5 common bad habits in medical sales jobs

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.