5/09/2007

What type of Doctor are you selling?

As I was having dinner with one of my best customers last night(too much wine and the long drive home is the reason I wasn't able to post yesterday), I began to think about the different type of doctors I present to as a medical device representative. I narrowed it down to two different types of doctors and the rest of the posts this week will discuss the ways to best present to the two different types. There maybe other types of physicians that I have missed so please post anything that I am missing in the comments.

The two types that I have identified are the physicians that are concerned about price and the physicians that are concerned about patient care. Sometime you are able to identify what type the doctor is by their purchasing history. If they currently have the lowest end model of your product or the machine that has a reputation of being the cheapest, then it is very likely that this doctor will purchase your product based on the cost. But, if the doctor has your high end system or the system from the market leader then this doctor probably makes purchasing desicions based on the ability to improve patient care.

As a medical device representative, it is your job to figure out which type the physician is and how you are going to tailor your message to sell based on their primary concern. If you can't tell based on their purchasing history then you need to ask some qualifiing questions such as:

  • What do you like about your current medical device?
  • What do you not like about your current medical device?
  • What are the top three features that you require in this type of medical device?
The more questions you ask, the more objections will you be able to uncover and then you will be able to address them during their presentation. If you reveiwed Monday's post and you have developed a relationship with the gatekeeper, they will usually be able to fill you in on whether a doctor or group practice is going to purchase based on price of technology.

Until tomorrow.

No comments: