Pf Assistant Editor Iain Bate asks how having the right negotiation skills can make the difference in all areas of life.

Dr Ravi Powar’s recent article in the March issue of Pf raised some interesting questions. Focusing on the art of negotiation, she highlighted that all of us in our everyday lives encounter some sort of ‘give-and-take’.

On the surface it would seem that negotiations only take place during contract discussions or sales meetings at work and on a car forecourt. However, Ravi explains that almost every aspect of our daily tasks involves some sort of bargaining.

Be it arranging a time to meet a friend for lunch which is convenient or trying to close an important deal at work, improving our negotiations skills is something well worth focusing on. When you consider that even the smallest of agreements are made by negotiating, finding a style that is effective could be the deciding factor in whether you close that important deal at work, or have to watch the eighth soap opera of the evening at home!

But for any negotiation to take place there must be a variable which both parties are happy to settle for. Of course in the business world one party will be interested in obtaining a cost-effective price whilst the other will aim to maximise their returns or order. This is often where stumbling blocks occur.

Ravi says that negotiation is a “form of Alternative Dispute Resolution”. Whether or not clients or friends are actually in dispute when discussing potential deals or arrangements is questionable; but by using the tips she has acquired through her years in the pharmaceutical industry, realising the right time to commence discussions on important decisions or understanding the difference in being an accommodating or competing negotiator could be the deciding factor between success and failure – in everything you do.

Contact the author: iain.bate@healthpublishing.co.uk

Successful negotiation skills can be the difference between completing a deal or losing out to a competitor. Dr R K Powar explains key skills to use the next time you’re trying to secure a key contract.

Negotiation is the means by which a discussion takes place with a viewpoint of producing an agreement. Negotiations, whether between individuals or groups, are essentially a process whereby parties relevant to the negotiation come to an agreed outcome that should hopefully best serve everyone’s interest. Negotiation is regarded as a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

It takes place every single day in almost every facet of our lives, from friends finding a suitable time to meet for coffee, in marriages and parenting, to companies negotiating on working time agreements, and on trying to agree the price when purchasing a car.

Negotiation is an inter-personal process which is influenced by each party’s skill, attitude and style. Negotiation requires calmness: the focusing on issues rather than personalities with the outcome often pre-determined by the attitude one has before entering the negotiation process. It is worth noting here that every negotiation situation is different.

Negotiation is not about one party dominating or imposing power on the other. Instead, it can be used as an opportunity to build trust which can be used to help to forge relationships for all concerned. Negotiation is not about arguing and proving the other person to be wrong, or a ‘winning at all costs’ or a blaming exercise. It is also worth highlighting that negotiating differs from ‘influencing’ and group decision making.

At times, because there is uncertainty on what might be the outcome of the discussions, negotiations have unpleasant feelings attached to them; for some it feels like a chore, and in the worse case scenario a conflict.

A PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

Practical negotiation skills

The negotiation process is one that is complex and needs a lot of care, both before and during discussions. When negotiating the proposal or suggestion this works best if it offers a win-win solution where both parties involved do not feel hard done by. The negotiating process should begin by having an understanding of the person one is negotiating with, requiring an understanding of their needs and interests. A style then needs to be adopted whereby the other person is made to feel valued, understood and appreciated rather than belittled or dismissed – please refer to Management skills: getting the best from others in the July 2010 edition of Pharmaceutical Field. One also needs to be mindful of the external factors such as the background, culture and politics.

Win-win solution

One of the main characteristics of negotiation is that the parties involved in the process feel satisfied that an appropriate deal has been achieved. The deal does not need to be the one with the best possible outcome, but one that all parties are happy to agree to and is realistic. Therefore, from the onset it is important to know what you want, but equally what the other party requires as well. For this to happen good listening is required with empathy to the other party’s concerns rather than objections, the willingness to compromise and accommodate, and taking the stance of building relationships helps.

It is important to be fair. Only then can a win-win situation be achieved. Work out if what it is you’re asking for is fair and justifiable and that you deserve what it is you’re asking for. If you’re asking for something and don’t believe you deserve it yourself, it may be very hard to convince the other party.

Using variables

In all negotiation processes parties have various variables they can employ. Some of these cannot be compromised on, i.e. the must haves. Some are ideals and some can be traded to get the outcome desired. Therefore, in the example of a Key Opinion Leader meeting being organised, they might be the must have, a certain venue the ideal, and the day of the meeting is carried out as the trading variable.

Silence

Silence is a very powerful tool. Often underestimated for its potential it is one of the most powerful tactics in persuading others. At a practical level this means keeping silent after a request has been made during the negotiation. On most occasions in the negotiation process after a request is made it is helpful to keep quiet – as in most cases the request will be met – but all too often people keep speaking to justify their request which in turn leaves the other person less inclined to help.

Have alternatives

It helps if one has alternatives in case what you want from a situation is not achieved or achievable. It is worth mentioning an alternative that both parties could agree if the initial plans are not going as hoped.

NEGOTIATION STYLES

Accommodating: in this style a greater importance is made on preserving relationships and solving the other party’s issues. Accommodators tend to be sensitive and pick up on the verbal signs of other parties. The negative side of this style is that they feel taken advantage of, especially in cases where the other parties pay little importance to relationships.

Avoiding: in this case negotiation only happens when it has to. When it finally does happen, negotiators tend to defer the confrontational aspects of negotiating, yet on the surface appear to be tactful and diplomatic.

Collaborating: individuals that tend to enjoy negotiations and solving problems in a creative manner prefer this style. Collaborators are good at using negotiations to understand the concerns and interests of the other parties. Their downfall is that they at times turn simple situations into complex ones.

Competing: competing negotiators are strategic focusing on usually the winning element. They are often perceived as dominating with little if any importance on the human side of the relationship.

Compromising: compromisers tend to do what is right and fair for all the parties involved in the negotiation process and want to close the deal. The downfall here is that they tend to rush the negotiation process and make concessions quickly.

The negotiation situation

It is important to understand the situation in which you are negotiating in. For example, negotiating a time to meet with a friend is very different to negotiating in a business environment. In the former, one is more knowledgeable of the needs of both parties and hopefully there is a good understanding of each other and more than likely the negotiation is going to be more informal.

