Welcome to the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence.
On today’s episode, Sara Payne sits down with Mark Fligge to dive deep into one of the most powerful, and sometimes underleveraged, events in the medtech commercial calendar: the National Sales Meeting (NSM). Mark, President and Chief Marketing Officer at Intraworks, a B2B agency specializing in go-to-market strategy for medtech, brings decades of experience from both agency and client-side leadership roles to this insightful discussion. The episode is laser-focused on one mission: moving your National Sales Meeting from just another check-the-box event, to a key growth accelerator that inspires, aligns, and equips your sales force for real business momentum.
Sara and Mark begin by reframing the National Sales Meeting as the single largest internal stage most companies have—a crucial opportunity for marketing to fuel not only sales-force enthusiasm, but also strategic clarity and business acceleration. They explore what true cross-functional alignment between marketing and sales should look like, and how to bridge the gaps when collaboration is lacking or legacy cultures have kept marketing at arm’s length.
Mark shares practical strategies for getting a “seat at the table” and building a theme and story arc that actually resonate with the organization’s real-world challenges and strategic goals—not just another fun slogan or catchy soundtrack. The conversation hinges on the importance of genuine discovery, grounded storytelling, and making hard choices about focus and content to avoid overwhelming (and under-inspiring) your audience.
The episode also explores the evolving cadence of sales meetings, asking if an annual event is always necessary—or if more event-based, purpose-driven approaches might be more impactful. Finally, Sara and Mark detail the importance of celebration, inspiration, and post-meeting follow-through, ensuring that alignment and energy last well beyond the closing keynote.
Thank you for being part of the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence. The future of healthcare depends on it.
Key Takeaways:
- National Sales Meetings Are the Biggest Internal Stage—Don’t Just “Check the Box”: Too often, NSMs are rushed and treated as another deliverable. Mark emphasizes that these meetings are high-stakes, high-impact events where marketing should play a leading role alongside sales—using the moment to bring the year’s strategic plan to life, inspire the team, and create shared direction across the commercial organization.
- True Sales–Marketing Alignment Starts Early and Runs Deep: Great alignment is built long before the meeting begins—it’s relational, not transactional. Mark urges marketing leaders to reach out to sales leadership months in advance, co-own the agenda, and approach the event as collaborative leaders, not just content providers. This means proactively making the case to participate in or co-lead planning, especially in organizations where marketing hasn’t historically had a seat at the table.
- Discovery and Theming: Ground the Meeting in Real-World Challenges: The most resonant meeting themes and story arcs emerge from structured “discovery”—deeply understanding the sales force’s realities, obstacles, and customer dynamics. Mark warns against themes that sound good but lack relevance, and advises marketers to anchor the agenda in what truly matters to the team—whether it’s competitive threats, market shifts, or upcoming launches.
- Focus Is Critical—Less Is More When It Comes to Agenda and Content: Information overload is the enemy of inspiration and alignment. Rather than covering every update or initiative, Sara and Mark advise marketing leaders to make tough choices, focusing on the few most critical levers that will drive results in the coming year. Other topics can be addressed through targeted follow-ups—ensuring the NSM delivers clarity, not confusion.
- Lasting Impact Depends on Celebration, Positivity, and Follow-Through: The best NSMs inspire not just by informing, but by celebrating performance, building positivity, and leaving the sales force feeling seen, equipped, and confident in leadership. Mark also calls out the growing shift toward event-based (rather than strictly annual) meetings, where celebration and strategic work may be separated for greater impact. Finally, post-event follow-up is key: the themes, deliverables, and promises made in the meeting must be sustained through quarterly check-ins and the consistent delivery of new tools and resources.
For listeners responsible for shaping the commercial engine of health and medtech companies, this episode offers a masterclass in elevating internal events from obligatory gatherings to true engines of growth, cohesion, and inspiration.
If you found today’s conversation valuable, please subscribe to the Health Marketing Collective wherever you get your podcasts—and remember, the future of healthcare depends on it.
