IF YOU'RE NOT A TOP PERFORMER IN MEDICAL DEVICE SALES - UPDATE YOUR RESUME
David Lorenzi
Executive Coach and Mentor for Sales Professionals and Leaders | Passionate about helping others become the best version of themselves
THE STATE OF THE BUSINESS – MEDICAL DEVICES
The business environment for medical devices is changing at a rapid pace.
Easy and almost immediate access to information, downward pricing pressure, relative parity in product design and performance, and an increasing number of competitors have all contributed to this change.
Also, there are an increasing number of generic implant companies entering the market.
In addition to all of this, the ‘repless’ model is gaining traction in certain parts of the country.
In order to sustain your business, yet alone continue to grow and build it, you need to recognize the changes necessary to compete in this ever-changing environment.
I am restating something that I mentioned in a previous article - it’s no longer enough to service demand; you need to create demand and provide customers with unexpected value. You must be able to teach them something new.
The only real differentiator you can provide in today’s market is – YOU!
ONLY TOP PERFORMERS WILL SURVIVE
Your customers are making this point absolutely clear – they expect their sales representatives to embody three key traits:
- A high level of technical expertise
- A strong business acumen
- Excellent communication skills
We will take a closer look at all three of these traits in several upcoming articles, and we’ll begin with technical expertise:
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
The road to mastering any new skill begins with the decision to commit and the discipline to follow through.
As John Maxwell mentions in his book ‘Today Matters’, we create success in our lives one day at a time. Real and sustainable change and growth takes time and discipline.
Think about what it means to have a high level of technical expertise – and before you begin your development program, let’s identify what ‘fixed’ means and what your goal and objective should be in order to achieve them.
Consider the following:
SCENARIO ONE:
You’re a coverage or support representative that is highly dependable and accurate but lacks the technical skills and knowledge to be considered a trusted advisor to surgeons or members of the surgical team. You’re comfortable with this role and don’t have a plan to continue to develop your craft and evolve into a sales specialist position.
SCENARIO TWO:
You’re a coverage or support representative that is highly dependable and accurate but lacks the technical skills and knowledge to be considered a trusted advisor to surgeons or members of the surgical team. You want the opportunity to assume more responsibility and eventually transition into a sales representative role. You are hungry for the chance to do more, learn more and advance your career.
SCENARIO THREE:
You are a highly skilled and knowledgeable sales specialist that has a high level of expertise with your product portfolio as well as with your competitors’ portfolio. You are considered a trusted advisor by your surgeons who value your opinion and seek out your perspective and thoughts, particularly with challenging and potentially difficult procedures.
You have a fierce desire to get better every day and are always hungry to learn new things and bring something new to the attention of your customers.
Which of these scenarios describes you....and moreover, which of these do you want to be?
In the current landscape of medical device sales, which do you think is most likely to flourish? Which do you think will most likely be considered ‘replaceable’?
Those that believe their skills are ‘good enough’ and choose to be on ‘autopilot’ are actually losing ground as colleagues and business opportunities pass them by.
THE GROWTH MINDSET – GIFT OF ADAPTABILITY
Now that you’ve made the commitment to move forward and continue to develop your technical expertise, you need to determine what you’ll focus on and the learning methods you’ll utilize.
I encourage you to read Anders Ericsson’s new book 'PEAK' to learn more about the type of purposeful practice you need to develop in order to achieve your desired results.
He initially reminds us that we all have the gift of adaptability.
There is overwhelming evidence proving that adults can acquire amazing new skills if they choose – contrary to what was believed even ten years ago.
We have the ability to improve ourselves in any area that we choose.
Our body and our cognitive system will adapt to the demands that we place on them as we work to grow and improve. We know that our brains can change chemically, physically and functionally.
Keep in mind these changes are gradual and take commitment and focus.
He describes the value of purposeful practice. Purposeful practice consists of four key things – goals – focus – feedback – and comfort zone:
GOAL
The goal is specific – what new things do you want to achieve, compared to where you are today.
FOCUS
You cannot simply ‘show up’ and go through the motions, such as reading product-related information for the fourth time.
Learning methodologies can play an important role with focus – you might want to reference ‘Make It Stick’ by Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel. They describe effective learning methodologies that basically turn traditional learning methods ‘on its head’.
Simple quizzing and testing can work very well; spaced retrieval and interleaving are both effective in having you focus on specific things related to your goals.
FEEDBACK
Feedback is an important part of learning new things.
Feedback can come in the form of how well you answer quiz questions once you complete an assigned reading.
A coach is an important component of feedback – a coach can provide direction and help you to modify behavior, particularly when you are performing things incorrectly.
COMFORT ZONE
Dr. Ericsson emphasizes the importance of leaving our comfort zone in order to facilitate growth.
When we challenge ourselves by working hard to achieve something new, by stretching ourselves and going beyond what we can normally do, we are telling our body and our brain to adapt to these new challenges.
These adaptive changes that can happen with muscle growth can also happen with our brain.
LEARNING METHODOLOGIES
As I mentioned earlier, learning methodologies matter.
Here is a suggestion based on some of the activities we use with our developmental sales coaching program participants:
Blend the use of Spaced Retrieval and Interleaving. Select three or four topics you want to learn more about that are related but not identical, and group them into a learning sequence – such as – Your Product, The Surgical Procedure where your product is used, The Related Anatomy and related Competitive Intelligence.
During the first sequence, dedicate your study time to reading all material related to the topic, then writing down all that you can remember about what you recently read. Compare what you’ve written to what you read earlier and write down anything that you might have missed.
Repeat the same activity for each of the topics, completing the first four-day sequence.
When you begin the second sequence, start with the product topic and begin by writing everything down BEFORE you refer to the related product literature and materials. Keep in mind that you haven’t thought about the product in four days, so it’s likely that you have forgotten some of the information.
By challenging yourself to remember as much as you can from four days ago, you are telling your brain that the information is important and should be retained.
Apply the same process during all four days of the second sequence specific to the appropriate topic assigned to each day.
During the third sequence, begin by recording yourself as you attempt to recall all of the information you learned during the first two sequences related to your product. Perform the same activity for each of the remaining three topics to complete the third sequence.
This type of learning activity drives retention of the material and allows you to begin to apply it by speaking about it.
With the use of interleaving, it also integrates the information and ‘relates’ it to each other, allowing you to master the connections between all of them.
This leads to you being able to have much more substantive conversations that are contextual and not simply ‘feature talk’.
BEWARE THE FLUENCY ILLUSION
You read or study the material a few times, gain familiarity with it and think you have a strong grasp on it.
When you enter into a conversation and want to recall the information, you realize that it’s not easy to recall or restate, you miss key elements of the information you wanted to share, and you find yourself struggling to engage in the conversation and share the appropriate information in the right way.
Simple repetition does not does not challenge your brain to adapt and change, and the material you’re repeatedly reading never becomes part of your long term memory.
TIME BLOCKING
Time commitment is undoubtedly the biggest reason that many of us fail to stay true to our plans to grow and develop.
It’s even more of an issue when your schedule is largely dictated by the surgery schedule, which most often changes every day.
Jeb Blount talks a lot about the value of ‘time blocking’ – and it is an incredibly effective tool that can assist you in finding the time each day to complete your planned learning activities.
Make an appointment with yourself and put it in your calendar – you are way more likely to complete the activity if it is in your calendar.
SO GOOD THEY CAN’T IGNORE YOU
In Cal Newport’s book ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore you’, he mentions things such as the ‘craftsman mindset’ and ‘career capital’.
The craftsman mindset follows along the path described by Anders Ericsson that relates to deliberate practice – focusing on incremental growth and development each and every day.
Career capital refers to your opportunity to build your brand and develop your expertise and get so good at what you do, you become someone who is sought after and incredibly valued by your employer and your customers.
You have put in the work and have created something that is rare and valuable – so good they can’t ignore you.
EVERY CHAMPION WAS ONCE A BEGINNER
We all start at the same place – the beginning.
To change and improve yourself is giving yourself a new opportunity.
Those who refuse to learn and improve, will most likely one day become less relevant to their employer, their customers and their industry. This lesson might very well be hard and expensive.
There will always be a place for highly skilled medical device sales professionals in the surgical suite.
Our next article will focus on the second key trait of today’s top performers - Business Acumen - and the role it plays for successful medical device sales professionals.
Medical Device Executive
7 年Michael E. Sloopka - Negotiating Coach?
Published Author at Titan Global Group. LLC
7 年“Every Stylistic Salesperson should buy one and give it to their manager. They would be doing both a favor. My company required each salesperson to have a manager ride with them annually. We were scored from 0-100 on our use of their sales process. I sold on every manager ride, never earning more than 55, a failing score. Ha-ha! I like the story telling and conversational tone. It's how we think and understand best. Your page 38 was key: ‘Management knows the uniqueness of each individual and establishes a relationship with them.’ (Rare!) This is a book I could read many times and use as a reference.” Sales professional, Geoffrey D. Barbara Riddle - Lisa
Published Author at Titan Global Group. LLC
7 年"The Stylistic Salesperson" challenges traditional hiring models. We all know sales is our lifeblood, but we want a cookie-cutter new hire who fits the typical HR stereotypes when the real superstars are unusual thoroughbreds. They have their way of doing things. Rich in interpersonal skills they operate largely "out of the box" and land the biggest fish. People skills are hard to measure without personal interviews. This book trains Sales Managers how to recognize, recruit, "command the respect of stylistic salespeople" and retain them in your organization. "The Stylistic Salesperson" is a short 100+ page book available now on PDF format: [email protected]
Co-President Sleep In Heavenly Peace - Florida Tampa Bay and Sr Consultant In Health Activation Worldwide
7 年Probably need to add one more thing in Progress already for many Health and Wellness Areas ! ! Robotics ! That will take away many of the presently needed Human Services in the near Future !
Sales Director
7 年The model has changed and if you are not continually honing your craft and adding value than you can and will be replaced! Between the new systems like reptrax and home grown credentialing services trying to limit reps access it's now more important than ever to be looked at as an asset and invited into the operating room suite. Learn grow & challenge each and every day that is the key to long term success in this competitive business!