Maybe you sell to the C-suite and maybe you don’t. If you don’t, maybe you should. But how do you get past the reception desk to discuss business with the CEO, CFO and others in the ivory towers of an institution. In this episode of the Medical Sales Guru Podcast, I provide some things to think about that will help you to get the attention of the C-suite and almost any other decision-makers you should be talking to.
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There are more and more medical sales professionals gravitating to email as a sales tool. Sure there are many benefits, but there are downsides as well. In this edition of the Medical Sales Guru Podcast, I discuss how some sales representatives use email as a way to create a sale and why it doesn’t work. Are you guilty of misusing email in your medical sales efforts?
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If you’ve been providing your healthcare customers with great service and it’s not bringing you the business you expect, here’s what you need to do–STOP!….that is, if they won’t reciprocate with more opportunities for you to grow your business. Service is critically important, but you’re in the SALES business, not the SERVICE business. Maybe you just need to change your thinking and then change your approach so that you can go beyond just being a “friend” to your customer. Start the year right by adopting a new attitude that will move your business in an upward directions.
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Facebook, LinkedIn and a host of other social media sites are now a part of every day life. Almost everyone has a page on one of these sites and the postings, for the most part, are fairly benign. However, in this edition of The Medical Sales Guru Podcast, I discuss how a recent applicant for a medical sales job blew her chances with her postings on one of these sites. Could posting things about yourself on the Internet hurt your medical sales career? The answer is yes. Listen to the podcast and make sure it doesn’t happen to you.
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Most medical sales reps don’t even think about sales planning until a manager points a proverbial gun at their head and says, “I need next year’s sales plan by Friday!” Strange, that the most important activity that can save your business, put money in your pocket, and save your job has to be mandated under a management-imposed deadline. Medical sales professionals need to be fine-tuning their sales plan constantly and it has never been more critical than it is now. Why? Because we’re going to see many changes in the healthcare system and how products and services are purchased. You need to be prepared. So…how do you prepare for all the changes when you don’t even know what they are?
In this podcast, I provide an example of how ignoring threatened change cost me over $1 million in business during a time when change was less certain than it is NOW. I also discuss how to prepare for the uncertainty ahead by heeding the lessons of a famous event where disaster was averted two years ago. Okay, you don’t have a crystal ball, but you can still prepare for the future and optimize your chances for success before the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan.
If you don’t have a detailed sales plan that includes a sales process for your medical sales efforts next week, next month, next year…you’re not fully in the game. Watch out for those who are!
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Most sales reps would agree that relationships are important in medical sales. Some even go so far as to say that relationships are everything. I agree that relationships are important, but I have found that many sales reps, especially new medical sales reps, have a distorted view as to what constitutes a good relationship and how to go about creating one. In this edition of The Medical Sales Guru Podcast, I attempt to dispel some perceptions that lead to counterproductive “bad behavior” when trying to build relationships and what I believe are the keys to creating constructive professional relationships with healthcare customers that support one’s sales efforts.
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Have you ever had a customer say something about you or your product that isn’t true? Maybe it’s even slanderous or bordering on slander. Or perhaps the customer informs you that if you don’t lower your pricing, you’re going to lose the business. You’re used to dealing with difficult situations and you’re ready to charge in and address the issue head-on. Stop! Confronting customers on delicate situations is a high-wire act–one wrong move and you’re on the ground with that customer, maybe forever. There is an effective way to confront customers on situations where they may not be pleased with the message. It worked very well for me throughout my medical sales career and I advise you to stop and consider it before you erase any opportunities to ever do business with valued customers again.
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As Marshall Goldsmith says, “what got you here, won’t get you there.” The ways that the health care industry buys goods and services are changing, and you can either thrive on the new opportunities or get crushed while waiting for things to return to “normal.” In this episode of The Medical Sales Guru Podcast, Mace Horoff discusses the results of a recent physician practice survey along with the obvious ramifications. Included are some suggestions on how to adapt your medical sales business and selling approach if you plan on continuing in this profession. If it seems like common sense, then why haven’t more medical sales professionals adapted yet?
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I had a student who was concerned about one of his doctor-customer’s opinion about the value of a good sales presentation. When you deliver a good sales presentation, your customer should not recognize it as you trying to sell him/her something. Here’s why it doesn’t matter what the doctor thinks–what matters is the outcome.
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The medical sales landscape is changing, and it is critical that you change along with it. One of the more pressing challenges for medical sales professionals is the increasing need to sell to the C-Suite at the hospital along with the complexities of selling to product evaluation and technology assessment committees. In this podcast episode, Mace Horoff describes why this change is occurring and what you must do to not only grow your sales, but also to hold onto the business that you have.
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