In the case of negotiating in the business and work situation, it would be important to know one’s position and rights and where possible an understanding of the other parties’ negotiating style. As well as keeping positive, staying calm and being reasonable sometimes can be helpful in getting the advice from an expert on the subject area before negotiating. In the work situation it would be helpful to think politically and get the outcome confirmed in writing.

The right time

Finding the right time when to negotiate can play a major role on the outcome. For example, it would be a bad start to try to negotiate when either party was tired, angry, stressed or pre-occupied.

AN ACADEMIC VIEWPOINT

Principled negotiations

Roger Fisher and William Ury, members of the Harvard Negotiation Project, focused on the psychology of negotiations finding an acceptable compromise by determining which needs are fixed and which are flexible.

In their work the success of an agreement is essentially judged by three criteria that are: the agreement should be a wise one; if an agreement is possible, it should be efficient; and, it should improve the relationship between parties, or at best not damage the relationship.

Fisher and Ury in their 1981 book Getting to yes: negotiating agreement without giving in argue that their method can be used virtually in any situation, and the four steps of principled negotiations are:

1. Separate the people from the problem

2. Focus on interests not positions

3. Invent options for mutual gain

4. Insist on using objective criteria

The main theme is that all negotiators should adopt the view that they are problem solvers rather than adversaries, with the aim being to reach an outcome “efficiently and amicably”.

Fisher and Ury stress that when adhering to the above points it should offer a successful outcome. Negotiation can be difficult because the negotiators may have very differing negotiation styles – as listed above. The authors conclude with three main points to consider:

1. What goes on in principled negotiations is common sense, i.e. “You knew it all the time”.

2. Like in everything else, to be a better negotiator one needs practise, i.e. “Learn from doing and mistakes”.

3. Winning: “to win in the context of a better way to negotiate in achieving the aim of what you want and also negotiating decently”.

A prescriptive solution cannot be offered that would be suitable in all negotiations, and whilst there are commonalities across negotiations, each one is different. It would be helpful to be mindful of the process and negotiation styles mentioned above. However, because of the variables that could be involved at any given time in a negotiation, the greatest skill would be to have a grasp of the situation in the moment and adapt as appropriate.

Dr R K Powar has over ten years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a range of tailored programmes to develop staff to help an organisation improve on their Softer Ss skill base. Dr Powar can be contacted on r11osyconsultants@yahoo.co.uk or 07962 342 140.  For further information visit
www.r11osyconsultants.co.uk.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why salespeople will often find themselves in a 'slump' from time to time, and what you need to do about it, before it becomes serious! Based on his successful work with sales teams across the globe, Andy gives you the hints, tips and techniques to cope with a slump and get your sales figures back where they belong.

Let’s face it. No matter how good a salesperson you are, you’re going to find yourself in a sales slump from time to time. This happens to all salespeople, regardless of age, ability, experience, industry or anything else.

This usually happens for a number of reasons. First of all, it may happen because the salesperson has become complacent. Satisfied with their results in recent times, salespeople take their ‘foot off the pedal’ and stop doing the things that got them those results in the first place.

Secondly, it may happen because the salesperson has been mainly relying on a small number of key individuals, to whom access becomes limited – which may or may not be the fault of the individual salesperson, but they still have to deal with the ‘fall-out’ from it.

Or thirdly, it could be because there’s been a change internally (inside the company) or externally, due to change in the industry or the economy for example. As you can imagine, this reason has been the most likely cause for ‘sales slumps’ over recent months.

So what can we do about it?

Whatever the reason for the ‘sales slump’ it’s vital that we do something about it – and quickly! Sales managers and directors are looking for their salespeople to perform right now, and those that don’t are been looked at very closely. This is something you want to avoid if at all possible. Therefore, have a look at some of the tips below and get your sales results back where they belong.

Tip No 1 – Get in the right mindset

It’s essential for salespeople to get themselves in the right mindset before seeing potential customers. Particularly when things are changing for them – for example, when doctors are refusing to see them, PCT decision makers are difficult to reach, or when having to change the sales approach they’ve been used to.

Confidence is vital for any salesperson, and if you let it show that your confidence has been ‘knocked’ a little, that can have a drastic impact on your sales efforts.

When things start to go badly for a salesperson you can hear it in their voice and see it in their body language. If we don’t do something about that before we start the call, it’s almost over before it’s even begun.

Tip No 2 – Increase your contacts

A big challenge for the medical salesperson right now is that their ‘typical’ decision makers are changing. There are doctors that they used to call on regularly in the past who are now refusing to see them, and newer contacts won’t give them any ‘airtime’ to talk about their products. Therefore, a change of strategy is needed in order to keep the sales pipeline full.

In order to keep the sales pipeline in a healthy state, you need to increase the number of contacts and potential influencers that you know (and know you), as well as the ‘traditional’ approach of calling on doctors.

After all, in order to be able to convince people to support your product over the one they currently recommend, they have to be able to like and trust you at some level – and without taking the time to make those important contacts, you could well me missing out on potential opportunities. Keep your ear to the ground, who is influential in deciding which drugs reach the formulary for your PCT or an expert in relevant therapy areas?

Tip No 3 – Get the right support around you

When the salesperson is struggling for results and desperately trying to get ‘back on track’, it’s vital that they have the support of the people around them. Family and friends are equally as important as work colleagues and bosses in this regard.

Because salespeople generally are quite social people, their time outside of work is regularly spent with a close circle of family and friends. If those people don’t support the salesperson in their choice of career, or try to get them to get a ‘normal job’ at every opportunity, that’s going to undermine the efforts of the salesperson to turn around their sales slump.

The salesperson’s colleagues and immediate bosses also have a role to play here. The salesperson is already feeling bad enough about the lack of sales results coming in, without threats, intimidation or the ‘cold shoulder’ from the managers and directors above them.

In addition, managers should try and create a culture of ‘healthy competition’ within the sales team, where each member is wanting to get the best sales results possible and be a top performer, but able to support and encourage team-mates to do the same, rather than try and beat them down to increase their own chances of winning.

