Gone in 60 seconds: Making the most of the short sales call

It's a busy morning and you race to your first call of the day. The receptionist is
frazzled, and only after promising to be very brief are you allowed back to see the
physician. And wouldn't you know? The first thing that comes out of his mouth is: "I
only have one minute to spare." Does this sound familiar? Are you prepared to deal
with the constraints of a one-minute sales call?
The essentials
Sixty seconds isn't much time. That's why it's critical to be prepared. There are
several items you need to take care of before you even think about setting foot in
the physician's chamber:

● Prepare your material and resources.

● Prepare your call.
● Know your physicians and their patient's needs​.

If you don't make the time to work on these three items, you’re wasting 60 valuable
seconds of the physician's time, something he is going to remember the next time
you pay a call. So spend a few minutes in reviewing your call plan.
Whether you have a short call or a 15-minute call, always be prepared and have
easy access to all of the resources you use to back up your message. This may mean
going through your materials and making sure they are in an order that makes sense
to you. Or you may have to brush up on a key point in a reprint.

Prepare your call

Hand-in-hand with materials and resources goes the actual preparation of the call.
Plan for a long call even when preparing for a short call. If you expect 15 minutes,
you just may get 15 minutes. If you scramble through 60 seconds, then the call is
going to end there. When you are given a limited amount of time, treat it as a foot in
the door. A thoughtful, well-planned presentation buys you more time to present
multiple sales messages. And if the call does end at 60 seconds, you were prepared
to begin with and have covered your key points succinctly and effectively.

Know your physician

Take the time to know what matters to your physician. You have a lot of resources at
your disposal:

● Patient prescribing history.

● Notes from past calls.
● Information from other pharmaceutical sales representatives.
● Area of specialty.

Part of your information should include the types of problems/conditions physicians

commonly deal with. Do they treat a lot of elderly patients? Do they see a lot of
women? Are they known for their ability to treat a certain disease state? All of these
play into how you build your call. ​Discussing the problems physicians deal with
most frequently may buy you more time.

The types of resources to bring

You already know how important it is to be prepared and have materials readily
accessible, but you may want to think about the sorts of resources your physicians
will most appreciate. Is there an approved study that speaks to your patient picture?
Bring it along and consider leaving it with the physician to discuss on the next visit.
When a physician sees that you took the time to provide resources particular to him
or her, you become a resource that is valuable and deserving of more than a minute
or two.

The steps of the short call

Knowing your physician will help you determine whether you should use three or four
of the following steps. It will also help you to craft how you will present each element
and address physician questions.

1. Open the call with a patient picture. Remember, patient pictures are short
and to the point. Do not waste valuable time with lengthy, descriptive patient
pictures. Include age, occupation, gender and concern, and make sure the
patient picture is relevant to the physician's practice. The short call requires
effective, useful patient pictures because there simply is no time for anything
else. When you create patient pictures, you are trying to establish a case, a
model for the physician to follow.
2. Ask questions that encourage the physician to think about what you are
presenting. Draw the doctor into the conversation and ask him or her to
comment on how the information applies specifically to the practice. Be
careful not to use this step as a ploy to extend the interaction if it really
needs to remain a 60-second call. If you tell the physician it will be just a
minute, be sure to adhere to this. It reflects on your credibility.
3. Position your product and focus on the key message for the call. Help the
physician see the benefits of your product over a competitor product. How do
you do this? Tie your key message into the patient picture you used in your
opening and show the doctor literature to support what you are saying.
4. Last, but not least, close! Just because you have limited time does not mean
you can skip this step. What do you want the physician to do as a result of
this call? It could be that you are asking for new prescriptions, or you could
be asking for a longer appointment next time. When you continue to provide
physicians with valuable information, your ability to end the call with a
successful close increases.
It may sound like a lot of information to cover in 60 seconds. But when you
practice and are succinct, 60 seconds is plenty of time to deliver a sales
message with impact.

Turning 60 seconds into 900 seconds

The 60-second call is a worthwhile effort. Planning for it should take as much time as
planning for a longer call. The goal is to start with a strong 60 seconds and get the
physician to extend it to more and because that is really your goal, you need to be
prepared for the long call even when presenting the short call. The same sorts of
preparations you make for a long call become more important in the short call,
because you have less room for error. By planning carefully, presenting thoughtfully
and providing useful information, you can ensure that the physician who really can
only spare 60 seconds this time will spare more the next time.