We were lucky to catch up with Claire Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Claire, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.

In the span of my career, I’ve been through 5 layoffs.

And the TL;DR on that is this: You MUST network. It will save your career and can save your life.

In 2016, I retired from medical sales to stay home to support my husband and raise our baby boy.

But all the while,
I kept up with my doctors.
I kept up with my colleagues.

I always answered the phone when someone needed interview or resume advice.

And 2 years later, we welcomed another son.

But 30 days after he was born, my leg started to hurt.

It burned.
It began to swell.
I called my OBGYN, but they weren’t concerned.

I gave it the night.
I didn’t want to overreact.
My Primary Care doctor said maybe we could talk about a blood thinner next week.

The next day was 10x worse.
I couldn’t bend my leg at all.
I knew something was wrong.

So, as I would to get a job after a layoff, I went on the offense with my own network.

I picked up the phone and called one of my radiologist friends that I’d worked for. I sent a picture of my leg.

He called back and said, “you need to come to my office now, do you have someone to watch your kids?”

I didn’t.
I brought them with me.

2 hours later I was in emergency surgery.
I had a clot from my ankle to my groin.

Thankfully, the surgery was successful.

But the only reason my sons didn’t lose their mother and my husband didn’t lose his wife that day was because I created, built, and kept the relationships with my doctors.

This is why I’m so passionate about helping medical sales leaders learn how to network.

Because your ONLY option is to network. It can save your career and your life.

Claire, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

A Medical Sales Career Coach raised by recruiters, you’d think interviewing and career progression was “in my blood.”

As a teen, I’d coached men and women 20 years my senior on how to bridge a career gap, how to carefully address “that one time they got fired,” and how to show up online as a trustworthy professional.

Out to dinner with my parents, all the other families would be talking about school and friends, while we’d be in lively discussion about if Sue remembered her brag book and how many placements we’d have to make in Atlanta before our Pharma client’s big October launch.

Heck, I was the only 13-year-old I knew who brought a professional portfolio (a brag book) to her City of Roseville volunteer job interview.

For this, getting a job came easy to me.

But keeping it was another thing.

So, when I landed my dream role at a boutique PR Agency in Sacramento with a sexy roster of high-end home appliance clients, I had big plans for a long-tenured career and eventual leadership.

Until the plan…didn’t go to plan.

One Friday in 2008, just a half-year into my role, I noticed it was more somber around the office than usual. My boss called me into her office and broke the news. With the housing market crash, our clients were reeling in their budgets, and we were all getting laid off.

I cried all the way down I-80 East at the injustice of it all.

So, I started reaching out to people I knew.

Luck struck a month later as a friend was moving to do sales at a new music studio – and she’d walk me in as her replacement.

I saw my opening and I took it. And within about 60 days realized the glitzy, trendy, bed-at-1am, roll-in-at-noon nightlife sales gig in New York City wasn’t my style at all, even if I did get to work with producers of Madonna music videos.

That, and the boss who recommended I go out on dates and spend hours riding elevators to win clients – I just couldn’t compromise my values.

So again, I reached out to friends.

I needed a better job.

One called back saying, “We are having a meeting with our sales team in Manhattan…”

I didn’t even let her finish, “I’ll be there.”

The money I would have spent on food, I spent on a suit.

I met my friend and her team out at a steakhouse and what I thought would be nerve wracking, turned out to be so easy.

They were vibrant.
Smart.
Funny.
Chatty.
Open.

By the end of the dinner the boss said, “You would love what we do. You should join our team.”

That was my start in medical sales. It was like a light clicked on inside – I was home.

After 6 months, I moved to California and topped the leaderboard.

In 6 more, I started up a new territory on my own.

And after 6 more, the company laid off half the team.

What in the world?

I was a veritable encyclopedia of career progression — where was my long-awaited stability?

I spent the next few months trying to connect with old employers, even applying online, and took back my old marketing job. Only to be met with another layoff 6 months later.

This was unreal.

There had to be a better way.

All the while, I kept my phone number at the suggestion of a colleague. “You just never know,” she’d say.

She was right. I’d still get the occasional call for help from old clients but these “freebies” never amounted to jobs. Not yet.

One day, a call from an old client came through — a nurse manager in a panic, “Oh good, I’m so glad you picked up, Claire,” he rushed.

“We’re scrambling for a chemo test kit and the OR is all out. Can you get us some and walk us through it?”

“Of course,” I said. “But hey, uh, I’ve gotta know something.” I stammered. “Why are you calling me? You know I don’t work for that company anymore?”

He took a beat and said, “Well, I trust you. And I just knew if I called you, you’d help me no matter where you’re at. It’s just…who you are.”

