Top Sales Closing Book For Pharma Rep: My Recommendation

This book on sales closing will always sit on the top of my list, regardless if you're a pharma sales rep or not. It's one of its kind, and the story behind the write-up is so compelling, and in my personal opinion, there are no other selling skills books that can come close to it.

A Quick Background On The Closing Book

During its publication, there were very few compelling books written based on solid research. If the book was written in the '80s, you could speculate that the research was done, at least 10 years before.

According to the author, Dr. M. Hewitt Gleeson, the idea in the book - Newsell - was tested in one of the most competitive market place: in the center of New York City. The principle that drives the research was also well established. It was derived from the science of cognetics.

As Newsell progressed and started to be accepted by various corporations and companies, a fantastic event took place. In a way, the particular event caused a massive discredit to the author. Here's what happens...

Dr. Gleeson did his research collaborating with a few people. One of them is the infamous Dr. Edward De Bono. In fact, much of the ideas in Newsell were adapted from De Bono's notion of thinking and cognitive. But one claim broke everything apart - the claim that Six Thinking Hats were originated by Dr. Gleeson, and not by De Bono.

That infuriated De Bono and prompted him to respond. He issued a letter out. I got the letter printed some years ago, right from his blog. It mentioned something like, "It was sad to see that it has to end like this."

And the closing remark clearly stated that "Any interaction between both parties, from now on, will be handled by the litigation team."

That was not the exact sentence, but it was to that extent.

Let's leave the issue behind and let's focus on how Newsell taught salespeople in the pharma industry or other industries for that matter, what closing is and how to do it effectively.

I've written quite extensively on this matter in previous posts. I'm obviously not going to repeat myself. For that purpose, I'll discuss the idea therein with the most uncomplicated discussion I can come up with.

So, here goes...

Lessons In Selling With NewSell

In Newsell, selling activities or sales reps activity were divided into three categories according to the amount of "energy" each type consume. Now, this might sound a bit confusing because it's highly unlikely that reps go out to sell carrying electrical appliances that need to be powered.

NO! That was not the idea...

The energy here means attention. Remember the expression "run out of steam"? Obviously, people are not locomotive, but you'll understand what the sentence means. It refers to that kind of energy. Newsell concluded that, based on research, closing is where most of the sales reps energy focused on.

The downside of this is, salespeople were efficiently run out of "steam."

"Resistance" is another name for this condition and most salespeople back away as a natural reaction. The more resistance they face, the further they move. Finally, they were a distance away from the whole selling process, and this is known as "rejection." Newsell offers a simple solution for this condition, and it is done through a simple process called "switch."

What happens now is, sales reps switch the energy from closing to other activities that consume less energy and have a lower effect on them, mentally. Based on research, the best place to make the switch is to the beginning or opening of the sales call. The result: more attention given to the beginning of the request with minimal or no regard to the closing of the sale.

What's the reason?

Less attention to closing, less resistance, less rejection! Who could have predicted that this simple equation can work wonder to the sales force morale? As an illustration, Dr. Gleeson quoted more sign up from prospects, and eventually more sales, for a specific insurance type in New Zealand. The sales manager was also promoted to a better position due to his team's excellence. Many similar results in different industries were repeated using Newsell.

Pharmaceutical sales are considered a high-class sales. Perhaps it is. The point is, resistance and rejection do exist and very real. For the longest time, the way sales reps were trained to handle both issues had given the sales profession "not that good name." Coupled with the various medico-legal issue for many companies and products today, reputation is precious.

Are there alternatives to this?

I believe, Newsell is one of the alternatives. Its idea about closing, and treating prospects and customers, is no short of brilliance. For that, Newsell will always be on top of my best sales closing book for pharma and non-pharma sales reps. But that's just me. How about you? Share your thought below :-)