One of the keys to a successful sales team is to have each member trying to better their own results, with a little healthy competition – but not to the detriment of individuals within that team. That goes towards helping everyone succeed and creates a strong bond between team members, as well as the best sales figures possible for the company.

Tip No 4 – Get back to basics

One of the temptations for many salespeople who are in a ‘sales slump’ is to think that their previous good figures are more to do with the fact that they’re ‘a natural’ at sales, an omnipotent sales deity and that the sales just arrived because of the way they are – that they achieved it all without effort!

Now of course there will be the times when an order just landed in their laps, but in the majority of cases, certain things in the sales process drove those successful results for them. Plus their own attributes like determination, tenacity, resilience etc that helped them get over the barriers to getting the person to recommend their product in the first place!

When a salesperson finds themselves in a ‘slump’, one of the best things to do is to get back to basics – to look at the parts of their sales process, plus their own activity levels that drove their previously higher levels of sales results.

It might be that their number of prospecting calls has dropped off, that they are no longer sat in front of enough key influencers on a regular basis or that they’re not putting in the efforts now that got them to their previously successful levels of results.

Whatever the reason, it needs analysing and them implementing a ‘back-to-basics’ approach – it’s often the simple things that once adjusted can make the biggest difference!

Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert and a specialist in helping companies win more profitable new business. You can see more about Andy at www.andy-preston.com. If you have any questions about anything in this article (or anything else related to sales) you can ask Andy a question http://www.andy-preston.com/ask-andy/

In modern society where everybody is judged building or maintaining self-confidence levels can be an almost impossible task. Here, Dr R K Powar offers valuable ways to boost self-esteem at work.

The word confidence originates from the Latin word confidere, meaning to trust and to have faith in. The original meaning of the word is to have trust or faith in an object or person. Confidence has many meanings for different people, generally meaning certainty in one’s world. Here are some other ideas:

· A state of mind where one feels sure about themselves and their environment.

· The feeling of being secure and self-reliant.

· The feeling of optimism about things in general.

Therefore, it follows that self-confidence means freedom from doubt and having the belief in yourself and your abilities. Whilst confidence is about feelings we all at times have seen it in friends, idols, managers, parents etc. At times we also feel it and see it in ourselves, and some of us more so than others. Also, it is worth stressing that despite us at times seeing a great deal of confidence in people they may not necessarily be feeling confident inside and, whilst confidence is not tangible, it is contagious.

Developing self-confidence

The self-fulfilling prophecy: This is a false definition of a situation in the beginning evoking a new behaviour which makes the original concept become true. If we start with the premise that we will be good at learning a new task, completing a presentation or writing up a report, this is what happens and vice versa. There are times we have admired presenters or broadcasters for their confidence, but they admit afterwards to being very nervous prior to and during the presentation. However, they have succeeded in wearing the ‘self-confidence outfit’. But what does this outfit consist of?

Self-confidence is made up of components such as being sure about oneself. For example, being competent, having the strength to set goals and be disciplined to achieve them, using failures as learning opportunities and identifying your successes and using them to your advantage, to name but a few. Recognising and managing insecurities and ignoring what others think are also important components for building self-confidence. Finally, one needs to make sure the outfit fits the part in terms of body language and speech.

Practise on being competent: At a practical level it helps when doing something for the first time, or a task that might be difficult, to break it down into do-able segments. These will help us stretch significantly to develop but realistically enough so that we can succeed. Each time we have a success that will make us a little more confident. After having a few successes, the bar can be raised to the next level.

Setting goals and using failures as learning opportunities: Setting goals helps to improve our confidence because it gives us direction. However, the goals must be realistic and achieved within a certain time framework. Each time a goal is achieved we will get motivated and can set the next target. In cases where we have failed, this will give us ample opportunity to learn and grow. (See article on The Learning Organisation: Is the Pharma Industry willing to Learn? April 2010)

Identify your successes: If we reflect on the successes we have had, this makes us feel good about ourselves giving us positive energy. Assured thoughts will help our behaviour be positive giving us our next ‘win’. In identifying our successes it may become apparent that the things we have had successes in are things we enjoy or are good at. Focusing on our strengths will ensure more successes, increasing our confidence further and so on.

Recognising and managing your insecurities and limitations: None of us are perfect or good at everything; therefore we need to be realistic and also recognise our insecurities and limitations. It is also helpful to get the viewpoints of some trusted friends and work colleagues. Once we have a truthful and holistic picture of ourselves we can either decide to do something or not about our insecurities and limitations which promotes positive thinking and actions.

Analyse your body language: When we see people being confident, the first thing we see is their body language; and as we know, first impressions have a major impact on how we perceive people and on how we are perceived. It is therefore a good idea to pay attention to our body language. If one carries themselves confidently that’s how they will feel, and in turn, this is the image that is projected to the outside world. Confident people tend to have a strong body language that exudes a non-verbal presence.

Improve your image/speech: Our body language is better when we are dressed in attire that is suitable to the situation. When we are dressed smartly we feel good, our body language is better making us more confident. Speech also plays a part in how confidently we are perceived by others. A clear, well-paced and enthusiastic speech, opposed to a dull and monotone speech, makes us feel more confident and, subsequently, that’s how we are perceived by others. As a result, this makes us feel more confident demonstrating the principles of the Reinforcement Theory (Positive).

Confidence at work

An organisation’s success is determined in many ways. There is a plethora of methods in which an organisation’s success can be bettered. The employees of an organisation are its greatest asset. A positive, confident work force is of paramount importance especially in an organisation where the focus is more on a service provision rather than product provision.

In the pharmaceutical industry a great deal of money and time is spent and hard work is done behind the scenes to get new drugs to the forefront. With the combined skills and expertise of various staff, the drugs finally reach the endpoints, i.e. the patients.

When several functions such as product innovation, clinical trials, medical affairs, marketing/branding, training and sales team come together it is crucially important that each function has confidence in each. One way or another this will be apparent to customers.

For employees such as the sales staff that have contact with external customers, being confident is of paramount importance. Initial introductions will determine the possibility of any future meetings with customers and the likelihood of their successes.

If sales staff see themselves as confident people performing a very important job, that’s how they will be seen by the customers. If the sales staff value their time the customers will value the time of the sales staff too. If the sales staff have confidence in the products they are promoting the customers are more likely to perceive these in a positive light as well.

