Skill Drill: Coaching Reps for Medical Device Sales

Direct Answer

This drill builds coaching skill for medical device sales managers who need to develop reps without just telling them the answer. A district or regional sales manager runs it with 3–8 reps in 35–50 minutes (compressible to 5, extendable to 60). Using the GROW model to structure coaching conversations and Gong call review to ground them in real recorded interactions, the team walks away able to run a coaching conversation that the rep — not the manager — leaves owning the next move.

Why This Drill Matters in Medical Device Sales

Medical device sales managers default to the worst coaching habit there is: the ride-along autopsy. They sit in on a surgeon meeting or a hospital procurement call, then debrief in the car by listing everything the rep did wrong. The rep nods, feels deflated, changes nothing.

That's feedback, not coaching — and it doesn't transfer to the next OR or value-analysis committee.

Coaching matters more in this field than almost any other because of how the sales cycle works. A device rep sells to a multi-headed buyer: the surgeon who wants the clinical outcome, the OR nurse who has to handle the tray, the value-analysis committee (VAC) that controls the budget, and supply-chain leadership negotiating on price.

Per Gartner buying-group research, these committees routinely involve 6–10 stakeholders, and the rep has to multithread all of them — often while standing scrubbed-in during a case. You cannot tell-feed a rep through that complexity. They have to *think*, and coaching is how you build the thinking.

The two methodologies this drill drives into muscle memory:

• The GROW model (John Whitmore, *Coaching for Performance*) — a four-stage conversation structure: Goal (what does the rep want from this), Reality (what's actually happening), Options (what could they try), Way forward (what will they commit to). GROW forces the manager to ask rather than tell, which is the entire shift from feedback to coaching.
• Gong call review — using recorded calls (or, for in-field device work, recorded virtual VAC meetings and pre-call/post-call debriefs) as the objective evidence base. Instead of "I felt like you talked too much," the manager points to a timestamp: "Listen to 4:20 — the surgeon asked about trial data and we pivoted to price. What happened there?" The recording removes the argument about what occurred.

Managers at firms like Medtronic, Stryker, and Boston Scientific lean on coaching because device territories are too complex and too geographically spread for command-and-control. The manager who can coach builds reps who solve VAC objections without calling for help. The manager who only tells builds reps who escalate everything.

What You'll Need (5 min prep)

• Group size: 3–8 reps. Pairs for the coaching role-play; a trio adds an observer, which actually improves the drill.
• Materials: A one-page GROW model card (the four stages with 3–4 starter questions each), a laptop or screen to play one short Gong clip (60–90 seconds), printed transcript snippets as backup if audio fails.
• Room setup: A space where one clip can be played for everyone, then breakout pairs/trios can talk without crosstalk.
• Pre-work (manager, day before): Pull one real recorded call — a VAC presentation, a surgeon discovery call, or a pricing negotiation — that has a clear coachable moment (a missed clinical question, a premature discount, a discovery gap). Clip it to 60–90 seconds. Get the rep's permission if they're in the room.
• Prep the reps: Tell them this is a coaching-skills drill, not a performance review of the rep on the recording. Psychological safety is the whole game.

Round 1 — Hear It Together (8 min)

Play the 60–90 second Gong clip once. Everyone watches silently. Then play it a second time, and each person privately writes down the *single* coachable moment they'd pick — not five things, one.

Leader reads aloud:

"We're going to listen to a real call. Your job is not to count everything that went wrong — that's an autopsy, and autopsies don't help anyone improve. Pick the ONE moment that, if the rep handled it differently, would have changed the trajectory of this deal.

Write it down. We'll see if we all picked the same moment — usually we don't, and that's the first lesson."

Role-play prompt (device-specific): The clip shows a rep presenting a new orthopedic implant to a value-analysis committee. When the VAC chair asks, "How does your clinical data compare to the incumbent we've used for six years?" the rep jumps to a cost-savings pitch instead of the trial data. That's the coachable moment.

What good looks like: People converge on the same high-leverage moment (the pivot away from clinical evidence) rather than scattering on minor tics like filler words. If they scatter, that itself is the coaching point — coach the highest-leverage moment, not everything.

Round 2 — Run the GROW Reps (15 min)

Pair up (or form trios with one observer). One person plays the coaching manager, the other plays the rep from the clip. The manager runs a GROW conversation about that one coachable moment — and is forbidden from giving the answer. They may only ask questions through the four GROW stages.

Leader reads aloud:

"Here's the rule that makes or breaks this: you cannot tell them what to do. Not once. If you catch yourself saying 'What you should have done is…' — stop, and turn it into a question. 'What were you going for when the chair asked about clinical data?' That's Reality. 'What else could you have led with?' That's Options. 'So next VAC, what's your plan when they compare you to the incumbent?' That's Way forward.

The rep should leave owning the answer, because they said it, not you."

Run 6–7 minutes, then switch roles with a fresh coachable moment (the leader supplies a second mini-scenario: a rep who discounted before the surgeon had committed clinically).

What good looks like: The coaching manager asks far more than they tell — aim for an 80/20 ask-to-tell ratio. The "rep" arrives at their own next step. If the observer (in trios) hears the manager slip into telling, they raise a hand.

Round 3 — Pressure Test: The Defensive Rep (10 min)

Same pairs, switch roles again. This time the rep plays defense — the way real device reps do when they feel judged: "The committee was never going to approve us anyway," "Supply chain had already picked the incumbent," "You weren't in the room." The coaching manager has to stay in GROW and not get pulled into arguing or telling.

