Other time management techniques, such as organizing your home office, car, or day planner, can be found in any bookstore. Though not discussed here, it is, of course, very critical to success in this industry. Far more important is the weighing of the limited available resource of time, determining where it will be spent and what will be the return on investment.
Time waits for no one, but it certainly will help a competitor if it is squandered. View it as something tangible and it will be far harder to let go. Just as with finances, constantly analyze the expenditure of time and what its return yields, and that is true time management.
Teamwork
Teamwork-wow, what a powerful word! The number of books, articles, video and audiotapes, seminars, and programs addressing teamwork is countless. Analyze any successful individual, team, business, organization, or unit and somewhere in a big way is the aggressive implementation of teamwork.
To discuss strategies or methods enhancing or implementing this critical component is not the purpose of this book. Any library or bookstore can provide sufficient resources for addressing every approach. What is important, however, is the need to reaffirm the fact that it is key in the pharmaceutical industry as well.
A knee-jerk response might be to question the validity of teamwork as a representative goes about his daily routine without seeing coworkers for perhaps weeks at a time. Yet, it is this very fact that makes teamwork all the more important. Lacking the regular contact that an office staff or project team might have, successful teamwork is what gives the professional sales representative the winning edge.
First and foremost, synergy, or the act of combining the energy of all involved in such a way as to make it greater than that of each alone, in and of itself is positive action. Any time forces are combined and unified, effort is strengthened. The sharing of information, resources, and attitude will lead to greater individual as well as team success.
Often, work organizations are likened to sports teams in order to dramatize the mechanisms and actions of teamwork and how it can lead to championship performances. Basketball, football, and hockey leave no shortage of examples from which to draw. However, the vast majority of these teams can always win with one big play, one superstar, or one lucky break.
A far better example for this industry is a track team or cross-country running team. Anyone who has participated in these sports can immediately see the analogy. Success for the team is not predicated on one individual or event but rather on a combination of many first-, second-, and third-place finishes that result in a team victory. No one athlete can make the team win; it requires pure synergy.
Cross-country running takes the analogy one step further. A grueling, three- to five-mile run: it is won only in the long haul, not by one Herculean effort but only by the patience, determination, and guts of all the runners. Furthermore, winning scores are determined by adding the finishing places of the top five runners. It makes no difference how well the first four did; the race is not over until the fifth runner crosses the finish line.
Again, the purpose here is not to outline specific strategies or techniques, but rather to emphasize that despite the lone nature of this profession, teamwork is a vital component in the success of the company, district, and most importantly, the individual. Avoid the pitfall of deluding yourself that you are invincible. Remember what the "team" means:
Preceptorships
Preceptorships provide an excellent avenue for developing rapport with an influential physician and learning a great deal, as well as an indirect way of influencing sales. A preceptor, or teacher, provides insight into the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses and the day-to-day operations of the practice. Consequently, students see firsthand or in essence in the field laboratory the actual application of their own and their competitors' products.
Ensure that the preceptorship is conducted with an influential and high-prescribing physician Not only will greater understanding be gained as to why physicians use certain products, but the opportunities to perhaps influence these prescribing habits are dramatically increased. Try to arrange a full-day meeting for this and attempt to assist where possible; strive to be viewed as an asset. Providing lunch on this busy day would certainly be a welcome and appropriate gesture.
Preceptorships should be conducted on a local level, and the information gained on prescribing habits should be applied to the territory. Attempt to conduct one for each product or disease state, making it a regular event if possible, but be mindful of the trade-off of making calls. Observing events such as a surgery, cardiac oath, or stress test is also an excellent extension of the concept.
Preceptorships provide an excellent vehicle for a better understanding of the daily operations of a key physician's practice. It certainly expands the knowledge and insight of the participating representative and will greatly enhance the rapport and relationship with the physician. However, it is nonetheless a support program and therefore should be used to augment, not supersede, daily sales effort. Employed as such, preceptorships will no doubt result in great returns.
Continuing Education
As previously noted, pharmaceutical representatives were once hired, trained, and, like the paladins of the past, sent on their way expecting success. Of course, every so often a new product would be introduced, and there would be a flurry of activity to learn about it and the disease state it affected. However, life seemed to revolve quite comfortably around the general rule: once trained, always trained.
