How to Be Part of The Solution The Personal Touch…

As both the life science and healthcare industries move toward a hybrid model of professional development, the modern salesperson will be defined by how they engage and implement their own hybrid approach of solution-based selling. The focus on solutions to problems and pain points will determine the method of change toward a different product or service. These shifts will be essential and necessary to specific improvements that are desired by the customer.

As we move through the Covid19 Pandemic there will be a quick realization that life science customers may not need the solutions you have provided for them in the past.  You will begin to sense this in one of two ways, either by direct or indirect feedback. The bottom line is that both the present and the future are starting to look very much different and your presentation must reflect that sentiment.  The process of constant listening to the customer will allow you to pivot and create a different and more personalized solution in reaching their goal. Learning how to pivot will become a critical skill for sales professionals who will undoubtedly experience the results of pandemic-related uncertainty surrounding their customers, and there for must change course along with them to meet their needs.

All organizations at some point will start the process of stabilizing their departments and the various teams within them. Training will at some point become front and center once again, as it has been widely ignored for a better part of a year due to the pandemic.  Based upon this fact, actions demonstrate commitment, so sales professionals must respond to both the immediate and changing needs of companies that they are providing solutions to. This will involve a constant vigilance, communication, and knowledge that we are all operating through ever changing stresses and strains brought on by Coid19; it is all about meeting and often exceeding the expectation of the customer.

A sales professional who can analyze in depth the main customer challenges then identify the actions they can take to overcome those challenges is worth their weight in gold.  From the hundreds of thought leaders that I have contacted in the past six months, they are looking forward to being able to interact with decision makers and value this type of engagement. Having to work within a purely digital experience decision makers deem this type of content as” off-the-shelf” and sometimes not as relevant especially when it comes to professional development options. It will become imperative that sales professionals act as “trusted advisors”; one’s who can provide a more tailored and relevant solution to those “off the shelf” options that we have become accustomed to over the past year.

My research has been based largely upon the needs of the healthcare and life science industries, however almost all sectors of the economy are experiencing the same issues; how to move forward with the all-important subject of professional development. There is no question that this has been an area of neglect for nearly a year, and decision makers are reaching out for a collaborative approach in meeting their needs. Acquiring the trust of a valued partner is first and foremost and moving forward there is a vision to do so with a more “personal touch” – one that can be achieved by interacting with an actual person. In the extremely near future we will be going back to “one of one” as well as group interaction, however, it is the road we take to get there that will make all the difference….