Articles

Published articles  

Required Participation:
Getting the Most Out of Your Company Training

New pharmaceutical sales representative usually look forward to training with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. It’s exciting to begin a new journey. It’s fun to meet new people. And it probably means that you’re done with home study manuals and online tests. At the same time, it’s natural to worry about being away from your family or not performing well at training. more

Gift Card Glory:
How Consumer Demand Has Shifted the Gift Card Market From Novelty to Commodity

How many gift cards did you receive last year? According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), probably at least one. In their fourth annual Gift Card Survey, the NRF found that 95% of adult survey respondents either received or purchased a gift card in 2006 - a 24% increase over 2005 survey results. more

Underwriters:
The Importance of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants

How many prescriptions did you lose today? If you didn't call on the nurse practitioners and physician assistants in your territory, you may have lost as many as 21. And your smartest competitors know exactly where to find them. more

Powerful Presentations:
How You Can CREATE More Memorable Sales Messages

Physicians and other healthcare providers have less time and more prescribing options than ever before. Studies show that as few as eight out of every 100 sales calls end with the physician meeting the rep and remembering what was said. How can you be one of those eight memorable reps? more

Tipping Point Ahead:
Prepared for a New Primary Care?

Primary care "is at grave risk of collapse," proclaims a report from the American College of Physicians, as printed in the July 7th issue of Medical Economics.¹ A confluence of changing demographics within the medical profession and increasing consumer demand for health care services has brought our nation's primary care system to a tipping point. more

International Women's Day 2006
Extraordinary Women Doing Ordinary Things

For 95 years, International Women's Day has been a celebration of ordinary women doing extraordinary things. I'd like to change that a little bit.

This year on March 8th, I'm going to celebrate extraordinary women doing ordinary things, because that's what most of us are. more

My Pompei
Reflections on Being a New Adoptive Parent

I know exactly what I was doing when you were born, because it's still unfinished, just as I left it. My private Pompei.

I was cleaning my office. Not cleaning it, actually. On my way to organizing Important Things, I stumbled on the assorted This and That of the last several years...more

Prescription for Success
The Role of the Pharmacy Call in Driving Sales

Who is on your sales team? Your territory partners, your sales trainer, hopefully your manager and other company personnel. Certainly your physicians. Their patients. Maybe even local managed care organizations.

What about pharmacists? more

RFID in Rochester
How Local Companies Are Integrating RFID

Interest in item-level RFID tagging has been driven primarily by the pharmaceutical, personal care, and cosmetic industries. Local companies describe a high degree of awareness and interest, but only a modest level of integration. I spoke with some of Rochester's early adopters to put a local face on track-and-trace technology. more

Informed Consent:
Ethical Considerations of RFID

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has incubated in relative obscurity for over 60 years, quietly changing our lives with little attention outside the technology community. First used to identify Allied aircraft in World War II, RFID is now well integrated in building security, transportation, fast food, health care and livestock management. more

Touchdown!
What the Packers Can Teach Us About the Importance of Closing

An appropriate close is as valuable to your prescribers as any part of your presentation. When you close by reiterating the benefits of your product - and establishing yourself as a resource - you give the physician reasons to prescribe your product. more

Get Your Edge Back
The Interrelationship of Motivation and Performance

Performance and motivation are like chocolate and peanut butter; the combination is better than either one alone. You can be motivated without acting on it, and you can act without feeling motivated, but motivation feeds successful performance, which in turn generates increased motivation, which encourages performance, and so goes the cycle of our days. Until one day... more

Rounding Third and Heading for Home
Training a Winning Sales Team

Although I never met the man, I imagine Lou Boudreau would have made one heck of a field sales trainer. In 1942 the 24-year old Cleveland Indians shortstop was promoted to player/manager of his team, and for the next eight years Boudreau did what we, as trainers, are called upon to do every day: demonstrate success, inspire success and cultivate success. Think of it as the triple play of sales training. more

The Whys of Pharmaceutical Training
A District Trainer is Reminded Why She Loves Her Job

As a regional trainer, I've had the privilege of witnessing sales reps discover all of the whys that fuel their achievement. By participating in their discovery, I am continually reminded of the reasons I worked so hard to get into the pharmaceutical sales industry. more

Sisters

I was the youngest for exactly twelve months and fourteen days. I was still showing off my first wobbly steps when Holly came squalling into the family on Christmas Eve and turned me into a middle child. Maybe I should have minded, but I didn't. After all, now I had a baby sister. And she was irresistible. more