We're one month away from mid-year, and if you are trailing behind sales targets, it's time for some brutal honesty.

After 20+ years in orthopedics, spine, and biologics, I've seen this pattern repeat: companies scramble in Q3/Q4 trying to salvage the year instead of diagnosing the real problem early.

Two culprits are usually to blame:

1) You hired "managers" instead of hunters. You have created lofty revenue goals without honestly assessing your team.  Your sales team may be great at managing existing business and handling administrative tasks, but they lack the disciplined, strategic hunter mentality needed to uncover new opportunities. Whether you're selling B2B as an OEM, through strategic partners, distributors, or direct reps – you need a team who wakes up thinking not only about providing top-level support, but where the new growth is coming from.

2) Your branding and lead generation strategy is fundamentally wrong. Too many medical device companies still rely on trade shows as their primary marketing strategy – a costly mistake that generates minimal qualified leads. Others attempt digital marketing but come across as blatant, offensive sales pitches instead of providing genuine value to surgeons and decision-makers.

In our industry, trust and credibility are everything. If your content doesn't educate, inform, or solve real problems for your audience, you're just adding to the noise.

This applies whether you're working through distribution networks, strategic partnerships, or direct sales models. The fundamentals remain the same.

For individual sales professionals: Do an honest self-assessment.  Do you have a genuine growth strategy, or just managing your cases?

The medical device market is too competitive and complex to coast. If you're behind now, waiting until Q4 to course-correct is a recipe for missing the year entirely.

If these issues sound familiar, let's talk.