Want 2026 to be the best sales year of your career? Don't wait for it to be handed to you. In this episode, Stuart and Bethany break down exactly how to perform a professional reset for the new year.

We cover the "sales math" needed to reverse-engineer your new quota, how to conduct deep-dive account research before you make a call, and the essential "Sales Kickoff (SKO) Survival Guide" to ensure you network effectively without becoming the topic of conversation the next morning.

Whether you are an Account Executive or a Sales Leader, this practical guide will help you build the systems and processes to crush your number this year.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The Professional Reset: How to analyze your CRM data to find last year's wins and losses.
2. Path to Quota: Using the 3:1 pipeline ratio to calculate exactly what you need to close.
3. Account Intelligence: Why you need to read the bulletin boards and track LinkedIn activity.
4. SKO Rules: How to network with legal teams and why "nothing good happens after midnight."
5. Managing Up: Aligning your sales plan with your manager's P&L pressures.

Resources & Links:

1. Connect with Stuart on LinkedIn: [Insert Link]
2. Connect with Bethany on LinkedIn: [Insert Link]
3. Haverin About Store (SKO Mugs): [Insert Link]

In this episode of Haverin About, Stuart and Bethany sit down with Brian Whitehill, Founder and CEO of AccuSource Group, to unpack what’s really happening in the healthcare technology job market — and why so many talented people are struggling to get hired.

With more than 20 years of experience building go-to-market teams across health tech, Brian brings a refreshingly honest perspective on recruiting, hiring, and career survival. From the myth of the “Rolodex hire” to why LinkedIn’s Easy Apply has actually made job searching harder, this conversation pulls back the curtain on how hiring decisions truly get made.

Together, they explore:

1. Why applying to hundreds of jobs often leads nowhere
2. How applicant tracking systems quietly screen out great candidates
3. The behavioral traits hiring managers say they want vs. what they actually hire for
4. Why “always be recruiting” applies to candidates, not just recruiters
5. Common mistakes companies make when hiring sales leaders
6. The difference between “nice-to-have” and “must-have” health tech solutions
7. How to stand out in an overcrowded, noisy job market

This episode is a must-listen for anyone in healthcare technology — especially sales, leadership, and go-to-market professionals — seeking a realistic, practical roadmap to navigate their career in 2026 and beyond.

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00:00 Introduction to Healthcare Technology Recruiting

01:54 Brian Whitehill's Journey in Healthcare Recruiting

03:05 Challenges in Recruiting Top Talent

07:00 Navigating the Job Market: Tips for Job Seekers

12:22 The Importance of Behavioral Qualities in Hiring

18:03 Hiring Sales Leaders: Common Mistakes and Insights

23:23 The Importance of Psychological Assessment in Hiring

25:35 Navigating Leadership Transitions in Growing Companies

28:08 Understanding the Founder’s Curse and Scaling Challenges

31:03 The Reality of Job Security in Sales

34:44 The Value of Networking and Always Being Prepared

36:37 Debunking the Rolodex Myth in Sales

39:44 The Shift from Nice-to-Have to Must-Have Solutions

42:00 Preparing for 2026: Key Considerations for Job Seekers

50:57 Three Golden Rules for Candidates in the Job Market

What sales tools actually help you sell in Health IT — and which ones are just noise?

In this episode of Haverin About, Bethany and Stuart unpack the real-world tools, resources, and habits that successful healthcare sales professionals rely on today. From trusted industry news sources like HISTalk and Becker’s, to research platforms like KLAS and Black Book, to AI transcription tools and old-school notebooks — this episode blends practical advice with hard-earned experience.

You’ll hear candid takes on:

• Where to get accurate Health IT news and insight
• Why LinkedIn has become 80% AI slop (and where the value still is)
• Prospecting tools like Definitive Healthcare and RocketReach — and the etiquette mistakes to avoid
• Using AI tools like PLAUD for meeting notes and conference leads
• How to stay organized as a modern seller (OneNote, Notion, visual thinking)
• Why human connection is still the most powerful sales advantage

This episode is ideal for Health IT sales professionals, BDRs, AEs, founders, and healthcare tech leaders looking to sell smarter in a noisy, AI-heavy world.

00:00 – Tools vs people in sales

04:10 – Best Health IT news & industry resources

10:20 – Substack, opinion writing & AI content overload

17:10 – LinkedIn: what’s worth your time

24:30 – Prospecting & contact intelligence tools

34:00 – Research platforms that influence buying decisions

37:40 – AI note-taking, meetings & conference workflows

54:20 – Why your peer network matters more than any tool

In this episode, we sit down with healthcare economist and consultant Andrew Tsang to unravel the US healthcare economy — a $4.9 trillion “abominable creature” made up of tangled incentives, complex financial flows, and systemic contradictions.

