Medical Sales: The Practice of Habits, Part 2

Habit 1: Be Proactive 

By Rick Fromme

Photo Credit: rock.genius.com

There are many companies and business people today (especially in medical sales), which erroneously think all they need do to be proactive when it comes to their customers is to launch a new touch marketing campaign, or worse, to call them back with a new sales offer.  Wrong! 

Read on, and learn more about what being proactive with customers really means. 

As the esteemed, late Dr. Stephen Covey pointed out in his landmark international best-seller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effectively People,” being proactive requires a paradigm shift in mindset, behavior and for organizations, strategies.  Being proactive means “that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives.  Our behavior is a function of our decision, not our conditions.  We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.” 

Photo Credit: n2growth.com

Dr. Covey, in further explaining the nature of being proactive, states that our basic nature is to act, versus being acted upon.   As applied to customer service, this means it’s really all about reaching out to the customer to solve their problems, or answer their questions, before they even know they have them.  This is exactly why proactive customer service starts not with a new marketing campaign, or a new sales offer, but with a change in mindset, behavior and strategies.

Last summer, inContact issued a customer service survey.  The study, conducted online by Harris Interactive, on behalf of inContact, surveyed 2,034 U.S. adults aged 18 years or older.  Here’s a summary of its main findings:

• 87% said they want to be contacted proactively by a company;  

• However, one of the major hindrances to being more proactive in customer service is the initial pause or delay that can often occur when traditional legacy predictive dialers are used in call centers;

Photo Credit: jsainterinteractive.com

• The most popular reasons for wanting to be contacted included: fraudulent activity on their account (65%); setting appointments or reminders (53%); and questions about an order they placed (51%);

• Nearly three quarters (73%) of those who had a pleasant surprise or positive experience with a proactive customer service call report they had a positive change in their perception of the business calling them; and

• 62% of those who had a pleasant surprise or positive experience with a proactive customer service call have taken an action as a result of that positive experience.

“Businesses, community groups, organizations of every kind ― including families ― can be proactive,” Dr. Covey states. “They can combine the creativity and resourcefulness of proactive individuals to create a proactive culture within the organization.” 

Let’s say you’re a medical device salesperson.  Imagine this scenario: 

Photo Credit: msha.com

A month ago, you'd called upon a potential client, hoping to sell them a major piece of capital medical equipment (see my earlier blog, “ Successful Medical Device Sales: How to Uncover Your Prospects’ Pain to Get Them to Buy.”)  As result of your efforts, you closed the deal ― congratulations! ― and the piece of equipment they’d purchased was delivered to them last week.   To be truly proactive, you could do several things:

•  Upon closing the sale and procuring delivery arrangements, you would’ve sent your new client (note, they’re no longer a prospective customer) a “Thank You” note for making the purchase and reiterating that you (and the equipment’s manufacturer and/or distributor) will be there to answer any questions they may have.

• Call the client to ensure the delivery and set up went ok.  Or, even better, you would’ve arranged to be at the facility when the equipment was actually arriving to assist with the delivery and set up. At least, monitor its progress on site.  

Photo Credit: tambabay.com

• Arrange an appointment for you and, if necessary, a customer service representative from the equipment manufacturer or distributor to be on-site to help train your new client’s staff, offering  assistance as to how to properly operate, utilize in a clinical setting, care for, and maintain the equipment.

• Put your new client in touch with other facility’s key personnel who are more experienced in using the new piece of equipment to help them with any questions, issues, etc. 

• Keep your new client updated on any new software, firmware, upgrades, changes and or developments pertaining to the equipment they purchased. 

• Set up regularly scheduled conference calls to address any concerns, questions, or issues they may have.

Photo Credit: intuitivesurgical.com

• If applicable, provide necessary information (photos, literature, PowerPoint presentations, boilerplate press releases, marketing points, etc.) to assist your new client in its efforts to advertise its acquisition of the new piece of equipment. 

• Provide your new client with testimonials from clinical staff and patients who’ve had a positive experience with the piece of equipment (videos, handwritten letters, department heads’ comments, etc.) 

• Keep the client informed about on any new products this manufacturer (or others) have developed that will also benefit their facility. 

I’m certain if you thought about it even further, you’d be able to generate even more ideas on how to offer proactive customer services to your new client.  Why not schedule a sales meeting/brainstorm session to come up with even more ideas?

Photo Credit: lifetothefullest.com

In general, most customers want to be helped and appreciated; they don’t want to be sold to.  If you’re a company or individual sales representative that’s never done any proactive customer service or helping before (i.e., calling a customer to see if everything is all right, or to see if they are having any problems) but have only ever tried to call your customers to sell them something, then you need to make some behavioral paradigm shifts in order to alter your clients’ perceptions about you.

