Quidel’s Mike Abney on medical distribution, leadership, and mentoring the next generation of sales reps

‘This is a Great Business’

Quidel’s Mike Abney on medical distribution, leadership, and mentoring the next generation of sales reps.

By Pete Mercer

In a recent episode of Repertoire’s podcast Road Warriors and Their

Untold Stories, Mike Abney spoke with Repertoire publisher Scott Adams about his career, the mentors he’s worked with over the years, and the state of the healthcare industry.

Abney is the Senior Vice President of North America Sales & Distribution for Quidel, where he’s worked since 2015. Abney is also a recipient of the 2021 John F. Sasen Leadership Award from HIDA. The John F. Sasen Leadership Award recognizes exceptional individuals who demonstrate the qualities of leadership, commitment, and service that made John Sasen an icon in the industry.

Breaking into the industry

Abney started out at PSS World Medical, Inc., in 1989, helping the company move into its first big Jacksonville warehouse. He intended to work for a bank but was encouraged by Pat Kelly to come and join PSS, starting out in the warehouse. In the ’90s, Abney ran operations with

PSS before being promoted to VP of Supplier Management. He joined Quidel in 2015.

In fact, he has used the way he broke into the industry as a way to encourage the next generation to consider a career in medical sales and distribution. Abney said, “I have finally hit the age where a lot of people I’ve worked with over the years, their kids are actually coming into the industry. My son and several of his best friends started in the business in the last couple of years. I’m seeing a lot of that, and I think that says a lot right there that people would go to their own kids and say, ‘This is a great business.’”

He encourages the younger generations to jump in wherever they can. “I’ve told many people over the last five years, just get in on the sales side somewhere. Start anywhere you can. If you’re more inclined to be on the ops side do that. But there’s still a very clear path to success on the sales side. I think if you get in where you can, take care of customers and work hard, great things are going to happen for you.”

Working with distinguished leaders

Along the way, Abney has had the opportunity to work with distinguished leaders in the industry like Pat Kelly, Richard Riley, Bill Riddel, Doug Barrow, Doug Bryant, and the namesake of the HIDA leadership award, John Sasen.

Abney said, “In my time shadowing him, I never saw anybody that was able to get along with everyone and be liked by everyone as much as John. I knew that was unattainable. But if I could get half of the people in the industry to work with me the way he does everyone, I can still have a pretty darn good career. He was one of those people that loved to negotiate and debate, but he was just one of the nicest people that you could ever meet.”

Sasen operated with the mindset of “win-win,” which is used in negotiations to ensure that each party comes out with a positive result. According to Abney, John’s ability to build friendships with people on the other side of these negotiations was unique. “When I started working with John, I thought that ‘win-win’ was me losing. He taught me and many others that worked with him that there are plenty of ways that everybody can come out happy at the end, and he was the master of that. He could work with anyone and build an immediate bond and friendship with that person and still get the job done.”

For Abney, winning the John F. Sasen Leadership Award was “probably the best thing that’s happened to me.” Working with Sasen over the years and learning how to better negotiate for his company and the other party has been a huge point of inspiration in Abney’s life. service for customers. Doctors used to expect delivery in four to five days. Now, they expect to get something they’ve ordered the very next day.”

Even with these differences, having the bigger companies be a larger part of the picture has allowed for more positive changes. There’s better

“I think if you get in where you can, take care of customers and work hard, great things are going to happen for you.”

Changes in the industry

In the years since Abney joined the medical sales and distribution business, the industry has gone through several radical transformations. As new innovations and technologies are introduced, the industry has had to adapt and develop new processes for each change. Abney said, “In 1989, even into the ’90s, there were hundreds of independent distributors, some even very large. And those companies are mostly part of McKesson or Henry Schein, all the larger distributors today. Moving to the manufacturing side, I can tell you it’s easier to deal with seven to ten organizations than hundreds.”

Because these relationships are with larger companies, it puts greater pressure on the relationships themselves. “It’s allowed for huge technology advances in supply chain, which has led to better fill rates and consistent

forms and methods of communication, information materials, and an industry group that’s gotten better at influencing people in the right way to help everyone perform better.

Despite all the challenges presented by the pandemic, the industry was forced to change and adapt to keep supplies moving. Abney found that the pandemic has even helped the industry grow, saying, “Even in the last two years, we lost the meeting in-person every three to six months format, which we had gotten used to. And somehow, we’ve become more efficient. The challenges that the pandemic presented really challenged the cohesiveness that we were used to, and it has somehow made us better.”