As a medical sales rep, your boss will always be evaluating you, looking for how you handle issues and approach problems, and expecting constant improvement.  During the call is when you go into action.

First, ask him/her for the dates being considered.  If he/she only gives you one option, that means he/she wants to travel then, so make it happen.  The only possible valid reasons to inquire if you can schedule another date are scheduled surgery, a death in your family, vacation or you being out of your territory.  Their schedule is more complicated than yours most times, so they might not have much flexibility with the dates, even if they would like to.

Find out if they would like hotel suggestions from you.  Before you give them a suggestion, call their assistant and ask what kind of hotels they like.  Keep in mind that your manager’s needs for a hotel are kind of specific, so suggesting the cheapest isn’t always a win.  They most likely aren’t going to have a car, so their hotel needs a restaurant in house or nearby and probably a decent workout room.  Sometimes they need a suite-type hotel because they are interviewing or need additional work space.  Choices are often determined by the company travel policy, but most are OK with mid-range hotels like Marriott Courtyards or Hampton Inns.

If you are offering hotel suggestions, do it within a couple of hours.  Your boss is probably in the process of laying out her schedule for the next few weeks, so getting the info to her sooner makes it easier to finalize and confirm her plans, which might even involve trying to coordinate travel with an event or show or field travel with another rep.  Respond with an email within 2 hours with the name and address of the hotel closest to you.  Pasting the info from the website is a nice touch—directions, numbers etc. at your boss’s fingertips.

Show that you pay attention to detail.  The hotel is probably near your house, so you stop by in the afternoon in business attire and ask to speak to the manager.  Be nice and explain that your boss is coming to travel with you and you wondered if the manager of the hotel could take some special care with your boss.  That can mean anything from a nicer room to a goodie basket in the room to just greeting them by name.  A $10.00 Starbucks gift card and a pleasant demeanor can go a long way to enlisting the hotel manager’s help.  Maybe your boss is a runner.  Is there a nice health club nearby that you could get her a guest pass to?

Wait a minute, you say:  Did I sign on as a host or a sales rep?  Remember that you should always use the same skills internally as you externally.  And the difference between good and great is only 10%.  Don’t both of those apply here?  Your boss is going to be helping you be successful, so why wouldn’t you want to make her life as easy as possible as it pertains to traveling with you?  By doing these small things and having an awareness, doesn’t it position you as a winner?  History says yes.

These same skills–asking the right questions, doing the research, going the extra mile, and making life easy for the manager who can make your life better are the same ones you need to help you get a job within medical sales.  All of these skills will help you stand out as a great candidate who gets the job and a sales rep who continues to make a fantastic impression on your boss.

–Kraig McKee, Senior Recruiter, PHC Consulting

PS – Don’t miss the ABC’s of Field Travel and Training Part 1

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Ask a Medical Sales Manager: ABC’s of Field Travel and Training (Part 1 of 3) Are you a seeker? When managers travel with new medical...
2. Ask a Medical Sales Manager: How will my boss measure my success after my first 90 days as a medical sales rep? Are you trying to break into medical sales?  We talk...
3. Want a Medical Sales Job? Catch the Hiring Manager at the Right Moment You might think it’s counterproductive for me to recommend that...

Sales goal planning needs more than a crystal ball.

The Rule of 78 is used in the diagnostic industry to calculate how much new business you need to close to hit your annual sales goal. It allows you to recalculate that increment or growth as the year unfolds.

You say, “Why do I need to recalculate, I have a sales budget that breaks down my goal by the month?”

I say “That’s great, tell me what new business you have to close for the remaining 9 months of the year if you missed your goal and didn’t sell enough in the first quarter.”

That’s why you need the Rule of 78.  It allows you to calculate how much new business you need to close to hit your growth budget based on where you are at that time.

This tool is very valuable for reps formulating tactics to help them achieve their goals. It is also very helpful for managers to help reps realize that there is a point of no return, i.e., a point in the year that they cannot “catch up”, even if they get a big order. The reason being, there aren’t enough selling opportunities in the year.

