Eakin Surgical is proud to distribute its pioneering single-use surgical instruments products to over 30 countries worldwide. The UK manufacturer has an active international team who work closely with extensive distribution network to offer customers support, product training, after sales support and objective handling.
Having recently attended MEDICA 2022, the largest medical exhibition in the world, we caught up with newly appointed Rob Drain, Senior International Sales Executive, who gives us an exclusive insight into life on the international side of Eakin Surgical.
Please can you give an overview of your role at Eakin Surgical?
My role is to work alongside our international distributors and support them with the successful development of sales strategies and help them to overcome difficulties faced by their customers. Ultimately, it’s my job to work closely together and help all our partners grow their business both professionally and financially. Thankfully this allows me to travel to various countries meeting with both distributors and customers so that I can understand the unique issues each face. We have just come back from MEDICA 2022 – the largest healthcare conference in the world – to deliver bespoke ‘Surgical Surgery’ sessions to our customers and international distributors. This was a great platform to meet everyone face-to-face and support them on all things surgical.
Where have you come from / what past experience will help with the new role?
I originally trained in St Thomas Hospital in London where I specialised in Laboratory Haematology and went on to hold a research role in a Vascular Surgery team. I moved into sales over 30 years ago and have been lucky to live and work in many countries including the UK, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates covering regions such as the Middle East, Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. I am thankful that this experience gained in different cultures will help me in the truly global environment that Eakin Surgical are working within.
What do you like most about international sales?
I love that business does not have to be conducted in the same way everywhere. Regional cultural differences add variety to my everyday work but the one thing I do see is that caring for the patient outcome is central to everyone I meet.
How do you spend your spare time?
Probably eating too much – however, I live near the coast and enjoy walking in the area.
If you could live anywhere, where would you choose & why?
I do love clear blue skies and warm seas so somewhere a little more tropical than South Wales.
If you can only eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Thai or Indian as plenty of variety of flavours and a little heat. Perfect!
What do you admire most about Eakin Surgical?
The quality of the products. When I first held our products, I could not believe these were made for single use. Having products that do not impact patient safety through inferior quality is a great start to any conversation.
Eakin Surgical is a manufacturer of high-quality single use surgical instruments that are sold worldwide. Our solutions have been designed in response to the growing concerns over the cleaning of reusable fine lumen instruments – which are associated with high risks of patient-to-patient cross-infection.
We work closely with healthcare professionals to identify where products can be improved and bring to market innovative solutions that offer surgical teams the reliable, practical and flexible tools that they rely on – without compromising on the high quality, ease of use and functionality of the reusable equivalent, and while still delivering optimal value and safety for patients.