Here is a simple test suggested by medical sales performance improvement expert Mace Horoff that you can use BEFORE you are in front of your prospect to test if the elements in your presentation are valid.
Again, if you are trying to land your first medical sales job, you might want to use this same test on your resume and in any statements you make in your telephone or live interviews!
No doubt about it — selling in the medical environment is different, especially when it comes to doctors! In this video, medical sales performance improvement expert Mace Horoff discusses one reason that makes it difficult to capture the doctor’s attention and hold it during your presentation. Are you sure you have the doctor’s attention when you present, or are you talking to the wall? (BTW, if you’re trying to get hired, you might get a question or two about this on your interview!)
If your medical sales resume doesn’t get your phone ringing, there’s a problem. Mace discusses what the most common problem is and what you need to do to fix it.
If you have never worked full-time as a medical sales rep, I guarantee you there is much you don’t know. It’s hard trying to communicate that to some medical sales candidates, however. Every now and then, I get an email or a phone call from some hopeful, telling me that he or she just wants to get hired — don’t try to motivate me or teach me how to sell. Gosh, it’s one of the most challenging sales jobs in the world — why would you want to be motivated or better at selling (if you’re even any good at it to start with!).
I understand that there are many “cocky” types that are attracted to this vocation and some of them seem to think that they know it all. These poor souls don’t know what they don’t know. Their competition will be waiting for them to enter the territory and will take great pleasure when these know-it-alls screw-up…and they will screw-up. The medical sales environment is a very unforgiving one. Medical professionals guard their time jealously and have little regard or patience for sales people who present anything less than real value for the professional and their patients. While this seems like a simple concept, I assure you it’s not at all intuitive as demonstrated by the throngs of poor-performing sales people in the industry.
What could make a difference? Taking advantage of any and all of the resources that are available to you. If you shy away from solutions such as training courses to advance your career because they are too expensive — you won’t make it. Medical sales requires that you continually invest in yourself and your business. Trust me, the successful competitors you will be facing are doing this and you are not going to unseat the loyal relationships they have developed with just your cocky confidence. Knowledge is power, and if you are new to this game, you have very little of either.
The learning requirements for the medical sales professional are in many ways as demanding as the learning requirements for physicians and other medical professionals. Even if you have not been hired, you need to start learning now. Learn how to sell like a true medical professional. And if you think you won’t need motivation when you are rejected by the tenth customer that day because he or she needs to stick with the product that is on contract (and yours is not!), we’ll see how long you last without motivation!
Look at it this way — it’s good that there are people getting into medical sales that don’t have good selling skills or knowledge — as long as they are your competition and you’re not one of them. But if you’re new to medical selling, odds are that you’ve got much to learn. You can do it the hard way, or the easier way (it’s never easy — get used to it).
Take a real assessment of your skills before your customers and managers do. Believe me, they won’t be as kind!
An actor would not dream of going on stage without rehearsing his lines. Professional golfers spend time on the driving range before teeing off on the course. Concert pianists don’t go in front of an audience until they have practiced the recital piece to where it is second nature.
What about medical sales representatives and those who are trying to get hired in medical sales? From my experience, too many people from the two groups that I just mentioned don’t think that preparation is necessary. For those representatives who have been in the field for a while, complacency develops that causes them to believe that they can just “wing it” and close the sale. Medical sales candidates frequently make the mistake of believing that there is nothing to be done to prepare for a job interview other than cosmetics — get a haircut, brush your teeth, and put on a business suit.
What is the outcome from this lack of preparation? I am talking sales performance and interview performance far below that which brings the desired results.
The sales presentation that you stumble through with a bunch of “aaahhs” and “ummms” as you are searching for the right words to describe your product or service usually falls flat. The sophisticated medical buyer senses what seems like insincerity and a lack of knowledge making you someone they won’t want to do business with.
Medical sales candidates who have endured a few interviews understand that these are often more than casual conversations. Situational questions will be asked and answers that are anything less than clear, concise, and relevant allow you to continue your job search. I don’t care how much charisma you think you have — you need to prepare for each interview in advance and doing it properly will take you many days of practice. If this is news to you, you may have just learned why you’re not being offered a job.
How can you tell if you are ready for the sales presentation or the interview? Rehearse with a sales colleague if you’re already working a territory. If you’re a job candidate, find someone who has experience with medical sales interviews. Go through the presentation or mock interview from beginning to end and invite honest feedback from the other person. Keep it real — no laughing, no breaks, and no saying, “let’s rewind and try that again.” I highly recommend that you record these sessions with some type of audio recorder or better yet video yourself so you know what you look like as well as sound like. I promise you that you’ll be surprised by how you look and sound, and be prepared to be unimpressed unless you have really practiced.
