In the competitive world of pharmaceutical sales, securing time with physicians can be daunting, especially when you’ve been trying for months without success. This is the story of how one pharma sales rep leveraged her Everything DiSC® certification to not only get a meeting with a prospective account but also to deliver real value, creating a lasting impression that opened doors for future business.
The Challenge: Months of Hitting a Wall
For months, Sarah, a pharmaceutical sales representative, had been trying to secure a meeting with a physician group on her target list. Despite her persistence—visiting the office to try and set up a meeting, making phone calls, and sending emails—she was met with silence. She began to worry that the opportunity might slip through her fingers.
But Sarah wasn’t ready to give up. She knew she needed a fresh strategy—something that would capture the attention of this busy group of physicians and offer them something they hadn’t experienced before.
The Game-Changing Strategy: Everything DiSC® Certification
Sarah’s company had recently put her team through Everything DiSC® Sales Training, which helped her better understand her own selling style. Inspired by the training, she wanted to try a new approach: tailoring her strategy based on what she assumed were the DiSC® styles of the physicians and their staff.
Sarah asked her manager if she could become certified in Everything DiSC® and offer DiSC® Training Workshops to some of her target accounts as a value-add, with the goal of scheduling lunch and learns. The answer was yes!
Forty-five days later, Sarah was certified in Everything DiSC®. Now, it was time to put her plan into action.
Instead of offering another standard lunch and learn, Sarah proposed something different: an interactive communication workshop tailored to the unique communication styles of the physicians and their office staff.
She reached out to the office manager and explained how the workshop could help improve internal communication and team dynamics—something that resonated deeply with the office. During the discussion, the office manager shared that they were experiencing high turnover, which made Sarah’s offer even more appealing. Seeing the potential benefits for the team, the office manager, who was familiar with DiSC®, agreed to set up a meeting with the office staff.
The Workshop: Engaging and Aligning with Product Solutions
During the meeting, Sarah conducted a mini workshop on Everything DiSC®, helping the office staff and physicians understand their own communication styles and how to interact more effectively with each other. This wasn’t just a lecture; it was an engaging, interactive session that left the staff with actionable insights they could use immediately.
After building this rapport, Sarah smoothly transitioned into discussing the challenges the office was facing in patient management and how her product could provide solutions tailored to those challenges. By aligning the benefits of her product with the communication dynamics of the office, Sarah made her message not just relevant but compelling.
The result? The physicians were engaged throughout the entire session, and they began to see Sarah as more than just another sales rep. She quickly became recognized as a partner who understood their challenges and provided solutions that would help improve their team dynamics. The meeting ended with a commitment to a follow-up session to discuss the product in more detail.
Beyond Pharma: A Strategy for Any Industry
Sarah’s success story isn’t limited to pharmaceutical sales. This approach—using Everything DiSC® to create personalized, value-driven meetings—can be adapted to any industry, particularly in complex sales environments.
Whether you’re in medical sales, construction, information technology, insurance, or financial services, the concepts remain the same:
- Understand Your Customer: By understanding the communication styles of your prospects or existing customers, you can tailor your message to meet their specific needs, just as Sarah did with the physician group.
- Provide Value: Offering something beyond a traditional sales pitch—such as a communication workshop—helps you stand out and provides genuine value to your prospects.
- Align Your Product or Service: Just as Sarah aligned her product’s benefits with the office’s communication challenges, you can tailor your sales strategy to address the specific problems your prospects are facing.
- Secure Meaningful Engagement: By providing value upfront, you’re more likely to secure those critical meetings where you can discuss how your product or service provides solutions to the challenges your customers are experiencing.
Conclusion: A New Standard in Securing Meetings
In today’s competitive sales landscape, it’s not enough to simply present your product. You need to engage your audience, provide value, and align your product or service with their specific needs. Whether you’re a pharma rep, a medical sales professional, or working in any other industry, the strategy Sarah used can help you break through the noise and secure those crucial meetings.
If you’re interested in learning how Everything DiSC® can be implemented within your sales team to achieve similar results, contact me today. Let’s discuss how we can tailor this approach to meet the unique challenges of your industry and drive better sales outcomes.
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