As Dr. Covey points out, individual human beings and organizational entities (businesses, community groups, families, etc.) are capable of can change and can thereby alter the way people think about us by what we do and how we do it.  This change can take time and conscious effort.  But in the long run, its dividends will be worth it.  “Knowing that we are responsible ― “response-able” ― is fundamental to effectiveness and to every other habit of effectiveness …” 

By helping your customers more, they will appreciate you more, trust you more, talk positively about you more, and buy from you more.  How’s that for being proactive?

 MedMasters' Testimonial

Oriented towards providing expert customer service in the medical sales industry, in this article, I discussed Habit 1 from Dr. Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” namely, Be Proactive.  I talked about what being proactive is and what it’s not, particularly when pertaining to sales.  I also offered several different ways one might be proactive after selling a piece of capital medical equipment to a client. If you found it interesting and useful, please share it with your colleagues and friends.  As always, I’m eager to read your comments and questions below.

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Related Articles 

Ten Commandments of Customer Service

What Does Excellent Service Mean?

What is Good Customer Service?

15 Customer Service Skills That Every Employee Needs

Stephen Covey's Website

The Difference Between Proactive and Reactive Sales

Book by Franklin/Covey: "Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play -- Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship"

Humerus Я Us, Part 8

Photo Credit: eviestewartsfunnybone.com

By Яick Fromme

The turkey's been dropped on the floor,
The gravy refuses to pour;
The taters are lumpy,
And Grandpa is grumpy;
But Thanksgiving's a day I adore.

At long last, the holidays are upon us. I don't know about you, but this is my favorite time of year. So I thought for this edition of "Humerus Я Us," I'd intersperse this column's medical humor with some Thanksgiving Day mirth as well.

I won't go into a lot of detail re: the medical benefits of laughter (the study of which is known as Gelotology). Suffice to say that should you care to learn more about the physiology of a good guffaw, check out the first blog in this series, "Humerus Я Us." In the meantime, I'll have six slices of turkey and please pass the cherry-flavored Gelotology. 

Quick Quips

Q: What do you call two podiatrists reading an ECG?
A: A double blind trial.

Q: What did the patient say to the annoying doctor during her liposuction surgery?
A: Doc, you're really starting to get under my skin!

Photo Credit: dailykos.com

Q: What the reluctant blood donor say to the phlebotomist?
A: I don't give blood too often; it's such a draining procedure. 

Q: Why was the painter hospitalized?
A: Because he'd had too many strokes.

Q: What diagnosis does one give when encountering a patient that swallowed their PC keyboard?
A: Irritable vowel syndrome.

Q: What's the best thing to have near you when you get tired?
A: A knapsack.

Q: Did you hear about the doctor who lost her patient?
A: He recovered.

Top Ten Medical Sales Interview Bloopers

Gobble Up These Thanksgiving One Liners 

 

I'm excited about Thanksgiving because I love unwelcome parenting advice from relatives I only see twice a year.

Thanksgiving is great because people tend to speak less when food is lodged in their mouths. 

Photo Credit: dumpaday.com

For the first time, we are going to have a Happy Thanksgiving. This year, I'm stuffing the turkey withProzac!

If you didn’t want to sit at the kids’ table then you shouldn’t have seen the new "Twilight" movie.

The best way to stuff a turkey is feed it lots of pizza and ice cream.

Did you know a turkey can fly higher than the Empire State Building?  That's because the Empire State Building can't fly at all.

Reality for Thought

Neurotics build castles in the air.
Psychotics live in them.
Psychiatrists are the people who collect the rent.

Funny Thanksgiving Showdown - Farmer vs. Turkey

The American Medical Association Weighs in on ObamaCare

The Allergists were in favor of scratching it,
but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it,
but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.

Photo Credit: freakingnews.com

Meanwhile, Obstetricians felt certain everyone was laboring under a misconception, while the Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.

Pathologists yelled, “Over my dead body!”
while the Pediatricians said, “Oh, grow up!”

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness,
while the Radiologists could see right through it.

Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing
and the Internists claimed it would indeed be a bitter pill to swallow.

The Cosmetic Surgeons opined that this proposal would “put a whole new face on the matter.”

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward,
but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.

Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas,
and those lofty Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no.

In the end, the Proctologists won out,
leaving the entire decision up to the arse holes in Washington.

 

Grocery Store

Photo Credit: forums.storm8.com

A woman was looking for a turkey but couldn't find one big enough.  She asked the stock boy "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy replied "No they're dead."

