Is Your Sales Team Hesitant to Reach Out to New Prospects?

14 Jul, 2018

If you’ve been managing and training entry level representatives for a long time, then you probably know what it’s like to push a junior sales pro to take on a new and unpredictable prospect. Even experienced medical sales reps sometimes hesitate to reach out to new contacts, partly due to a human sense of social hesitation, and partly out of reluctance to waste time and energy on an uncertain prospect.

But of course, success in sales means overcoming this hesitation. And success as a sales manager means stepping in to provide effective coaching when needed. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Stage Fright is Real.

Sales transactions can be framed as ordinary conversations, and what’s to fear in approaching someone and starting a simple dialogue? But we all know that in sales, transactions aren’t just transactions, they’re a type of performance. And to step out onto that stage, your young actors need confidence. Training, preparation, feedback, and practice can help build this confidence. Provide your teams with plenty of opportunities for training and growth. And make the most of small successes. Every time they achieve a victory — no matter how small — remember the occasion and refer to it later.

Create a reliable process.

You can convince your sales reps to trust the process. But this only works if you’ve created the process, you’ve tested every link in the chain, and you know for sure that it’s worthy of their trust. If you rely on scripts, constantly change your scripts to keep them as strong as possible. If you want your reps to trust your training program, put everything you have into making that training program airtight. Put procedures in place that can help reps respond to rejections, offer special discounts, and negotiate with hesitant buyers. Stay true to the structures you create, and your reps will do the same.

Find a balance.

While inexperienced reps may find this hard to believe, it is in fact possible to take on too many prospects and make too many commitments. Before pushing a rep to add another name to a potential list of accounts, make sure the rep can assess their own bandwidth. Incorporate this skill into your training structure.

Work with a top medical sales recruiter.

In sales, confidence means everything. But confidence doesn’t always come from within. Sometimes it must build up from the outside, with strong coaches, strong teamwork, effective training, and great management. Your teams trust you to arm them with the skills they need! Don’t let them down. Contact our medical sales recruiters at Buckman Enochs Coss and Associates to bring those medical sales reps to your team!