Recently, TSB received an e-mail from our all time favorite platform Stinkedin, oops I mean Linkedin. Sometimes one must wonder whether the power of the internet is omnipotent that everyone is willing to drink the koolaid. I mean even the President is gullible enough to believe that Silicon Valley is going to produce more jobs in the U.S.. No doubt, that TSB is guilty by delivering a platform called The Spine Blogger on a weekly basis. What we don't believe in doing is sharing information, pictures, and other personal information. Do any of you really give a "rats derriere" whether someone you really don't know, was in Brazil this weekend partying with Barack Obama? In addition, I disabled my Facebook account when I started getting all these weird e-mails from people that claimed they were my friends. Truthfully and no offense, TSB doesn't even know whom some of you are. If one looks up the definition of the word "friends," it means a person attached to another by feelings or affection. My all time favorite was when someone I really didn't know sent me a picture of himself and his wife, whom of course was exhibiting her decolletage, and TSB is being generous with our choice of words. Can we talk? I guess he was proud to show off his trophy wife. But this isn't really what this post is about.
This morning TSB received an e-mail from someone on Linkedin that was announcing that Life Spine was looking for Regional Sales Mangers Nationwide. Is this company even in existence? Hasn't this company gone through more managers than Imelda Marcos went through shoes? Even Hannibal Lecter would tell you that, "people don't always tell you what they're thinking, they just see to it that you don't advance in life." Granted, many people believe that their baby is beautiful, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So if anyone is looking for a job, this is a golden opportunity to be tormented like Agent Starling. By the way, whatever happened to Chris Cochran? You know what Rick Blaine said in Casablanca, "Louis, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship." So if you're looking for work, crank up that typewriter and get your resume out there, opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. TSB wants to know what our bloggers think?
I've seen lost of "trophy wives" but none of them ever won the 1st place trophy!!!!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work.
Chris Cochran is doing great at SpineArt
ReplyDeleteI think we should hold all Life Spine employees in our Sunday prayers. Poor souls...
ReplyDeleteThey have gone through many good people. I don't understand why anybody would accept a job there.
i would like to put my resume in for one of these positions, as long as I could be micro-managed by the second coming of Roy Yoshimi Mr. Spineblogger. Heard that working for this CEO is worse than working for Dr. Lecter.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Roy is the WORST - unless micromanaging every detail in your life (incorrectly!) is a good thing.
Delete"a spine CEO once tried to test me, I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti" fafafafafafafafafafafa, let me at 'em
ReplyDeleteSomeone once said that the proper management of internal expectations to ensure that such are realistic is the key to success. However, that being said, if internal expectations are not in line with external perception, challenges will soon follow. Those that are "In the know" can connect the dots
ReplyDelete"Chris Cochran is doing great at SpineArt." Glad to hear it.
ReplyDeleteJudge not lest ye be judged.
What the hell?
ReplyDelete"What the hell?"
ReplyDeleteAnonymously casting stones at people BY NAME, who can't punch back is a bunch of bullshit. Chris Cochran seems like about as good a guy as any on this board, and a dam sight better than a number of the douchebags who regularly post here. You know who you are.
..and Cochran's subsequent replacement Todd Fanning..gone also in months. At least four recruiters working this one. Tough times indeed.
ReplyDeleteyou know its messed up when recruiters make more money than reps. what a bs job-
ReplyDeleteAre you reading the same thing that I am reading dipshit? Where in TSB's post is someone casting stones at Cochran? Was there ever anything negative written about him in this post? And whoever was throwing him under the bus in the comment section. Dude get over your insecurities.
ReplyDeleteChris Cochran is so gay. Kidding!! He is a great guy. Hilarious how this devolved...
ReplyDeleteI agree with 2:46 whose the numbskull Anonymous 2:22 that writes a bunch of BS, stay on the topic of Lite Spine, who the hell is even saying anything about Cochran, must be a relative of Chris' or Butler attempting to divert attention from his amateur operation.
ReplyDelete"Chris Cochran is so gay."
ReplyDeleteCool, me too! What's his phone number?
If Chris went to SpineArt he found a good home. That company is a class act.
ReplyDeleteSpineArt a class act? Really. They do have innovative booth art and graphics, but has anyone seen anything particularly classy or unique about their products after they are removed from the display case? Isn't Trent Northcutt the VP of Sales? Hasn't he and Cochran bounced around a lot for the past several years?