I was floored.

“It’s who you are,” he’d said.

It had been years and he still trusted me.

That shook me.

Maybe, even after all these layoffs, I was still valuable?

This drove me to rebrand myself as someone who could be trusted and formed lasting relationships.

And along the way to rebranding myself, I’d recognized a pattern — a system.

I was using all the same principles that I would have as a sales and marketing professional — just this time, for myself.

I was the product.
The hiring team was the customer.

In the next 2 years, I’d worked my way back into medical sales – this time radiology.

After 3 years, I was rewriting the manuals, onboarding new reps, and was a top earner, bringing in $5 Million in new MRI business, $3M in Interventional Radiology procedures, and more.

Then, the company was bought out.

I lost my job – again.

But now, getting a new job became a repeatable system.

(Now called, My Triple S System)

Immediately, I started calling friends and colleagues.

And I knew I had to be the one to again justify why I was worth hiring for my next position, despite being laid off multiple times.

So, I sent personalized notes to 32 doctors I had built relationships with, with surveys for how it was like working with me.

I received all 32 back.

Far more than I’d expected.

In my next big interview, the hiring manager turns to me and says, “I just don’t know if these doctors will take you seriously because you are so young.”

I was 27.

And had just gotten married.

Prepared, I handed him one of the surveys from a doctor in Sacramento (who had left a note at the end of the survey).

He looked at the note, sat back in his chair and said, “You know Dr. G?”

“I know her personally and this is what she thinks about working with me,” I said.

What I didn’t know was this: Dr. G was a big fish client that they couldn’t land.

I was hired on the spot and rose to the top in no time.

At this company, I had a great run but after 18 months, they had another layoff.

This time I was retained but while we all sat waiting on the conference call to find out, I smiled.

I’d been through this so many times.

I kicked my feet up and counseled my colleagues right then and there on my personal game plan that they could use to move quickly and easily to a new role if they wanted.

And since I retired as a medical sales rep to support my husband and raise our son in 2015, this system has now helped hundreds of medical sales professionals — from new hires to executives — to land the roles that they want, too.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

For a small business owner, the most dangerous word can be “yes.”

Yes to all projects.

Yes to work out of scope.

Yes to business partners too quickly.

Too much YES.

And for me, that was saying yes to all clients, and writing resumes and LinkedIn profiles for everyone in any industry.

Because, I didn’t want to turn away business, right?

No one knew me for my specialty experience in Medical Sales and I was too afraid of losing business to tell them.

Early in my business, project work was a rollercoaster of volume and it still felt very much like a side hustle.

This volume worked for us for a while, especially while our children were in diapers, but it wasn’t scalable when we were ready to grow.

Until I met a business mentor who challenged me to niche down and stop saying yes to everything — and start saying NO to anything outside that focus.

Trusting that I wasn’t pushing away business by niching down was like believing your 6-year-old when they tell you they’ve brushed their teeth. There’s a good chance they did, but you’re not going to bet your life on it either, you know?

It took 5 meetings with her to win me over that focusing down on Medical Sales Professionals ONLY — where I was able to get the fastest results for people — was the way to go to increase our profitability, prominence, and enjoyment.

In short, she was right.

That pivot tripled our volume in 14 days and with my background in pharma recruiting, medical sales, and marketing — it’s meant unbelievably fast results for my clients in the healthcare industry (like 24 and 48 hour-job-winning-fast).

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

After taking dozens of courses, earning an advertising degree, and scaling my side-hustle to a 6-figure business — I’ve pinpointed 2 laws that NEVER change when building a social media presence — and neither is your “mindset.”

1// You must trade time or money — pick one.
2// It’s much faster (and more fun!) with friends

Building an audience on social media has been an education in digital writing, dogged consistency, and human psychology. I’ve read dozens of books to stay current on marketing trends, persuasion, persuasion, and how to write the perfect email sequence. I’ve spent thousands on courses that teach webinars, micro-content, viral content, video content, funnels, how to build a digital course, how to pitch media, etc.

The truth for me in all of these things is this:

1// Every piece of this puzzle takes time. If you want to build out a funnel, write an email sequence, build a brand that never quits — and you enjoy that part — do it! It’s going to take you time to either get good at it, try it, or continue to build it. Outsource the rest.

2// When you really want to grow, it’s exponentially faster and more enjoyable with buddies in business. Even if it’s just a short list of people who you can mutually support, bounce around ideas, or share leads, it’s worth every minute. People love to do business with those they like and trust. Help others grow and you will, too.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tractionresume.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clairemdavis1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairemdavis
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/theClaireMDavis
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@theclairemdavis
• Other: Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/claire1348

Image Credits
Kayleen Michelle Photography