Transcript
Sara Payne [00:00:00]:
welcome back to the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence. I'm your host, Sara Payne and I'm bringing you fascinating conversations with some of the industry's top marketing minds. Today we're talking about how to maximize the impact of your national sales meeting. When done right, it can become one of your biggest growth accelerators. Whether you're already knee deep in planning or just starting to think about what next year's event could look like, this conversation will be packed with takeaways that can help you go from checking the box to delivering real business momentum. My guest today is Mark Flege. Mark is the President and Chief marketing officer at Intraworks, a B2B agency specializing in go to market marketing and and other high stakes opportunities for medtech companies. Before joining intraworks, Mark was on the client side in senior marketing roles at Boston Scientific, Coloplast and Assist Medical.
Sara Payne [00:01:08]:
He brings the rare combination of strategic vision, customer empathy and deep respect for the sales team, which makes him the perfect guest for today's conversation. Mark, welcome to the show.
Mark Fligge [00:01:20]:
Great to be with you, Sara. Thank you for the opportunity to share some insight into something I'm really passionate about and that is making national sales, meaning more than just an event, but something that really catapults the business for the year.
Sara Payne [00:01:39]:
Awesome. Yeah. You've got so much experience in this area that I'm really thrilled to be focusing this episode on this topic. I think the time of year too that we're going to be releasing this is a perfect time as marketing teams are looking ahead and really starting to have some serious conversations about planning for next year's national sales meeting. So in our planning discussions, Mark, ahead of this conversation today, you made a comment that the national sales meeting really is the biggest internal stage that most companies have. Why is it so critical that marketing recognize this opportunity and not just treat it as just another deliverable.
Mark Fligge [00:02:24]:
You know, Sara, marketing teams work so hard to connect with not only end customers, but with sales teams. And throughout the year, marketing teams are always developing new initiatives and trying to connect with the sales team and surprise. Surprisingly, the national sales meeting sometimes gets too hurried and it just becomes an event that you're checking the box on. And oftentimes marketing teams I've seen as I've been part of them just don't give themselves enough space or give themselves enough time to think about it, strategize, put together a really cohesive and energizing and high impact program and deliver a it in concert with the sales team.
Sara Payne [00:03:16]:
Yeah, let's talk about that alignment. Specifically, what does great cross functional alignment look like between marketing and sales in the context of a national sales meeting? And what do you typically find is missing in that alignment?
Mark Fligge [00:03:37]:
Well, the relationship that the marketing team has with the sales leadership group and with the sales team can't be hurried. At the end as you get ready for the sales meeting, you have to have invested in that and be connected with the senior and overall sales leadership team throughout the year. But oftentimes the big mess is how it gets structured and how it gets planned. The marketing team sometimes is adjunctive. Yes, they're responsible for putting together content, but the actual construction of the national sales meeting, sometimes they're at arm's length. And that relationship really needs, the dividend from that relationship needs to be brought forward and utilized by, during the planning phase. And what I mean there is the strategic plan which the marketing team, the sales team work on throughout the year, highly cohesively and in an integrated way, sometimes gets done and then gets put on the back shelf. The national sales meeting is an opportunity to bring that strategic plan for the year and, and longer to life.
Mark Fligge [00:04:59]:
And that's one of the big misses that I see. Sometimes it's ironic in the thought that it's really important, but sometimes the investment and the time isn't given for the marketing team to work with the sales team to really bring it to life.
Sara Payne [00:05:18]:
Yeah. So great. And a few follow up questions there, Mark. So let's, let's say, I mean, I think this can be relatively common, that there is maybe not as strong alignment between sales and marketing heading into this big event as maybe there should be. Let's say folks listening, find themselves in that reality. And I think there's an important conversation they need to have now. Right. To get ahead of that.
Sara Payne [00:05:45]:
And so what sort of advice do you have and, or tactical steps would you recommend when you start thinking about, you know, you were talking about proper space, proper time, the proper structure. Right. That marketing's not at an arm's length to it. If you were a marketing leader sitting in the reality today that doesn't have the kind of alignment that you're talking about is necessary to drive the kind of impact and success they really need, what advice would you give in terms of the conversation that needs to be had and the request that should be made around what it should actually look like getting out of the gate?