Professionals practice before they go “on stage.” When you are in front of a customer or in front of the people who are doing the hiring, this is not the time to be learning where you need more work. If you want the prestigious medical sales job, and you wish to earn the income that medical sales professionals earn , then do what professionals do before they go on stage – practice!
As I browse many of the blogs, forums, and bulletin boards many posters espouse the myth that medical device companies prefer to hire athletes for sales. Certainly, there are companies that view a history of organized athletics as a positive. There is even one company that makes 2 years of intercollegiate athletics a requirement for applying for a sales position with their company. So what’s the deal?
There are benefits of having played team sports. Athletes tend to be competitive and that is indeed important in the medical sales arena. Many understand the importance of being a “team player” and those sales reps who embrace the team concept will accomplish more in less time. I could go on and on with metaphors and examples, but after 25 years in this industry, I don’t think that competitive athletics is that much an advantage in the long run. In fact, there are many instances where I have witnessed it as a liability.
I have known several medical device “jocks” over the years whose companies told them to put on their game face and to go out there and win. Some of these guys took it to extremes. They had policies of not ever speaking with their competitors, trying to psych them or inspire fear in them, and even threatening to get physical with their competition when the competition was doing a better job of selling against them. Many times I have witnessed the testosterone reaching dangerous levels at really inappropriate times (such as in the operating room during a procedure!).
While many of these reps get the same charged feeling that they did on the gridiron or baseball field, what matters is the impression that is made with their customers. Medical selling is in many ways a competitive game, but the rules are drastically different. The team you play for is your company, but your company is part of a bigger team — the team that provides patient care and the ultimate winner must be the patient. Too many times have I witnessed the “athlete salesman” working only for the solo victory or the sale.
Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I have seen former athletes blow the doors off of the sales numbers in their territories. But I have witnessed the same results more frequently from men and women who never spent a moment on an athletic field outside of gym class.
Do you need team spirit, drive, and competitiveness to excel in medical sales? Absolutely. But those qualities derive from many, many other places besides athletics. In the final analysis your customers may be impressed with your athletic past and present, but they will only do business with you if you bring all of the other essential elements to the table.
It’s not the better athlete who wins in medical sales. It’s the more experienced, more prepared, and more determined sales professional. Don’t be intimidated or dissuaded by the myth of the athlete in this career. If you know how to play the game and are not afraid to do the right things to win, you will.
Do you have a difference of opinion here? Please share it with me and the rest of the Medical Sales School community. Thanks.
If you don’t know how to go about finding a medical sales position, the “Resume Blast” that many online recruiters offer online seems like a good option to explore. “Get your resume into the hands of hundreds of companies that are hiring..” is how many of the websites read. I can tell you from experience that this is not how the better jobs get filled.
Companies look for candidates that will try to sell themselves into a job as if that is the approach they will use to sell their products. While a “shotgun” approach in medical sales will yield some positive results, much better returns are obtained through a carefully planned, targeted approach.
Being able to have an insider in the company refer you for consideration, or knowing how to sell yourself cold into an interview are skills that will get you noticed and land you a great job. Besides, if you think you have what it takes for this industry, you better be able to prove it from the get-go!
My advice — save your money and wasted hopes. Don’t think that you can take a lazy approach into getting hired for medical sales by having some website do the work for you. It probably won’t happen.
I talk to people almost daily who all have the same question — “I’ve sent out XX copies of my resume and I haven’t received a single response. What should I do?” Of course, I always start out by asking them to email or fax me the resume, although I really don’t even need to read it to know why they aren’t getting any response. These are people who are applying for a sales position and they don’t even know the first thing about selling themselves! 99% of the resumes I see are so generic and boring that I want to throw up.
I’ll cut some slack to the recent college graduate who has never put together a sales resume before, but how about doing some research to find out what a killer medical sales resume looks like? I understand that for the most part, most of these candidates have not held a real sales position before. But there are ways to construct your resume and tell about yourself in ways that some hiring manager will say, “I like this. This person thinks like a sales professional.”
And then there are the quote, “seasoned pros” who really want to make me throw up. I mean, here are men and women who claim to have a solid history of sales performance, yet their resumes still look and read like everyone elses’! This could lead the reviewer to believe that you are going to position his company’s products or services just like everyone else’s and get the same results that everyone else is getting — average.
Focus your resume on why the company is going to hire you in the first place — it’s not because you were president of the chess club or played fullback on the JV team. What’s in it for them if they hire you?? Can you tell them succinctly and in precise terms what you are going to bring to the table and how they stand to benefit once you are on board.
Look at your resume right now. What makes you stand out? If you can’t tell from your resume, do it over. Everyone has unique qualities and experiences that can be leveraged towards their next sales position. If you’re not getting any replies to your resume, it’s because there is something wrong with your resume — not you. My advice - fix it!