Before we work through an example, consider these facts:

1) The Rule of 78 (Ro78) assumes that you maintain your base business.

2) The “increment” is the amount of new business you need to sell to add to your base business to hit your sales goal.

Base business + New Business (growth or increment) = Your sales goal for the year.

3) The Ro78 allows you to calculate in “real time”.

How much will you have to close to make up for an account that you lost in March?

Let’s look at some simple examples now:

Your sales goal for the year is $122,000 and your territory finished at $100,000 last year…so, $22,000 is your growth or increment.

The company wants you to grow your territory $22,000 larger than it was last year.

$100,000 + $22,000 = $122,000
Base Growth/increment Annual Sales Goal

$100,000-your total last year’s production.

It seems like you need to sell $10,166.67 (base +increment/growth) per month, starting in January (122,000 / 12 = $10,166.67)

That seems simple enough—but hold that thought.

This is where they get The Rule of 78.

January 12

February 11

March 10

April 9

May 8

June 7

July 6

August 5

September 4

October 3

November 2

December 1

The numbers to the right represent the number of selling opportunities in a year. You start in January with 12; February has 11, March 10 etc.

That equals 78 selling opportunities.

Now to the fun part.

It is the end of March and you have only sold $2,000 and you should have sold $30,499.98. ($122,000/12=$10,166.67 per month. $10,166.67x 3 = $30,499.98)

Tell me how much new business you need to close every month for the rest of the year to achieve your sales goal?

First, I need to calculate how many selling opportunities I have left in the year.

78 Total Selling Opportunities in a full year

-33 (Selling opportunities lost-Jan-12, Feb-11, March-10=33)

45 Remaining selling opportunities

Your annual growth budget divided by the remaining selling opportunities equals the new increment or growth that you need to sell each month for the remainder of the year.

$22,000(annual sales growth goal)-$2,000(your actual sales for that period) / 45 = $444.44

Since you sold only $2,000 in January, February and March, your increment/growth went from $282.05 per month (total growth goal for the year / 78) to $444.44. That means that you can still hit your annual sales goal if you maintain your base business and add $444.44 of new business each month for the remainder of the year.

Try one yourself:

Use the same annual sales growth goal of $22,000.

You sold $8,000 worth of new business by June.

How much new business (while maintaining your base) do you need each month to hit your annual sales growth goal of $22,000?

1) Calculate the selling opportunities left in the year after June.

78-57(12-11-10-9-8-7) =21

2) Subtract the new business that you have done through June from your annual sales growth goal ($22,000-$8,000=$14,000) to derive the amount of new business you need to add each month for the last six months of the year ($14,000).

3) Divide $14,000 by the remaining selling opportunities (21) to get your new growth/increment-$666.66.

What does the $666.66 represent in this example?

That represents the amount of new business you need to add each month, beginning in July to hit your annual sales goal of $122,000 while maintaining your base business.

It assumes that you sold $8,000 through June, when you needed to sell $11,000 to be on track to hit your annual growth budget of $22,000.

So, if you maintain your base business and add $666.66 of new business per month beginning in July, you will hit your annual sales goal. Did you notice that your increment more than doubled because you missed you goal for the first six months of the year?

This example is a little misleading, because technically, the rep could close a big order in December and hit his growth goal—but that’s a big gamble. I kept the numbers small to make the math easier. Realistic growth goals in today’s diagnostic market are somewhere between 8-30% and make the “Point of No Return” in June or July.

This model only applies to reoccurring consumables and doesn’t apply to capital sales.

Here is a visual representation of The Rule of 78 based on needing to generate $22,000 growth for the year:  Click here to view the Rule of 78 Chart

Your thoughts? Questions?  Put them in the comments or email me at: kraig@phcconsulting.com

Kraig McKee
Snr Recruiter

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Ask a Medical Sales Manager: How will my boss measure my success after my first 90 days as a medical sales rep? Are you trying to break into medical sales?  We talk...
2. Job Search Tips: How to Take Advantage of Holiday Networking The holidays are possibly THE perfect time to build your...
3. 80/20 Rule for Medical Sales Leaders Does the “80/20 Rule” have you by the tail as...

