One of the most important responsibilities of the marketing department is to equip the sales rep for this 10 seconds.  In a lot of ways, medical marketing departments are like the companies that make bullet-proof vests for law enforcement officers or soldiers. It is not our job to fight the fight or go into battle, but it is our job to give the valiant hero who does go face-to-face with the opponent every conceivable chance of success.

So what do you do to equip your sales reps to turn those golden 10 seconds into success? Here are 10 things that you should be doing to help your sales reps in those precious 10 seconds.

1. EDUCATE THE REP. Most companies want to educate physicians, some reach out to educate fellows, a few want to educate patients … but who thinks to train the sales reps? Every new product, every launch, every new change in your industry should be a cry to get training materials out to your rep. The quickest way to shoot yourself in the foot is to call this “Mandatory Training” and make it be a bunch of boring online stuff with a quiz. Reps, like the rest of us, hate efforts to school them. So create launch and news materials for the rep that play on emotions (like his desire to earn, his desire to present a hot new product, his desire to counter objections to his product line). Depending on your field force, you may want to do periodic live meetings, webinars, as well as rep-facing brochures. A membership site built for your reps can be a great idea, particularly if you keep it well-stocked with tips that really help the rep earn more money. Most people don’t mind listening to lessons if they can see an immediate and tangible benefit.

2. OFFER A VARIETY OF TOOLS. Many companies like to promote their products with certain specific vehicles: a selling sheet, a trifold or “slim jim,” a big full-color brochure, a folder stuffed with journal reprints, or whatever. However, if your sales force is larger than one guy or gal, you are likely going to need different types of materials. Some sales reps work well with a pocket card; others need a glossy brochure; somebody else will make her own folder with an assortment of “leave behind” materials; and a third will want to bring in a laptop with a short presentation. Instead of trying to make everybody do the exact sames sales presentation, recognize that good reps play to their strengths and will do better with one tool than another. Offer a big basket of tools for reps to choose from.

3. BE COHERENT. Make sure your online messaging matches the marketing collateral your sales reps show doctors. As easy as that sounds, it’s a common shortfall. The reason is that many companies produce web content separately from marketing materials (sometimes in different departments!) and those people may not talk to each other. Also make sure all of this matches your messages at scientific sessions and advertising.

4. INCLUDE TECH SERVICES. Docs talk to reps because reps have an annoying way of getting their foot int he door. But docs talk to your Tech Services team because they want information, have a problem, need advice, or just do not understand something. But Marketing is notorious for not talking with Tech Services. Tech Services should get launch kits, be aware in advance of marketing messages, and see every piece of marketing material and product labeling that a physician customer could conceivably see. This assures that a doctor who talks with Tech Services is going to get at least reasonably close to the same message from Tech Services as from the sales rep.

5. GET REP INPUT ON MARKETING MATERIALS. I have worked in Marketing long enough to know that many sales reps are difficult, opinionated, obnoxious individuals. While some reps do need anger-management training or charm school, companies are increasingly putting their foot down to tyrannical outbursts by sales reps (and hallelujah for that). Despite the occasional wild-eyed rogue of a sales rep, a good marketing person will also find reps with insight and ideas about marketing materials. Keep your mind open when reps propose these things. Every now and then you’ll get a winner.

6. WHEN IN DOUBT, COUNT. One of the best ways to see what marketing pieces work and what ones don’t, get a tally from your literature storehouse. Everybody may love your award-winning brochure, but if reps do not order them, it probably was not worth the money. On the other hand, if you can’t keep humble spec sheets in stock, that is clearly an effective selling piece.

7. MAKE IT EASY FOR THE DOCTOR TO GET MORE INFO. There was a time when reps liked to build a firewall around “their” doctor and keep the whole world, including the rest of the company, out. That does not benefit the company or the doctor,  who may need more information when the rep is not available. Put stuff online. Collect email addresses. A lot of companies do not allow doctors to order materials, but why not? Why not publish a small catalog of proof sources, brochures, DVDs, training materials, and other items that a doc can order directly from the company?

8. ENTER BEARING PATIENT MATERIALS. Most doctors do not do as good a job at patient education as they would like and–truth be told–this nags at many of them. A smart company will help fill in this gap by developing the kind of patient materials a doctor would be most likely to want to share with patients, whether by placing them in the waiting room (popular these days) or handing them out to specific patients. Reps who offer these materials usually have something the doctor genuinely wants. I would imagine that a great patient campaign supporting a new product launch would find some resonance among physician-customers.

9. PROOF SOURCES ROCK. This may seem counter-intuitive, but one of the strongest marketing pieces in your arsenal is not the slickest. Proof sources are very compelling to physicians and they do not even need to be slick or presented in some snazzy folder to be effective. Doctors do not expect you to show up with a peer-reviewed article that endorses your product. What they might enjoy is having you present them targeted, focused articles on the conditions your product treats or something related. It’s a kind of combination testimonial plus “soft sell.” You’re not marketing … you’re informing the doctor and the reason you’re informing the doctor is that you work in that same field, in that you represent a company that treats that very condition.

10. PAPER, PAPER, PAPER. The world is going paperless so every good contrarian is going to realize now is the time to start producing more words-on-paper. Traditional print is so out now that it’s trendy. Most docs are bleary-eyed from reading everything online. While I am one of the big advocates for having things online, I recognize that there is power in the unexpected and traditional brochures and leave-behind pieces are almost novelty items. The best printed pieces today are those that use print to do things that online stuff cannot: think die-cuts, embossing, metallic inks, glued-in items, perforated pull-outs, and so on. These make great leave-behind, particularly for fellows and other young guys who may have never seen an expensive glossy high-end medical brochure.

Help your reps in their few seconds of face time so that they can drive the sales that drive the company.

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