Mark Fligge [00:06:27]:
Well, I think the first thing is have a conversation. If you're a marketing director or you're a CMO or you're a marketing Vice president. Reach out early, reach out early to the sales team. I think everybody's so busy and they're trying to deliver on, on all, all their obligations that they have for the year but oftentimes they kind of push it. They push it. If you do your national sales meeting, say at the end of the year, you know that you should be starting that really early, early summer, you need to give yourself at least three to four months, even ideally six months. But I would say to those marketing leaders, it's the thing that's on your shoulder. You know it's coming.
Mark Fligge [00:07:18]:
You know you're going to be asked to put together content and, and an overall program that energizes sales team and the overall company. But oftentimes you push it off a little bit. And I would urge my marketing brethren out there to avoid the kind of the tendency to procrastinate a little bit and have the conversation, have it, you know, late spring and say we'd like to be involved in this and in fact what can we do to help lead this? And I think the sales leadership team would be very, very open and appreciative of having you step forward, forward and do that.
Sara Payne [00:08:01]:
Love that. And, and Mark, you are sharing this advice sitting from the seat. Two seats, right? Both the seat of having been in a marketing leadership role inside of an organization responsible for helping execute a national sales meeting in addition to now being an outside consultant helping a multitude of organizations. Right. So you've seen this from lots of different lenses, lots of different perspectives. Let's again say that a marketing leader finds themselves not having that strong alignment. They're going to sit down, they're going to have the conversation, they're going to talk about this being a, you know, a co leadership opportunity, getting marketing more seat at the table around planning this how to me this isn't just about a, it's not like it's not a power struggle, it's not a who's leading it, it is a collaboration. But let's say it is a very sales driven organization and maybe marketing just hasn't legacy wise culturally had that seat at the table.
Sara Payne [00:09:06]:
What other things can marketing say to help make the case as to why it's so important to elevate the experience of the national sales meeting from a marketing perspective and not just be that execution arm.
Mark Fligge [00:09:26]:
Yeah, well, the sales meeting should be led by the sales team. No doubt about it. The sales leadership group needs to have a venue and an ability to connect with the sales team and to really give them direction when I think about sales meetings, there are a few key things that are really important. The number one thing is inspiration. We operate in very competitive markets, markets where there are new products that are launching all the time. There are dynamics in terms of reimbursement, indications and clinical data. And the marketing team is the team that can really produce. As I listened to one of your podcasts, you had it with Larry Zarin, and he talked about bullets and beans.
Mark Fligge [00:10:22]:
And it is the marketing team's job to, to provide those bullets and beans to the sales team. And for a sales leader, I think they're really appreciative of having somebody stand with them and bring all the things that they've been talking about via the strategic plan or planning for the year together in a way that's really cohesive, really inspires, really aligns, and really gives direction to the sales team and also provides them with new tools. I want to mention that I think it's critical at national sales meetings not just to entertain or to inform or to give PowerPoint presentations. It's actually to direct and then to give them bullets and, and beans that they can use that next Monday after the sales meeting out in the field. So I'm very, very keen on key deliverables and initiatives and programs and tools being provided to the sales team that they can run with right after that sales meeting.
Sara Payne [00:11:37]:
Love that. There's a few points in there that I think we're going to want to unpack a little bit. Love this point about using the event as an opportunity for inspiration. I think that's critical, right. To crystallizing both the mission of the organization, like keeping people focused on that, in addition to. Right. The, the growth targets. And this point about direction, I think is really important.
Sara Payne [00:12:04]:
I mean, that's, that's really what. What marketing can do is to. Is to take a, a narrative, right. And, and put an inspiring rapper around that, but with intent in mind, with this strategic intent in mind, which is we're going to go, we're going to go hit that sales target, right? But here's the direction and all the, the parts and pieces that are going to enable that to happen. So I want to dig a little bit deeper on both, like the storytelling component around a national sales meeting and get a little deeper around some content opportunities, different sessions, et cetera. So let's start with storytelling. How do you approach building a theme or a story arc that's actually meaningful? And, and it's not just this, you know, fun, cutesy slogan that's slapped on a PowerPoint slide.