We explore Andrew’s viral system diagram, inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s biological illustrations, and examine how taxes, premiums, Medicare, Medicaid, employers, payers, and providers all interlock in ways that directly shape how hard it is to sell into healthcare.

What you’ll learn:

• Why CFOs are saying “great idea… but we have no money”
• How macroeconomic pressures impact your deals, timelines & value proposition
• Why payer sales cycles are 12–18 months before implementation even begins
• Why $4.9T in spending still results in a $22K hospital janitor
• How aging demographics and the “silver tsunami” will reshape the market
• Why empathy + context are your biggest commercial differentiators
• What startups consistently misunderstand about selling to payers & providers

If you’re a founder, seller, operator, or executive in healthcare technology, this episode is one of the most important macro-level explainers you’ll hear all year.

Links from the episode:

• Andrew Tsang’s Substack
• Stuart’s Substack (including The Knights Who Say No! + The Pauper CFO)
• Andrew’s “Abominable Creature” system diagram
• Haverin About Merch Store

If you enjoy the show, please leave a 5-star review — it helps more people discover these conversations.

In this episode of Haverin About, Bethany joins Stuart from London as we dive into the world of business travel — the good, the bad, and the utterly chaotic.

If you work in healthcare IT, sales, consulting, or any role that sends you on the road, this conversation will feel very familiar.

We break down essential travel routines, airport preferences (ATL forever), Delta status realities, long-haul flight survival, SKO etiquette, and the travel tech we consider absolute must-haves.

We also share favorite road-warrior hacks, personal stories from early careers, a surprisingly HR-compliant workplace romance tip, and why the rule “Nothing good happens after midnight” is still undefeated.

Please visit the Haverin About Store for fun and quirky Fan merchandise

Whether you're a seasoned traveler or preparing for your first work trip, you'll leave with new ideas, a few laughs, and maybe a checklist for your next flight.

Captivate will detect these automatically:

00:00 – Welcome & Why Bethany Is Reporting from London

02:00 – Airport Hot Takes & Why ATL Reigns Supreme

06:00 – Stuart’s UK Driving Era & Sales-Life Stories

12:30 – Airline Status, Loyalty Programs & Upgrade Myths

18:00 – Business Travel Tech Essentials & Packing Must-Haves

27:30 – Road Warrior Systems: Chargers, Toiletries & Organization

36:00 – The HR-Approved “Unethical Life Pro Tip”

42:00 – SKO Culture, Conference Etiquette & Midnight Warnings

(This section contains affiliate links. Purchasing through these links supports the show at no additional cost to you.)

Airplane Bluetooth Adapter (AirFly Pro–style)

Portable Apple Watch Charger (Anker)

Compact Travel Power Strip (USB + Outlets)

Anker Nano International Travel Adapter

Electronics Travel Organizer Case

Extra Travel Charging Cables

Dagne Dover Toiletry Bag

Cadence Magnetic Travel Pods

Spanx AirEssentials Set

TSA-Approved Travel Scissors

Portable Power Bank (Anker MagGo)

Anker Power Bank Power Station

Cadbury Chocolate Selection Boxes (UK)

TAGS

business travel, healthcare IT, health tech sales, corporate travel tips, Delta Medallion, ATL airport, travel hacks, SKO advice, sales career stories,...

In Part 2 of our HLTH 2025 conversation, Stuart and Bethany dive into the actual innovations that stood out on the conference floor — not the flashy AI branding, not the megabooths, but the clever, focused technologies solving real problems for patients and clinicians.

Stuart shares three products that caught his attention:

• Temperature-sensing diabetic socks designed to reduce amputations

• Entia’s Liberty home CBC device enabling oncology patients to monitor blood counts without constant hospital visits

• PLAUD’s clinician-friendly portable ambient transcription tools, reshaping workflow for doctors outside exam rooms

You can buy your own PLAUD Note device right on Amazon here: PLAUD Note on Amazon

(This is an affiliate link, so it won't cost you anything more, but we may receive a small commission)

Beyond the tech, we also explore the value of big multi-day events vs. niche specialty conferences, the economics of booths, why startups struggle for visibility, and how clinicians and small clinics can adopt technology without enterprise budgets.

If you work in health tech, digital health, clinical workflows, or simply want to know what’s actually worth paying attention to at HLTH, you’ll find a lot here.

00:00 — Welcome to Part 2 & framing the discussion

00:48 — Why solving a real problem matters (benefits vs. features)

01:20 — Innovation #1: Temperature-sensing diabetic socks

04:40 — The future of wearables & clinical data flow

06:30 — Innovation #2: Entia Liberty home CBC analyzer

10:50 — Chemotherapy, home monitoring & equity questions

12:54 — Innovation #3: Ambient scribing everywhere (big & small players)

14:40 — PLAUD’s rise & why clinicians secretly love it

20:10 — Small tech solving big problems vs. enterprise vendors

23:20 — Big vs. niche conferences: which actually deliver value?

28:30 — Booth ROI, startup economics & brand awareness reality

32:40 — Lead scanning horror stories & capturing meaningful conversations

39:20 — Should conferences use ambient capture? A future idea

41:55 — Wrapping up: JOMO, event culture & what comes next

43:10 — Closing & “Keep Haverin!”

If you'd like to support us, consider contributing at: Ko-fi

OR if you'd like to purchase some merchandise to support the channel, check out our BRAND NEW STORE at haverin.printify.me

In this episode of Haverin About, Stuart and Bethany dive into the HLTH 2025 conference in Las Vegas — exploring the conference’s origins, the reality behind the polished branding, and what actually happens when healthcare vendors, investors, payers, tech companies, and executives collide in one massive event.

Stuart shares his HLTH experience after attending industry conferences for over 35 years, while Bethany adds her take from last year’s event. Together, they dig into:

• Why HLTH exists and how it compares to HIMSS and ViVE
• The rise of “AI-everything” and the lack of substance behind many claims
• Celebrity speakers like Rob Lowe and Mark Cuban are delivering wildly conflicting messages
• What attendees really get from these events (and what they don’t)
• Vendor goals: brand awareness, lead generation, partnerships, investment
• The reality of secret-suite meetings, investor tribes, and on-floor chaos
• The good, the bad, and the unexpectedly funny moments (lime-green umbrellas included)
• This is Part 1 of a two-episode conversation. Part 2 continues the breakdown of HLTH and the future of health conferences.

00:00 — Intro & why we’re talking HLTH

02:00 — First impressions of HLTH 2025

06:00 — HLTH vs. HIMSS & ViVE

11:00 — Rob Lowe, Mark Cuban & conflicting messages

17:00 — What conferences really deliver

27:00 — AI hype, tribes & trends

38:00 — Wrap-up & Part 2 preview

If you'd like to support us, consider contributing at: Ko-fi

OR if you'd like to purchase some merchandise to support the channel, check out our BRAND NEW STORE at haverin.printify.me

As 2025 comes to a close, sales leaders everywhere are revisiting comp plans for the new fiscal year. In this lively and insightful conversation, Stuart and Bethany talk with Chris Goff — compensation strategist, educator, and author — about what it takes to design sales compensation that actually motivates performance and aligns with business goals.

Chris shares practical lessons from years of experience helping organizations strike a balance between motivation, fairness, and financial discipline in their compensation strategies. From startup simplicity to enterprise-scale complexity, this episode explores what works, what fails, and why.

00:00 – Introduction to Sales Compensation Dynamics

06:58 – Understanding the Role of Sales Compensation Professionals

09:40 – The Complexity of Compensation Plans

12:06 – The Importance of Pay Transparency

14:48 – Navigating Compensation Structures in Organizations

17:14 – The Impact of Company Culture on Sales Performance

17:51 – Advice for Sales Leaders on Compensation Planning

29:27 – Understanding Sales Compensation Structures

31:46 – The Role of Ramps and Quotas in Sales

38:05 – Navigating Mid-Year Changes and SPIFs

46:29 – Compensation Strategies for Startups

52:13 – Future Trends in Sales Compensation

56:11 – Understanding Compensation Plans

57:46 – Paths to Success in Sales

01:00:11 – Matching Personalities to Sales Roles

01:01:19 – The Politics of Sales Compensation

• The art and science of designing effective sales comp plans
• When “equality” can actually kill motivation
• The love–hate relationship with SPIFs and short-term incentives
• Why your comp plan is your real “instruction manual” for success
• How sales leaders can advocate for smarter plan design
• Practical strategies for startups building their first comp models
• What’s next in 2026: AI, consumption-based models, and new incentive trends

Whether you’re a CRO, a sales manager, or an individual contributor reading your new comp plan with curiosity (or dread), this episode helps you decode what really drives sales performance.

🎙️ Guest: Chris Goff

Hosts: Stuart & Bethany

Podcast: Haverin About

👉 Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

You can learn more about Chris on LinkedIn and on his website salescompguy.com

💬 Have a sales comp story or question? Email Haverin About — Your Experience Could Feature in a Future Listener Q&A!

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