Talk To Others About What They Want First

Several years ago, I did some consulting work for the sales organization of a large pharmaceutical company. These sales people were very concerned with the fact that one of their new products wasn’t selling very well. The product was a timed-release patch for managing pain that was used by chemotherapy patients. This product was an alternative to morphine and their clinical trials showed that it was a superior product because it was far less addictive and had fewer side effects. The problem was that the doctors weren’t prescribing it and these people wanted me to help them figure out why.

In an attempt to find the answer, the first question I asked was, “Who are the people who stand between you and success or failure?”

Their answer was, “oncologists”, doctors who specialize in the treatment of cancer.

I then asked, “What do you want from these people?”

“To prescribe our product, “ they answered.

I then asked, “What do these oncologists want from you?”

“A pain management system that’s less addictive and has fewer side-effects than morphine,” was their answer.

I then asked, “How do you try to sell this product to the oncologists?”

“We pull out the results of our clinical trials and show them how our product is a superior pain management system to morphine,” they answered.

“Do these oncologists appear interested in what you have to say about your product?” I asked.

Their answer was, “Not at all! It’s like they’re not even listening to what we are saying.”

At this point, I said, “The very fact that these oncologists aren’t listening indicates that the sales people are not talking to the oncologists about what they want.”

I then suggested that maybe they had wrongly assessed what these oncologists wanted and that maybe they had better revisit the issue.”

In order to get a better idea of what the oncologists actually wanted, I asked, “Is pain management the primary concern of an oncologist?”

These people thought for a moment and then answered, “Not really. The primary concern of an oncologist is curing the patient.”

“There’s your problem,” I said. “You have a group of physicians (oncologists) who are extremely busy and primarily concerned with one thing (curing their patients) and you want them to take valuable time out of their day to listen to what you have to say about pain management? It’s not surprising they’re not listening.”

I then went on to say, “If you want these doctors to listen to everything you have to say about your very fine product, you have to present it in such a way that you are taking to them about what they want.” So instead of presenting this product as a superior pain management system compared to morphine, I suggest they present it as either part of the cure itself or as an enhancement to the cure.

I pointed out that with this approach they could take the busiest, most important oncologist who has absolutely no time for pharmaceutical sales reps and stop this person in his or her tracks with a presentation like, “Doctor, I know you are busy, but I’ve got something here that will significantly extend the lives of your patients.” When the sales force used this approach, sales of this product took off like a rocket.

The lesson here is that when you talk to others about what they want first, getting them to do what you want is really easy.

References:

Turning Your Customers into Long-Term Friends – Book by Ross Reck