Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Danielle Cobo: Welcome back to another episode of unstoppable grit podcast. Before we dive in today's episode, I really want to thank the listeners out there who purchased my new book, unstoppable grit, breakthrough, the seven roadblocks standing between you and achieving your goals because of you. The book has already hit bestseller and many categories, including work life balance and business.
Women in business, career guide, job hunting, and top new release and motivational self help. So thank you to all the listeners out there who purchased the book.
Many of you have been sharing feedback on the book and what's been resonating with you. And I'm so happy to hear that the practical strategies. that I've been sharing in the book are helping you define success on your own terms, preventing and overcoming burnout and building a career and life that you love.
I love hearing the feedback from all the listeners who have been reading the book, diving into the pages and have found themselves in those pages. So thank you so much for sharing. Now for today's episode, are you feeling exhausted due to missed opportunities or the pursuit of success? If so, know that you're not alone. If you're in sales, we often face high pressure and intense competition. However, what if there was a way to overcome these challenges?
That's what we're going to be talking about on today's episode. We're going to be featuring the powerhouse of perseverance, Lisa Jacobs.
Danielle Cobo: Hi, Lisa. Thank you so much for joining the podcast today.
Lisa Jacobs: Thank you for having me, Danielle.
Danielle Cobo: Well, you have had a very highly successful career in med tech sales. And before we get into that, I would love to talk about what transpired over the past couple of years and how we got connected. you were actually A result of losing your house in the Hurricane Ian which September 28, 2022, category four, winds up to 162 miles per hour.
I did some research on this hurricane. It was the number three costliest hurricane and the deadliest hurricane since 1935. And you were among one of the people that lost. Everything in this hurricane, and I'm first. So sorry that this took place. I can't imagine the stress and the feeling of losing everything, but share with us your experience of going through the hurricane and what you experienced during that time.
Lisa Jacobs: Sure. Thank you. Yes. so it was interesting. You know, I heard about the hurricane coming and I was in my zone. You know, I was actually in Philadelphia at a surgeon dinner. My husband was begging me not to go and I remember sitting next to my colleague and saying, you know, don't know if we should be here.
I think we should go home early and we were trying to change our flights, but we weren't really. Concerned about it, but we did change to the earliest flight. and we just wanted to get home to be with our kids. My oldest son goes to USF and was evacuated and was home. So I wanted to make sure I was home with him and my husband, but,
didn't really think much of it. You know, we've been through hurricanes before and never had water in our house. just some tree damage. But this one was quite different. and we got back. My husband owns his business. We secure that business. and then we went home and we waited. We got food. We did everything that you normally do secure the house.
but you know, within 10 hours, we water started dripping into the house, and it first came through the door jams, and we were putting towels down, and then all of a sudden, it just started pouring through the windows, nonstop, and we grabbed the dog, we grabbed a cooler, and we all ran upstairs.
Luckily, we remodeled our house, and we had our master bedroom, the only room. Upstairs, and luckily we probably wouldn't have survived if we didn't do that. and I think it was from that time until the next day, about 10 am that we were in the house. and we had 6 feet of water in our 1st floor. And I sat up at night watching it come up the stairs and it came up to about the 6th stair.
and we sat there and the roof was moving. we saw the water coming up right to the house. We had about 7 boats in our backyard. We live on a canal in South Fort Myers. And I have to say, it was the scariest moment for our lives especially my son, who was 20 years old at the time, it was a horrible experience for the 3 of us, but we were there throughout the entire storm.
we left the next day, with a kayak and a paddle board that we brought in the house. and we went to 1 of our friends house. and we were truly homeless for six months after that living in Airbnb or hotels or with friends until we could figure out what was next.
Danielle Cobo: And for those of those that are not familiar with hurricanes, when you say we're gonna, fly back to the hurricane, there might be people out there that are going, why would you be flying to the hurricane versus leaving the hurricane?
And I know I used to think that because I'm originally from California, until I moved to Florida and I realized the preparation that needs to go into preparing for a hurricane. And also to. I don't know how you felt about this particular hurricane, but it was not projected to hit Fort Myers.