Mark Fligge [00:13:10]:
Yeah, you know, it really starts with knowing what's going on. And many times marketing teams within their franchises or their, their product management group, they have a really good pulse of what's going on and it gets lost when the planning for the sales meeting is taking place. So I would recommend that discovery, we call it Discovery, takes place and it can take place couple of weeks, no more than a few weeks to really understand from the marketing team. So people are in the front line of your, your marketing teams along with the sales teams, understanding and having a pulse of what's going on. Nothing is worse at a national sales meeting not than to come across as. Like you said, there's a theme on a PowerPoint and there's some good music, but it's not connected to what's going on. And I've seen sales meetings like that and they usually go something like this. You've got the kickoff and there are talking heads from the main stage and then there, there's some content that's delivered and then there's a Q and A.
Mark Fligge [00:14:22]:
There's a Q and A with the sales team sometimes from the main stage and the sales team are asking questions when they're given the microphone. And that's the real information that shouldn't have been found out in that venue in front of the entire team. You should know that going into that and be able to weave that in and address that and give direction and tools to deal with it. You're always going to have some outliers, but if you're hearing that stuff for the first time or it's surprising in nsm, then really the marketing team and the leadership team hasn't done their job.
Sara Payne [00:15:02]:
Yeah, great point. I mean there should, you're absolutely right. And that's why that Discovery piece is so important. We got to, we got to tease out what some of the issues might be and figure out how to fake it into the programming and address it head on. Because we're not kidding ourselves that people are already aware of these issues and they will surface potentially at, you know, an inopportune moment versus taking that head on and, and actually building it into the agenda and the content.
Mark Fligge [00:15:36]:
And Sara, I think that's where some of the vacuous themes come that are kind of born to when they haven't done that discovery and they just jump into theming. We're big fans of discovery and then what we call exploration. What did we hear? What are the big currents that are happening? They could be economic, they could be clinical, they could be Competitive with a new competitor and then taking that information and then exploring and then coming up with, with themes that really make sense and resonate. They're not just, you know, rock, rock the world or carpe diem or make it a great Monday, but they're really focused on, on, on what's happening out there. And sometimes those titles for the sales meeting may seem a little less sizzle or a little less provocative to begin with, but they will resonate because it's really what's happening.
Sara Payne [00:16:40]:
Yeah, it's right for the moment. It's right for the organization. Right for the moment. And people can feel that for sure. We've touched on this a bit from a content perspective. Any other thoughts you have on the difference between session at a national sales meeting that's really going to energize people, particularly the sales team. Right. And, and one that might drain the room.
Sara Payne [00:17:05]:
Any thoughts on that?
Mark Fligge [00:17:07]:
Well, we live in a world of information overload and oftentimes I've seen sales meetings that want to touch on everything. And one of the big charges for all marketers is to understand what's happening and have enough confidence to not address things that, that aren't, aren't the big, big issue or the thing that's going to drive success for the year. So you. That less is more. But I would really call it focus and being able to focus on the most important things that are going to move the levers for the organization and really they should come from the strategic plan. You know, we deal with clients as you do that are from small to larger. And the biggest thing that we see is the inability to lean out and to have that as a back burner item, but not, not necessarily address everything and, and just come across as fragmented, scattered and have too many voices.
Sara Payne [00:18:18]:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, focus is always easier said than done. Right. It's a, it's a, it's a discipline. There is definitely a discipline there in, in picking those moments. And then as you said, you're not necessarily jettisoning, jettisoning the other stuff. It's finding a different platform, a follow on conversation to address maybe those ancillary supporting things that are also important, but not the key or core pillars to your success for the year.
Mark Fligge [00:18:50]:
Yeah. And I think the key to this, Sara, is to give yourself enough space to do it. The other item that I've seen and have been guilty of, we don't give our marketing teams enough space to put together the strategy and the content to really execute an amazing sales meeting. It's Kind of an additional item that they have on their plates. And what I would recommend is to take a look at your cadence of national sales meetings. I think Covid changed everything. We probably moved away from that every year. Must have.
