How to make your contacts in a clinic soar, and your sales as well

Creating sales can be more challenging for phone reps than outside sales reps. Phone reps cannot use face-to-face sales techniques outside representative’s use. They do not have the ability to do the “show and tell” with products. They can’t read a customer’s body language. There is no ability to draw someone else into the conversation if there is a lull in the dialogue. Considering this, there seems to be several disadvantages to being a phone rep versus an outside rep. This article will help you create ways to turn these negative aspects into positive opportunities.

You already know that your most successful interactions with customers start with identifying their needs. Studying industry trends and adapting them to the actual needs of any customer allows you the opportunity to make recommendations. Understanding where your customers are coming from at any given moment is another skill that enables you to have an open dialogue. Acknowledging your customers’ position, whether it is positive, negative, or somewhere in between, creates an environment where they feel that they have been heard and can actually speak openly with you as a partner. Once you have identified opportunities by examining their needs, and you have started an open dialogue, your next step is to identify their ability and motivation to make a decision.

Start with your interaction with your customer. Who is the person that you speak to? Is she the decision-maker in the clinic? How do you get her to feel empowered enough to make a decision if she is not the ultimate decision-maker in the clinic? If she is the decision-maker, how do you motivate her to choose your recommendation or your company as you speak to her over the phone?

To define who you are speaking with, simply ask the person on the other end of the phone if she makes the buying decisions for the clinic. There are two possible answers to this question: “yes” or “no”. If the answer is “yes,” you need to find out what the decision-making process is at the clinic. Are decisions made based on price, availability, supply, efficacy, etc.? Most buying decisions are made based on a combination of all of these. Discussions about a particular product should start by discussing the product category first. For example: “I wanted to speak with you about your heartworm medications. Which brands did you use at the clinic today?” This allows the clinic to answer an open-ended question and gives you guidance on how to make your next recommendation. It is much different from: “I have a promo on Heartgard and was wondering if you had time to hear about it.” This phrase is closed ended, does not engage the client, and leaves no room for dialogue.

Speaking about the right product categories at the right time is the best way to start. Create an open-ended question that allows the customer to start to lead the conversation. Acknowledge her answer so that she knows she has been heard. After you have done these steps you can then make your recommendation and give the supporting information.

Looking for a hero
Now, assume that the person on the other end of the phone is not the decision-maker. It is your job to empower that person to make a recommendation to the decision-maker based on the information you provide. How do you do that? Start by gathering the same information as you did in the earlier example. What is the decision-making process? Is there one decision-maker or a committee? Combining this information with the information you gleaned about the clinic’s needs will provide a road map to position recommendations. By collecting the above information, you will also learn about the clinic’s decision-making motivators. The person that you are speaking with has been granted the power to replenish inventory, but maybe not the power to decide what inventory to stock. So make this person the hero for the clinic. When you have compelling information to pass along to the decision-maker on a category of products (ex.: flea and tick) or on an individual product, first answer the order placer’s unasked question, “What’s in it for me?” If you start the conversation by trying to answer that question, you will be more apt to motivate the order placer to have a discussion with the decision-maker. An honest approach to partnership is potentially more important to this person than
it is to the decision-maker. This person is more vulnerable at the clinic level. You must provide this person all of the info that she needs in order to pass along a message to the decision-maker about product, pricing, promotion, urgency, and the
direct benefits to the clinic. Then and only then will she feel motivated to tell others about “her” resolution to the clinic’s needs.

Build a rapport
Whether you are speaking directly to a decision-maker or to an order placer, you should always position your information in a way that shows you as a partner and not as a salesperson. You will continue to build a relationship that an outside rep may not be able to. The frequency in which an inside representative interacts with a clinic is usually greater than the interactions of a typical outside representative. Establishing a partnership rapport with the clinic will strengthen that bond. Having these types of conversations early with your customers allows you to position yourself as a resource that is just a phone call away. This gives you the advantage over the outside rep. The frequency that you interact with your customers and your ability to establish a level of trust are the keys to overcoming any of the perceived difficulties an inside rep may face. There are many very successful inside reps in the animal health industry who have created relationships that lasted beyond their careers as an inside rep. Servicing customers frequently, honestly, and intelligently is the recipe for sales success over the phone.

Todd Brodersen has more than 16 years of experience in the animal health industry, specifically in executive level sales and marketing management. Todd has first-hand knowledge in conceptualizing and implementing best practices in sales, marketing, distribution, and procurement. Todd operates Same Page Consulting, Inc. out of his hometown of Omaha, Neb.