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!)
In his book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Barack Obama says that “hope is not a plan.” But “hope” is often the only plan that medical sales reps have when they make an effort to sell a product or service. Listen as Mace talks about the importance of having a clear sales strategy before that first sales call.
If you watched part 1, you know how to acknowledge the objection, and question the objection to see if its real or the whole objection. Your next steps will answer the objection and verify that your prospect is satisfied with your response.
Objections make some medical sales professionals uncomfortable. Why? Because they view their healthcare customers as experts (which they are, at least in their field — hopefully!) and don’t feel comfortable challenging the opinions of experts. My advice — DON’T. Instead, learn how to explore your prospect or customer’s feelings and use that information to steer your sales approach.
This video is part one of handling objections. If you have any questions or comments — please submit a comment in the box below, or click on the comment link to see the box.
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!
The receptionist in a healthcare practice is usually the least-skilled, lowest paid employee. We’re talking someone who probably earns $10/hour on average.
Compare the medical sales professional to the receptionist. The sales rep often has a college or graduate degree and earns many times what the receptionist earns. The medical sales rep has excellent sales skills, relationship skills, and expertise combined with products or services that offer solutions to the healthcare provider. That is, if the sales rep can figure out how to get past the $10 receptionist.
Don’t misunderstand me – I mean no disrespect to the receptionist. These are often hard-working, nice people that are just doing what they are told to do – “not to let any sales people into the office to waste the doctor’s time.” If you, as a sales person, are there just to waste the doctor’s time, than you should allow your life to be controlled by the receptionist. However, if you bring value in the form of solutions and innovations that can improve the doctor’s practice and the lives of his or her patients than you need to start earning your money.
Always treat the receptionist and everyone in the doctor’s practice with courtesy and respect. But part of the reason you entered medical sales is to earn a professional-level income and that won’t happen if you can’t get past the lowest-paid employee in the practice. The reps that are making the money that you want to make know how to do this.
Don’t you think you should learn how?
Here’s a hint: what information could you communicate to the doctor that would make him or her want to speak with you? Here’s another hint: What’s in it for the doctor and the patient? Final hint: It’s not about you or your company – the communication should not start off with “I” or “my company.”
One last thought – How could you get the receptionist to help you get in to see the doctor?
Are your sales efforts being thwarted by a $10 per hour employee? Think about it…
When I’m interviewing experienced medical sales reps prior to customizing a training program for their company, I ask them what their biggest challenges are. The subject of closing the sale often comes up. “I do pretty well with the sales presentation. My problem is closing the sale.” When I ask what they think would solve the problem, I am usually told, “I need to be more assertive or learn how to ask for the business.”
Closing is important in that all of your efforts are for nothing if you can’t accomplish this part of the sale. But too many experienced medical sales professionals make the mistake of thinking that the sales magic is in the closing. 95% of the time, closing is not your problem. The problem is that you have not helped the prospect to establish enough value in the solution that you are offering to his or her problem.
Your prospect did not walk into the office, clinic, or hospital this morning thinking about why he or she wants to buy your product or service. The stark reality is that the medical professional that can benefit from using your product or service doesn’t even know that he or she needs it. This is where you come in. Are you a good enough presenter to be able to paint a vivid picture of how the clinician’s practice and the outcomes for the patient can be improved?
You see, once your prospect can anticipate emotionally and pragmatically that your product or service can yield a solid return on investment despite the risk associated with the learning curve or the pain of change — closing is a breeze! In fact, when you have done your job well the prospect will usually say, “I would like to try it.” But if he or she doesn’t speak up, all you have to do is ask if he or she has a patient, procedure, or surgery on the schedule to give it a try?
The “meat and potatoes” of getting the sale is in the presentation, not the close. The close is merely getting a commitment to evaluate or purchase your product or service, or to take a step to advance the sale. A “closer” is a salesperson that can deliver an effective presentation where the value of the product or service is clear. The closing does not occur only at the end of the presentation — it’s occurring the entire time that you help your prospect to understand the value of your offering.
One of the signs of gross inexperience in any type of sales is when a salesperson describes his or her product as “the best” or as “superior.” Think of how ridiculous this sounds to your prospect! You can’t tell anyone that your product is the best because you have no credibility in the regard that you have a conflict of interest because you stand to benefit from the sale — of course you are going to say it’s the best.
Medical sales professionals present their products or services from the perspective of how it will benefit the medical professional and the patient. You can present scientific data from reputable journals (be careful of “white papers”) and let the clinician decide how your product stacks up in any particular study and arrive at his or her own conclusion that your product offers distinct advantages over your competitors. You can point out distinct features and benefits between products. You can ask the prospect which product he feels would deliver a superior outcome, or some other real-world benefit. But you can’t say that your product is the best.
Sell with this adage in mind: “If you say it, they can doubt it; but if they say it, then to them, it must be true.”
Don’t ever begin a presentation with the overused, amateurish line, “Hey doc — would you like to see the best (your widget) on the market? When you do that, you lose all credibility and you start your presentation with your prospect thinking, “okay — here comes a sales pitch” instead of “let’s see if you can offer me a solution.”
Your product might be the best, but you can’t say it. You can show the solution you offer, and ask questions that will force the prospect to compare your offering to the others that are available. But unless your prospect arrives at the conclusion that your product is the best, then to him or her, it’s not.
I spoke to a medical sales rep today who told me that his presentations go well, until it comes time to ask for the business or “close” as we all like to call it.
I asked him to tell me what it is that he is feeling emotionally at this point in the presentation. Very glibly, he admitted that he feels anxiety and starts to stutter. He also admitted that he has not been closing effectively.
Conceptually, it seems pretty simple — once you have gone through the presentation, demonstrated how your product or service fills the prospect’s needs, handled objections, etc. — you just ask for the business. If you haven’t practiced asking for the business and you are not comfortable transitioning to this point of the sales process, it will create a feeling of discomfort.
Sales people are told to “expect the sale” and even to assume it’s a done deal as you ask for the business. This is so much easier to do if you prepare ahead of time for every part of the sales presentation, including getting your attitude and excitement up before you come face-to-face with the prospect.
In medical sales, closing should be easy if you have done everything else right and you are not trying to figure out what you are going to say next. If you cannot go through the presentation smoothly when you are practicing by yourself, you will probably bungle it in front of the customer.
Healthcare providers are not comfortable buying from sales people who are not comfortable selling. If you can’t do your presentation smoothly, with confidence and a smile, then you need to practice it until you can. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can “wing-it.” Do what the pros do — practice!