When managers travel with new medical sales reps, their focus is not just on what they know.  They’re trying to help identify what you need to be successful and point you in that direction, and evaluating how you take charge on your own of pursuing the information and the resources you need to be successful.

In other words, they want to know if you are you a seeker.  Do you have the info I need? Do you know who might be able to help?  How do you take steps to resolve issues or needs?  Sometimes it’s a complex customer problem, but sometimes it’s as simple as:  How do I get my car fixed?  How often can I get it washed?  Am I allowed to take customer to lunch?  How do I sign up for direct deposit?  How do I buy a plane ticket for a customer?

Being a “seeker” is one of the key attributes that is always present in winners.

If you’re not a seeker, it shows up like this:  When you’re questioned about your actions, it is someone else’s fault:  “Why is your car so dirty?”  You answer:  “No one told me how often we could get it washed.”  A seeker would have asked.

One of my favorite dirty car stories:

Our organization had just gone through the J.M.O. (Junior Military Officer) phase and hired a training class full of JMO’s.  The new hires went through 90 days of in-house training and were sent to their territories.  The sales trainer then field traveled with them in their territory.  One new hire was an ex-Army helicopter pilot and a really pleasant guy.

He shows up at the airport to pick up the trainer (who flew from Boston to the Northwest to travel with this guy) and sees him at the curb.  We’ll call the trainer Bob.  Bob sees the newbie, waves and heads for the car.  He opens the door, sticks his head in the guy’s car and says:  “Take this car and have it washed and the interior cleaned and then come pick me up.  I’ll stay here and make calls.”

Ninety minutes later the newbie is back at the airport and picks up Bob.  Bob gets in the car and tells the newbie, “If you ever have your car that filthy again when someone from the organization comes to travel with you, it could mean losing your job.  It goes without saying that you should never have a customer in a car that filthy.”

The newbie was rattled, but tried to pull it together for the rest of field travel.

What is the end of the story?  The trainer reported that the newbie would struggle and was ill-suited to a selling role.  The manager said she didn’t sense that the newbie was pursuing (doesn’t that mean the same as seeking?) the info and resources he needed.  He seemed to be in a bit of paralysis.

Well, this newbie resigned about 60 days later.  When he resigned, he told his manager, “Everyday out there is like a war”. “Out there” was defined as selling in his territory for an internationally known diagnostic company! Really nice guy that had been very successful in the Army, but just wasn’t right for sales.  He was not a seeker!

A seeker understands that the end responsibility to acquire/identify information, resources or services he/she needs to be successful is theirs.  They understand that if they are unsuccessful in the efforts to acquire that information or resource, they are ultimately responsible for the outcome.  They apply that same logic to sales success in the field and they are focused on eliminating barriers to success.  Not just identifying them and whining about them.  Eliminating them.  When the task/what needs to occur are beyond their position, they sell their manager on the concept and then solicit support from management.  They actively seek the resources they need.

The “seeker” attitude that’s going to help you be successful as a medical sales rep is also what’s going to help you land a job in medical sales in the first place:  You have to be aggressive and go after the things that you need to succeed.  You solicit support, you tap resources, and you focus on identifying and eliminating the barriers in the way of your goal.

–Kraig McKee, Senior Recruiter, PHC Consulting

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Ask a Medical Sales Manager: How will my boss measure my success after my first 90 days as a medical sales rep? Are you trying to break into medical sales?  We talk...
2. Want a Medical Sales Job? Catch the Hiring Manager at the Right Moment You might think it’s counterproductive for me to recommend that...
3. Medical Sales Jobs: How To Find the Hiring Manager Looking for a medical sales job?  Unless you are an...

Life after the first 90 days as a medical sales rep

Welcome to the big leagues!  By now, you better be very familiar with your company’s CRM program (e.g. Salesforce.com) and used to the constant conference calls and/or Facetime calls.  If you own or have a company-issued Iphone or Ipad, your regional manager is likely to use that as a tool to update the region’s forecast.  What does that mean to you?  Don’t be sitting in your jammies at the time the call is scheduled and always have your information and your office area organized.

You’ll probably have very little in-person time with your manager (maybe once a quarter field travel plus national meeting time), so the time you do have with him or her counts.  Your manager probably didn’t get to be the manager of your team by not being observant and judgmental, so when you are around your manager, the recorder is running:  evaluating your words, actions, and presence.  When he/she gets good data and feedback, your life and how your manager deals with you will get better.

Perceptions are reality, so make sure your manager’s perceptions of you create the reality you want.  A painting is composed of many brushstrokes, and every interaction is a brushstroke to your manager.  Always remember to use the same skills internally as you do externally.

Your hiring manager’s perceptions of you have a big impact on your reality–your life on the job.  Some of the rules he has to implement are dictated to him by the company, but on a lot of other stuff, he has discretion on enforcing.  For instance, in my experience as a sales manager/director, the rule was that everyone starts out even and everyone does everything for the first 90 days.  If you were at or above plan at the end of the 90 days, you got some reprieve based on your performance and compliance.  That meant that you had longer to turn in your forecast, your pick of check-in times, your choice of projects to lead, etc.

Will you be a top medical sales rep?

Influence your hiring manager’s positive view of you

Your attitude and interactions have a big impact on your manager’s perceptions of you, too.  (Brushstrokes, remember?)  In my 20 years of managing sales reps, I noticed that players always like to have attention and contact.  Top reps enjoy chatting with the manager and gaining his or her perspective.  Because they’re good, they most often have thought through their situations and have already formed a plan of action, but they believe “two heads are better than one” and are interested in the manager’s input.  Reps that are scarcity-based don’t like working in a team environment and rebel at authority.   They will have a very difficult life in the corporate world.  It doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means that maybe they’re an entrepreneur and don’t know it yet.

How will your boss measure your success?

My rule was always “Constant Improvement,” and that’s likely to be your manager’s rule, too.  As a new rep, that means you should constantly be making strides toward meeting or exceeding your sales goals.  So this month is better than last month, and the month after will be better than this one.  If you are doing the right things, the right things will happen to get you to that goal.

There are always exceptions and it’s true that if you took over a territory at 65% of plan and after two quarters in the field you’re at 70%, your manager is not likely to be pleased.  An improvement of only 5% in 6 months just isn’t fast enough.  At that rate, it would take almost 3 years to turn around a poor-performing territory–and if it takes that long, your manager will not likely survive.

10 critical checkpoints to help you stay on track:

1.  Have you made face-to-face calls for all of your Best Few prospects in your sales funnel?

a.  Have you documented the status of these accounts in your CRM records?

b.  Is the sale on track to close?  By definition, a Best Few prospect is a 90/90 prospect, meaning 90% is will happen and 90% it will happen in the specified time frame.

c.  If it’s off track, have you developed a plan for correction and gained your boss’s input?

2.  Have you met all the thought leaders in your territory?

3.  Are there any special events/shows planned in your territory?  If not, what do you need to do to get one?

4.  Have you called Marketing and asked for one of the product managers to field travel with you?

5.  Have you corrected any customer satisfaction issues?  If it’s a longer-range issue, do you have a plan in place with the buy-in of your boss and the service/technical organization?

6.  Have you identified who you can develop as a positive reference/demo site in your territory?

7.  Have you met your service engineers and taken them to lunch/breakfast?

8.  Are you using a “blown up day” to use as your office day to set appointments?  (You haven’t set a particular day like Monday or Friday as your office day every week, have you?  You shouldn’t.)

9.  You are focusing on accomplishment instead of activity, aren’t you?

10. Are you being a seeker?  (Seeking those with information you need.)

Keep a great attitude

Don’t associate/commiserate/communicate with team members that are always negative and complaining.

90% of selling is mental and the rest is in your head.

–Kraig McKee, Senior Recruiter, PHC Consulting

PS – Got questions that only a medical sales manager can answer?  Put them in the comments section below.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Getting Started as a New Medical Sales Rep: How Do I Handle My Co-Workers? Dear Medical Sales Manager: I am a brand new medical...
2. Medical Sales Jobs: How To Find the Hiring Manager Looking for a medical sales job?  Unless you are an...
3. Ideas for Attracting the Attention of a Medical Sales Manager If you’re in a job search, one of your biggest...

