Medical Sales Increase your call rate

Pursuit of higher call rates can cause poor activity, multiple calls on easy to see but perhaps less productive Doctors. After all, if you find them easy to see, so does everyone else, right! Before we dismiss call rate as a dirty phrase, lets consider some of the facts.

• People in the top proportion of medical sales rankings for their sales, most frequently are in the top proportion for activity as well.

• Increases in activity rates, more often than not, do lead to increases in medical sales results.

• Decreases in call rates, more often than not, lead to a decrease in medical sales results.

• People in the bottom proportion for medical sales most frequently are in the bottom proportion for activity.

So what is the problem with companies and managers demanding high call rates as a strategy? Well, in isolation, simply structuring your work to increase the call rate is not likely to lead to productive activity. Repeat calling on the same customers, and calling on several 'easy to see' doctors is less productive than less extra calls on other doctors. If a company puts so much emphasis on call rate such that promotion and pay rises depend on this, I would suggest the tial is wagging the dog. So the conflict lies between the need to see increases in calls on paper, versus measures which ensure the extra calls are 'quality' calls, not just numbers.

Medical sales managers must always remember that the primary marker should always be sales. Activity is a secondary marker. If someone can be helped to increase activity in the right ways, their sales will go up. An emphasis in activity alone will lead to poor increases in activity.

The good news is, the are lots of relatively untouched ways of gaining good extra calls in your week. Here's a few I used to use.

1. 'Always' re book your next appointment whilst visiting for an appointment. Too many reps are so concerned about getting to the next call, they vow to re book later, or when they have more time, thereby slipping out of the appointment cycle in that surgery. If you're concerned, do while you're waiting to go in. In practise, it only takes seconds, not even minutes. This activity will ensure your appointments are always high.

2. Build up a 'ready reckoner' for each area you visit. This should show not only where and when all the spec calls are, but also where the appointments are...here's why. Probably 2-10 appointments are lost due to a rep not turning up, or perhaps more likely the rep is late having been ambitious with scheduling previous calls. Look for space between your own specs and appointments and try and find appointment in that area. Turn up 'just on the off chance the appointed rep doesn't' and if you're lucky, you'll pinch the extra call on a good doctor. If you aim to do this twice a day, you 'will' pick up a couple of extra 'good' calls a week, maybe 10 + 'good' calls per month. This will add an appreciable amount to your sales over time...and it works!

3. Surgeries are busy places in the mornings during surgery. Rather than Tesco's for a sandwich, try doing a handful of extra surgeries between 12.30pm and 2pm. Most surgery staff are breathing a sigh of relief after the morning rush. Doctors are often milling around reception opening post etc. I used to visit on the basis of booking appointments, but as soon as I spotted a doctor, produced a reason to see them ( a new clinical paper to show them or something). Once again, this won't work every time, but executed consistently in your routine it will add good calls.

4. Offer a call back item at meetings. I used to use relevant copies of clinical papers. Have a registration form typed for your attendees to sign in, add a 'best time to call back' column. Once signed this will make it far more difficult for the receptionist to refuse your approach.

5. If you have a 'do not see' surgery in an area with strong potential, arrange a meeting in a nearby surgery and ask them if they would like to invite their neighbours, arrange a speaker for added value for your attendees. Then employ number 4 for call backs.

6. It's an old one but sponsor a post graduate meeting in the hospital, then employ number 4. to generate additional appointments as you speak to doctors on the way in and out past your stand.

None of these require working longer hours, simply the discipline of building them regularly into your routine. Used altogether, they may add 15-20% of activity on top of the norm, and it's a 'good' extra 10-15%, this will increase your medical sales results.