Pro Football Turkey 

The pro football team had just finished their daily practice session when a large turkey came strutting onto the field. While the players gazed in amazement, the turkey walked up to the head coach and demanded a tryout. Everyone stared in silence as the turkey caught pass after pass and ran right through the defensive line. When the turkey returned to the sidelines, the coach shouted, "You're terrific!!! Sign up for the season, and I'll see to it that you get a huge bonus." "Forget the bonus," the turkey said, "All I want to know is, does the season go past Thanksgiving Day?" 

Thanksgiving al a "The Lone Ranger Theme" (Rossini's "William Tell Overture")

Photo Credit: funny.com

A Diagnosis in Doubt

A man runs into the vet's office carrying his dog, screaming for help.

The vet rushes him back to an examination room and has the man put his dog down on the examination table.  The vet examines the still, limp body and after a few moments tells the man that his dog, regrettably, is dead.

The man, clearly agitated and not willing to accept this, demands a second opinion.  

The vet goes into the back room and comes out with a cat and puts the cat down next to the dog's body.  The cat sniffs the body, walks from head to tail poking and sniffing the dog's body and finally looks at

The man is still unwilling to accept that his dog is dead.  

the vet and meows.  The vet looks at the man and says, "I'm sorry, but the cat thinks that your dog is dead, too."

So then the vet brings in a black labrador.  The labrador sniffs the body, walks from head to tail, and finally looks at the vet and barks.  The vet looks at the man and says, "I'm sorry, but the lab thinks your dog is dead too."

The man, finally resigned to the diagnosis, thanks the vet and asks how much he owes.  The vet answers, "$650.”

"$650 to tell me my dog is dead?!" exclaimed the man.

"Well," the vet replies, "I would only have charged you $50 for my initial diagnosis.  The additional $600 was for the cat scan and lab test."

T-Day Q & A 

Photo Credit: guy-sports.com

Q: What kind of music did the Pilgrims like?
A: Plymouth Rock.

Q: If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?
A: Pilgrims.
 

Q: Why can't you take a turkey to a religious service?
A: They use fowl language. 

Q: Why was the Thanksgiving soup so expensive?
A: It had 24 carrots. 

Q: Why did they let the turkey join the band?
A: Because he had the drumsticks.

Photo Credit: melikedesigns.com

Q: Which side of the turkey has the most feathers?
A: The outside.

Q: If you call a large turkey a gobbler what do you call a small one?
A: Goblet. 

Q: What did baby corn say to mama corn?
A: Where's popcorn?

Q: What happened when the turkey got into a fight?
A: He got the stuffing knocked out of him! 

Photo Credit: jokideo.com

Change of Careers

After several years as an Ob/Gyn, a doctor decides he's tired of what he's been doing and wants to change careers. He wonders what other type of work he can do.  After some thought, the Ob/Gyn remembers how much he liked automotive class in school and, since he's good with his hands, he decides to become an auto mechanic.  He enrolls at the community college automotive school.

Upon his completion of his course, the final exam consists of taking a car engine apart and putting it back together.  

The former doctor turns in his final project and, to his astonishment, receives a grade of 150%.  After class, the Ob/Gyn asks the instructor, "You know, I've gotten plenty of 100%'s in my life, but how does someone get 150%?"

"Well," responds the instructor, "I gave you 50% for taking the engine apart, 50% for putting the engine back together and ... another 50% for doing everything through the muffler.”

Happy Thanksgiving - Funny Ad Robert de Niro & Billy Crystal

 

In this eighth edition of "Humerus Я Us," I shared both medical/healthcare-related humor as well as humor pertaining to Thanksgiving. If you liked this article, please pass it around and share it with others. If you'd like to share your thoughts, a link, a joke, etc., please do so in the Comments section below.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Rick Fromme combines entrepreneurial enthusiasm with an insider's knowledge of the medical industry to co-found MedMasters.com. Both his drive and perspective helps provide health care professionals with a superior mechanism with which to communicate, network and market their strengths. Prior to founding MedMasters.com, Rick operated a highly successful medical device distributorship. Other milestones in his 12-year career in the medical industry include a key position at a medical device start-up company that was later sold to the Ethicon Endo division of Johnson & Johnson. You may also reach Rick by connecting with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

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• Seriously, Though: What is Laughter?
• Laughter Works Better Than Drugs.
• Emerging New Healthcare Jobs, Part 1
• Seriously, Though: Do we laugh to get along?
• Seriously, Though: Do we laugh just to let off some steam?