Meet Kendy.

Meet Kendy.

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Kendy is a proud graduate of Clemson University with a degree in Biology. He began his career pairing his passion for science with his devotion to help others by pursuing a career in education as a science teacher and athletic coach. With an entrepreneurial spirit since early childhood, he always knew he wanted to build and grow businesses. He found the perfect opportunity to pair his strengths as a driven entrepreneur and educator with his science background in medical sales, and has since become an award-winning medical sales representative.

With over 10 years in the industry selling for the top healthcare companies, he has consistently outperformed sales goals and exceeded quotas. From receiving the rising star award in his first year to a presidents club recipient, Kendy has a proven record of success and achievements. He now wants to share his secrets to success with others and help them achieve their goals through his coaching and mentoring program he's established as the founder of The Lobby.

Specialties: medical sales, coaching, entrepreneurship, start-ups, networking, mentorship, sales

How it started.

“I've had an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, starting when I would buy candy bars and pencils at Costco and then go to school and sell them for 25 cents.

After graduating from Clemson with a BS degree in Biological Sciences, I taught high school science and coached baseball and football for 5 years. I've always loved teaching and coaching others.

I love the process of helping someone develop and achieve their goals. During this time, I also realized I was missing that entrepreneurial drive and wanted to pursue a career in building businesses.

After 5 years in education, I was introduced into medical sales by a friend...and was hooked.

I would spend my days off shadowing him and riding around with him all day to learn the business. I then spent the next year doing everything I could to get a job in medical sales. I read books, emailed recruiters, applied to every job I could find, and networked with anyone I could that was actively in the industry.

It was like a secret society that felt like I was never going to get an invite to join.

I kept thinking, "If only there was a networking event that I could attend and meet some of these people. I know I could sell myself and they would see my potential.

This was the first time I thought about a networking group for medical sales.

I saved every medical/pharmaceutical/dental companies job posting page that I could find and every evening when I got home I would check to see if any new jobs had been posted and, if so, I applied to them.

I hired someone to rewrite my resume for me, I created a business plan, 30/60/90 day plans and began to create a “brag book.”

Finally, after a year of rejection, no responses, and beginning to feel like it was never going to happen, I convinced an HR recruiter to give me a shot at an interview. It took my selling myself hard and borderline begging, but I got a chance. I spent the next 2 weeks learning everything I could about the company, their products, their competition, and their history.

On the morning of the interview, I woke up and drove 3 hours to the hotel where we were schedule to meet. I got there early to sit in the lobby and check out my competition. When it was finally my turn, I sat in front of the two hiring managers and spent an hour selling myself, my experience and convincing them I was the man for the job. I had printed out an entire portfolio of all their products and their competitions products. We discussed the company and the role. At the end of the interview, I knew I had to “close them,” as they teach you in sales, and asked for the job.

After several more interviews and ride-alongs, I was given that job.

I would later find out it was my preparation and confidence that beat out my competition. From that day forward, my life has never been the same. I was all-in. I loved everything about sales, building relationships, setting goals, getting bonuses, competing at the highest level in my industry, all of it. I began reading books, studying what successful reps did, asking questions, and the best thing of all, having fun while doing it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, my first job as an associate sales rep was a grind. I was responsible for covering two states (North and South Carolina) so it meant a lot of nights on the road and in hotels. It meant giving up my routines at home, missing out on events during the week.

But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to follow my dreams.

I still remember my first sales training event. It was a Dale Carnegie sales training. I attended with myself, three other associate sales reps that were hired at the same time as me, our manager, and about twenty other tenured salesman. I remember feeling so intimidated. What am I doing here? Three weeks ago, I was teaching high school biology and coaching baseball. Now I’m at one of the top sales training courses (Dale Carnegie training) in the country.

At the end of the long training week, they held a sales competition. We were broken up into several groups and everyone presented to their group. Each group then chose one person to represent their group in a competition in front of the class. Much to my surprise, I was chosen to represent my group. I was now standing next to my manager in front of the class competing to see who would walk away with the top sales ranking for the class.

Me, who was teaching high school science a few weeks ago, against my boss, who had been in the industry for 10 years. I ended up receiving the award and it was just the confidence booster I needed to get started in sales.

1 year later...

A year into the role, I was beginning to really learn the business and was given the opportunity to take on my own territory in Jacksonville, FL. I didn’t know anyone in the city and had never been to the city before, but it was an opportunity to advance my career and one that I couldn’t turn down. I spent the next 2 years in Jacksonville traveling all over North Florida continuing to gain experience and perfect my craft.

I was given an incredible opportunity to begin my career in capital equipment sales and I will be forever grateful for that opportunity. Capital sales requires a lot of overnight travel and covering hundreds of different accounts, so unfortunately, you don’t develop strong relationships. I knew I wanted to work in a smaller local territory that gave me the opportunity to really develop strong relationships. That meant moving to a role in the operating room providing surgical implants.

I now had 3 years of sales experience and felt a lot more confident going into the job search as compared to when I did it as a teacher. However, I had to go back to using the same tools as before—contacting recruiters, networking with other reps in the area, and checking job boards.

I knew then that there needed to be a better way for people in medical sales to connect and network.

Wouldn’t it be so nice if there was a platform that I could post on..”experience. Wants to get into the OR” There has to be other companies looking for someone exactly like that but there is no platform/app/website/network for the two groups to connect…until now ;)

This next stop in my life journey was one I can say I definitely did not see coming. A friend of mine in medical sales (the same guy I spent my days off riding with as a teacher) reached out to me about a position his boss was looking to fill in St Thomas. I still remember getting the call.. Kendy, I found your next job for you.

