What Pharmaceutical Salesforce Need To Know About Consultative Selling Model

I seldom hear pharma sales reps talk about consultative selling model anymore. I heard them speak about patients focus selling model when we meet.

That prompt me to ask: Is consultative selling dead?

Imagine having to discuss matters like what we've discovered in the previous post with customers. What can we possibly consult them with what we have?

In my opinion, dead is not an exact word to describe the situation. Perhaps, evolve is a better word.

Why?

From years of practicing multiple selling models, I find that consultative selling or rather consulting is a model driven by knowledge. In pharmaceutical sales, learning is made of clinical trials or clinical evidence.

So, to be a consultant, the rep must be comfortable discussing clinical trials and other evidence with prospects.

For qualified and expert prospects, reps must at least grasp the solid foundation of the subject discussed.

It is scary and thrills at the same time!

But as the industry matures and evolves, evidence somehow is looked at as a commodity. It's no longer regarded as a privilege for a pharmaceutical company in general, or for a product correctly. Companies started to mill evidence one after another. Evidence is then graded and ranked for significance.

Most evidence is powered to favor outcomes set out by researchers. Researchers are paid by companies to run the test so, in the end, results from trials are meant to support companies' objectives, whatever they may be.

It's hard for independent bodies to carry out trials due to the limited fund which put companies in a better position to own experiments and their outcomes. In turn, consulting for pharmaceutical reps were not entirely consultation. It appears to be when in its most genuine sense, is just persuasion.

Perhaps a better word for it is influencing.

What's the main difference between consultation and persuasion?

My short answer: process.

Consultation, in pharmaceutical selling, appears to be subtle persuasion using companies' owned evidence.

Persuasion, in its true meaning, is looked at as low-grade action for such prestigious industry.

How many pharma reps like to persuade doctors to use their products?

Versus...

And how many reps like to be consulted for what product to use to treat particular disease?

See the difference?

So what kills consultation?

Answer: The access to knowledge.

Knowledge nowadays, not limited to the pharma industry, is easily accessible. It's all fingertips, with advance gadget and technology, the amount of experience and access to its source is smooth and easy. It's just a matter of putting aside the time and having the right resources, which can quickly be sorted out.

When pharmaceutical companies and their reps lose the advantage of owning the evidence's exclusivity, consultative selling loses its power.

It yields minimal advantage, if any, during an interaction.

What has become more powerful?

It's back to the old school.

When Larry Wilson wrote Stop Selling and Sart Partnering more than two decades ago, he might have thought that its effect will last longer than he will.

I gather that it is true!

Plus, the selling model that I put at the top of my favorite list of all time, WOMBAT, advocate better ways to sell compare to all selling model ever existed!

Is consultative selling model dead now?

Like I said, NO, but it appears to be evolving into a different, more subtle and effective model.

But the ultimate question is: to whom it benefits the most?

If you, pharmaceutical sales reps, can answer this question honestly without hesitation, your answer will determine the height you can scale with this career, in the pharma industry.

So what was your answer: Was it you? Or was it the customer?