1
Five
Critical Selling Skills for the Lab
oratory
Sales Representative
By Peter T. Francis
6
-
09
Representatives hired to
s
ell
clinical lab services
require a special skill
-
set.
In order to elevate
themselves into the master
-
class
arena
, they
need t
o know a v
ariety of aspects:
a deep
understanding of how
billing
and
health insurance coverage
works
,
compliance, knowledge of
transport supplies,
familiarity of selected tests, what assays
are of interest to certain specialties
,
various connectivity optio
ns
, test methodologies
, good territory management
—
all of this in
addition to rock
-
solid selling skills.
This paper will concentrate on
five critical selling skills.
Skill Number 1
:
A Sales Process
.
From ti
me immemorial, salespeople understand intuitive
ly
that there are two basic components to sales: strategy and tactics. Within e
a
ch category lies a
course of action that the representative works
on to lead his prospect toward
a close.
Strategy
translates into the process one uses
to lay out the moves
in advance
—
a carefully defined
and detailed plan to achieve a long
-
term goal.
The
astute marketer knows he must place himself
in the right place, at the right time and in front of the right people in order to make an effective
proposal
. It means knowing
who all the key players are, how they feel about the rep’s lab, how
they feel about the incumbent lab, and knowing the strong and weak points of the competition
.
A portion of strategy also pertains to understanding
the influence of
each contact person an
d
what
constitutes
the dec
ision
-
making process.
The
tactical
aspect refers to the face
-
to
-
fac
e application
—
a technique used to achieve an
immediate or short
-
term gain.
The master class representative
know
s
cold
the four basic
components of a tactical sal
es call: preliminaries, investigation, demonstrating capabilities and
obtaining commitment.
Contained within these divisions are a
myriad
number of sales
components that
, when done properly,
separate the
excellent
representatives from the average.
Skil
l Number
2
:
Pre
-
Call Planning
.
Failing to have a valid reason to visit a client produces a
variety of negative aspects for
the
company, the salesperson and the customer. The impact on
the company
could be
(1) an extended sales cycle, (2)
a reputation for
hiring unprofessional
representatives and
(3) missed opportunities. The impression
on the customer is (1) confusion,
(2) wasted time and (3) no differentiation. Finally, the
effect
on the salesperson means (1)
disorganization, (2) loss of
credibility an
d (3)
turning into
a “professional visitor.”
2
Credibility rises exponentially when the sales representative adds
value
to the business
relationship.
To add value
means that he/she must plan ahead
and develop
a legitimate reason
for wanting to see the cl
ient
.
When the marketer demonstrates knowledge that will help the
client perform their job better, save them time, improve productivity, reduce errors
,
and/
or
enhance patient care, they are taking the right steps toward being respected and valued by the
c
ustomer.
Skill Number 3:
In
vestigating
Skills
.
Almost
every sale involves employing a nu
mber of
questioning techniques. Some of the more important ones are:
1.
C
onfirmation
questions to validate your understanding of what you think
is
true.
2.
New informat
ion
questions
that
give you knowledge of the customer’s
situation
(e.g., draw in
-
house, accepted insurances, decision
-
making process, final
decision
-
maker,
influencers,
connectivity, billing, etc)
.
3.
Problem
questions
that
provide understanding of what the c
ustomer views as
current issues.
4.
C
onsequence
questions
that
take a problem
the client feels as small and
turn
s it
into a problem large enough to justify action.
5.
Solution
-
based
questions
that
develop
the positive elements of the solution that
you offer.
De
veloping
the
client’s needs during the investigation part is the
sine qua non
of successful
sales. Therefore, i
mproving investigation skills is
the
most important skill
to work on
. It will
help
activate more business
. Period.
Skill Number 4:
Presentati
on Skills
.
Using features such as, “We have 12 pathologists on staff
to meet all of your needs” equate to
low
-
wattage statements. Positive things happen when the
sales rep ties a benefit t
o an explicit client need. It is
one thing to say
, for example,
t
he
pathology
department of
your lab
offers
a
wonderful
benefit
,
despite the fact
the client
has not
expressed any true need for
patholog
y
consultation
.