Great! What is it? Its a position selling orthopedics in the OR in St Thomas. St Thomas? Like the island?

Yep! Where is that?

I don’t know, but I think you should take the job!

A week later, I found myself having drinks with the hiring manager getting all of the details about the open position in St Thomas. I agreed to go visit the island and get a feel for the opportunity (who turns down a trip to St Thomas regardless of whether or not I took the job?).

I would end up accepting the job as orthopedic sales rep covering the US Virgin islands and moving my life to an island in the middle of the ocean. What would turn out to be one of the best experiences of my life and to this day a place that will forever have a piece of my heart. I not only learned all about the OR, orthopedics and developing close relationships with surgeons, but I was able to experience a culture and lifestyle that had a huge impact on me. I was hired as a 1099 rep during my years in St Thomas that for the first time I actually began to build my own business.

To date, my experience as a sales rep was as a W2 employee. Now I would be tasked with starting and growing a business of my own. I created my first LLC, I began reading business and professional growth books and truly learning what it meant to build a company. Sitting on a deserted beach in the Caribbean reading 5 Hour work week turned out to be a moment that would change my life forever. It was at that moment that my mindset shifted from just “being a sales rep” to building a business and the life that I always dreamed of. I would spend the next 3 years building Elmore Medical Sales LLC into a thriving orthopedic business in the Virgin Islands. I also believe it was during these years that I began to become a dreamer and think bigger than myself.

Maybe it was the salt water or the sunsets that will stop you in your tracks and make you stop to observe the beauty. It was the perfect combination of business drive and dreaming that has fueled my drive for creating and serving something bigger than myself today. I would later receive a phone call for an opportunity to move back to Charleston, SC where I had originally left 6 years ago to pursue this career in medical sales.

Those years had taught me so much about sales, life, and myself. I now had an opportunity to go back to where it all started, the same town I was previously a teacher, but am now being recruited to come back as a medical sales rep. The same industry that wouldn’t give me the time of day now recognizes my abilities and success. I am now "in the club" and opportunities continue to present themselves. Opportunities from the same companies that refused to talk to me as a teacher or even acknowledge an email. They would later become the same companies that recruited me for job opportunities.

I accepted the position back in Charleston and returned home but not before starting another business in St Thomas. Maybe it is a reason to continue to “have” to go back to the virgin islands but it was my first start up company that I created. The logo, the website, the business plan..it was the first time I would truly create my own living business.

Anyone that has started a company can relate and understand that while it is one of the most exciting things you can do in life it is also one of the most stressful and agonizing things to do to yourself. Sleepless nights, constant worries, insecurities, feeling lost, high highs, low lows, you experience all the emotions, but there is no greater teacher than the experience of starting a company.

I would continue my success and receive the highest award a medical sales rep can receive— The Presidents Club. An all expense paid week long vacation for you and a guest to unexclusive resort full of activities, massages, dinners, gifts, and awards.

The feeling of having my name called to walk across the stage and be recognized as one of the top sales representatives in one of the top medical device companies is a moment I will never forget. Thinking back to all of the rejection, all of the hard work, moving several times to advance myself in my career and to now be recognized on stage as one of the best of the best in the industry.

As we continued to grow the Charleston market we would now need to hire additional reps to support the business. For the first time, I was now on the other side of the fence and in the position of hiring. For years, I had only known what is was like to be on the job hunt but now I was on the search to hire someone. However, I would find myself using the same old tools… job boards, recruiters, LinkedIn, etc.

There was still no networking events. Not central platform that all medical sales reps were on. No site I could go to and find individuals like myself 7 years prior hungry to get into the business. Why is there still not a platform for all medical sales reps to connect and network?

I had now not only created a name for myself within the company but other companies began to notice my success and more opportunities in Charleston continued to present themselves. I was eventually recruited by the largest medical device company and offered a position to help run their largest territory.

And here’s the kicker—because of my non compete agreement I had with my current employer, they were willing to pay me more money than I had ever dreamed of making when I got into medical sales and I would have to work for a year! Wait? You are going to pay me this much money and you know I can’t work in Charleston for a year? 7 years ago you wouldn’t even respond to me emails and now you are going to pay me not to work!?

It just goes to show that once you figure out the code of breaking into the industry, work hard and prove yourself, the possibilities are endless.

As I now surpass the 10 year mark in medical sales, I find myself driven to make a lasting impact on this industry.

An industry that has treated me so well over the last decade. One that has shaped me into the person and businessman I am today. I now want to solve a major piece I see missing in the industry (networking) as well as lobby for individuals wanting to pursue a career in medical sales.

That is why I created The Lobby: A Medical Sales Network.

The Lobby is a networking group for reps to connect and build community. I think back to when I was needing to hire reps… what if I could go to a Lobby event and recruit someone for our opening? I think back to when I was living in Jacksonville wanting to move back to Charleston…what if I could put up a post in The Lobby’s platform or attend one of the local events and let companies know I wanted to move back to Charleston?

I also want to create an opportunity for all the individuals in my previous situation of trying to break into medical sales and just needed an opportunity. An opportunity to meet and network with other people already in the industry. And above all else, to create an event/platform/medium for all of those people to come together in one space.

I want to take everything this industry has taught me over the last decade and pass it on to the next generation. I believe this company will forever change the industry. It will give individuals wanting to break into the industry coaching, training, and networking opportunities. It will give a current rep moving from South Carolina to California a place to network.