Sales people in the pharmaceutical industry provide medical professionals and their colleagues with invaluable knowledge, developments in specialised therapy areas and, whilst selling, are equally providing a service with their expertise. Sales teams that are confident are also likely to be better ambassadors for the industry too.

Contrary to popular believe self-confidence is not something people are born with. It is something that can be developed as shown in this article. There are no shortcuts to increase one’s self-confidence as it is a slow and steady process. Self-confidence, similar to learning, is ongoing and each time a person has a positive experience their confidence is made stronger.

About the author:

Dr R K Powar has over ten years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and provides a range of tailored programmes to develop staff to help an organisation improve on their Softer S’s skill base.

Contact details:

Web: www.r11osyconsultants.co.uk

E: r11osyconsultants@yahoo.co.uk

Telephone: 07962 342 140

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/r11osyconsultants

Twitter: ravipowar

Are you on track to meet your targets for the first quarter of 2010? Maybe you need to set yourself a bigger goal. Motivational speaker Dave Hyner explains.

The early part of a new year is the perfect time to be setting goals, both personal and professional. What do you want to achieve? Although losing weight, getting healthier and spending more time with friends and family are all popular resolutions, ‘exceed my sales targets’ should also feature among many Pf reader’s goals for 2010.

As the weeks progress, how far have you come? Have you made the impact you were hoping to make? It is not uncommon to start the year full of enthusiasm, but lose all motivation amidst the cold and dark of the winter months.

Could it be that you are not setting the right targets? It’s time to refresh those good intentions with a whole new approach.

Aspiring to mediocrity

The common mantra when setting any goal, like a sales target, is to come up with something ‘realistic’ and ‘achievable’. Conventional wisdom suggests this is better, because it means the goals are easier to hit. It also says the alternative – setting a massive, amazing goal – can be demoralising when people realise it’s out of their reach.

In reality, while that may be true for some, it just sets the majority of people up for mediocrity – at best. How could anyone be truly inspired and motivated by something that is within their reach? And don’t be fooled into thinking realistic, achievable targets can’t be equally demoralising. The lack of inspiration can be just as de-motivating – imagine how it would feel to set a realistic goal and then not achieve it!

So if realistic goals can be demoralising, is there really any point in setting them? Pharmaceutical sales is no different. In fact, the need for a massive goal in such a pressurised, competitive environment could not be greater.

The rewards of a successful sales career within the pharmaceutical sales industry can be huge, but this means there are more people willing to aim for them – and to do what they have to to get there. But there is a way to be number one, without being completely ruthless. I base this assertion on years of speaking to top achievers, from various fields including sport, business and academia. They all have one thing in common – they set themselves a massive goal and refused to give up until they reach it. And then they set themselves another one.

Case studies: leading by example

One example is sales professional Geoff Cox, who had set up a networking group called Network2Connect. He implemented our goal-setting technique – despite being sceptical about it – and transformed his fledgling business into an international company, with a global reach through the website (www.network2connect.com). He’d quadrupled his business in one year alone.

As a young man, Poundland founder Steve Smith was told to get a job and a haircut or leave home. He set up a market stall selling items for £1, to the ridicule of friends and fellow traders. He experienced more ridicule when he opened the first Poundland store in Burton-upon-Trent in 1990 – they said costs would be too high and the prices would give the goods a poor image. Today Poundland has over 70 stores around the country, employs over 2800 people and has turnover of more than £160 million.

Sport is a field where goal-setting has a major role to play. The late Emlyn Hughes OBE is a fine example of this. As a child, he set himself the goal of playing football for England. However, he was considered too small to play football, so he lied about his age to get into teams of older players, which made him stronger than those in his own age group. It also made him a fierce tackler, and earned him the nickname ‘Crazy Horse’. His determination and drive took him into the Liverpool and England sides of the late 1970s and early 1980s, becoming captain of both and the most successful English footballer of all time before his retirement in 1981. By that time he had played for England 62 times and won 14 trophies, despite being ‘too small’ to play football.

Yet another example is author Andy Cope, who is now a best-selling children’s writer after applying the Massive Goals Principle. He was a college lecturer, with the dream of writing a children’s book about his pet dog, Lara. His first novel ‘Spy Dog’ was published in 2005, and this has since developed into a hugely successful series of books, beating JK Rowling to win the Red House Children’s Book Award in 2006. Andy is now an author, trainer, accomplished professional speaker and positive psychologist.

While these are truly remarkable individuals, there is no reason why we can’t all emulate their success.

Five steps to success

1. The first thing is to decide what the goal is. What does it look like? How will it feel to get there? Some people choose an expensive sports car, or a mansion, or an exotic holiday. Others choose security for their family, or a better work-life balance. The important thing is to make it specific, tangible, and quantifiable. If you need help with this, think about people you admire – particularly those who have succeeded in pharmaceutical sales. How did they get to the top? Can you take anything from their experience and apply it to your own goal-setting? What about Asa Candler, the man who brought Coca-Cola to a global audience, who started out as a pharmaceutical salesman and manufacturer? Or perhaps there is someone a bit closer to home?

2. Secondly, think about the process. The best approach with a massive goal is to break it down into bite-size chunks. Once the building blocks have been created, commit to doing something each month to help you hit the ultimate target.

3. You must hold yourself accountable to your commitments. Without accountability your massive goal will soon fall by the wayside. This is why the mini-goals have to be measurable. But they don’t necessarily have to be connected to sales – it could be something as simple as contacting former clients and prospects, or reading a book from an industry expert. In other words, they can be related to the personal developments which will help you reach your ultimate goal, or generate more leads.

4. Develop some landmarks to achieve along the way. This makes it easier to gauge progress and prove the goal is becoming closer.

5. And bring in some fun, incentives or rewards to help you. The journey may become difficult at times, but a reward, such as a gift for yourself, or a city break to somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit, will help to focus the mind and keep you on the path.

Follow these five steps and I guarantee you will hit the heights – it really is that simple! Just be clear on what you want to achieve and what you need to do to get there. This is the only way you will become the number one pharmaceutical salesperson in your company or therapy area. If you continue to set achievable goals you will only ever get to mid-table, and you’ll never reach your full potential.

