Travis Doss
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Relationships have always been an essential element in the performance of a pharmaceutical/medical representative’s job. This book is designed to explore those relationships with a variety of people that he/she will find it necessary to relate to. Among these are, 1) the physician, 2) the patient, 3) co-workers, 4) competitors, 5) pharmacists, 6) nurses & assistants, and 7) managers, and perhaps others. From personal experience, the author will describe in considerable detail how each of these groups contribute to the representative's success or failure. He will describe a philosophy that will ultimately lead to sales versus sales as the primary objective.
Personal success will be measured more by how well one handles these relationships. Personal success will lead to sales success, which inevitably will be the primary measure of performance used by management. Considerable discussion also will be devoted to helpful hints that will help new and experienced representatives, as well as managers, derive the greatest benefit from their endeavors.
Travis E. Doss graduated Cum Laude from Baylor University, with a BBA Degree in Management. He attended The University of Texas College of Pharmacy, and did graduate work in Marketing at Baylor University.
Mr. Doss is a life member of Beta Gamma Sigma, and Alpha Chi. He has been the recipient of numerous District, Region, and National Sales Awards.
Mr. Doss began his career in 1959, as a Professional Representative with Merck. He was promoted in 1978 to Senior Professional Representative, with Merck's Human Health Division, and to Executive Professional Representative in 1983.
Mr. Doss was certified by Merck in 1983, as a Qualified Counselor for purposes of counseling and training. He has served as counselor or trainer for numerous training classes. He was selected by his Region Manager to participate in several pilot projects, such as Merck's Clinical Conference Program, and the first rollout of a new sales force.
In 1989, Mr. Doss was selected by his Region Manager to serve on the Region Manager's Advisory Committee. In 1990, Mr. Doss took early retirement from Merck, and he and his wife were co-owners of Dunraven's Advertising Specialties, until 1997.
Since 1995, Mr. Doss has served as Sales Representative for New World Medical, Inc., who develops, manufactures, and markets surgical devices, used in the treatment of Glaucoma.
Chapter
II
The
Physician---Developing That All Important Mutual Trust and Respect
The
Focus Is Always On The Patient
Keep
in mind that the focus is always on the patient. The physician makes it
possible for us to play a role in helping
the patient by the physician's use of our products. The physician bears
the sole responsibility for the care of
his/her patients, so it is the representative's responsibility to gain an understanding of what the
physician feels are his/her patient's
needs. Then, and only then, can we present our products in such a way that they
offer maximum utility in helping to
achieve the physician's objectives.
Interviewing
Technique Must Be Skillfully Tactful
It
should be emphasized that gaining information about a physician's patients cannot be achieved in an interrogative fashion. To emphasize what I mean, I would suggest you observe the interviewing techniques used by several network news anchors, and
ask yourself which technique would be
best suited to help you obtain the
information you need to tailor your presentation to the needs of the physician and the patient. I have spent a great deal of time during the
course of my career helping train
groups of new representatives. During
the course of these training sessions, I have
frequently played "doctor", for purposes of allowing new representatives to experience fairly
realistic practice presentations. One develops a great deal of sympathy
for the physician during those early
roll play sessions. There are two primary mistakes that occur most
frequently in these sessions. One is being too dramatic, or even inaccurate, in the inexperienced
representative's description of
symptoms. The other is an
interrogation that begins immediately,
when a representative begins the
interview or presentation. It would behoove all training departments to make
sure that each and every trainee has
the opportunity to play
"doctor" while they are pursuing their basic training. This is the most effective way for a new representative
to evaluate his/her own presentation,
from the perspective of the
physician.
