Is Your Sales Team Too Accommodating to Close?

11 Jul, 2018

You want your sales team to be friendly, efficient, accommodating, and ultra-professional at all times. You want their megawatt smiles to light up the room, and you want their arrival to be met with positivity, not resentment or annoyance. Being called “a genuine pleasure to work with” should be a badge of honor for your teams, and they should wear it proudly.

But at the same time, reps need to recognize that the gestures that build positive relationships don’t always translate directly into sales. And profits aren’t always measured in relationship stability alone. There are actually ways to become TOO accommodating, and when this happens, productivity can drop and deals may fail to close. Keep these considerations in mind as you coach your sales reps and encourage them to stay friendly, but keep company value at the top of their list of priorities.

Sales Reps are Facilitators, Not Personal Resources

In almost every field — from financial services to auto sales — it’s easy for salespeople to slip into an advisory role with a client, and clients often cheerfully allow this. We’ve all asked auto reps general questions about cars, and financial service pros often prefer to be thought of as neutral, unbiased sources of information, even when they’re paid to pitch specific investment products to customers. In the healthcare field, decision makers appreciate being presented with unbiased data regarding drug pathways and product comparisons, and providing this information can certainly increase the profile of a given sales rep. But when reps have to choose, their loyalty should lie with their employers.

If sales pros present themselves as experts or neutral advisors, this can be misleading, unproductive, or even self-defeating when it’s time to close the deal.

Respect Matters

Sales reps, especially younger reps in the earlier stages of their careers, struggle to gain respect as a simple matter of course. It’s inherently difficult for reps to hold a firm line if they’re outranked by customers in terms of life experience, professional experience, or medical expertise. This is especially the case if reps have internalized the message that success comes from “service with a smile” and no sign of pushback against customer requests or demands.

But it’s never too soon to train your reps to set boundaries and hold them. When they can’t offer a scale-based or contract-based discount, they should have no trouble making this clear. When they can’t provide extra services, additional data, value-add resources, personal time, or policy flexibility, they should say so without excessive apologies. This saves time, preserves respect, and moves both parties closer to a satisfactory compromise.

Work With the Top Healthcare Recruiters

Are you looking for the best medical sales professionals to join your team? Contact Buckman Enochs Coss and Associates today to work with the top healthcare recruiters.