Mark Fligge [00:19:27]:
But have sales meetings when they're really, really necessary. And that cadence doesn't necessarily have to be every spring, every fall. It could be every year and a half or it could be at a different time, a different venue, a different period during the year, but it's really necessary. And why would it be necessary? Because the market is changing, because the organization's changing, because there's a product launch, because a new competitor is coming into the market, because the pressures are greater from competitors. And it's time to get everybody together and ground them in the strategy and what's most important and what's being asked of them. So give, give yourself enough time and space and give your marketing teams enough bandwidth and, and space to be able to put together the program that. That's really going to wow people.
Sara Payne [00:20:28]:
Yeah. So two things there. One, you are talking about a pretty provocative idea here, which is to not necessarily do it every year. And I'm just curious, based on the exposure to, to the organizations you work with, how many are actually moving in that direction, would you say? Is it still a relatively small percent of folks that are electing to do this on not necessarily an annual basis, but when it meets certain threshold of criteria around. Again, significant moment, a significant launch, a turning point for the organization. Where are we at today in terms of folks that are electing to not necessarily do this on an annual basis?
Mark Fligge [00:21:10]:
I think best in class organizations which can be small or can be larger, are moving to more event based, event pace. And so I think that's probably half the world. I think the other half could be caught up in this idea that you just have to have a national sales meeting to connect, to bring everybody together.
Sara Payne [00:21:36]:
Celebrating. Celebrating.
Mark Fligge [00:21:37]:
Celebrate. Yeah, yeah. And celebrating is really important. You know, part of national sales meetings is absolutely recognizing people and recognizing sales performance, marketing performance and organizational performance. I might recommend that in some cases just having it be a celebration is a good idea.
Sara Payne [00:22:02]:
I love that.
Mark Fligge [00:22:03]:
And maybe it's less this is a national sales meeting with celebration and maybe it's more this is celebration and it's, it's going to be showcasing and an opportunity to showcase and have people exemplify all the great things they did for the year and how they got there versus a prescriptive national sales meeting.
Sara Payne [00:22:30]:
Yeah, that's a great idea because I think one of the potential reactions from the organization if they're, you know, if they hear, well, we're not doing a national sales meeting would be like, this is some form of a cost cutting measure. Right. And we're cutting out, we're going to work hard, we got to hit our targets, but we're not being celebrated for all the hard work that we, Whatever. Right. You can imagine the narrative that plays out, right? Yeah. And I love this idea of, well, it will just change the format then, right? The, the, the construct of a strategic national sales meeting that is focused on what are the key initiatives we need to implement as an organization to hit our growth targets. That could be done on an as needed basis right around key initiatives, around whatever that looks like. But the celebratory piece of it is still honored on an annual basis, but they don't have to go together unless there is a need for it.
Sara Payne [00:23:35]:
And I love that.
Mark Fligge [00:23:36]:
No. And we're seeing more and more of that and some of the best sales meetings I've seen one that comes to mind, and this sounds funny perhaps, but it really celebrated incrementalism and the small steps that successful people make and take on an everyday basis to be the best at what they are. So what that looked like there were speakers that were brought in and these weren't, you know, like, you know, high priced speakers or anything like that, but people who had been really good in athletics or people who had been really good in, in team management and talking about the small stops that they were able to talk to their team about to make to help them get better. And they, in one particular instance, we brought in kind of world class Nordic skiers and they talked about the things that they do on an everyday basis to get better, from training to sleeping to their equipment. And then we tied it back to things that the sales team and the overall organization could take to make ourselves better on an incremental basis.
Sara Payne [00:25:03]:
Yeah. And I think those are great examples of the kind of inspirational moments that you want to build into a meeting. Right. Like it, like to your point, it doesn't have to be the, the big ticket speaker, like, great, if that's in your budget and you can afford that, great, you know, run at that. But it can be all the people from a lesser known stage that have done tremendous things. Maybe they're not a household, you know, name brand athlete, but boy, they have accomplished some pretty impressive things. And when you peel back and you look, we can all relate to that, right? Like maybe we haven't slept overnight in the freezing Cold. I like, I don't really know what these Nordic skiers are doing.
