I was a medical
sales manager for several years. Quite often, the best performers
were simply those who were disciplined in doing things the right way.
Unfortunately, the medical reps job seemed to lull people into bad
habits which destroyed their performance. If you are new to the
role, here's 5 of the most common bad habits to look out for.
Repeat
calling on the same group of core customers. Repeat calling on
customers is, of course, necessary to generate growth in medical
sales. In fact, statistically, you won't get any real benefit until
you've seen a Doctor 3 to 4 times. However, what many do, often
driven by call rate targets, is resort to a circuit seeing the same
group of people over and over again, some as frequently as once a
week or more. This is clearly not going to generate business.
Indeed what often occurs is that reps get too close to the customer
to be able to sell to them.
Call rate
targets are daunting, but be brave and challenge yourself to achieve
them by constantly attempting to call on new customers. Ultimately
this will win you far more business.
Not selling
to customers! There can be a number of reasons for this, the first
of which is point one. The second most common reason is the fact
that pharmaceuticals in particular are a more technical medical
sales call. Many reps can get carried away with a 'consultative'
approach to calls such that there is little or no 'persuasion'
present to gain the extra business. If you go down this road you
become a billboard, you'd just as well drive by, shout your product
name and shower them in branded pens. If you followed a structured
sales approach to your calls you will sell so much more.
Not
re-booking medical sales cyclical appointments on the spot. Most
appointment systems run in cycles. Many reps turn up for there
appointments in a rush, and leave in a rush for the next call.
However, if you do this without re-booking, you fall out of the
appointment cycle and as A result can loose a lot of easy calls. In
practise, booking an appointment is a one minute job. If you always
remember to do this ( I would suggest when you turn up before a
call) then you will never fall out of appointment cycles and your
activity will be stronger, leading to stronger sales.
Not calling
on retail chemists. Perhaps the easiest way to cancel out your
sales efforts is to ignore retail chemists, particularly with a new
product. If you have successfully persuaded a GP to use your new
product, he prescribes it, the patient visits the chemist who
doesn't have it, he calls the GP and changes it back to what he does
have! Many medical sales roles don;t specify a chemist call rate,
but it's often common sense to call on them an ensure they have your
product if you think the Gps will be using it. If the chemist
doesn't believe you, he may call the GP and give your product an
extra plug!
Not
creating call back opportunities. As mentioned above, it's repeat
calling which generates results in medical sales. Towards the end
of your calls, look to create a reason to call again, perhaps a
related clinical paper to get a copy of for them, or the latest
gadget your giving away. It doesn't always work, but if you attempt
consistently, it'll work enough to generate extra calls and speed up
your sales process.
In summary, the
best medical sales people are often those who are simply able to
follow good practise consistently without looking for too many short
cuts. Try to avoid these bad habits and follow the tips and you may
like the results.
