Can we finally admit that it's enough of the decision cycle and endless hot lamp 3rd degree questioning and just get back to competitive selling? The majority of the people we talk to daily not only don't have the time to wait for us to find a point, they also invariably have a couple other things on their mind.
Wouldn't this mean we would have to admit that the doctors may have learned something in medical school?
Dead on, who the F knows or cares where they are our made up decision cycle. I always make it up when asked "oh well it's clear this physician is in the - Evaluation of options phase". Why? No f$&&ing idea!
I can tell by the look in their eyes that mine are usually in the "losing patience" phase, heading toward the "barring access" phase.
This was a sales process that the company invested hundred of thousands of dollars in. They had workbooks printed up. They had company experts trained. They had all of us fly to Chicago for a two day workshop. All of this and all we do is piss the doctors off when we use this interrogative questioning process. This isn't my opinion. I literally have had doctors tell my manager to "get to the point or get out". Seriously! Give me one honest example of where anyone has seen success...just one.
I actually like MCE and the training. I have found it useful in daily life too, looking to ask a question so that the person I am with is forced to rethink a position, or re-consider an opinion. Particularly useful on teenagers, as they rarely want to hear an adult opinion. That being said, I also think GSK has made yet another mistake by forcing us to use it all the time. Like a previous poster said, the docs want us to "get to the point" and not waste their time. GSK forgets how intelligent and pressed for time the great majority of our customers really are. It's a shame that WE can't be treated like adults and choose to use MCE in the proper way which works for us in the field, and instead have to goose-step to every part of it all of the time. Bottom line - GSK taught us a good thing, but then executed it into inoperability.
Starting out the interaction with a question is what I find annoys them the most. If you're having a discussion and a natural question comes up, oh what dose do you usually try to get to, works fine. But the, tell me dr. What is your long term goal in treating this disease type, the rage just comes out of them. I only do it when my boss is with me even though he can see how annoyed they become. Since the company said it's great, it must be great. It like that Big Bang episode where Sheldon rolls the dice and let's them decide his life, oh a pitcher of margaritas is what I want to drink. That's my boss. I hate doing it and feel humiliated. But this is the essence of GSK, we say be physician focused and our customers despise this, yet we do it. Why would any company intentionally tick off its customers?
I think management has finally figured out what a waste of time MCE is and hopefully was. What is amazing is how long it took to wisen up!
My manager finally figured it out. Said MCE is really about just getting to the customers need. It may take 10 questions to get there or it may take one question. Just get to the need so you can offer a solution. Only took her a year and half to figure that out.
MCE is a fine theory but it is not reality. Busy docs can't always get through what mce says we have to get through, sure on paper it's nice but in the real world things don't move in order as the say. You have to say what's important and go with the flow of the convo. I'm sure it sounds nice when it "happens" but be honest how many of our daily convos with anyone let alone a busy doc go according to plan? Do your best and be smart, mce doesn't make you go or bad.
My first formal introduction to selling skills came many years ago in a course presented by the Xerox Learning Center in Leesbug, VA. The selling skills course was called Professional Selling Skills III(PSS III). The short name for the course was, "Need satisfaction selling". In that short name you get everything you need to know about the focus of the selling! In case you missed it, I'll spell it out for you. Uncover the NEEDS of the buyer and then show how your product meets those needs and then close the sell. MCS is just another take on PSSIII! The problems with it, of course, are that it's developers have had to tweek it to differentiate it from PSSIII. And that tweaking brings us the convoluted mess that is MCS! And, unfortunately for the GSK Field Sales Force, GSK Leadership has neither the experience nor cojones(no pun intended DC) to take us back to "Need Satisfaction Selling" where, features tell and benefits sell.
we had sales course from IBM before that one......wonderful then, but no time with docs anymore for that foolishness !