Sara Payne [00:25:47]:
Right. I'm making this up. But, but we've been through something that is a close analogy to that. And, and as humans, we can all relate to what we learn in those sort of hardship, you know, character building moments that we can relate to things in both our personal lives and our professional lives. And that's where that inspiration can really be be pulled out for folks.
Mark Fligge [00:26:15]:
Well, I think one of the key things that everybody struggles with is organization. And the marketing team needs to be the core of being organized and really orchestrating things. So I'm also passionate about the idea that when the sales team comes in, they should not feel overwhelmed when they leave. Like, wow, there was so much that came at us. There were some really neat things and it was fun, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Well, I would say that the marketing team and leaders need to be the gatekeepers and the stewards of organizing things and showing where the resources are, showing how things can be used, showing how they can engage customers and giving them tools so that they can do their job better. And, and it takes away attacks from that organization that salespeople feel.
Sara Payne [00:27:19]:
Yeah, absolutely. Another point, Mark, that we touched on ahead of this conversation was fun and, and how fun can be undervalued by executives, but in your mind, it's very strategic. So what is the smart way to build in energy, humor, humanity, without it feeling forced? And, you know, you've shared a couple of great examples so far, but I thought it was worth kind of really focusing on this specifically because I think it's a really important point.
Mark Fligge [00:27:59]:
Well, Sara, I think it should come in that when you organize the sales meeting, people need to know that, you know, you can call it fun, but I really call it positivity. I think positivity is fun too. And that positivity needs to emanate from the speakers, from the sessions, from the content that's provided. And I'm not talking about it being hokey. I have been part of sales meetings and I've led sales meetings where I went too far just in terms of what I thought it, you know, could play or work. And it felt just kind of cheesy. And so I think it needs to be more natural. It needs to come from the speakers themselves, and then it needs to be built into the content.
Mark Fligge [00:28:56]:
When you have a good partner that's helping you put together video that's used or content that's used, they can get the tone Right. So that it's, it's, you know, it's not onerous, it's heavy, but it's also not too wacky.
Sara Payne [00:29:15]:
You just, you just use a word. I was going to ask you a follow up conversation around which is tone. Because it's one thing to have a theme, right. And be aligned on a theme and using that to, you know, prioritize certain things. But I think the, the, the partner to that is tone, right? And, and being clear across everybody involved in, in the planning on this, what is that tone we want to set? How do we want people to feel walking away from this? What are the words we would use to describe that? And then articulating that to everyone who needs to participate in delivering upon that tone. Right. Whether it's your top sales leader that's going to get on the stage and deliver a message or it's a speaker that doesn't know your, doesn't know your organization super well coming in from the outside. But they need to have a window into that tone because everybody is contributing to that.
Sara Payne [00:30:19]:
What are your thoughts, Mark, on, on the importance of tone and any advice you have around really making sure that you're planning that well?
Mark Fligge [00:30:29]:
Well, I think it's critical. Oftentimes the tone comes from the sales leadership or the people on stage. But I think during that planning phase, talking about tone, rarely is it talked about. The tone of our national sales meeting. Oftentimes it's not talked about. But I would suggest that in a way that's genuine for the organization and for the people that are going to be presenting it. It needs to be inspired, it needs to be confident and you have to leave the sales meeting or the sales people have to believe that, wow, we're in really good hands and we've got pros at the helm. We all see this when we watch, whether it's a newscast or a podcast or an interview with somebody.
Mark Fligge [00:31:23]:
And you're amazed at how somebody who has so much going on is so grounded and articulate and confident in where they are and where their organizations are and in what they're going to do. And that's I think, the sweet spot of the tone that organizations are aspiring to. But I, I think it needs to be talked about and that's part of that planning phase. After discovery, after exploring ways to do it, you know, what is our tone and getting people aligned to that.
