Joseph Bancheri, Sales Manager for XRPure – Interview Series

As the American cannabis industry expands and evolves at the exponential rate that it is, the crucial need to effectively and safely decontaminate cannabis flower of any microbial contaminants has become of utmost importance. One such company utilizing X-ray technology and machinery to treat cannabis flower of any and all possible microbials to a compliant level to pass required third-party testing standards is the Las Vegas-based XRPure. Interestingly, XRPure’s parent company is the precedent-setting Varex Imaging (VREX ), a worldwide supplier of medical X-ray tubes and image-processing solutions for over 75 years now. For a better understanding of this technology and its application in proper and clean cannabis cultivation, mycannabis.com had the honor of speaking with Joseph Bancheri, XRPure Sales Manager.

How did you first get involved in cannabis, and why did you become involved? What personally and professionally interested you about working in this industry?

I became involved with cannabis 20 years ago when my girlfriend, who had Crohn’s disease, grew tired of her prescription medications and realized the plant helped way more effectively than the prescription pills. Plus, one of my friends was a cancer patient who was also helped by medical cannabis. And later, I realized cannabis helped me with digestive issues that I was experiencing. I believe that this is a healing plant and I wanted to make sure the people who needed it had access to it. Professionally I had to wait until it was legal, but I used my technology background to support cannabis by selling various environment control systems to cultivation operations.

How would you describe the professional transition from working for large established companies such as Konica Minolta and CenturyLink to working in cannabis, and what were the most glaring differences between working in those two fields?

It was a huge change! During my first time working with a cannabis brand, I had to write out Standard Operating Procedures, aka SOPs, for sales processes. I never heard of SOP’s before in my life. On top of that, there were weeks I didn’t get a paycheck because our bank account got shut down. It started out as a wild ride but I’m very glad to see where the industry is at now and still be involved!

While working for these massive companies that have been around for decades, what valuable skills did you learn that would become very transferable when working in cannabis?

Definitely organizational skills, sales processes, and that people would be ecstatic that I would actually follow up and show up on time. Punctuality and consideration should seem obvious but it’s so important in business and too often overlooked!

Conversely, how does serving as a Sales Manager/Account Executive in cannabis differ from those roles in other industries? What are some duties of the job and commonly faced hurdles that are specific to being in sales roles in the cannabis industry?

In the Nevada market, cannabis sales can be a race to the bottom, unfortunately, but I’m confident things will even out. Other than that, you have to deal with vertical integration and actively run promotions to sell your products in stores. But, when I worked for a brand (before XRPure, which is B2B), I did really enjoy the aspect of educating budtenders and networking with them. Educating the budtenders will lead to educated customers, and it’s very rewarding to share knowledge that’s important for the consumers making purchasing decisions.

What initially interested you about working for XR Pure and the technology that the company is producing?

I was very familiar with the X-Ray technology when I first met with Founder Jeff Adams and his team at XRPure. I actually had one of their competitor’s decontamination units, but it was down for a couple of months. This was killing my sales, and when they told me they were going to build something more powerful with a less complicated design, I was all about it.

How would you describe the technology that XR Pure produces, and why could it be vital for cannabis cultivators? And what is XR Pure doing that is different from the direct competitors?

XRPure’s parent company has been in the X-Ray component manufacturing industry for 75 years, so they are definitely leaders in their industry. X-Ray technology is, in my opinion, the best way to get the plant to a “clean’ status. It keeps the integrity of the plant, and we have pre and post-harvest data to prove it. By using a very powerful x-ray tube in a super simple design we can run circles around our competition with little to no downtime.

How would you address concerns by consumers and business owners alike about treating cannabis with radiation-based technology? Is it safer overall than alternative technologies? And if so, how?

The plant is no longer alive, but the microbials are. The minute x-ray beams penetrate the DNA of the live microbials, it kills them. It keeps the integrity of the plant and I would advise utilizing X-ray technology to decontaminate, rather than other technologies like RF or Ozone. Ozone discolors and changes the smell of the plant plus it only does a surface coverage. RF is basically a microwave and creates friction in water molecules. I believe this disrupts the integrity of the plant because it’s generating heat.

Why do you feel it’s special that companies as large and industry-defining as Varex Imaging are making major investments in the cannabis industry, such as with XR Pure?

I think it’s amazing that so many companies want to bring their technology to help support our industry!

How would a federal rescheduling impact XRPure and the technology/machines it produces? Would a rescheduling on the federal level cause this technology to become more widespread and possibly even evolve further?

I think it would be a lot easier for cultivation operations to get their flower to any facilities in the US and be able to cross state lines. I think our play in that situation would be to create a major hub where people could bring their flower from all over the country to get decontaminated, ensuring it’s safe for medical patients and adult-use consumers.

Thank you for joining us, Joseph! For more information on XRPure and its machinery, please visit its website.