Developing a professional development program for a new pharmaceutical or medical device is necessary for your sales professionals to present your product accurately to your clients. When the sales presentation engages your customer and builds enthusiasm, you are one step closer to closing the sale. Here are some strategies to build a successful sales training program.
Identify Resources
Professional sales representatives like to know all aspects of the product they are promoting. Be sure to provide them with information and updates about the product. An electronic trial master is a repository of information about side effects and best outcomes for care. Emerging biotech companies can leverage eTMF solutions and provide evidence of regulatory compliance and details about the TMF (Trial Master File). Many eTMF applications allow you to control what files team members can access.
Your sales representatives should have any accessories that they need. They need equipment such as a laptop and cell phone. If they are selling medical devices or accessories for those devices, each individual should have their setup. Provide an initial supply of promotional items – pamphlets, posters, keychains, or stress balls. Be sure they can get additional items with minimal effort.
Define Training Types
Your sales representatives need to be confident in their understanding of the product. Doctors have little time to spend with sales personnel, so your sales team should have the confidence and competence to give the most accurate answer. Hard skills involve teaching employees about the data and how your product will best serve your physician’s clients. Soft skills teach the sales representative how to nourish a relationship with the doctor and establish trust and rapport.
Make sure your team members reflect both soft and hard skills. For example, partner representatives with excellent hard skills with team members that have mastered soft skills. Teammates can learn from each other and build better relationships with doctors.
Establish the Best Environment
Over the past decade, physicians have changed their working style in two ways. First, many are now working for hospital groups rather than for independent practices. Second, physicians strictly limit the number of sales calls in a day. As a result, employees should be well-versed in online meeting tools and develop short slideshow presentations.
As an employer, embracing online medical sales meetings is a great tool. Develop sales teams that specialize in either online on in-person meetings. Employees can work together to build the sale. In addition to engaging the customer at their level, the customer always has someone available to assist them. If one representative is on vacation, the other already has an established relationship with the customer.
Use Online Meetings
Video meetings help you quickly build relationships with your clients. However, not everyone has a natural talent for hosting online meetings. The first step in successful video sessions is training employees on video conferencing software. After that, the employee should:
- Use storytelling or open-ended questions to build rapport with doctors.
- Practice non-verbal communication, such as smiling, nodding, and open positioning.
- Provide an external microphone and headset for good audio quality.
- Set up an attractive background with minimal distractions, especially if hosting the meeting from home or a public place.
- Use appropriate lighting to give a more professional appearance.
- Develop an agenda, including a question-and-answer session at the end.
Invest in a Customer Relationship Management Solution
Customer nurturing is necessary for building brand recognition and, ultimately, sales. Tie your CRM to your lead generation system. Create dynamic marketing materials for your sales staff. They will have instant access to materials that communicate your sales strategy. In addition to product information handouts, create an online portal with videos, white papers, and promotional materials.
Your sales staff can follow up with physicians after the meeting and provide links to the physicians. Your online system can track what documents and videos the doctors download. From there, you can modify and develop more dynamic sales literature.
Design Intelligent Training
Great salespeople start at the beginning. Build a training session that discusses the product and effective sales strategies. An intentional sales program includes:
- Corporate mission statement and objectives
- Acceptable sales techniques
- CRM system management
- Collaborative training
Keeping your company’s long-term objectives in mind is the foundation of a strong company. A dynamic product training program is the key to a profitable pharmaceutical release.