Sales professionalism 6
The third character of professional sales person or medical rep is skills. Where attitude is born character skills is learned one. These skills like; selling skills (Knowing how to make a sales presentation, handling objection and close the sales), interpersonal skills (such as how to cope, resolve the conflict and communicate and negotiate on the deal)
We will begin to discuss the selling skills as selling process. Most training programs view the selling process as consisting of several steps that the salesperson must master these steps focus on the goal of getting new customers and obtaining orders from them.
Steps and stages overlap or may occur simultaneously. Some stages may occur quickly while others can be very drawn out. Many writers develop their own set of steps to describe the personal selling process. However, taken as a whole, they include essentially the same activities. We will follow Anderson 1995 who breaks the selling process into seven steps.
These seven steps are:
1- Prospecting and Qualifying.
2- Planning and preparation
3- Approach / Probing
4- Presentation / Need identification
5- Handling objection
6- Closing
7- Follow up
We can also divide these steps into three stages: Pre call stage: this includes steps 1 and 2 where medical rep in not face to face with doctor. Call stage: this includes step 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 where medical rep is face to face with doctor. Post call stage: this includes step 7 where medical rep leaves the doctor after finishing the call.
We can describe these steps as a sales cycle because the last step on the first call will be the first step in the next call.
1- Prospecting and Qualifying.
Prospecting and qualifying (find and qualify) are two recurring parts of the same step that help salespeople find new opportunities (locating new customers). Customers start out as “leads,” which is anything that identifies a potential buyer Salespeople acquire leads from many internal & external sources.
External Sources
- Direct Inquiries (Word of mouth from satisfied doctors)
- Referrals/ You can ask doctor to refer his friends
- Trade Directories Like: doctors guide
- Press( Newspapers/new open clinics or hospitals)
- Cold Canvassing (Brush medical rep/survey)
- Personal observation while you are walking in the street.
- Non competing medical reps.
Internal Sources
- Company records (doctors list)
- Medical syndicates list.
Prospecting should be a continuous process. That means you have always looking for new prospects to compensate those you have lost to the competitors or to identify areas where you can develop your territory business.
Keep in mind that the market change continuously and the demand of doctors change frequently. Also doctor potentiality shift in positive and negative way.New researches are appeared, new diseases are discovered and new medicine are invented.
Leads become “prospects” by “qualifying” them. Qualifying a lead simply means finding additional information to determine if they warrant further efforts to contact. Need more sales calls or not .In other way visit or no visit.
The qualifying character depends on Need; does the doctor need your product? Do he see patients suffering from the disease your product treat it? Does he prescribe competitors’ products?
The second point of qualifying is the ability; does he have the ability to prescribe your product? Does he have any commitments with other competitors? Does he is price or brand oriented?
Many leads do not qualify as prospects. So be careful in this step because if you choose wrong customer you will lose all next steps in the cycle and waste your time.
I will be happy with your comments: