purchasing in the future.
But for my team at MedPro, everything we do is in the field. Relationship-driven. That’s not something AI can replace today.
Repertoire: How are reps using AI right now?
Seymour: It’s been pretty incredible. At MedPro, we’ve invested in AI tools, and it’s a game changer.
The companies that aren’t investing right now are going to be left behind in a few years. And the same goes for reps.
It’s not that AI will replace them – it’s that reps who use AI will replace the ones who don’t.
The time savings alone are huge. For example, preparing for a big meeting used to take hours – researching the customer, their background, their facility, what matters to them.
Now, I can ask AI to pull all of that together – from LinkedIn, articles, public information – and connect it back to my product. It gives me an executive summary in minutes.
So I walk into that meeting fully prepared, able to connect my solution directly to what matters most to them.
Reps are also using AI for logistics – building call plans, mapping travel routes, optimizing schedules. What used to take days can now be done in minutes.
There are tools like meeting note-takers that create summaries after every call. If you compile those over time, you can ask AI to generate a master summary of your entire relationship with a customer – key priorities, trends, insights.
That’s incredibly powerful for account strategy.
On the management side, we’re using AI for forecasting. You can take CRM data, layer in historical trends, and generate predictive models for each rep – who’s on track, who’s behind, who’s likely to hit their number.
That kind of analysis used to take a ton of manual work. Now it’s almost instant.
And then there are tools like Claude or presentation builders that can create full slide decks in minutes. What used to take half a day now takes a fraction of the time.
Most reps today use ChatGPT or Gemini. Some are experimenting with more advanced tools. But we’re still at the very beginning.
Repertoire: What’s the biggest takeaway for reps right now?
Seymour: AI can make you five times more productive – if you use it the right way.
But there’s a balance. You don’t want AI to become the holder of all knowledge. Your reps still need to know their business, their products, their customers.
The reps who win will be the ones who combine both – leveraging AI for efficiency while doubling down on the human side of the job.
At the end of the day, relationships still matter. Being present still matters. Understanding people still matters.
AI is a tool. A very powerful one. But it’s not a replacement for everything.
At least not yet.
SIDEBAR
Key takeaways
- AI will replace some tasks, not all reps. Transactional roles (order-taking, basic support, email responses) are most at risk, while relationship-driven field work remains essential.
- Field presence is the key safeguard. Reps who build trust in person, run demos and solve on-site problems are far harder for AI to replace.
- “AI won’t replace reps – reps using AI will replace those who don’t.” Productivity gains are already creating a performance gap between adopters and non-adopters.
- AI is already transforming daily workflows. Reps use it for meeting prep, customer research, scheduling, travel planning, note-taking and account summaries.
- Human judgment still drives big decisions. Complex, high-value deals still rely on relationships, trust and reading people – areas where AI can’t yet compete.