Improving Performance for the Lab Salesperson: Is It Possible?

Charles Darwin once noted that it is not the strong that survive but those who are most adaptive to change. The irony exists—everyone wants progress, but nobody seems to want to change behavior! Change remains hard for both individuals and organizations. This paper examines the truths behind making lifelong improvements in sales performance for field personnel.

Human nature endures in a rather peculiar fashion. The public knows that to get into shape and lead a healthy life, you need to eat the right foods in the correct proportions and exercise vigorously every day. However, so few people abide by it. Why wouldn’t we all want to follow this simple precept? Herein lays the answer: People do not express the will to put in the requisite work! It takes practice, time, and personal will to do the right thing day after day.

Trying to improve sales performance usually will fail if it relies on the simple transfer of knowledge. Sitting in a classroom for a couple of days or more may feel “educational,” but it takes far more to create permanent behavior changes. Let us look at four fundamental truisms about change.

I. People do not change easily

Simply talk to an exercise coach, a prison reformer, a psychotherapist, or a nutritionist about behavior modification. Each one will tell you that human nature makes acquiring new habits a difficult challenge. The general population does not embrace change easily for two basic reasons:

The law of first knowledge dictates and prevents most people from adapting to new ideas or concepts. First knowledge equates to the most powerful combatant of change. People assume that what they initially learned equals the best, equals truth—and equals the right way to do something. To change requires hard, diligent work—and most of us survive in a fundamentally lazy state.

The majority of individuals do not want to sweat for excellence. Most people rest comfortably with the status quo and being “average.” Successful people continually seek improvement and spend their time “sweating.” They do not mind leaving their comfort zone and modifying their routine. We don’t try things because they don’t work; we don’t try them because they’re hard.

II. Adults learn in context

People must contextualize a new subject within their own framework to internalize it. For those learning sales in the lab industry, this reasoning describes why sales training by a “generic” sales trainer tends to make learning more challenging—and less effective. The members of the audience force themselves to draw their own conclusions, “translate” into their respective business and work hard at contextualizing the taught concepts. If a trainer understands lab acronyms, billing, test names, methods, compliance, and creates real-life experiences within the sales methods, the attendees can follow and appreciate the training far more efficiently—and, thus, become more productive.

It remains important—critically important—that salespeople seeking improvement create a clear vision between taught skills and the relevancy of those skills to their day-to-day job. Sales reps should provide feedback in a classroom setting and work out potential (or historical) examples of introductions, excuses, questioning techniques, presentations, closing, and so forth. You need hands-on experience to see why learning the new behaviors taught in class matters to you. The classroom resides as a “safe” environment. Putting learned concepts into context prevails best in the classroom as opposed to fumbling in front of clients.

III . To progress means practicing and receiving feedback

One cannot find a substitute for practice, repetition, and reinforcement. Period. Ed Macauley, the famed NBA Hall of Famer, once said, “When you do not practice, someone, somewhere practices, and when you meet him, he will win.” This clearly transcribes into practice equals the root of gain. Oh, sure, one can say that some people have innate abilities and raw talent. For example, athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Willie Mays did not reach their pinnacle status by loafing around, simply depending on their “natural talent.” Regardless of the biology, nobody can improve in his or her chosen field without practice.

OK, so we know that practice remains important. However, practice does not transpose into excellence unless you receive feedback. If you hit golf balls for several hours, there is a strong likelihood you could perform something a little better with your swing, despite the time you put into whacking the ball. Perhaps your backswing, follow-through, grip, or stance needs adjustment. Everyone, including Tiger Woods, requires coaching. We simply cannot see ourselves in action. Having an experienced manager embodies an excellent solution. If the situation calls for no internal resource, hiring an outside expert can provide invaluable feedback and potential improvement. Unfortunately, those independent labs and hospital outreach programs devoid of experienced sales managerial oversight continue with the status quo, and upper management hopes, wishes, and expects the field staff to improve on its own. The word “hope” does little to gain market superiority—and it is certainly not a strategy.

Bottom line: Salespeople need to practice things such as what background questions to ask; what are good problem questions; how to ask implication questions; examples of solution-based questions; how to recognize an excuse, objection; or condition; and how to categorize benefits into political, financial, strategic, and operational buckets. Practicing on your own and then trying it with a coach provides the fundamental component to gain progress. It takes more than one time. It calls for repetition, with feedback.

IV. Change does not occur immediately

You need some form of metrics to see how far you have come within a certain time. Progress equates to incremental steps—you have to be patient. People who attend weight-loss clinic programs know this component of change very well. They have a built-in system of rewards and consequences. If you lose weight, everyone claps and cheers; if you gain weight, everyone knows you cheated and you become embarrassed. This explains why these centers endure so successfully—peer pressure provides the feedback and the motivation to modify behavior. The subject of sales acts similarly, albeit coming from a different angle. As the manager posts the sales numbers each month, people see whether you have “gained,” stayed the same, or “lost” according to the sales budget. Employees and managers congratulate you if you gain but may remain taciturn or even admonish you if you maintain or lose sales vis- à- vis your budget.

Measurement prevails as king. Keep track of things such as:

How many sales calls did you make this week?
Did you close any new business?
How many problem questions did you ask your prospects today?
How many implication questions did you ask today?
How many solution-based questions did you ask today?
How many objections (or excuses or conditions) did you receive this week?
What was the ratio of continuations to advances this week?

If some of these metrics seem foreign, create your own. The point remains tabulating your improvement over time sits atop the mountain if you want to see evidence of successful behavior.

Summary

Improving performance permanently demands more than the simple transfer of knowledge. It depends upon willpower to conquer the natural tendencies of psychological biases. It involves dedication and perseverance. It commands practice, feedback, and measurement. If you persist, you will enter the gates of effectiveness and, eventually, see positive results.

Peter Francis is president of Clinical Laboratory Sales Training, LLC. His company provides sales training and coaching for the reference laboratory industry using a balanced approach of sales methodologies and background education in clinical test and disease states. He has authored 19 published articles on selling laboratory services, provides a bimonthly tip sheet (Lab Backgrounder) and stands as a proud member of the Washington G2 Reports Advisory Board. For more information, visit www.clinlabsales.com.