In fact, it was projected to hit Tampa, where I'm at, and at the very last second, it made a sharp turn and just hovered. Over Fort Myers and devastated Fort Myers, Sarasota, Sanibel Island. I mean, billions upon billions of dollars of damage were in this hurricane. So I just wanted to kind of share that perspective with people when you're hearing, we flew to the hurricane.
it's really because we weren't anticipating it to be down there and preparation needs to go into that. I have never seen a hurricane like this. I experienced Irma and I've shared my own experience with Irma and previous episodes, but to have the devastation of losing everything is not something that happens often, even with the devastating hurricanes we have.
Lisa Jacobs: True. And, you know, as you mentioned, it wasn't supposed to hit. Fort Myers, it was supposed to hit Tampa. That's why my son was evacuated and I wanted to be with my family. And by the time we were done preparing, I was the last flight in that day. The airport closed. There was no gas. There was no hotels.
you know, the only option we would have had is to drive across the state. But, you know, we did look at, potentially staying, With friends across the state, but, you know, again, there was a gas and we didn't even know if we could make it. So, when hurricanes turn like this as much as you want to be prepared, there's not much time.
They give you before, you know, you have to be secured and hunker down. Plus, there were horrible winds and tornadoes. Our whole front yard. We had 100 year old oaks. there was a tornado before the hurricane that tore down. all of our trees and we were barricaded inside the house.
So, that was another issue that we were facing.
Danielle Cobo: and that's an element too that you bring up about the limited resources that are available, when hurricanes happen. It becomes a frenzy of finding supplies the week leading up to the hurricane. the benefit, I would say the one benefit in silver lining with hurricanes and my experience is we have notice.
So, coming from California where we have devastating earthquakes, we don't have notice on the earthquakes. They just happen and startle us. But with hurricanes, we at least notice, we can prepare, we can get everything settled. However, resources become very, very limited when hurricanes happen. So, all the water is typically out, all the food is out of the grocery stores, gas is typically out.
because people are not only filling up their cars, but people are also filling up gas tanks for generators. For and then to also the element of traffic from evacuations. I remember when Irma hit us, it took my sister in law and normally it takes about 6 hours or 8 hours to drive to Atlanta.
It took her 13 hours because all the roadways were just jam packed with people trying to evacuate. So sometimes it doesn't make sense to evacuate because as you're saying, you never know. What to expect and if you're going to be able to because of power lines down or trees down or not having the resources that you need to actually drive a distance.
Lisa Jacobs: Mm After the hurricane was actually worse. because you heard all the military planes coming in. there was a lot of elderly, you know, on the beach. We have a lot of friends, parents who died. They estimated that there were 80 bodies floating around Fort Myers Beach. I mean, there were houses that were absolutely gone.
So we were very fortunate. You know, when we went outside, there were people on their rooftops, sitting there. Asking for help. so there wasn't much of that in the news. there were a lot of people at Walmart. we're lucky that we were able to buy another house. 6 months later. We just sold last week.
Our house that was in the hurricane. We decided, There was too much pain and devastation there, and we didn't want to tear it down and rebuild. We are away from the water at the moment, but we love that house. We got married on the lot. my kids were raised there, so there was a lot of emotions about leaving that and losing everything and having to rebuild.
but the aftermath of helping and the amount of people that came and actually the people I worked with at the time at Excellus, they all drove over from Palm Beach and. helped and I will be forever grateful for all the people who did help us after. But, unfortunately it was mostly churches and local people helping.
There wasn't much outside help as you would expect.
Danielle Cobo: Well, let's talk about recovery because you have been able to, this was only a year and a half ago. And since then, you've bought a new house, you've been able to rebuild, you've been able to get a new job, had a lot of shifts in your life since this time.
how did you, with your mindset, like how did you, get through that situation? That's gotta be a devastating situation to get through, so what steps did you take to help yourself? Recover from that situation.
Lisa Jacobs: I do this with a lot of, when I have obstacles in my life or devastation or things that are hard.
I compartmentalize, you know, when I'm at work, I'm locked in. I'm incredibly laser focused and whatever I'm working on. I'm working on at that in the moment. I used to get distracted a lot and I realized to be incredibly productive. I have to be completely locked into what I'm doing. So when I'm at work, I'm completely focused on that.
And, but when I have to deal with things at home, deal with that separately. And, I actually have a productivity cube that I use. So when I'm working on projects at home, I, you know, 45 minutes, that's what I'm working on, that's what I'm doing. But it is a. Mindset that you have to be cognizant of all the time of how to be laser focused and locked in with what you're doing and not to let outside emotions or other things going on in your life affect, what your goal is and what your dreams are, you know, and I was incredibly motivated because, you know, we were very comfortable.
We paid off our house. We paid off our cars. I have two kids in college. and my children are typically my biggest motivator. You know, I want them to have more than I did. I want them to have more opportunities. So I work incredibly hard to provide that for them. So I knew, that I needed to continue and work and go towards my goals.
It actually made me level up because I knew that I had to take myself and my career, my finances to the next level to, shorten my curve of everything I just lost. So. I worked harder. you know, I absolutely wanted more. So it did actually level me up.
Danielle Cobo: What was the biggest learning lesson when you reflect back into this past year and a half and what you've gone through and where you are today?
What was the biggest learning lesson for you?
Lisa Jacobs: That you really don't need much. you know, I have been replaced everything that I lost, and there is very few things that you really need. If you have, you know, your family and the things that are important to, you know, I lost all the baby pictures, I lost all the yearbooks.
I lost all of that. And luckily we have a lot digital ties now, but, you know, for me to be successful at work, all I needed was my laptop and a new car, and I was. Able to run with it, right? So, you know, sometimes I think that we think we need certain clothes or certain briefcase or we need this or that to be successful.
You don't. And I think that's what I like about the grid, right? it's just the basics you need and you need your knowledge and you need tenacity and you need to be resilient and persistent to be successful. And, that's it. You don't need much more than that.
Danielle Cobo: There's a lot of times it's easy to get caught up into the society of the need. I need to have this to be successful. I need to have that to be successful. Whatever it is, and you break it down to the simplistic elements of, at the end of the day, we really don't need very many material things. And we can get so caught up in the, I need that to be successful, when really, What we need is to believe in ourselves, to have the grit, to have the tenacity, the resilience, to have that drive.
Because success is within us, whether we have, all the material things that we need or we don't. You think about some of the people that have come out of extreme poverty have not had the same opportunities, but they've had the drive, they've had the grit, they've had the tenacity to keep going.
So you've had a really successful career in medical sales and When you think about your career, what do you believe has led to some of your success in, going from an individual contributor role, being in sales, and then be growing into a VP of sales?
Lisa Jacobs: I think is listening and having compassion, with people, whether it's the surgeon who is giving feedback on your product or on the company, whether it is the sales, rep who is learning, but I think where the biggest misses on a lot of these companies, um, Is that they don't listen to feedback, whether it's from the customer, whether it's from the, that committee, and listen to everybody who's has the boots on the street and who is testing your business model, who is.
You know, using the product and giving feedback. sometimes a lot of decisions are made on the boardroom with people who aren't front facing. so I think my success is that, I'm happy to go into cases and see how the technology is working. I have lots of conversations with, all different stakeholders, but then also in the boardroom, I can give accurate, scalable feedback so companies can grow and scale very quickly.
I see that
Danielle Cobo: as well a lot of times in organizations where a lot of the decisions are made at the top end level without having the perspective of as you say, the boots on the ground, the ones that are interacting with the customers on a day to day basis. And I'm a true believer that the best resource an organization has.
Is its employees and especially the employees that are in the customer service department, the employees that are the sales reps, because they have the direct interaction on a day to day basis with the customers and understanding what their challenges are, what their needs are, and exactly what it's going to take.
To take that business to the next level. So I agree with you a hundred percent that the biggest lesson to take away for executive leadership is to really take the time to listen to your team. Ask them questions, get them involved in the decision making process, get them involved in, hearing feedback as well.
and when they're doing assessments, actually take the feedback, listen to it, and then respond to it too. That's Another area that I see organizations where they'll ask for feedback and they either do nothing with it or they don't actually provide a report back so that the employees feel like they've been
Lisa Jacobs: heard.
Correct. And same with surgeons, you know, surgeons want to be heard. surgeons, you know, if they're having problems with a case, sometimes you're like, what is the surgeon doing wrong? Well, no, that's not what we say. It's usually not the answer. You know, there may be a new instrument needed for a product, or there may be some pearls of the product that we're not doing in training.
So, truly listening to the customer, I think, is the most important. And I care about people. I care about. Not only them, on a professional level, but on a personal level, you know, where do they want to be in a year, five years? What are their goals? How, you know, where do they want to be? Is do they want to get to the executive level?
Are they happy where they're at? Or. how to keep people passionate about what they're doing, because that's when you have success in sales is when you keep that passion because it's a tough industry. you get beat up a lot, you get said no to a lot. So how do you keep that fire in people's bellies every day to go out and sell?
Danielle Cobo: Yeah. Now, when we talk about sales, you have this perspective of being in sales and also the perspective of being a leader in sales and, for our listeners, whether they're in sales or not, I believe that there's a particular mindset, a particular, behavior personality that really thrives in sales.
What are some of the types of characteristics that you see, when it comes to being successful in sales?
Lisa Jacobs: you have to be obviously incredibly motivated. And what does motivated mean right? It means that you consistently do the actionable items it takes to be successful every day. so I think that that is something internal that you can't teach people.
And when I interview people, I'm always looking for that quality. you know, there's just certain characteristics that people who can be. Persistent. who don't get down if they're said no to many times. also a pleasant personality that you listen more than you speak. I think a lot of time you have a widget that you want to sell and you have that in the mind.
But the surgeon may be having a different problem right now with different products and you're not listening to what his problems are. And you could probably sell something else in your bag other than the widget that. so much. You know, you have in your hand that you're trying to sell. also, you know, just.
Having fun, you know, one company, one CEO I worked with said whistle while you work. If you love what you do and you use passion and you're having fun while you're doing it, people want to work with you. They want to see that you love what you do. They want to help you. So I think that's really important, not just to wear the company badge, but also why are you there?
and I think in sales. Especially in medical sales, you have to believe in what you're selling.
Danielle Cobo: When it comes to hiring, I was a hiring manager for seven years and looking for those key characteristics of drive and motivation because I can teach someone the products, I can teach them the industry, but I can't teach somebody to wake up every single morning and have the drive to go out and cold call to go out and meet with customers to have the resilience to bounce back after setbacks.
So being able to have like having those innate characteristics and that drive to succeed a lot of times is either in someone or not. Now, it can be learned and it can grow, but it's a characteristic that it really, when you look at all areas of business, whether you're in sales, whether you own a business or, Also, somebody that runs marathons and exercise.
It's that drive to just keep going forward, and to not let those setbacks define or to stop at that moment. So action is key. Absolutely. Definitely. and you talked to about, I like that whistle as you work, there was a guest on my podcast, Courtney Clark, and she said a profound statement that really resonated.
And it was burnout is not a result of working long hours. Burnout is a result of lack of. Purpose and passion in what you do. I
Lisa Jacobs: love that. That absolutely resonates with me as well, but it's true. If you are not passionate or you're disgruntled with the company that you work for, I think it's time just to move on.
You know, you have to love what you're doing. You have to be excited about it and you have to be on the same mission as the entire team. It has to be one team. One mission and you execute together. You have to be sometimes an individual contributor, but you also have to be a team contributor. So I really like to hire people who are athletes because they understand that mindset or people have been in the military because they also have that mindset.
Danielle Cobo: Yeah, I remember there was a hiring manager that we, at the company that I worked for, we always did co interviews. So we would interview together and they would always ask, is there any sports that you played in high school? And it could possibly be a deal breaker when it looks at two quality candidates.
And the reason being is because he saw the emphasis of working in and having a sports background, is being a team player, that competitiveness, that drive, the consistency, those characteristics that you see in that team sport, kind of always was that little one differentiator on why we would hire that particular person, even though.
To quality candidates. And it's interesting because a lot of times people won't necessarily share that they played a high school sport. And I'm like, share that. That's absolutely relevant because Those are the key skills and core competencies that we learned just a very early age that evolve into where we're at today.