ReplyDeleteLifeSpine - you talk about ankle biters. Nice try on a cervical plate, but who cares at this point. Knowing a number of players who got a clue and escaped as soon as it was obvious Butler was the only person who's opinion mattered, most have gained more respect by leaving and having the foresight to realize there was nothing they were going to be able to do that could earnestly keep that ball rolling.
Name a VP of Sales in Spine who has not "bounced around". The bad thing is if even they are incompetent tools, the poor SOB RSM's all usually get the boot along with them when the new VP rolls in and brings in his out of work homies.
ReplyDeletestupid ass recruiters !!! sit on linked in all day looking for people to call and get modest checks for doing so! what a bunch of quacks! do they even leave their house or pimped out apartments?
ReplyDeleteSounds like the recruiters have a similar job description as most spine reps do. Do a little running and collect a check.
ReplyDeleteWhy is anyone wasting even one minute on LifeSpine? Recruiter issue is an interesting one. Full of self proclaimed "experts" most of who were failures in this business. Basically broken into 2 groups: First is a bunch of low class groupies hanging out at NASS booths or hotel lobby bars flashing a little nip, look for the blondes and redheads. By midnight you can find them slurring their words & drooling. The rest are a bunch of middle aged dudes pissed off at the groupies, sitting in front of their laptops surfing porn and smoking cigarettes.
ReplyDeleteOverall a great class of people to trust your career with.
Good luck with LifeSpine - tell them what they want to hear, take the $150K and relax for two years. Its not a bad living.
Once again, the spine reps and recruiters are sounding very much alike
ReplyDelete5:26 Great comeback - hit the nail on the head. Only difference may be that spine reps make more money then their customers. Its a great business fellow spine reps, take advantage of it while you can.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how I always hear people call out companies for not being innovative, but in reality who is these days? That short list keeps getting shorter. Innovation seems largely stifled across the board in this industry. Engineers that actually want to innovate seem to be migrating away from spine and into other areas where they can actually put their talents to use.
ReplyDeleteRecruiters kill it in this business! The numbers are staggering and the results are minimial...just ask atec!
ReplyDeleteI heard that LANX will be doing their annual house cleaning starting in June (end of second quarter+dismal sales).
ReplyDeleteRecruiters- on your mark, get set, go- try to find someone who will work for them!
It is sad that quality people get trashed by these companies as well as the losers.
"even the losers get lucky sometimes"
ReplyDeletetom petty
I like Trent Northcutt. I interviewed with him when he was at ATEC. I thought he was a good guy. I didnt take the job (because i wasnt fond of one of the guys under him), so I dont know what he is like to work for.
ReplyDeleteThe recruiting business may be a side job for me. With the constant change of spine reps, that's a mini goldmine to be had.
ReplyDeleteChris and Trent together...should be better than the Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling team. The Swiss won't know what hit them until it's far too late. What's SpineArt going to do once the "Paid for Prpa" goes away??? Looks like they'll have to write another $200k to get back to $4million in sales. Good luck to those Great People!
ReplyDeleteAs in Branko Prpa?
DeleteWhat the hell is a Spine Art? Is it a company that does oil paintings and pastels of the human spine? And what's with the website, even Xe Services, LLC formerly known as Blackwater is more informative. If Chris an Trent are better than Ken Lay and Skilling they'll definitely be known as the smartest men in the room, can you say consulting agreement?
ReplyDeleteSpineArt marketing looks like its done by a French art-school dropout. Like having a booth that looks like the Borg spaceship from Star Trek. Or featuring pictures of some lame cage inserter tarted up like a flower or butterfly or some LSD hallucination. I don't know how Trent puts up with the Euro-arrogance.
ReplyDeleteOne pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small
ReplyDeleteAnd the one that mother gives you, don't do anything at all,
Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall
When men on the chessboard, Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom and your mind is moving slow
Go ask Alice, I think she'll know
Careful what you say here. Mr. Butler just might take all you anonymous folks to court. He's hugely protective of anything poor said about his organization...a true nutcase.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the sales reps there...the engineers rotate in and out of that place every 12-18 months. That company is EASY pickings for recruiters by the way.
Northcut at Spine Fart give me a break. He and others gone helped run us into the ground at LANX. He could become his own recruiter.
ReplyDeleteRecruiters are like Reps? Yeah, ok...how? Cause they own a fax machine, cell phone and have an active email account?
ReplyDeleteAre recruiters available 24/7? Nope, just when they need something from YOU.
