Written By
Share This Article
Medical device sales leaders are being asked to do more with less.
Average sales prices are dropping, competition is relentless, and the margin for error is disappearing. Market share is won (or lost) through execution, not promises.
Yet many sales organizations still view inventory efficiency as someone else’s problem. Many tell themselves, “This is something operations handles,” or, “It’s finance’s job to track this.”
That mindset is costing performance in the field, with very real consequences to both your bottom line and your credibility in the board room.
In today’s market, inventory isn’t just a supply chain concern. It’s a direct lever on sales productivity, customer trust, and growth. And sales leaders who don’t reset how they think about inventory will find themselves at a disadvantage.
Where Inventory Friction Hits Sales First
When inventory processes break down, sales reps feel it immediately, whether your dashboards recognize it or not. Reps lose time tracking product instead of selling. Cases are delayed or rescheduled. Hospitals lose confidence. Workarounds become routine. And ultimately, patients suffer. None of this shows up as a single line item on a P&L, but it shows up in missed cases, strained relationships, and uneven performance across territories.
For sales leaders, inventory friction quietly erodes the one thing that matters most: consistency in execution.
The Hidden Tax on Rep Productivity
Every manual check. Every last-minute scramble. Every unclear handoff. These aren’t just operational inefficiencies. They’re a tax on your field team’s productivity.
When inventory visibility is poor or processes are inconsistent:
- Reps spend time chasing product instead of selling more
- High performers become slow movers
- New field reps don’t meet ramp-up timelines
- Best practices don’t scale across reps or regions
In a margin-constrained environment, lost time is lost revenue.
Why “Good Enough” Inventory No Longer Is
For years, many organizations accepted inventory friction as the cost of doing business. At the time, the market was forgiving enough to absorb it.
That era is over.
Today, growth comes from:
- Faster response to provider needs
- Fewer errors and exceptions
- More reliable execution at scale
Sales leaders are no longer competing solely on product differentiation. They’re competing on operational excellence.
Inventory systems and workflows that are merely “good enough” are now a liability.
Resetting the Standard for Sales Execution
Resetting the standard means acknowledging a hard truth: Sales performance is increasingly determined by the systems and processes behind your reps, not just the reps themselves.
Leading MedTech sales organizations are shifting their mindset:
- Inventory is treated as a sales enablement function
- Operational efficiency is viewed as a growth lever
- Visibility and accountability are non-negotiable
This doesn’t mean sales leaders need to become operations experts. It means they must demand infrastructure that supports consistent, scalable execution.
What High-Performing Sales Organizations Do Differently
Sales teams that outperform in tight markets share a few key characteristics:
They eliminate friction from the field
Reps know what’s available, where it is, and how to get it—without chasing answers.
They standardize execution across territories
Top performers aren’t succeeding despite the system; they’re succeeding because of it.
They align closely with operations and IT
Inventory decisions are made with sales impact in mind, not as an afterthought.
They measure what actually affects selling time
Productivity isn’t assumed—it’s protected.
The Sales Leader’s Role in Driving Change
Inventory transformation doesn’t happen without sales leadership involvement.
When sales leaders stay disengaged, inventory initiatives default to cost control and compliance. When sales leaders engage, the conversation shifts to:
- Rep effectiveness
- Case reliability
- Provider experience
- Revenue protection and growth
In a market defined by shrinking margins and incremental gains, these differences matter.
The Takeaway
Sales performance today is less about working harder and more about removing friction. Inventory inefficiency is no longer an acceptable drag on growth—it’s a competitive risk. In a market defined by shrinking margins and incremental gains, the organizations that reset the standard for how inventory supports sales execution will outperform those that don’t.
Movemedical works with medical device sales and operations leaders to benchmark how inventory discipline in the field translates into sales performance.
Our 2025 Field Inventory Excellence Report shows how top-performing organizations use operational excellence—across field inventory, bill-only, and PPI programs—to drive consistency, reduce waste, and protect selling time.
For a closer look at one of the most telling indicators, we also break down inventory burn down rates and why they are a leading signal of field inventory maturity—and a direct contributor to sales efficiency.
Because in this environment, efficiency isn’t a cost conversation. It’s how market share is won.
