In the rush to find the MPS gold mine, OEMs are pushing out new training initiatives to transform their sales channels, and dealer teams are filling up MPS “Sales 101”-type classes, yet few have given much thought to the role of the sales rep in an environment where consultation skills are as important as product knowledge. For some, the sales rep needs to become a consultant, while for others, the consulting should be left to a professional services team. To understand which approach is best, a useful analogy is whether you want your sales reps to be doctors or drug reps.
The traditional drug rep is very different from the old-style copier sales rep. Drug reps know they are selling to sophisticated customers. They have to be knowledgeable about the medical environment, the components, the effects of their products and contraindications. Drug reps have to know medical terms and sell more on outcomes than cost – in many ways similar to someone selling a service to an IT manager. They need to build trust and respect by showing knowledge and understanding of their client’s environment. Being comfortable with the client’s terminology is more significant than being familiar with their own. Above all, they need to speak on an equal level, and their primary role is to educate and inform – changing their client’s behavior. Yet behind all the talk and advice is a reward based on the sale of a product.
A doctor, on the other hand, is there to diagnose and interpret information from which a treatment of the ailment can be suggested. A doctor’s role, similar to a business consultant’s, is to ask questions and take a holistic view of a patient’s (or client’s) health before establishing the best course of treatment based on training, experience and knowledge. Questions on lifestyle, diet, weight, family history and current treatments are parallel to those in our own world on strategy, profitability, processes, culture and current projects. The difference is that a doctor doesn’t go through the motions, so when he or she in medical terms “takes a history” before making a recommendation – questioning the user to assess the overall health and habits (policies) – the information gathered becomes vital to putting forth the best prescription.
So in an MPS engagement, gathering and interpreting information on a client is just as essential before recommending an improved operating environment. Without a doubt, we would all be appalled if our doctors skipped through the analysis and started offering us drugs for our ailments before we felt they understood what was wrong with us. Equally, a treatment that deals with the symptoms rather than the cause would create just as much concern.
With all the MPS training courses emphasizing the need for assessments and consultations, some consideration needs to be given as to who is the right person to do this work. A sales rep’s skill is to open doors and close deals – a skill set that does not lend itself to detailed and often lengthy analysis. While skipping over information costs lives for doctors, in the MPS world, it costs deals. Some sales reps are able to span the two roles, but rarely in my experience. However, that doesn’t mean all sales reps now need to become consultants or vice versa.
The larger the customer, the more sophisticated the environment and the more important a consultant’s skill sets will be in closing a deal. In contrast, the smaller the customer, the simpler the consultative tasks and the easier it is for a sales rep to perform the role. The danger is always that the sales rep completely dismisses the need to take on any semblance of the doctor’s role and so reverts to type and doesn’t even achieve the heights of the drug rep. Emphasizing at the outset that MPS sales is a new type of role with new skills is as important as the training itself.
Finally, think about the doctor’s reward versus the drug rep’s. A doctor looks for the long-term health of the patient, knowing that further advice and treatment will be required over a period of time, whereas the drug rep wants product sales. I am still staggered by how few sales reps are rewarded on the entire MPS contract as opposed to the equipment and software installed on day one. If we thought our doctor was rewarded on the number of pills he or she prescribed after each visit, we would change practices very quickly. All the money or time spent on training is wasted if the commission scheme is not in line with the change of behavior the training is attempting to achieve.
So before you sign up for the next MPS training course, ask yourself what kind of selling role you or your company aspires to: doctor or drug rep? If doctor, then make sure the long-term care of the client is in the interest of all parties!
Contact Robert Newry at robert.newry@newfieldit.com.
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