Several years ago, I did some consulting work for the sales organization of a large pharmaceutical company. These people were very concerned with the fact that one of their new products wasn’t selling very well. The product was a timed-release patch for managing pain that was used by chemotherapy patients. This product was an alternative to morphine and their clinical studies showed that it was a superior product because it was far less addictive and had fewer side effects. The problem was that the doctors weren’t prescribing it and these people wanted me to help them figure out why.
In an attempt to find the answer, the first question I asked was, “Who are the people who stand between you and success or failure?”
Their answer was, “oncologists”, doctors who specialize in the treatment of cancer.
I then asked, “What do you want from these people?”
“To prescribe our product, ” they answered.
I then asked, “What do these oncologists want from you?”
“A pain management system that’s less addictive and has fewer side-effects than morphine,” was their answer.
I then asked, “How do you try to sell this product to the oncologists?”
“We pull out the results of our clinical trials and show them how our product is a superior pain management system to morphine,” they answered.
“Do these oncologists appear interested in what you have to say about your product?” I asked.
Their answer was, “Not at all! It’s like they’re not even listening to what we are saying.”
At this point, I said, “The very fact that these oncologists aren’t listening strongly indicates that these oncologists aren’t as interested in pain management as you initially thought they were.”
I then asked, “Is pain management the primary concern of an oncologist?”
These people thought for a moment and then answered, “Not really. The primary concern of an oncologist is curing the patient.”
“There’s your problem,” I said. “You have a group of physicians (oncologists) who are extremely busy and primarily concerned with one thing only (curing their patients) and you want them to take valuable time out of their day to listen to what you have to say about pain management? It’s no wonder they’re not listening.”
I then went on to say, “If you want these doctors to listen to what you have to say about your product, you have to present it as either part of the cure itself or as an enhancement to the cure.”
I pointed out that with this approach they could take the busiest, most important oncologist who has absolutely no time for pharmaceutical sales reps and stop this person in his or her tracks with a presentation like, “Doctor, I know you are busy, but I’ve got something here that will significantly extend the lives of your patients.” When the sales force used this approach, sales of this product took off like a rocket.
Sometimes tough customers come in the form of people with big egos. During a recent seminar, I was confronted with a situation that involved an account manager who was trying to get a certain doctor to speak at a conference he was sponsoring. The problem was that this particular doctor charged $5,000 for a speech and the account manager only had $2,500 in the budget. Compounding the situation was that this doctor had a huge ego and his ego was tied to his fee. The account manager’s question to me was, “How do I get this doctor to speak for $2,500?”
I must admit, I didn’t have a clue. Fortunately, one of the other account managers in the room had the answer. “I got that same doctor to speak for free two years ago and his fee was $5,000 then.”
Of course, everyone in the room wanted to know how he did it. The account manager went on to say that the first thing he did was to stroke this doctor’s ego by saying, “Obviously, you are worth your fee or you couldn’t charge it. So I don’t blame you for turning me down.” He further appealed to this doctor’s ego by informing him that a very famous surgeon whom this doctor had studied under and deeply admired as a mentor was going to be attending this conference. He then informed this doctor that he had jumped the gun a bit by telling the surgeon that this doctor was going to be one of the featured speakers at the conference. When the surgeon heard this, he became very excited and told the account manager that he was really looking forward to hearing this doctor’s talk.
When the doctor heard this, he immediately volunteered to speak at the conference for free. Why? Because the account manager had offered him something that doctor’s ego was tied to even more strongly than his $5,000 speaking fee-a chance to show off in front of his mentor!
The lesson here is that people with big egos will trade off money for ego gratification any day of the week and see it very much as a win-win situation. Once you understand what makes people with big egos tick, getting them to do what you want is really quite easy.
Ross R. Reck, Ph.D.
Author of The X-Factor: Getting
Extraordinary Results From Ordinary People