Let’s make 2010 your most successful year ever!

Dave Hyner is a Staffordshire-based motivational speaker, and Managing Director of Stretch Development. He has travelled the world to deliver keynote addresses on his research into top achievers in sport, business and academia.

A wide range of case studies and testimonials, along with a video of David in action, are available at the Stretch Development website: www.stretchdevelopment.com.

Are you in it for the long term or just a one hit wonder? Sales training expert Sean McPheat takes a look at ‘relationship selling’ or ‘key account management’ techniques – an approach that is particularly important for pharma sales executives today.

In such a heavily regulated industry, the sales people that excel in their field are those that can demonstrate outstanding strategic and key account management skills. Being able to excel in skills associated with managing accounts and relationship building can really separate the wheat from the chafe in terms of building long-term profitable partnerships with your clients.

Note how I say long-term partnerships! Your sales approach should not be geared around a one off sale, but around repeat business and for the long term.

This approach sits well with many of the people you are selling to as well. Many clients are sceptical towards sales people and being ‘sold to’. Therefore a ‘soft sell’ works best that is based upon long-term win-win solutions where both parties feel that they have got a great deal.

Relationship selling is just that: using relationships to achieve your goal to increase sales.

Some call it ‘relationship selling’ and others call it ‘key account management’, but no matter what you call it, it’s all based around the partnerships and the relationships that you make.

So how can you maintain and develop profitable long term relationships?

Consultative selling

Relationship selling is based around the consultative selling approach. This means that it’s based around understanding the needs of your prospects and clients first and then, and only then, do you think about how your products and services can help them.

This discussion normally follows the path of the diagram above, where you’ll analyse your prospect’s needs, offer solutions to them, discuss the benefits of your products and services, overcome any resistance and then move the sale forward by going for the order – or, in the case of pharmaceutical sales, this might be a commitment to trial the product.

Now while the process seems very straightforward, it can take several months. Very rarely is it a one hit wonder. Sales cycles are normally long so you’ll need to build the relationship all the way through the sales process through to them becoming a client and beyond for repeat business.

If you take a look at a typical relationship selling model there are various ‘touch points’, where you as the sales person have the opportunity to build the relationship with your prospect and this starts from the very moment that you first meet them or pick up the phone.

Become a business person

Relationship selling can give a powerful advantage and help you to differentiate yourself in today’s crowded markets. If we take the advice of executive level buyers, we will realise that our greatest success is in transitioning our approach from being ‘sales people’ to thinking and acting like ‘business people’!

Selling in a ‘big bang’ way will not work. Instead, you need to strategically think about what you need to do and how you are going to do it in order to influence decision makers. Whilst a linear approach from A to B is the quickest and most desirable way, sometimes you’ll need to go to point C, D E, F and then come back to B to achieve your goal.

So right from the outset it’s very important that you bare in mind that this is a relationship sale and your planning, preparation and approach need to reflect this.

So what will your prospects need from you in order to build up this relationship? Let’s look at some of the key areas:

TRUST – You will need to build up their trust in you from the outset. You can only do this over time by your approach, the way you do business and what you have done in the past both personally and as a company.

PROOF – So why should they believe a word you say? Social proof, happy clients and case studies go a long way to building proof that in turns helps with your credibility and helps to build trust.

EDUCATION – Inform them and educate them in something they don’t know. Can you help them without asking for anything in return? As a pharma rep, are there any results of clinical trials that you can give them? Are there any latest research reports? Be more than just an account manager/sales person. You need to be a trusted advisor.

SERVICE – Are you accessible? Do you turn around requests quicker than your competition? Unless you’ve got a real unique selling point they will be faced with hundreds of sales reps just like you and the one area in which you can really stand out in is the level of customer service and support that you offer.

WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT? – Sometimes you don’t need to be better to get the business, sometimes you just need to be different. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. They might get hassled and hounded by some sales people and they may have a pre-conceived impression that you will be exactly the same. So what can you do differently to the rest? What makes you unique? Be different!

Lose yourself

If your prospects think that you are only out for your commission cheque at the end of the month then you are fried. You need to have a ‘you attitude’ and that means that you really need to focus on them. Listen attentively, not only to what they say, but also the latest industry news or articles that you come across. How can you help them?

You need to put yourself in the prospect's position and think about their needs, wants and desires, even if there is nothing in it for you. In relationship selling, your behaviours and approach should be focused on your clients and not on yourself.

Making and maintaining these connections is essentially what relationship selling is all about. So what’s important in a relationship selling/account management model and how can you improve your skills in this area?

Have a proven sales model in place

Having great rapport building skills is not enough if you don’t have a robust sales model to back it all up. Do you have a systematic way to move your prospects through your marketing and sales funnels?

Keep an open mind

Is your mind closed off to ideas and signals or do you look at every interaction as a possible way of establishing another new potential relationship?

Rapport-building skills

We’ve talked a lot what you need to do, but what about those all important communication skills. After all, you’ll never build relationships without them.

Building rapport with your prospects and clients is easier said than done. To some it comes naturally, but to others it can be really difficult.

You need to put yourself in the prospect’s position and think about their needs, wants and desires, even if there is nothing in it for you. In relationship selling, your behaviours and approach should be focused on your clients and not on yourself.

Rapport is all about that feeling of being comfortable with someone and trusting them and that’s exactly how you need your prospects to feel about you.

It’s a crucial activity in any interaction, but especially in any ongoing sales interaction. It’s the first thing you need to establish and the most important thing to keep all the way throughout your relationship with the client.

Here are some ways you can build rapport:

• Talk about common areas of interest (people like people who are like themselves), but don’t go overboard and sound sickly sweet when making small talk and conversation.
• Body language – match and mirror their movements (but don’t make it obvious).
• Language – match their tonality and the type of words that they use.
• Learning styles – do they like the big picture or the detail? Match their preference – listen to the level of detail they talk in to work out which they prefer.
• Representational systems – this sounds complicated but it’s about how they think. Some people think in pictures and are very visual, so drawing a diagram would be best for them, and others think in words and noises, so talking them through the options would work best for them. Listen to the words they use: ‘picture this’ or ‘look at this’ means they have visual preferences. ‘That sounds good’ or ‘I hear you’ means they have auditory preferences.

At the end of the day, think about your prospects and what they want from the relationship. Like with most relationships, you’ll probably find they want a long term partner rather than just a one night stand.

Presenting to groups is an increasingly important part of the life of a professional pharmaceutical salesperson. Stuart Wineberg of Bluestone Training Consultancy Ltd examines some of the things that can potentially go wrong in this challenging aspect of the sales process and recommends some ways to deal with them.

Access rates in primary care are falling almost daily. The challenge of pharmaceutical sales today isn’t so much the way you put together your sales story, but in getting the opportunity to deliver it to a customer who can make the decision to buy. Group selling is increasingly important as a route to reach your customers and be able to deliver a meaningful message.

Everyone who reads Pf is a well trained professional salesperson. What that means in practice is that they have considerable skills and confidence when dealing face to face with individual customers. Overall, our experience at Bluestone is that those same professionals are often less comfortable in group selling situations.

So where can the well-honed presenting process that we have practiced so often go off the rails and what can be done about it?

There are several common events that happen either leading up to a group-selling event or during it:
• the technology lets you down
• you are given less time than you expected
• people start to leave before the end of the meeting
• you have a challenging know-all in the audience.

At the heart of handling all of these situations is the need to have a clear objective for the meeting. When something goes wrong, the answer is always to revert to that core objective. Very often, the objectives we set are either vague, perhaps to see how our product is doing, or are actually a process rather than an objective – ie ‘they always have a talk on a Friday.’

Objectives for a group presentation are often different to one-to-one selling. Typically they are:
• to get invitations to a one-toone meeting with members of the audience
• to have an existing advocate influence the rest of the group
• to establish yourself as a credible supporter of the practice who should be allowed to build a relationship with the group

When something goes wrong – go back to that core objective.

The technology lets you down

We have all been there. The data projector is connected to the PC, the power is on, everything is working just fine. You introduce yourself and turn to the screen to see nothing. You are now either in real trouble or you are about to be so memorable that this surgery will never forget you. So how can you win in this situation?

Firstly, remember that the most important visual aid in the room is always you. To some extent, PowerPoint slides distract from you and your message. With no slides, the audience will be completely focused on you and that is good news.

Secondly, remember that the slides were always for the audience, not for you. You know the data, you know the key messages, so you have lost none of your knowledge.

Let your selling skills help you. Relax, smile and move towards the audience. Never apologise, you didn’t break the machine. Make a clear statement of what you are going to do instead of show slides, perhaps hold an open discussion, use the flip chart or ask them about some aspect of their clinical practice.

Audiences watching slides tend to be passive. Audiences responding to challenges and questions become engaged. The wave of sympathy when your equipment fails is a great time to propose an open forum on your topic and to create a dialogue.

When technology fails you are either in trouble and panicked or in trouble and seeing an opportunity to be memorable – pick the latter.

“Audiences watching slides tend to be passive. Audiences responding to challenges and questions become engaged. The wave of sympathy when your equipment fails is a great time to propose an open forum on your topic and to create a dialogue”

Less time than you expected

“I know we said you could have 20 minutes but we are running late so can you keep it down to 10 please?” – Heard that one before? What are your choices?

• Speak faster and get through it.
• Ditch the presentation and just pass round a few leave pieces.
• Keep calm, mentally go back to your objective and cut the talk to fit.

No prizes for guessing which one I recommend but most people go for one of the first two. The problem is that with the first you lose credibility, look flustered and actually fail to achieve what it was you came for. With the second you risk throwing away your hard-earned selling opportunity.

So how to achieve the third option?

Cut back to your core messages and key objective. Reduce the number of slides you planned to use and keep calm.

Above all – NEVER speed up. The only real error you can make if time is reduced is to try and do exactly what you initially planned, but do it quicker. You will look rushed and you will fail to communicate.

People start to leave before the end of the meeting

This seems to happen mostly in hospital meetings where half the audience are bleeped before you get to the end. You cannot prevent them leaving but you can structure your talk so that the key messages are delivered at the beginning.

Most presentations build up slowly to a big finish. If the talk is about a drug, a series of slides about efficacy, safety and cost benefit lead to the conclusion that the product is truly excellent and should be used on every possible occasion. The trouble is that those members of the audience who left early have heard some disconnected data about a drug, but they don’t really know what it can do for them.

A much better way is to assertively state the conclusion as part of your introduction and then prove your point: “Ladies and gentlemen, blogacillin is the treatment of choice for advanced infections of the left kneecap and over the next ten minutes I will demonstrate why.”

Everything you say after this will be linked by the audience to this initial statement and if someone leaves early, they have still received your key message.

The challenging know-all

The secret to dealing with these people is to watch the reaction of everyone else. If the know-all’s comments result in raised eyebrows and deep sighs from the rest of the audience then you can respond quite strongly, knowing that everyone else is on your side. If the questions trigger nods of agreement and increased attention from the audience then the know-all is speaking for all of them and you need to be patient. This is probably the customer with a special interest in your therapy area and potentially your main advocate.

Ultimately, one presentation is rarely a make or break event. It is usually more important to be remembered as someone positive, in control and with good knowledge than as the world’s greatest presenter. So when things go wrong, take a deep breath and work to turn the situation to your long-term advantage.

A necessary evil or a valued business relationship? New research has revealed how buyers from various industries view salespeople, and it isn’t pretty. Pf takes a look at the findings.

We have all seen him on TV, the pushy, smooth-talking suitclad salesman, confident in the belief that his sheer charisma and persuasive technique could convince anyone to purchase the latest shoddy and unnecessary item he is touting. He was a familiar figure in the Eighties, brief case and over-sized mobile phone in hand, ever ready to charm his next potential customer.

This was the perception of salespeople about twenty years ago, and most people would assume that this stereotype has long since become out-dated and irrelevant. However, recent research has suggested that this perception is still alive today and, like the mobile phone, the salesperson of the noughties is just slightly better presented and capable of more advanced applications, but ultimately performs the same function.

DDI’s 2007-2008 Global Sales Perceptions Report does not make comfortable reading for anyone involved in sales. It reveals a perception of salespeople as lacking knowledge and understanding, unwilling to listen and more interested in their own bonus than the customer’s needs.

This article will look at the conclusions of the report and ask whether they can be applied to the medical sales industry. Has pharma been successful in breaking down old stereotypes and revolutionising the image of sales?

The report

Business leadership consultancy Development Dimensions International (DDI) surveyed 2,705 people across six countries about how they feel about their interactions with sales professionals. Those surveyed were buyers or people who interact with salespeople and are involved in buying decisions, and represented a wide range of industries, job levels and age groups.

The research was designed to provide answers to the following questions:
• What qualities do buyers truly value in a salesperson?
• Have their expectations of salespeople changed?
• What value do salespeople add to buying organisations?
• Do buyers really want a trusted business advisor or just an ordertaker?

The overwhelming conclusions of the research were that buyers generally have a poor perception of salespeople, that their increasingly high expectations are not being met and that salespeople are not becoming business partners.

We spoke to some industry managers to find out if the same can be said of pharmaceutical industry salespeople.

A necessary evil

The most common perception across all countries was that sales is a ‘necessary evil’. A typical attitude amongst respondents was that salespeople are more interested in making money for themselves than in providing a service for the customer. One went as far as to say that they felt “conned and cheated” following interactions with salespeople.

Regrettably, it seems the stereotype of the ‘pushy’ salesperson is still a reality today, though there has been some improvement – 40% of UK buyers said that expertise has increased.

“There is still a long way to go,” comments Paul Hughes, Director of Strategic Accounts at DDI and co-author of the report. “Fortyone per cent of UK buyers said that expertise has stayed the same and 19% say it’s getting worse. At the same time, 44% of buyers have increased expectations of sales people. The gap between expectations and delivery is getting bigger.”

Although medical sales is not necessarily a victim to sales stereotypes to the extent of some other industries, the pharma sales professional has other prejudices to contend with on a daily basis. As Andy Holgate, Business Unit Director at Ashfield In2Focus explains: “The anti-industry PR is pretty significant in the UK, and the controversy created by recent reports of inconsistent disclosure of clinical trial outcomes will have shaped opinion, whilst totally outside the control of any UK salesperson. In some respects, the representative is starting from a negative stance with many HCPs (healthcare professionals), and this is one of the reasons for reduced access.”

Great expectations

Could it be that the perception of the sales industry is so low because buyers have higher expectations? There are several different areas where buyers seem to expecting more from salespeople. Firstly, the customer expects the salesperson to understand their business and what their needs are. Secondly, the customer expects the salesperson to listen and provide sound advice. Thirdly, the customer wants to create a ‘win-win’ situation, where a good compromise is reached and both parties benefit.

This more consultative approach to selling is nothing new to the pharmaceutical industry. Changes in the structure of both the NHS and the industry have meant that it is more important than ever that pharma sales professionals build relationships with their customers and are able to speak knowledgably on their therapy area. According to Paul Hughes, however, training the sales team is not enough, a sales organisation needs to have these three expectations at its core: “Sales organisations have to realise that some salespeople are going to make that transition more easily than others. It is crucial organisations first assess and select the people with the potential to deliver what buyers want from a modern sales force and then structure the sales teams so that the sales leaders can take the team in the right direction.”

Ian Wrathall, Head of Primary Care at AstraZeneca, agrees that the move to an account management approach is not going to happen overnight and will require more than just a change in sales force structure: “To move to a true account management approach takes a huge change in mindset. I believe it will take a while before the industry moves away from the old model-thinking such as share of voice and coverage and frequency.”

Changes in the NHS customerbase are also demanding more from representatives, as Ian went on to explain, “Decisionmaking has moved away from the individual GPs to local and regional bodies like PCTs and PBCs, hence the strong relationship a representative might have had with an individual GP has less leverage than it once did.”

Valued business partners?

Despite the fact that popular sales training programs today do focus on more consultative selling, UK sales professionals are failing to become the business partners they aim to be. Just 42% of UK respondents said that they consider their sales contacts as business partners, with only Australia scoring slightly lower out of the six countries. In contrast, 84% of German and 64% of French buyers feel they have this relationship with salespeople.

In keeping with these findings, there is some feeling within the industry that old mindsets and a lack of ‘customer orientation’ are preventing pharma sales professionals from being seen as trusted business advisors. Ian Wrathall explains: “The medical representative role in recent years has been driven by centralised brand strategies. This has led to a tick-box culture that measured the success of representatives by the number of times they could deliver key selling messages to individual target customers, irrespective of customer needs and environment.”

Nick Edwards, Head of Sales Excellence at Roche, expands on how the attitude of pharma needs to change: “We need to ‘help people to buy’, not ‘sell’ to them. All salespeople need a thorough understanding of their product and their customers so they can target and tailor their messages in the right way. Medical sales specialists need to have a longerterm approach to achieving a successful outcome versus a more consumer orientated ‘sign on the line now’, with a relationship built on trust between customers and sales people.”

One disadvantage with this type of selling, however, is that if a sales professional moves to another company the client relationship goes with them. Nick Edwards describes the attitude an organisation needs to have as a more joined-up ‘one company approach’. He suggests that accurate customer records will ensure that each sales contact will have knowledge of what has gone before. “In turn the customer feels valued and the relationship with the company is not only maintained but potentially enhanced,” he concludes.

“To move to a true account management approach takes a huge change in mindset” Ian Wrathall, Head of Primary Care, AstraZeneca

Most valued qualities

Respondents were asked which top three qualities they value most in a salesperson. UK respondents voted pricing/price negotiation, product or service advice and trust as the most valued qualities.

Trust, in particular, is an essential in the relationship between medical rep and HCP. However, the UK scored lowest in trust across all industries. When UK respondents were asked if they felt salespeople had their best interests at heart, just 13% said ‘definitely’. It would be impossible for the pharma industry to function without the trust of its customers, as Andy Holgate went on to explain: “Giving the wrong advice about dose, side effects and contraindications could have catastrophic effects, and therefore the pharmaceutical industry representative must always be conscious that their first duty is to that unknown patient that their medicine may be able to help.”

A never-ending mission

The pressures on pharmaceutical sales might be different to other sales industries, but the customer’s perception of the sales force is equally as important, if not more so. The challenges of selling to an ever-changing customer base and overcoming the perceptions generated by negative media coverage have forced the industry to re-evaluate its attitudes and approach.

Andy Holgate feels that this has resulted in a positive change: “I see far more realism from the industry about where companies position their brands, and far more understanding of the financial and rational environment GPs are operating within. This is a never-ending mission, but I would like to believe that overall HCPs would admit there has been a significant change in the way most companies operate.”

So has pharma been successful in changing the image of sales? To some extent. Although not many representatives could be described as experienced practitioners of the consultative selling advocated by DDI, this is certainly the approach that most companies aspire to and are moving towards. As the results of this report indicate, in just realising the need for change, pharma is a step closer than many other industries to achieving the mindset necessary for true account management selling.

In the second instalment of two-part series, Andy Preston looks at the top five responses he’s had to the question: “What are the top attributes of great salespeople?” This month, Andy focuses on the attributes that are more commonly associated with sales: confidence, self-motivation and enthusiasm.

Number 3 – Confidence

How important do you think confidence is for a salesperson? Well, I don’t think I’d say ‘everything’, but it’s pretty close. Confidence is important in a lot of different areas of selling – pitching, cold calling, closing, objection handling, even picking up the phone in the first place – confidence is pretty much everything in sales. Think back and I’m sure you can remember the voice tone of someone who sounded confident, and someone who sounded nervous and unsure. Which one would you buy from?

Confidence is one of the most important yet undervalued attributes of a great salesperson.

Think back to the last time you or one of your team was struggling or going through a ‘sales slump’ – where do you think your level of confidence was at those moments?

“Most average salespeople rely on things outside of themselves to motivate them – their manager, a ‘lucky’ sales call or email, a sales competition, a sunny day or a stroke of luck with a client”

Now I know there will be some people reading this who might say, “But how can I be expected to stay confident when things are going really badly?” It’s the transference of confidence to the other party that’s most important. My personal belief is that in sales situations where you are trying to persuade the prospective customer to buy products or services from you, confidence can be seen as ‘trust’. The customer will be asking themselves a number of questions when you meet them or talk to them over the phone, such as: “I wonder if this person and their company are any good?”, “I wonder if I can trust them and rely on them to look after my needs?” and “I wonder if they will do what they say they’re going to do?”

In most situations, especially if you are in field sales, to the customer you are the company. You might be the only contact and certainly are the main contact for them, so whether they buy from your company or not is down to you! If you seem confident and capable in what you do, then the customer will have more confidence and trust in you.

Number 4 – Self- Motivation

If you ask any salesperson whether they are motivated, they’ll usually reply “Of course I am!” However, if you follow it up with the question “How often?” you might get a few uncomfortable looks!

Motivation is another important aspect of selling and can dramatically affect the behaviour of an individual salesperson at any given moment. Most salespeople and companies say that motivation is important, yet fail to do much about it. They seem to think that motivation is something that is just there or it isn’t!

You’ll notice by the way, that the attribute I’ve listed above is not just ‘Motivation’ but ‘Self Motivation’. For me, the key is in the first part of the word! Most average salespeople rely on things outside of themselves to motivate them – their manager (and we know how dangerous that can be), a ‘lucky’ sales call or email, a sales competition, a sunny day or a stroke of luck with a client. Now that probably sounds ridiculous while you’re reading this, but if you were to take a closer look at yourself or members of your team right now, you’d see how often that is the case.

My belief is that motivation has to come from yourself, rather than hoping that something else is going to do it for you. Sales mangers have asked themselves the question for years: “How do I motivate my sales team?” Let’s look at one of the traditional options, the effect of sales competitions or special incentives, versus the salespeople motivating themselves.

Often, the motivation has to come from the salesperson wanting the cash incentives, vouchers, holidays or whatever the ‘incentive’ is that the company is hoping will motivate them to better performance.

However, this often fails to have the desired effect – for example, if the salesperson doesn’t believe that they can achieve the desired level in order to earn the incentive or bonus, or if they feel the competition is going to be won by someone else (as in the single winner incentives). In addition, very often sales competitions and incentives are set by management with no thought as to whether the ‘incentive’ is actually something that will inspire the team.

Remember – the top salespeople take charge of their own motivation and do whatever it takes to stay motivated, rather than whinge to everyone within earshot about what a bad day they’re having!

“In between sales meetings or after a bad phone call or email, make sure you mentally ‘re-set’ yourself and your passion and enthusiasm. This will help to ensure that the next person you meet or talk to gets the best viewpoint of your product or service, not a below par performance”

Number 5 – Passion and Enthusiasm

You’d be amazed how many salespeople I meet who aren’t passionate and enthusiastic about what their product or company does – or even themselves most of the time. Yet those same salespeople complain that their customers don’t seem interested in them and what they have to offer. Usually, when they go back to the office and their sales manager asks them “How did you get on at xyz appointment,” they’ll say something like “Oh, they aren’t ready to buy at the moment” or “They don’t have the budget”, or some similar excuse.

Bored, tired and dejected, those same salespeople trudge from appointment to appointment or sales call to sales call without ever stopping to think that they might be the cause of the client’s indifference!

If you want your clients to be passionate, enthusiastic and interested in what you have to offer, you have to be passionate, enthusiastic and interested first. This will come across when you talk about your product (voice tone is even more important when on the phone), when you are asked why it is a better choice than a competitor product (make sure you’re not directly knocking the competition) and in the crucial first few seconds of a sales interaction. This is an area that most salespeople ignore to their own cost!

So, are you consistently passionate, enthusiastic and interested when discussing your product or service? Do you still sound like that if you’re affected by the weather when you’re driving to the appointment? Traffic congestion? Parking issues? When you’re feeling tired? When you’ve just had a bad phone call or email? At the end of a long day? Lots of things can affect how passionate and enthusiastic we feel – but the more that you can lessen the extent, the better your sales will be.

Andy Preston is the founder of sales training and coaching company Outstanding Results, which provides help, guidance and support to the in-house sales teams of both large and small organisations.
Andy can be e-mailed at info@outstanding-results.co.uk