John Walls

Insight Architect NeuroBuilt, LLC

From Throwing Bricks to Transforming Field Service

In the spring of 1982, I was a 21-year-old working at a brickyard, throwing bricks for eight hours a day; it was a dirty, mindless job. One day, while waiting in line at a grocery store, I noticed someone about my age wearing a tie and white shirt, repairing an electronic cash register. That moment changed my life. When I asked him how to get a job like his, he said, “Get an electronics degree.” I was determined to trade bricks for a tie, and that’s exactly what I did.

Building a Strong Sales-Service Partnership

By 1984, I had earned my degree and landed my first job repairing biomedical equipment at Sunbury (PA) Community Hospital, which opened the door for me to join Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 100 company. Abbott’s Hospital Products Division was pioneering a field service strategy to complement its sales force, a bold move to strengthen customer relationships through technical support. As one of the first service hires, I was assigned to New England, only to find the Boston sales team un-welcoming. Their last experience with a service rep. - highly technical but lacking people skills - had eroded customer confidence and left the team skeptical. I was different. While I wasn’t the most technically skilled, I excelled in communication and was able to articulate the value of service. I wore a suit and tie, built trust, and demonstrated how service could enhance sales. I was soon invited to every sales demo, and field service became a powerful differentiator. When I transferred to Abbott’s Diagnostics Division in 1990, the company had secured its position as the infusion pump market leader in New England, a milestone made possible by the collaborative sales-service strategy I helped build.

Transforming Service into a Revenue Generator

I’ve always believed that service should do more than fix problems - it should create value. In the 1990s, while working at Abbott Diagnostics, I saw an opportunity to shift how service was perceived and performed. At a time when service was viewed purely as a cost center, I developed a strategy to turn it into a revenue engine. Service engineers were giving away consumables to maintain goodwill. I introduced a process to sell those consumables instead, creating a new value stream that added $3.2 million in annual revenue. More than just a financial win, it was a shift in mindset. I trained engineers across the country to communicate value, engage customers, and think entrepreneurially…despite initial reluctance from many who feared being seen as sales reps. The key was to help them do so without losing their technical identity or credibility. The program earned me Abbott’s President’s Award and was eventually adopted by the sales division. It demonstrated what’s possible when you combine practical insight, process discipline, and a willingness to challenge old assumptions. That belief continues to shape the work I do today.

Differentiating Service: Transforming Ordinary Service Reps into Polished Service Professionals

In 2004, I founded Calyx Metrology, a healthcare technology company specializing in on-site biomedical test equipment calibration. In the price-sensitive healthcare market, calibration was seen as a commodity service—where all providers looked alike…from a distance. I knew we needed to differentiate our service offering. Inspired by Richard Feynman’s advice, “If you want to master something, teach it,” I developed the Tech to Pro initiative (NTPi)—a training philosophy integrating neuroscience, philosophy, and practical habits into service delivery. This innovative approach not only differentiated Calyx from the competition but also drove its success and positioned the company for a successful sale in 2024, underscoring the power of combining technical expertise with human-centered leadership. Now, I help other organizations do the same…transform technical service into a strategic advantage.