Do recruiters get dragged to dinner 3 nights a week and get the pleasure of listening to "surgeon X" talk about how great he/she is? Nope
Are recruiters overpaid, yes
Are reps overpaid, yes
Are surgeons overpaid, yes
Are any three of us alike...HELL NO
Why a company would ever pay a recruiter is beyond me. They get all their info from REPS anyway?
Next time a recruiter asks a rep for a referral, ask them what's in it for YOU? I got plenty of good candidates, but it will cost you Mr Executive Recruiter....Hello, are you still there Mr Executive Recruiter? Did I lose you? Helloooooooo?
It's a one way street with those executive knuckleheads
lol!
ReplyDeleteThe butterfly image on the implants is a nice touch.
ReplyDeleteIve been told that they offer the surgeon the opportunity to submit a ph0to 0f themselves, and the company will make the surgeon his own custom set of implants with their own image etched on them. Its called the Renoir Project. Talk about service and differentiation.
I wish my company would be forward thinking enough do something like this.
Just what the industry needs, another cage and cervical disc. let's see how quickly we can saturate the market and then move on to the next thing. What are they preparing for the inevitable, aka the end.
ReplyDelete8:14 too funny. Lanx hasn't had any mid or upper management for more than a year. Complete turnover 2 or 3 times per position in the last 3 years. Not as blatant as the link'd in guys cruising the website for anybody that has the term medical in their bio, but they are recruiting for a southeast and midwest regional manager to replace guys that haven't even been there 1 year. How do you like them apple turnovers?
ReplyDeleteThis blog was a complete waste of time.
ReplyDelete@3:34 -
ReplyDeleteTSB - Dude! You can, like, READ!?! Earned yourself a drink, if I manage to lay a glove on you. Too few can draw the analogues anymore...
@6:19 -
ReplyDeleteEngineers haven't worked in spine for while that I can tell. Not for nothing - innovation is a regulatory disaster. Can't have an innovative me-too squeak thru the 510k, eh?
Who cares about these people/companies? SpineArt? Lanx? Alphatec? I dont know where you people are, but these clowns dont sniff a penny of business in my area. Total non-factors. Ive never even heard of SpineArt? They'll all be gone in 5 years
ReplyDeleteThis industry is very insestuous. As long as spine remains profitable, companies like Lanx, Globus etc will continue to look to poach talent, pay them huge money to "bring over business", then cut them loose when it doesnt work. People bounce around for the wrong (and sometimes right) reasons. It's just like any other sales job in the world, just overworked and overpaid
Here's a novel thought...........When will company's begin to treat the ones that ACTUALLY maintain the relationships (sales mgt, dist & rep) with the customers as an asset and not a pathway to poach someone's Rolodex? We now have 125+ spine companies all going after the same distribution channel to get to what...YOUR customer. Remember the education of Supply & Demand? Haven't the tables turned in the relationship bearers favor? Every spine company is out there scrambling for every dollar and you ask why? Innovation is dead, no one wants to pay for innovation, relationships are KING! Perhaps it is now time for the ones that hold the cards on the relationships to have the non-competes written in a mutual fashion. After all, I bet every company would be more cautious when "turning and burning" employees, distributors and representatives if each time they do they limit their "newly found" customer base.
ReplyDelete@11:04
ReplyDeleteDo your research on SpineArt and you will not be so quick to dismiss them. Can your company do a T10-Pelvis with 1 tray? Didn't think so. They have been in Europe and made a huge dent in the market over there...a $50 million/yr dent in socialized medicine! They are years ahead of all U.S companies in set design, Sterile implants, and new products that will go through the IDE process. Yes, the very expensive and long IDE process.
SpineArt does not belong in the same category as Alphatec, Lanx or any other me too company. They are doing things the right way, through innovation. They may have a pedicle screw but the way it's designed, delivered and implanted is new to the industry.
Where is your territory........I would love to stop by.
12:34
ReplyDeleteWhat works in Europe and the US are very different. Euro surgeons want simple systems with a minimum of instrumentation. US surgeons want Cadillac systems with all the bells and whistles (even if they rarely use them).
Bragging that you only have one tray for instruments and implants for a thoracopelvic fusion is a typical Euro-centric sales pitch. U.S docs don't give a crap about that - they want compressor options, reduction options, in-situ adjustment options, etc. Its freedom versus socialism - think about it.
to 12:34..
ReplyDeletesurgeons could care less that they can do a T10-pelvis with 1 tray. In fact, they'd probably be wondering why there arent more implant/instrument offerings...its not a selling point
Sterile implants are as novel as the cross connector. Europe vs US is apples to oranges
what about south korean screws?
