|
||||
SMART QUESTIONS = SMART LISTENING by Dorothy Leeds Ho Hum. Listening. Not the most scintillating subject. Not a subject on which most reps want to spend a lot of time. However, if you spend just long enough to read this article, I guarantee you’ll find some quick and easy ways to rev up your quality listening, establish better relationships with your doctors, and get them to write more scripts. I was recently in a doctor’s office and overheard a conversation between a rep and a doctor. The doctor said, “I really respect Dr. Smith. He’s extremely knowledgeable about endocrinology.” The rep replied, “Doctor, who are the experts you really respect?” Under most circumstances, this is very good question to ask – but not when the doctor had just given out that information. Obviously, the rep hadn’t been listening carefully to what the doctor was saying. The doctor, who had been engaged in conversation just a minute before, suddenly said, “That’s all the time I have,” walked into his office, and shut the door. The rep was left standing, not even aware of what he had done to turn the doctor off so rapidly. According to a recent U.S. Department of Labor study, out of the total time we spend communicating, 22 percent is spent in reading and listening, 23 percent is spent speaking, and 55 percent is spent in listening. So even though more than half our communication time is spent in listening, only a small percentage of us are very good listeners. There are two major aspects of listening: Listening to others and getting others to listen to us. We will cover both in this article. How Good a Listener Are You? Take the following short assessment. Be ruthlessly honest and objective. Don’t answer the way you feel you should be, or like to see yourself, but as you really are.
If you answered “no” to questions 1-6 and “yes” to question 7, you are a good listener. Unfortunately, most people don’t fit into that category. WHY BE A GOOD LISTENER? There are several essential reasons why it is important for pharmaceutical sales reps to listen attentively:
Which of these is motivation enough to change your listening habits? We never listen in a vacuum. The most successful reps do not talk a lot. They ask thought-provoking, win-win questions where both parties benefit. It’s a flow chart. If you want your doctors to listen to you, you must learn what is of interest to them before you talk. You must find out what interests them (other than money and golf) and relate all your information to them. For example, if your doctor states his main concern is not knowing the real differences between competing drugs, he will probably not listen to anything you say until he feels you have explained these concerns. We listen to others in terms of our self interest and they listen to us for the same reason. So the big question is, “How do you learn what others are interested in, so when we speak they will listen to us?” By slowing down and asking smart questions. Why Don’t We Listen Better? More than 10,000 salespeople have taken my listening assessment quiz (a longer version than the one in this article) in my Smart Questions + Smart Listening Sales Workshops. Less than one percent claim to be excellent listeners, a few claim to be good listeners, many more think they are fair listeners and the largest group admit to being poor listeners. Although every rep and sales manager admits that listening is essential - and we all know that to be true – why are we not all better listeners? Here are just a few of the many reasons why we are such poor listeners:
WHAT IS TARGETED TALKING As a rep, you have a very short time with your doctors; every statement and every question is important. Therefore, you only want to talk when you know what you say will fall on interested ears. If your doctor states she has only a short time, ask, “What questions or concerns can I address in this short time that would be helpful to you?” Listening to the doctor and responding to her answers is the best avenue you have to gain and keep her attention. TAKE THE CURE FOR BETTER LISTENING Most reps, like most patients, have no patience and want an instant cure. So let me end with the tried and proven process to become a better listener:
Smart Listening takes patience, discipline, and hard work. But the rewards are enormous. One of the nicest compliments I ever received came from a client who, in thanking me after a workshop to his sales force, shared that by listening I was able to tailor the program to the real needs and concerns of his sales team and really help them increase sales. Just imagine how helpful it would be to hear from your doctors, ” All those other reps talk way too much, but you really listen.” Beat the competition, become a Smart Listener, and reap the rewards.
|
||||
Dorothy Leeds |
||||
Workshops | Coaching | Keynotes | Articles | Books & Tapes Copyright © 2006 Dorothy Leeds Organizational Technologies |