Clinical Sales Managers: 7 Ways to Run a More Effective Meeting

Talks are one of those necessary evils of lab sales management.  Nobody likes them, but everybody needs Them.  Whether you’re in clinical revenue, clinical diagnostics sales, pharma equipment sales, hospital equipment revenue, imaging sales, pathology sales, clinical device sales, surgical supply sales, biotechnology sales, cellular or molecular products sales, DNA products sales, or clinical revenue,  well-run talks can improve the performance of your team, and consistently bad ones can make ‘em dread seeing your face.  To make your pharmaceutical sales negotiations as effective, successful, and pain-free as possible, here are 7 tips for you:

(1)     Have an agenda.  Don’t just have a meeting to have a meeting.  Write down a list of what you’re going to cover, and stick with it.  Excellent meeting plans include things like brainstorming, action-planning, and decision-making. The more interactive the meeting, the better.  With sales folks a competitive activity gets the blood flowing.

(2)    Don’t waste time with information that can be e-mailed, like product updates, information sharing…you get the idea.  The only exception:  If you have something that makes this information fresh – like a great guest speaker, the actual equipment, etc.

(3)    Limit the meeting time.  Except in bizarre circumstances, negotiations should have breaks that are planned and that give the attendees time to check voicemail, return a few calls, stretch…

(4)    Limit the speaker time.  Don’t let the most long-winded person in the room have free rein.  That’s a sure-fire way to make every sales rep hate coming to your negotiations.  Manage your meeting so that it keeps moving at a pace that keeps everyone interested and engaged.

(5)    Keep things positive.  Insist on a supportive environment that doesn’t tear people and their ideas down.  Debate issues, don’t attack people.  We don’t all got to be cheerleaders, but we do have to show some respect.  Group talks aren’t the time to give critical feedback to individuals.  Treat others as you would wanna be treated.

(6)    Have someone take notes on your laptop as you go, and e-mail everyone the minutes immediately.  (This is one of several great tips from 14 Ways to Run a Terrible Meeting.)  And demand attention:   no one else should be cruising their computer or checking their Blackberry.  

(7)    Include some sales training in your meeting.  It doesn’t need to be a long movie presentation…it can be 10 minutes for a new technique…a quick tip…a recommendation for a great book…you get the idea.  Enthusiasm for your discussions will go way up if you can consistently provide some “value” for your sales reps.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and clinical sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
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