Leader reads aloud:

"Defensiveness is data, not disrespect. When a rep says 'it wasn't going to work anyway,' don't argue the point and don't cave into autopsy mode. Acknowledge it and stay curious: 'Maybe — let's say supply chain was leaning incumbent.

What would have given the surgeon a reason to fight for us in that room?' You're keeping them in problem-solving instead of letting them check out. The recording helps: 'Let's go back to 4:20 — what did you notice?'"

Run two 90-second rounds so both people practice staying in GROW under pushback.

What good looks like: The manager acknowledges the defensiveness, anchors back to the recorded evidence, and keeps asking. They never argue about whether the deal was winnable, and they never collapse into telling the rep what to do.

Round 4 — Debrief & Lock It In (9 min)

Whole group. Each person names one GROW question they'll use in their next real ride-along or call review this week and the recording they'll pull to ground it. The leader writes them on the board.

Leader reads aloud:

"Before our next field day, I want every one of you to run one real coaching conversation off a recording using GROW — and I want you to catch yourself at least once about to tell the answer and turn it into a question instead. We'll debrief in our next 1:1. The win isn't a perfect conversation.

The win is the rep leaving with a plan they own, not one you handed them."

What good looks like: Every person leaves with a specific GROW question, a real recording to anchor it, and a commitment to run one coaching conversation before the next field visit.

Scaling It: 5-Minute, 30-Minute, and 60-Minute Versions

• 5-Minute version (standup): Play one 60-second clip. Each rep writes one GROW question they'd ask about the coachable moment. Read three aloud. Pure ask-not-tell reps. Great as a recurring start to a Monday call.
• 30-Minute version: Run Rounds 1, 2, and 4. Drop the defensive-rep pressure test. You keep the GROW practice and the commitment, you lose the resilience-under-pushback rep.
• 60-Minute version: Run all four rounds, then add a second clip featuring a *different* device scenario — a surgeon discovery call rather than a VAC pitch — so reps practice GROW across deal stages. Close with each pair coaching the leader live as the final reps-on-reps check.

Common Mistakes & Coaching Cues

• Coaching turns into telling. The manager asks one question, doesn't like the answer, and takes over. Cue: "If you said 'should have,' you stopped coaching."
• Autopsy instead of one moment. Listing every flaw overwhelms and demotivates. Cue: "One coachable moment, the highest-leverage one — not a flaw inventory."
• Skipping Reality, jumping to Options. Prescribing fixes before understanding what actually happened. Cue: "Spend real time in Reality — what was the rep going for in the room?"
• No objective evidence. "I felt like you rushed it" starts an argument. Cue: "Anchor to the recording and a timestamp — make it about the tape, not your opinion."
• Treating defensiveness as disrespect. Reps protect themselves when they feel judged. Cue: "Defensiveness is data. Acknowledge it, stay curious, keep asking."
• No way-forward commitment. A nice conversation with no owned next step. Cue: "End every GROW with: what will you do, by when?"

FAQ

How is GROW different from just giving good feedback? Feedback tells the rep what you observed and what to change. GROW structures a conversation where the rep diagnoses and decides, so they own the next move. Owned plans get executed; handed-down plans get nodded at and forgotten. The drill's ask-not-tell rule is what enforces the difference.

We can't always record OR or in-field meetings — does this still work? Yes. Use recorded virtual VAC calls, recorded pre-call planning and post-call debriefs, or recorded practice role-plays. The point of the Gong clip is *objective evidence* you can both point to.

Any recording the rep consents to works; if none exists, a detailed shared field note can substitute, though it's weaker.

What if the rep gets defensive about being recorded? That's exactly why Round 3 exists and why permission and psychological safety are set up front. Frame the recording as the team's evidence base, not a gotcha. Coach reps stay defensive when reviews feel like judgment, so anchor to learning and let the rep pick the clip when possible.

How often should we run this? Full version monthly with your district; the 5-minute clip-and-GROW-question weekly on team calls. Coaching skill decays fast because telling is the path of least resistance under quota pressure — the weekly micro-rep keeps the ask-not-tell reflex alive.

Does this work for very senior reps who don't want coaching? Yes, because GROW respects their expertise — it asks rather than dictates, which senior reps tolerate far better than being told. With them, lean harder on Options and Way forward and lighter on Reality; they know the reality, they just haven't committed to a change.

What's the single most common failure point? The manager slipping from asking into telling — usually in Round 2 the moment the rep gives an answer the manager doesn't like. The observer role in trios exists to catch exactly this. If your managers can hold ask-not-tell through a frustrating answer, the rest of GROW follows.

Bottom Line

After this drill, your managers can run a GROW coaching conversation grounded in a real Gong recording, hold ask-not-tell through a rep's defensiveness, and end with a plan the rep owns rather than one the manager dictated. Run the full 35–50 minute version monthly and the 5-minute clip-and-question weekly.

Track it in 1:1s: every manager should run one real recorded coaching conversation before the next field day, and the metric is whether the rep left owning the next move.

Sources

• GROW Model — *Coaching for Performance*, Sir John Whitmore / Performance Consultants
• Gong: call review and conversation-intelligence coaching practices
• Gartner: The B2B Buying Journey and buying-group complexity
• Harvard Business Review: "The Leader as Coach"
• Association for Talent Development (ATD): sales coaching and development
• Sandler Training: sales coaching methodology
• SPIN Selling — Huthwaite International, discovery questioning methodology

*coaching skill drill — a runnable team training exercise for medical device sales, with scripts, timing, and coaching cues.*