Helpful Tips On How To Hear Yes, Rather Than No
Attention and decision-making often come down to how we interact with all the “noise” around us. We are bombarded by noise in our personal lives, on a constant basis. When we enter our professional arena, this noise level tends to increase and as human beings, we can be forgiven for resisting this noise and becoming very jaded on any given day. Noise is evident in the relentless marketing all around us, be it subtle, strategic or annoying. Like it or not, this is the way that society is made up and we are all used to it.
The job of the pharmaceutical sales rep is far from simple. This is a very competitive and often very emotional arena and the product can have far-reaching consequences for the pharmaceutical professional and the end-user, the patient. Many professionals and practitioners have little time for pharmaceutical sales representatives and they may have amassed bad feelings, often due to poor sales practices and/or incorrect information.
These days, key account management training focuses on teaching the representative to cut through the noise and to speak the words that the client really wants to hear. They need to get past the interpretation that they are only in it for themselves, do not really understand what the practitioner has to deal with, what is needed and what may help and understand that there is a certain tendency to believe that the relationship is taken for granted. As bad relationships have been built up over time, a lot more resistance will be apparent. In this scenario, it can be very difficult to get to the “yes,” and pharma training must concentrate on how to prepare for the meeting, how to re-create relationships and how to clear away the damage caused by bad historical practices.
There is a lot of strategic and subtle content within key account management training. A relationship has been classified as key for certain reasons, but it cannot be taken for granted in any shape or form. Quite the contrary, this type of relationship may require much more interaction, as compared to an account that is not “key.”
Employees who are designated to interact with the key account must always be clear about their objectives. Trainers must lay out all these objectives categorically and ensure that employees engage. When a particular position is required, the end goal must be readily apparent. This cannot be over emphasised. Remember that the client organisation could be the subject of a specific structure of influence, including the interaction of subordinates, professionals, secretaries, peers or receptionists. Overlook a particular individual at your peril, as you will not get past the rebuttal.
Every single client and prospect differs and there are so many external influences at play, with various levels of “noise reduction,” so that a novel approach is required by the sales team, in each case. Understanding how each client is different, to a finite degree, is essential and this will allow the sales company’s point people to create a valuable exchange of some kind, drastically increasing the prospects that the client will come on board.
Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.