One Tip to Ensure a High Impact Sales Calls

Here is a tip that will significantly increase the impact of your sales calls.

A few years ago I was with one of my reps when she gave the pharma version of a near-perfect call. It was for a new product that could be of huge benefit to some of this particular physician’s patients.

With two New England Journal publications demonstrating it’s safety and efficacy, the data behind it was phenomenal. I was sure the physician would be interested and engaged in hearing about it.

My rep knew her stuff and after a brief introduction, launched into a presentation of the product. She spoke to the mechanism of action, it’s pharmacokinetic profile, the data supporting it, efficacy, side effects and dosing. At the end of it all, she asked if the physician, who had a practice full of patients that this product could potentially help, had any questions.

He shook his head, wished us a good day and escorted us out of his office.

My rep did a phenomenal job but she forgot one critical thing. She did not start by showing the physician how this product could make a difference for himself and his practice.

The big mistake that we often make when interacting with our customers is that we start by talking about our product instead of talking about them.

Human nature being what it is, we are often focused on ourselves and what we want to say rather than the customer sitting in front of us.

This is the exact opposite of what we need to do.

A great example of this is when you are watching television. If you see a commercial flash up, they have about three seconds to get your attention. If you see something that you think is relevant and of interest to you, you will turn your focus to the commercial. If not, you move that attention on to something else that is more interesting.

It is no different on a sales call. If you do not capture the customer’s interest in the first seconds of the call, it becomes almost impossible to get that interest and engagement back.

The best way to capture that attention is to show up front why what you are about to say is important to them.

It takes some thought and planning, but I can guarantee to you that if you start by doing this one thing, it will dramatically increase the impact of every sales call that you make.