A big part of how I achieve my goals (when I was a laboratory sales rep and now as a medical sales recruiting business owner) is that I actively visualize my success–what it will look and feel like when I reach my goals. 

Here is a great article about effective visualization techniques that will help you achieve more success–not just in your professional goals, but in your life:

Effective Visualization– How To Use The Subconscious & Law Of Attraction To Materialize Our Dreams

By Kurt DuNard, The Exceptional Life Coach

The secret is that you have an amazing power within yourself that can bring about miraculous outcomes. The power that you have has been known to cure incurable diseases, build billion dollar companies, create magnificent symphonies, paint masterpieces and build fantastic loving families. The light switch that turns on this power is called visualization. Anyone that has created anything worthwhile in their lives used visualization whether consciously or unconsciously. The ones that systematically use visualization consciously have created amazing success. We all know who they are. They are Olympic athletes, the super rich, star entertainers, top salespeople, and almost anyone you can think of whom you believe has created an exceptional life. Visualization is such a powerful tool that it pays to practice and increase our visualization skills. Here’s how.

Why Visualization Works

• It puts the subconscious on notice by saying “Here are my dreams—help me achieve them.” The subconscious then sends creative ideas and amazing inspirations.

• There is a place in the brain that is called the Reticulated Activating System (RAS). You might tell your subconscious that you would like a blue Lexus LS 430 and all of a sudden you start seeing these cars everywhere. The RAS has been activated and you are noticing lots of beautiful blue cars. Visualization causes you to notice. Before you were blind and now you notice.

• Here is the spooky part. Visualization, like prayer, activates the law of attraction. In totally unexplained, accidental, coincidental ways you attract the right people, the right situations, and the right resources. You are living a charmed life. Most successful people will tell you that they worked hard but they also were very fortunate. You can also be fortunate.

• Visualization creates enthusiasm, excitement, and joy because your subconscious starts believing that your dreams are coming true. Enthusiasm, excitement, and joy are the fuel that is needed to emotionally make it OK to take action to achieve our dreams. You believe that success is yours for the taking and so you are enthused and take action. If diamonds are in the road, you must take action to pick them up and you are enthusiastically picking them up. There must be action—pick them up.

Start Where You Are

Visualization should be a fun relaxing exercise. Visualizing your dreams should never be a chore, a have to, or routine. It should always inspire emotions of happiness and peace.

If you think you are new to visualization, you are mistaken. You have visualized all your life, you were just not conscious of your practice. What may be new is that you have decided to become better at the practice and to be a conscious guide to your visualizations. You have decided to consciously tap into your power. You can only succeed. Follow these few simple rules.

• Visualize what you want. Make them positive visualizations.

• Avoid visualizing disaster or what you don’t want. Avoid negative visualizations.

• Visualize living your dreams now in the present tense and how you feel.

• Use lots of emotions and all the five senses if you can. It is important that your subconscious believes this is real.

• Do balanced visualizations to create a balanced life. Visualize health, prosperity, family, friends, job, spiritual, wisdom, creativity, etc.

• Visualize every day in the morning and just before going to bed. The more you visualize, the more you will look forward to it and the more you will notice positive changes in your life as a result.

Priming the Visualization Pump

The real power to change our lives comes through visualization; however, there are other practices that can help us augment the subconscious other than visualization. These practices can be done through the day or just before a visualization session.

• Use pictures to help you visualize

Find pictures that make you emotionally excited, that represent goals, and aspirations. They could be the perfect house, you at the perfect weight with your picture Photoshoped onto another body, or it could show laughing friends and children. The pictures are more powerful, when you are in the picture. When you test drive your favorite car, have a picture taken of you with the car and another picture that you have taken from behind the wheel. Have a picture for all your dreams and goals. Make sure your goals are balanced in all areas of your life. Otherwise, you could have a great career with a sadly neglected family. Jack Canfield talks about how he took a $1.00 bill and then wrote six zero’s behind the “1″ to make it a million dollar bill. He then put that “$1,000,000 bill” above his bed so he would see it every morning. That representation of a million dollars soon materialized in Jack’s life.

• Written Goals on 3 X 5 Cards

Put each goal on one side of the card. You could make it even better if you put a picture on the other side representing the goal. Morning and night, look at each card and visualize how you feel having accomplished this goal in the present moment—not the future.

• Convert Your Goals to Affirmations and Memorize Those Affirmations

These affirmations are a statement of how you feel having accomplished the goal. It is a verbal visualization.

I feel fantastic, full of energy, and always ready for action now that I weigh 150 pounds.

Because you repeat these affirmations so frequently, they almost become a mantra that can be used to still the mind during meditation and visualization. To be effective, however, they must be done with thought and never as a thoughtless chant.

• Get Ready For Success Because You Know it is Here

If you don’t prepare for success, then you don’t believe in success and even if it came you would not be ready. Part of making it happen is to assume all of these ideas work and you must get ready. Buy the new wardrobe for the new job. Learn Italian for your dream vacation to Italy. Move to where you want to live even if everything is not perfect right now. We must have an unwavering faith that everything is going to go our way or maybe even better. That faith is what convinces the law of attraction to go into overdrive.

Example of a Simple Visualization Session

You get very relaxed and sit down in your favorite chair that you use every morning. It is quiet and you have learned to love this time of day. You get out your power pictures that help your visualize. You go through them and get more and more positive. Then you go through your index cards and look at all your goals. You are starting to get ready for visualization. Now you relax, with both feet flat on the ground and both hands resting lightly on the chair arm or on your legs. You close your eyes and slowly you say your affirmations.

Legend has it that Bill Gates, Paul Allen and many Silicone Valley entrepreneurs were influenced by the book The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel. Here is a series of affirmations he talks about.

I am whole,

Perfect,

Strong,

Powerful,

Loving,

Harmonious,

And Happy.

You say your affirmations to yourself at least three times. As other thoughts outside of your visualization invade your mind, you come back to saying your affirmations. Now you are in the right frame of mind for effective visualization. You start imagining your life as you live your dreams in the now. You imagine perfect health and what that means to you. You imagine perfect friendships and how they interact with you in your home. You imagine your career working with the kind of people you love and how every day you are being recognized and appreciated for your excellent work. You imagine going to those wonderful places you have only dreamed of—now you are there. Your clothes, the food you eat, where you live, everything is in living color and you can smell the ocean breeze as you sail in your yacht. Everyday as you do your visualizations, the images, the inspirations and faith will become stronger and stronger. One day you will come to a clear realization that you are living what you lived in your visualization only two years ago. It will be no surprise.

Visualize all your goals, dreams and affirmations. Change them when they are no longer exciting. Spend at least fifteen minutes a session.

Copyright © 2008 Kurt DuNard

Kurt DuNard, The Exceptional Life Coach, is the author of EXCEPTIONAL LIFE: Living the Life You Were Meant to Live. High achievers seek him out to pinpoint their soul’s goals, increase abundance, and find more happiness and joy. If you think you would also like these things, then receive your FREE success tools from Kurt DuNard now at www.DuNard.com.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Steve Jobs Offers a Powerful Lesson for Your Work and Your Job Search I bet that right now you have somewhere in your...
2. Job Search Tips: How to Take Advantage of Holiday Networking The holidays are possibly THE perfect time to build your...
3. Don’t Miss the Medical Sales Summit 2011 “Early Bird Special” Acting now puts an extra $100 in your pocket! If...

Don't be afraid to close the deal.

Today I’m bringing you a tip that does double duty:  check out Mark Hunter‘s article 3 Ways to Stop Being Afraid of Closing.

Mark is an excellent source for sales tips, but this one is also great advice for job seekers–because the job search is a sales process and that means you have to close in the interview.  It’s very intimidating for many job seekers, but it’s also very necessary.

Here are Mark’s tips and my thoughts:

Number one:  Believe in your price.  (In the job hunter’s case, that’s your salary range.)

Number two:  Have more than one close.  (The same phrase doesn’t always work in every interview situation.)

Number three:  Remember that you are helping your customers.  (Can you articulate what value you bring to the company?)

Mark offers true wisdom in these tips.  Go check them out!

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Job Interview Questions and Answers for Medical Sales: What You Have to Prove In the Interview If you’ve been in the job market very long, you...
2. Medical Sales Summit 2001 Coming October 25th! The Medical Sales Summit 2011 is a go! It’s been...
3. Boost Your Medical Sales Performance   Sharpen your sales skills! In the video below, I’m...

beginner tips for the medical sales rep

I am a brand new medical device sales rep.  I am just starting to meet everyone in the company, and I’ve been warned about office politics, and want to make sure I get off on the right foot.  Got any advice?

Dear Medical Sales Rep—

The biggest thing I want you to remember is to use the same skills internally as you do externally.  Now what does that mean?  It means to use the same people skills that you have for dealing with customers to also deal with the people in your company.

People in the home office have a huge impact on your success in the field—everyone from the person that reviews and pays your expenses to the person that manages your demo inventory to your boss’s administrative assistant—although there are many others.  Use your people skills to work with them, and don’t be surprised if you run into these things:

1)      Some “inside” people have no idea what’s really involved in managing a field-based sales territory.  They think you call customers, take them to lunch and then they buy (kind of like that ad for La Quinta with the Eskimos-We’ll take 90, 000 units).  As a result, sometimes you get attitude because they think there is no way you work as hard as they do.  Not everyone will think like that, but it isn’t an uncommon thing.  It’s not really that different from some of your customers who don’t realize how hard you work, either.  In both cases, you have to modify how you communicate with them.

2)      Some people are just difficult to deal with.  Period.  They are scarcity-based people that only see the glass half-empty.  They dislike you because you have “The High Pro Glow”, i.e. you radiate confidence and being a winner.  It doesn’t matter—you still have to deal with them (just like you have to deal with customers who are jerks) so get over it and find a way to manage the situation.  It normally involves being nice, learning more about that person’s family and interests and just plain biting your lip sometimes.

Here are some more specific tips for you:

• When you go in house for training, take the time to introduce yourself to EVERYONE.  The switchboard operator and the people in shipping are often overlooked—but they shouldn’t be.
• $10 Starbucks cards go a long way.  Buy some yourself (don’t expense them) and hand them out to people you will be working with.  The person that handles your travel is another great candidate for some love.
• If your facility has a cafeteria, buy or organize a lunch for your internal team when you are in house.  Also, try and never eat alone while you are in house.  The networking time will help you in the long run.
• Almost all internal organizations have recognition programs.  Find out how they measure superior performance and submit nominations for those on your internal team when they deliver customer delight.
• Don’t forget to praise your internal team (anyone who’s helped you) for their support whenever you get any positive attention.

That’s what I mean when I tell you to use the same skills internally as you do externally.  Keep your co-workers happy with you by using the same skills that keep your customers happy.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Getting Started as a New Medical Sales Rep: How to Handle the Details Dear Medical Sales Manager: I’m thrilled to report that I...
2. Boost Your Medical Sales Performance   Sharpen your sales skills! In the video below, I’m...
3. Medical Sales Salaries in 2011 Are you interested in how much money you’ll make as...

I’m thrilled to report that I landed the job (and I used a 30/60/90-Day Plan to do it–my manager said that’s what put me over the top) but now I’m starting to get overwhelmed with all of the details I’ve got to take care of just to get started.  There’s a ton of paperwork and I already have to make travel arrangements to meet with him, which I wasn’t expecting just yet, and I’m afraid of making a mistake.

–Brianna D.

help for the beginning medical sales rep

Dear Brianna,

First off, find your confidence.   Have you ever heard the saying, “Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn occasionally”?  That’s not you.  That doesn’t happen in today’s competitive job market, so you are in that job because you won.  You beat out your competitors with your strategic plan, and now you’ve got to put it into practice.  Your job is, like most medical sales positions, a field based job–meaning that most of what gets accomplished in your territory is up to you.  You are responsible for the sales production or gross margin and your evaluation will reflect how well you perform compared to the goals your manager set for you.  You can do it.

