The patient doctor

I know you have all been eagerly anticipating today's post, so I apologize for the delay. One of the many joys of working as a medical device representative is that I do quite a bit of entertaining. Tonight I was trying out a new restaurant in town with a group of medical directors who are in the process of evaluating the medical device I currently represent. Good times.

Yesterday we discussed how you would tailor your message for a doctor that is only concerned about price. Today we will look at the doctor or medical group that is only concerned with providing the best patient care money can buy. With this group, you just want to keep you message focused around the patient. For instance, I usually have in my message something like:

"Doctor, any medical device worth it's price will be able to eliminate a false positive. However, with my medical device, you will be able to eliminate false negatives. For instance if the medical device says the patient does not have a serious condition, but that they in fact did have the serious condition, then you have not provided the best patient care and you just sent a very sick person home with a clean bill of health."

Other times I will point out the specific features and benefits of my medical device that helps it detect medical conditions that are difficult to detect by my competitors. This assumes that I know my competitors well. In order to sell to a doctor that is focused on patient care, you need to know the competition better than it knows itself. It helps if your company offers you good training; however, it is still up to you as the field representative to gather the information. Use the relationships that you have developed in the office to gather competitive information. At times I have lost a deal with a particular office, but because I have a great relationship with much of the office staff, I was able to get a copy of the competitor's user's manual, training material and marketing brochure. I studied this information and used it to help with my presentation that involved this particular competitor.

Most presentations that you will be involved in will have a little bit of both types of physician. In many cases, the physician will be concerned with both price and patient care. Other times you may present in a group practice where one doctor will only be concerned about price and another will be concerned about the patient. Tailor your message to address both concerns.

Hopefully, I have added a bit of insight for you this week. Please post any suggestions on what I have posted so far or ideas for future post in the comments. Enjoy the weekend.