The story becomes
very
different
, however,
when the c
u
stomer
states
that the doctor
has run int
o problems getting through to a pathologist
.
The
a
ccount
, especially the decision
-
maker, buys
benefits
that will help
him/her, the practice, the
patients and/or
other
individuals in the office. Presenting characteristics of the lab service (i.e.
feature
s) typically does little else than bore the customer.
He/she m
ust link features with
benefits
, especially following a situation in which
t
here has been
an expressed need.
Skill Number 5
:
Gaining Commitment
. Most sales professionals assert that closing skills are the
most important
aspect
of
any sale. Indeed, closing
is
importa
nt in the overall scheme of the sales
process, but, as stated
in S
kill
N
umber 3
, it falls behind good investigating.
What, exactly, does “closing” mean? A close represents
anything
that puts the customer in a
position involving some kind of co
mmitment.
It could be a commitment to set an appointment
with the physician or it could be a commitment to start
sending a particular test to a new lab
.
Most field reps feel that closing means, “getting the business.”
In reality, it depends upon what
defines the
initial objective. If the representative’s commitment objective for the call is to
3
request a copy of the client’s test mix, and the client complies, then he “closed” for that
objective.
Psychology research has found that in relationship
-
building sales (
as opposed to a small sale
where little relationship forms between buyer and seller), closing techniques
—
like all forms of
pressure
—
become
less
effective as the decision size increases. If a sales rep asks a potential
customer to make a very small decisio
n, the prospect would rather say
“
yes
”
than to have an
argument or feel embarrassed by walking away. Consequently, with a small decision, pressure
appears to work. However, this is
not
the case with large decisions, such as choosing a primary
laboratory.
I
nexperienced sales people may feel that closing techniques
cause
the prospect to
say, “Yes, I’m going to use your lab.” In fact, the way a sales person
develops the customer’s
needs
frequently leads to a positive outcome
—
not
how slick he/she
displays
t
rite closing
techniques.
There are four successful actions that a salesperson should
engage
to arrive at an opportune
moment to close the sale:
1.
Give special attention to the investigation and demonstrating capability stages during
the sales call.
At th
e center is
building a client need that your lab can address.
2.
Check for basic issues
. Successful salespeople take the initiative to ask
if
there are
any further concerns that need addressing.
3.
Summarize the benefits. Before moving to a commitment, the goo
d representatives
summarize key points (benefits) of the discussion.
4.
Propose a commitment. Rather than ask,
suggest
the next step.
Many sales books
and courses state that the salesperson should solicit the order: “Would you like to try
our lab starting
this coming Monday or the following Monday?”
However,
research
has shown “asking” is not what
a successful sales rep
do
es
at the point of
commitment. Instead,
he
tell
s
—
or suggest
s
—
an appropriate next step. As an
example, after the representative ha
s che
cked for any lingering
concerns and
has
summarized the key points
, he/she might say, “Then I might suggest that the most
logical next step would be for this office to try our lab by
directing
a few patients
to
our patient service center.” Telling a person
(or proposing)
to do something is a more
natural and effective method to
conclude a call
.
In summary, d
eveloping
into
a successful laboratory
sales
person requires
a
significant amount
of
dedicated
study and
hard
work
.
Besides the obvious of learning t
he ins
-
and
-
outs of the lab,
the competition, billing and so forth, practicing the skills listed in this article will help the sales
representative improve his/her performance
.
Peter Francis is president of
Clinical Laboratory Sales Training, LLC
, a uniq
ue training and
development company dedicated to helping laboratories increase their revenues and reputation through
prepared, professional and productive representatives. Mr. Francis is the author of over a dozen
industry
-
related articles published in
Van
tage Point
,
ADVANCE
for Administrators of the Laboratory,
ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals
, Washington G2 Reports
and
Medical Laboratory
Observer
.
He is also a member of the G2 Reports Editorial Advisory Board.
Visit the company’s web site
at
www.clinlabsales.com
for a complete listing of services.