There are a lot of details to cover in your first week on the job:  administrative tasks such as signing documents that add you to the company’s healthcare, voicemail/email, car insurance, Company Charge Card, or SalesForce.com account, and probably your manager will review the territory’s performance (sales/goal), review the sales funnel and your “Best Few” prospects (which by Strategic Selling definitions means those accounts with a 90% probability of closing in the next 30 days), company expense policy and how to fill out an expense report and his expectations of your performance in the next 90 days.  Take it all one step at a time.

Speaking of expense reports, let’s talk about your travel plans:  first, don’t panic.  Ask your manager if they use an in-house travel department and get the contact info.  Most likely, you will call the travel agent and they will book the flight for you.  Find out your company’s particular travel policies (regarding direct flights, connection times, preferred airlines, etc.) and then go with the flow.  By that, I mean don’t make a big deal if you get handed arrangements you’re not happy with–fix those later on your own.

It is perfectly ok to ask if the tickets will go on a corporate card (you probably won’t have yours by now) or if he wants you to charge it and then get reimbursed via expense report.  If you don’t have a credit card (I would ask why, but I’m sure there are some valid reasons) tell your manager that and ask him how else they can get the ticket to you.  Sometimes they will pay for the ticket and have it waiting at the ticket counter for you.

From the manager’s perspective, none of these scenarios would reflect negatively on the new rep–although, expectations of new hires are directly correlated to the skills they said they have and those required for the job.  In this case as a newbie, none of this would be a black mark or negative.  If you were a Senior Corporate Account Exec I would wonder how you would negotiate good contracts for the company and be a winner when you couldn’t manage your own travel.

Whether it’s administrative details or travel arrangements or anything else, let me say this:  If your new boss asks you to do something on Monday and you’re afraid to make a move until you talk to him, but you don’t manage to connect with him until Wednesday (for whatever reason), you have a problem.  If you wait that long to do anything and be proactive toward your own success, I think you will be destined for mediocrity.  The sales field is just like that corny cartoon where you have two vultures on a tree limb.  One says to the other, “The heck with waiting for something to die…I’m going to kill something.”  Embrace that attitude of action, self-planning, and responsibility (not the killing part!) and you will be a top performer.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Medical Sales Summit 2001 Coming October 25th! The Medical Sales Summit 2011 is a go! It’s been...
2. Boost Your Medical Sales Performance   Sharpen your sales skills! In the video below, I’m...
3. Maximize Your Business Using Sales Analytics   Many medical sales managers and reps don’t know much...

Sales Analytics Improve Performance

Many medical sales managers and reps don’t know much about sales analytics and how they can help you drive your sales volume, even in recessionary times.

In the video below, I’ll tell you more about how you can learn more about them to get the competitive edge…

Click here to get all the details about the Medical Sales Summit 2011

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Medical Sales Summit 2001 Coming October 25th! The Medical Sales Summit 2011 is a go! It’s been...
2. Boost Your Medical Sales Performance   Sharpen your sales skills! In the video below, I’m...
3. Harvey Mackay to Speak at The Medical Sales Summit 2011 Harvey Mackay is one of the country’s most knowledgeable and...

Improve Sales!

Sharpen your sales skills!

In the video below, I’m going to tell you how, in just one day, you can learn how to apply principles of Six Sigma and sales levers that will have a dramatic, positive impact on your numbers and performance in 2012!

Click here to get more details about the Medical Sales Summit 2011

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

Related posts:

1. Medical Sales Summit 2001 Coming October 25th! The Medical Sales Summit 2011 is a go! It’s been...
2. Boost Your Medical Sales Career With YouTube Courses I found something pretty cool on YouTube that I wanted...
3. Harvey Mackay to Speak at The Medical Sales Summit 2011 Harvey Mackay is one of the country’s most knowledgeable and...