That leads to our success.
Lisa Jacobs: Absolutely. I completely agree. So where
Danielle Cobo: kind of you have started this networking group, Stripes, and I'd love for you to share with our audience what this group is and the mission that you hold in helping others.
Lisa Jacobs: Yes, so stripes is, a women's network in med tech.
and why we started it is I was speaking to a lot of women, especially on linkedin and in medical sales college when I was teaching and they were looking for organization, not just for executive women, but women who are just getting started, whether you're in customer service or, um, you're in a C suite executive.
This is for absolutely inclusive for everybody. We are having a mentorship program, where you can ask any questions on how do I do a job interview? How do I ask for that promotion? how do I ask for the raise? you know, just a networking. What obstacles are you having in your industry? If you're having your first boardroom meeting and you're in a sea of middle aged white men in suits, how do you conduct yourself to get the respect that you deserve?
So it is, unique in that sense where it's all encompassing of all women. we do have men join sometimes as well for some of our webinars, but we do have monthly webinars and we just started a group called Breakthrough. So breaking the glass ceilings, and I created a work. book that people can use to help their goals in 2024.
So, we have a panelist interview coming up shortly where we get international women as well. So we get people from, around the globe who want to join and who want to network, and want to. help each other out. And I think that it was women instead of pinning each other against each other in this industry, that we have to raise each other up and we all can win together.
you know, I've had a lot of mentors in my life who are men, but there seems to be more and more women coming in, med tech and med device. And, I just wanted to have a place, a safe place where women could go that they could share their problems or successes and feed off each other and hold each other accountable.
And be energized with each other.
Danielle Cobo: I believe something we've needed for a long time. I wish that this resource existed when I first started in my career, because I started my career when I was 23 years old and it was a predominantly male dominated industry in capital equipment sales. I was one of seven women out of a hundred sales reps in the company.
And the stories and in the experience that I had definitely developed grit early on at an age of my career, but it would have been so nice to have a program and a network like what you've created with stripes that is going to help guide and provide resources to women to really succeed and for the men that are joining in on those webinars.
Thank you for advocating and in trying to just understand a different perspective and looking at ways to support. So thank you for joining for those men. It's
Lisa Jacobs: wonderful. I know I have a great group of men who are reposting all the stripes information and I am so thankful and it's actually. Giving me a new motivation.
I love the outreach. I love talking to people. I have a co founder, Brandy, who I have worked with for years. She does the marketing standpoint of it. I do more of the sales obviously of getting speakers and Danielle. I know that you're coming up. So we thank you for that. But, you know, it's just been so wonderful.
And we just started about 6 months ago and we're growing very quickly. So it shows that there's a need for something like this in the industry.
Danielle Cobo: Yes, there absolutely is. And you're part of the Chief community as well. I saw that you're a Chief member. Yes,
Lisa Jacobs: and you know, that's why I actually, one reason why I started Stripes because I love Chief, and I met an amazing group of women.
but unfortunately in Florida There wasn't a networking there where you can go and meet people live, but the medical device network was a little slim. So, and that was the main reason why I joined is I wanted more of that. So I figured if it's not there, then why not just started on our own?
Because obviously there's a need for it.
Danielle Cobo: Absolutely. So if it doesn't exist, we can create it. And that's a great message too, because if there's something out there that we truly believe that there's a need for, that it's going to make a difference, then we get to be the creators of it. We don't need to wait for somebody else to create it.
We get to create it ourselves. So I'm grateful for people like you that are out there, creating programs and networks to help other people. It's something that we need. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for joining today's podcast. I really appreciate it and sharing your message about resilience and overcoming this hurricane that you went through and, also the qualities and characteristics it takes to succeed in sales.
Thank you.
Lisa Jacobs: Danielle. Well,
Danielle Cobo: for those that are listening, thank you so much for joining, Unstoppable Grit podcast with Danielle Kobo. I really am grateful for your listenership and if you enjoyed today's episode, please share this episode with your friends, your family, your colleagues. If you know somebody who is in medical sales and this message will resonate with them, please share it and continue to expand the network of the Unstoppable Grit podcast.
And until next week. Be unstoppable.