5 Marketing Functions That Medical Sales Rep Can Do To Bring More Sales

Rather than finger-pointing at selling or marketing function when something goes wrong in medical sales, I recommend pharmaceutical reps to look at how they can bring in more deals through these 5 marketing activities.

1. Creating A Solid Target Customer Profile

Medical products and solutions are not meant for every prescriber.

When a pharma company produces them, these products and devices serve a specific job or function.

And to deliver the right solution, a company must know its target market. 

Defining this market is a marketing function, and medical reps can help with the process reasonably effectively.

2. Provide unparalleled customers' experience

After sales service, continuous support, and ongoing medical education are parts of a marketing program to retain and win customers. 

And there are so many marketers can do. 

Combine effort with sales reps to organize and run these programs goes a long way in making them successful. 

Companies win more sales this way.

3. Help with differentiation

Many medical products that enter the market these past few years have a thin differentiation line.

What it boils down to is actually how the products are promoted. 

And medical sales reps are part of that promotional system. 

They do make a difference particularly with products that deemed as "look alike."

4. Justify the cost of the solution

I don't mean to say that because pharma companies hire sales reps, they need to price their products high to cover the hiring expenses. 

No!

What I mean by "justifying the cost of a solution" is when medical products or devices come with added value from sales reps like consistent updates, on-site education, partnership program, and so on.

These are not possible without sales reps' intervention.

5. Cover more grounds effectively

Marketers can opt for other methods to increase reach, for example with mailing, emailing, and roadshow but nothing beats face-to-face interaction by medical sales reps.

The effort can be measured and tweak easily with the help of today's technology.

Sales and marketing easily find something to disagree with in day-to-day operation. 

Rather than playing the blame game and applying the "wait and see" attitude, a better approach is to find a meeting point and work together thereon. 

The results are going to be higher compared to if the department went separate ways.

Can you add to this list?

5 Selling Approach That Land You More Sales Than Traditional Sales Approach

It's not my intention to spell out the difference between what I refer to as a new approach to selling and traditional selling. I intend to share 5 tips (for now) on how to land more sales in today's selling environment compared to 10 years ago:

1. Know all that you possibly can about your customers

It has been a firm belief of mine, and I had personal experience with putting the knowledge of customers more than product or services, land me more sales. 

Not only that, the deals last a lot longer too. 

Not an adverse side effect if you asked me.

2. Know relevant product or service to offer

The tendency for beginners (and some veterans) sales reps are to use the "spray and pray" approach.

Their purpose seems to be to let what they know off their chest, and by doing so, they invalidate their customers' situation and need. 

No two customers are created equal.

3. Being overly concerned with what competitors do

And what's not so good about this approach? 

Every solution looks and feels the same. 

Then the price war starts. 

More "me too" products come into the market with little value-added features and benefits. 

The market literally transforms into a products' wasteland.

4. Not putting marketing first, selling second

Salespeople only concerned themselves with selling tactics and strategies. 

They forget that selling is just the extension of marketing. 

Marketing, on the other hand, has the tendency to look at auction as a "be all, end all" strategy. 

To land more sales, more balance activities between marketing and selling is needed. 

But marketing must come first. 

Put the horse before the cart.

5. Thinking that technology solves everything

Having the whole team of salespersons equipped to boot with technology is not the answer to declining sales numbers. 

Some companies think technology solves the problem in sales, and at the same time, many less "technology savvy" companies are killing it in the market.

I hope these tips can stimulate your brain cells to think up more ways to land more sales in today's marketplace. The traditional selling is all good and well but to move forward, it is not sufficient.

Related reading: 5 medical sales approaches to avoid to make more sales