ReplyDeleteto 12:34 "Freedom versus socialism"? Really? They can use almost anything they want in Europe (freedom) and because of that level of competition they have lower prices (capitalism). Here we have the FDA say what's good and bad for everyone (big government socialism) so there is less innovation, less differentiation, higher prices and accordingly less value per dollar spent. All of this makes the US a great place to sell a product, Europe a better place to develop one, and has me giving thanks because it allows so many of us to make an honest living.
ReplyDelete5:49 couldn't be more wrong. European pricing is lower because the socialized healthcare won't support high prices for implants. It has nothing to do with capitalism. In the U.S. implant prices remained high because insurance companies would pay for them. Prices are now dropping because reimbursement is going down. The FDA has nothing to do with implant pricing, it is only a roadblock for innovation which drives prices higher.
ReplyDeleteYour freedom vs socialism argument makes no sense at all.
12:34
ReplyDeleteT-10 to Pelvis, one tray. Really? OR RN here. Wow, they actually kit it with 5-6 screw diameters, hooks, instrumentation, derotation, offsets, dominos, axial reducers? Amazing, really in one tray? Passing sterilization too? Amazing gracious goodness.
OMG, 50M in the EU too? Check it out, mostly from cervical disc consultants.
How much did it cost to make that 50M?
Northcut at the helm of sales. Heard he was x'd at Alphatec and Lanx. Party today, gone tomorrow.
Reps we have (various companies) are overall good to great, helpful, and step up to the plate as needed. I respect the majority and thank you for your service. Hell, you guys/girls don't need scab recruiters just a hot trophy wife like mine-"Ragina"-all rolling,loving,5'7",205 lbs of turbo sexuality and a three tooth adoring smile!
I saw the SpineArt system at NASS and they get away with one instrument tray because all the implants are packed sterile. From what I saw they have everything you would need to do big cases. It is an interesting concept and time will tell if it catches on.
ReplyDeleteAre we seriously still talking about spineart?
ReplyDeleteI don't care if they have magic fairies that put the screws in for you. They are, and always will be a nobody.
Next topic please!
Hey 6:40 OR RN,
ReplyDeleteWould love to meet your hot 3 toothed wife.
Have to say made me look Spineart and agree with you. One tray 13 instruments; very very basic, hope you don't have to reduce any more than that single rocker in set. Yes you could do a basic construct but nothing else. Also, their lumbar cages look like anal plugs and what the heck is an OLIF?
I am sick of talking about Spineart too. Let's spin the Spineblogger topic wheel:
ReplyDelete1. PODs
2. Alphatec/Nuvasive suck
3. Are reps worth their compensation?
4. There's no innovation!
5. PODs
7:47, solid post, but you forgot:
ReplyDelete6. Medtronic is the Antichrist
7. Globus IPO?
Here's a topic - Non-Compete Agreements
ReplyDeleteSo 12:02, I'd like to see how that non-compete is written. "In the event distributor/rep X is terminated, then Company Y is no longer permitted to sell surgeons in the specified territory their products". Sure, that'll work. Give that one a go in your next distribution agreement negotiation.
ReplyDeleteWhy do non-compete's exist? Because they can. Companies believe (right or wrong) that are more people out there with the experience and contacts to sell the products than there are companies and products to sell. Only if that changes will non-competes go away. But as the pricing is dropping and the industry is contracting, it will actually be even more the case, not less.
And to 6:40... hell of a post! Kudos!
Are we talking about Life Spine or Medicrea? They both fall into an incredible opportunity...LOL
ReplyDeleteGo to Medicrea if you have a good 3-6 months to waste of your life, oh and don't forget to leave your black book of contacts behind, because you will never have the opportunity to visit, see or talk to them ever again...
You are so right on my brother!! How the hell do these cast of clowns get these positions when they have had no success in their past positions? I guess if you have a VP or President title, it does not matter. Anyone will hire you. If you are an RSD/Area Sales Director who makes the VP/President look good, you are the one caught in the cross fire because of the political BS of the executive management team. Then you have to explain yourself to another company as to why you were let go. This business is incestuous and made up of a bunch buddy F in morons. They are only concerned about themselves. Medicrea is a joke!! They have no idea on how to compete in the US market.
ReplyDeleteIs the Medicrea comment pre or post Chris Gaines? They have a decent deformity system. Life Spine is worthless unless you are a POD looking for a company to provide you a decent kick-back.
ReplyDelete