In the pharmaceutical industry it is tricky to close a sale as there is “no immediate sale” –there is no tangible product that is exchanged and no money that passes hands so a close and commitment becomes tougher for the role of the Pharmaceutical Representative

We also know that Doctors do not like being pushed into a corner and asked to make decisions to change prescribing AND over the years have learnt to just say “yes” or “I’ll bear it in mind” so the representative leaves quietly and no one is upset. This has been likened to “groundhog day” as the Doctor often says “I’ll bear it in mind” and the Representative often accepts this as the norm and walks away not knowing how to move things forward

The overall aim therefore is to get commitment to action from the Doctor which is appropriate, realistic and owned by them so they are more likely to take action rather than an obliging “yes” that never materialises into any change. This is critical to the success of any product or project and is probably the one skill that when developed can make the biggest difference to success

We know from well researched facts (the rule of consistency and commitment by Prof R Cialdini) as well as anecdotal evidence that if we volunteer and own a commitment we are much more likely to take action than an agreeable “yes” that is easy to say and not do…

What did we do?

• We looked at what a large sample of Pharmaceutical Representatives were doing currently and found that less than 50% were closing a call or gaining any commitment from their customers. This is quite typical of the norm from anecdotal evidence across the industry
• Breaking the habit – We rolled out a series of creative workshops and National interventions looking at “why” it’s tough to get a commitment and how to change the habit of shying away from a close
• We developed National incentives and regional competitions to reward the change in behaviour and identify quick successes from Representatives and Managers
• Calls were transcribed and  recorded over a 12 month period to monitor the change in this skill area

Results

ü  Collected over 70 examples of success of where Representatives had gained a commitment from a customer as a result of their interaction

ü  An increase in engagement of Representatives in calls – measured by feedback

ü  An increase of 30% in the skill of gaining closing and gaining commitment over a 12 month period

ü  Sales results exceeded 120% of a stretch target as this strategy started to demonstrate results

Learning’s

• We know that the skill of closing is uncomfortable for some Representatives and we need to find a way of doing this that is comfortable, realistic and adds value to our customers and us
• Customer feedback states that they like to be asked for commitment
• Managers have to be on board with this as their coaching in the field is critical to the success of the skill development
• We know a habit takes 21 days to change and it requires engagement, desire and will to want to change – what needs to happen to engage Representatives to want to start closing and gaining commitment? – this needs consideration and thought in line with your company culture
• This is a simple yet extremely effective  skill and behaviour change strategy that needs keeping simple yet engaging – it also needs to be implemented over time to gain the full effect – A 2 year period for embedding as a minimum to gain significant results

Inspired Results and Rubicon have joined together to form Y Change, a set of programmes to change mindset, skill and behaviour.  Most organisations are looking to change how they do things in order to become more productive, efficient and get better results.

We realised that people within organisations want ownership to make the changes themselves and make the difference in the right way. We found that many people wanted to up skill and develop their own people however often found it difficult to get the immediate skill and expertise in certain topics in house.  It was from this that we decided to launch a set of high quality programmes that we could train organisations to deliver themselves

What is Y change?

Y Change is a set of programmes that are designed to change mindset, skill and behaviour. This is brought to life both in the design and the delivery.

They impact at every level of the organisation and the programmes fall into three categories, Leadership, Team and Individual

They are designed and delivered to help individuals and organisations make the changes they want quickly and effectively  

We can deliver these programmes OR we can train you to deliver them and have total ownership, our Train the Trainer option.

All the programmes are designed by us to enable you to roll out within your organisation. This allows us to share all of our years of experience as well as intellectual property that we know will make a difference to you and your business.

Why are we different?

We have years of experience in organisational change and people development. We have some of the highest standards of training and design so all of our programmes are planned and delivered to this high standard.  We take the time to train you “how to train” and have the experience ourselves to enable us to do this. Our aim is to share our success and standards with others so these programmes can be implemented by you and owned by you, something many training providers do not do.

Get in contact and let us know how we can help you make the changes you want in your organisation