Field Visits - Feared Assessment or Motivational Development?
Allan Mackintosh, a Training and Development Professional with over 23 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, outlines the essential aspects of a productive and motivational field visit for medical sales managers and representatives.
Having completed over 1200 field visits during my 13 years as a medical sales manager and sales coach, I know what it is like to get up early in the morning, spend hours on motorways or in aircraft, and return home late at night. I also experienced routine visits from managers and trainers during my 7 years as a medical sales executive, and so have ‘lived’ field visits from both perspectives.
Being a field manager can be extremely stressful, particularly if you consider the travelling and the fact that you can (and should) spend a full day with your executives and representatives. Similarly, it can very stressful for the sales executive, particularly if their manager or trainer is not very motivational and does not have the correct skills to make these visits productive and inspiring.
This review supports all those hard-working sales managers in developing their field coaching skills in order to alleviate the stress and strain of these visits, and make them work productively for both manager and executive. In it, I outline a number of models that I have either developed or found useful as a medical sales manager:
ASPIRESTM Model of Field Coaching - to enable you to structure your field visits productively
Behavioural Styles Model - to enable you to build rapport quickly and build up trust and respect
Capability/Motivation Grid - to enable you to take the correct developmental approach with your sales people
OUTCOMES® Coaching Models - to enable you to coach effectively
Motivational Triangle to enable you to continually motivate yourself and your team
There is, of course, more to field visits, and other aspects, such as field visit forms, fall outside the scope of this review. Each company will have their own types of forms but unless you get the structure of the field visit right and you build the essential skills needed to ensure field visits are effective then the forms are useless!
Whether you are a medical sales manager or a sales representative, I hope that you will find this review useful in your quest for greater sales success.
CONTENTS
Introduction
About the author
Why are you doing field visits?
Structuring the field visit
The ASPIRESTM Model of Field Coaching - skills required
Essential skills for effective field visits
Building trust and respect through rapport
Contracting the working relationship
Effective coaching
Motivation
Conclusion
References and further reading
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Mackintosh is a Training and Development Professional with over 23 years of experience in industry. The years he spent in the pharmaceutical industry have given him experience as a sales executive, sales manager, sales coach and trainer. He latterly spent 6 years working as a Manager/Development Coach with GlaxoWellcome and GlaxoSmithKline, before branching out to form his own management coaching business in 2001. His last industry role involved coaching top-flight sales executives, first-line and senior managers, and providing support to enable them to identify and achieve their business objectives. Particular emphasis was placed on supporting new managers who had been promoted to management from the sales function.
In May 2001, Allan founded Performance Management Coaching Scotland, to promote the skill of coaching in management, and to enable and support managers to become great coaches in the workplace. Since starting Performance Management Coaching, Allan has steadily grown ‘The Coaching Manager’ brand and it now covers a book and three unique coaching models, in addition to an e-zine, e-book and several structured courses.
Field visits occupy around 80% of a sales manager’s time. The benefits to sales executives, managers and organisations in general are significant, yet the value of such visits is often questioned. The key to their success lies in how they are undertaken.
Lack of structure is a major factor in many of the poorest field visits. This leads to an absence of focus and, inevitably, a lack of action and development for the sales executive. This ultimately demotivates both parties. Managers must possess the necessary skills to ensure the field visit structure produces motivation, results and ongoing development.
A manager requires basic skill-sets to conduct effective field visits. The ability to build trust, rapport and respect is an essential ingredient for every good sales manager. The manager also needs to be able to contract the working relationship, to coach and to motivate an employee. Giving constructive and appropriate feedback is critical to the process. Field visits provide support and advice for sales executives, assessment and relationship-building opportunities for sales management, and improve productivity for organisations.
This review outlines the essential aspects of a productive and motivational field visit.
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