Sara Payne [00:31:56]:
Love it. So great. Let's talk about after the meeting because I think that's such a critical piece here. After all of this investment, all of this pull planning, how do we make sure that, that the energy people leave with the alignment lasts, you know, far beyond the, the last session they're in. What advice do you have in terms of how to be thinking about the after the event component?
Mark Fligge [00:32:30]:
Well, Sara, the first thing is the national sales meeting should be really the plan for the year or the plan for the period. If you're doing a year and a half or two years, it's the plan for that period and that plan needs to be laid out and what is being asked of the sales team and what's being delivered to them, delivered to them by the marketing group needs to be articulated and then you have to make good on your commitments. A lot of sales or marketing people show things, but then the follow up isn't very good. I would recommend that if you have a national sales meeting, that every quarter you're following up on that with that same theme and you're weaving it through and you're delivering on those things that you said you'd be feeding the sales team bullets and beans with. You're providing that collateral, those tools and those initiatives. So that really comes back to that sales meeting, coming from the strategic plan and then having enough time to be planned and then giving people enough time to deliver on the, on the deliverables and the commitments that they made at the national sales meeting.
Sara Payne [00:33:55]:
Such a great call out to make sure that we are delivering on the things we've promised and that there is a plan in place to do so. Because as you said earlier, sometimes the NSM is not the main focus of the market. Like there isn't enough space within the job description. There's so many other things they're focused on. And so when we give it all this time and energy, space for a period of time, come up for air, and we got to run to the other things that maybe haven't been getting our attention. And so making sure that there is a discipline plan in place to follow through on those things I think is really important in terms of that, that relationship with the sales team, that continued credibility in terms of the leadership role that marketing wants to play. Mark, we're, we're running short on time here, but so many great pieces of, of advice here today in terms of putting a wrapper on the conversation. You've seen so many national sales meetings.
Sara Payne [00:34:52]:
What's your sort of final takeaway? Whether that's, you know, what's one mistake marketing leaders consistently make or, you know, one bold move that you wish they would try. What's your, your Lasting final piece of advice here.
Mark Fligge [00:35:13]:
Sara. The national sales meeting should not be a presentation of the plan for the plan. I've, I've heard that from sales people before, and that, that is, I think that means that you shouldn't have had that meeting. So the bold move that I would ask my marketing compatriots to think about is, do we need this meeting? Can we help drive this meeting? Can we help with the sales leadership team to actually put it together in a way that, that inspires, align, directs, and then provides the tools that the team needs? And if we don't have that, do I have enough wherewithal to be able to say, maybe we shouldn't have this meeting. Maybe we should do it in a different way. Maybe it should be virtual or we should break this out into smaller chunks. But let's not do this meeting the way we've always done it. And let's not just have a meeting that people come away with perhaps, you know, fragmented or less sure of what they should do.
Mark Fligge [00:36:27]:
Let's put together something that's more of a strategy, articulation of it that inspires and empowers and provides the things that people need to be able to do their jobs.
Sara Payne [00:36:40]:
I love that. Such great advice and such a perfect place to end our conversation today. Mark, really appreciate you joining me in this conversation. And if folks listening in are interested in diving in a little bit deeper with you and some of your experience in this area, how can our listeners get in touch with you?
Mark Fligge [00:37:02]:
Well, thank you, Sara. I'm at Interworks, I'm at mfliggyntro Works, and feel free to reach out to me. I'm also on LinkedIn and would love to speak with you.
Sara Payne [00:37:16]:
Awesome. And Fliggy is F, L, I G, G E. Obviously you can check that out in the show notes as well. I'm confident you'll be able to find. Mark, thanks so much for joining me today. This has been very educational for me in particular, and I know our audience will find it as such as.
Mark Fligge [00:37:33]:
Well, Sara, thanks for the opportunity. I appreciate it. And marketing people out there have confidence, move forward boldly and help make your national sales meeting a plan for the year.
Sara Payne [00:37:50]:
Love it. And what I'll add to that, folks, is if you enjoyed the conversation today, do us a favor and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for being part of the health marketing collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence, because the future of healthcare depends on it. We'll see you next time.