Medical sales jobs and keeping accurate records

For people in Medical sales jobs, recording what you are doing on a daily basis is a chore demanded by your manager rather than anything which could be perceived as helping your results. There are probably a number of reasons for this, firstly, most sales people would rather talk than either write, or as it has now become, tap figures into a computer. For a those in medical sales, given the option of completing records of your last call, or going to see your next customer to generate more sales, it's a bit of a 'no contest' scenario.

There are other reasons why paperwork can be poor in medical sales. Ironically, although sales managers may be demanding better paperwork and record keeping, it may be pure sales pressure driving the opposite as reps strive to meet ever more demanding targets.

Here's a brief example from my days selling photocopiers. In my early days in as a sales rep (this was my second sales job) I was frantic, always speeding around feeling like I was behind targets, trying to squeeze in as much customer contact as possible. I did well, top of the heap for the graduate sales team! However, Dave, the experienced guy, never seemed rushed, but always sold more, much more! I had a couple of days out with Dave to see what the difference was and it was simple. During calls he made a few notes, and after every call he would head for a coffee shop for a fag and cup of tea!! I was amazed, how could this guy be selling so much?

The answer was simple. In each call he would ask and carefully note the ages of all of their equipment. There were two things he was looking to note a) the ages of machines Versus their life expectancy b) Lease agreement end dates. Upon arrival at the coffee shop, he would carefully map out all of these dates in his diary. He had be doing this for years so now his diary was constantly full of dates when machines were expected to die or lease agreements were ending. This meant that making appointments were easy, and indeed appropriate, and consequently he was able to make two or three 'targeted appointments' everyday. This in comparison to my 6 or 7 random appointments and calls per day. Now, it's easy to see why his strike rate was so high, even if his work rate was lower.

The same principles can apply to medical sales. It is perhaps a criticism of the industry that medical reps can be heavily directed against a whole list of activity targets, which simply doesn't allow you to catch your breath to be smart like Dave was. The industry is changing to a higher quality, more targeted approach. I wouldn't want to advocate quite as many coffee shops as Dave, but in principle, give yourself regular breaks in the day to maintain records and keep 'actively' thinking about what your doing, and planning what to do next.

Good luck