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.
Read MoreWho 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?
Read MoreIt’s early January 2004. It’s a good day to be sitting in front of the fire. It’s a good day for hot soup and warm bread. It’s a good day to be a Green Bay Packers fan. The Packers are on the brink of their fourth NFC Championship playoff game in the last nine years. They have a three-point lead over the Philadelphia Eagles, who face an impossible fourth down and 26 yards on their own 28-yard line. Green Bay is just 72 seconds away from the NFC Championship game. All they have to do is hold Philadelphia to less than 26 yards. One play. That’s all.
Read MoreAlthough 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.
Read MorePerformance 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...
Read MoreI recently took my six-year-old neighbor Kristen with me to the garden store, and somewhere between a mouthful of birdseed and a pocketful of mulch, I was reminded of why I love being a regional trainer. I had mentally organized the trip much like I plan my sales calls, deciding in advance where to go and what to do in order to most efficiently accomplish the tasks on my list.
Read MoreOfficial website for Sally Bacchetta, award-winning freelance writer, instructional designer, and author.
