The independent newsletter for medical device sales professionals

This week: early findings from our anonymous compensation survey, why growing your territory doesn’t always mean growing your paycheck, what Zimmer Biomet’s sales force transformation could mean for reps, and two anonymous comments that capture exactly why compensation transparency matters.

Let’s get into it.

We’re still early, but the first 27 submissions to the Med Device Compensation Index are already showing just how wide the compensation gap can be.

The spread is enormous.

Someone earning $90K and someone earning $400K+ can technically have the same profession.

That doesn’t necessarily mean one is four times better at selling.

Specialty, territory maturity, geography, product mix, company, quota, tenure, market opportunity, and compensation structure can all dramatically influence earnings.

A few other early findings:

Most common base salary: $80,000 to $94,999
Most common comp structure: Base + commission, reported by 59% of respondents
Believe they’re fairly compensated: 44%
Believe they’re not fairly compensated: 41%

And here’s the interesting part:

The average respondent reported finishing at 105% of quota.

It’s an early sample, so we’re not drawing broad industry conclusions yet.

But it raises an important question:

If reps are hitting their numbers, why do so many still feel underpaid?

Contribute anonymously to the Med Device Compensation Index →

One survey respondent told us:

“My quota went up 20% and I will make $70,000 less this year doing more revenue than last year.”

That’s the kind of sentence that makes you look at your compensation plan differently.

A rep can grow revenue and still make less.

How?

Because revenue growth and compensation growth are not necessarily the same thing.

Quota increases, changes to commission rates, accelerators, thresholds, product-specific incentives, territory changes, and compensation-plan redesigns can all change what each dollar of revenue is worth to the rep.

That’s why understanding your comp plan is just as important as understanding your quota.

What did this territory produce over the last three years?

Then ask:

What were the quotas during those years?

And finally:

What would those results have paid under today’s compensation plan?

That last question is important.

A territory that produced $3M, $4M, and $5M over the last three years might look like an incredible opportunity.

But if quota moved from $3M to $4M to $5.5M during the same period, the story looks very different.

Don’t evaluate an opportunity based only on territory revenue or OTE.

Understand the math required to actually earn it.

Zimmer Biomet is in the middle of a major transformation of its U.S. sales organization.

The company is moving substantial portions of its U.S. sales force from independent sales arrangements toward a more dedicated employee model while also increasing specialization across areas including robotics, S.E.T. and the ASC channel.

Management has said the vast majority of the transformation is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

At the beginning of the initiative, roughly two-thirds of its approximately 2,500-person U.S. sales force were 1099s. By the end of Q1 2026, that figure had fallen below 60%.

Zimmer has also secured long-term extensions with its six largest independent distributors, which management says account for roughly 40% of U.S. sales.

Forget the corporate terminology for a minute.

This is a major change in how thousands of orthopedic sales professionals could work.

More specialization could create opportunities in robotics, ASC, sports medicine, extremities, trauma and other focused categories.

But whenever a sales organization changes this significantly, reps should be asking:

What happens to territory ownership?

How will quotas change?

How will compensation change?

What happens to autonomy?

Which specialties gain resources?

What does the career path look like under the new structure?

Those answers will ultimately determine what this transformation means for the people carrying the bag.

If you’re currently inside the transition, we’d love to hear what you’re seeing.

Reply to this email. Your identity will never be published without permission.

Another anonymous respondent wrote:

“Just went from 34 reps to 12 reps and expanded my territory. Now cover 3 states and compensation only went up 5% for 3x the work.”

This came from an Area Sales Manager in orthopedics with 21+ years of industry experience.

It’s one response, not an industry-wide conclusion.

But it’s exactly why we’re collecting more than salary numbers.

A W-2 tells us what someone made.

It doesn’t tell us what they were responsible for to earn it.

Territory size. Revenue. Quota. Geography. Headcount. Experience. Specialty. Satisfaction.

Put those together and compensation starts telling a much more useful story.

That’s what we’re trying to build.

We’re currently at 30 anonymous submissions.

Our first goal is 100.

The larger the dataset becomes, the more useful the comparisons become across companies, specialties, roles, experience levels and geographies.

If you’ve already contributed, thank you.

If you haven’t:

Take the anonymous 3-minute survey →

If something here made you think of another rep, forward it to them.

And if there’s something happening inside medical device sales that nobody seems to be talking about, hit reply.

I read every response.

The Med Device Rep
TheMedDeviceRep.com