10 Coaching Mstr

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Field Manager’s Guide 12/25/09

Chapter 10

Field Coaching

One of the most important activities of a Field Manager is coaching. Too often this area

is sadly neglected because managers are not properly trained in the basics of field

coaching or perhaps because they spend too little time in the field. We need not

emphasize how your success lies in your the time and effort you spend training and

developing your team in the field

ability to train and develop your sales team and the only way to do this is to be in the

field with your team.

We’ll begin by taking a look at some step-by-step tips on how to conduct successful

coaching. Later we will discuss how to prepare a coaching budget so you can allocate

your coaching time more effectively.

Before the Call

Begin your coaching with a pre-call briefing. Review the status of the target client with

the representative. Look over the physician information card. It should list past

commitments and prescribing preferences. During the briefing, you should also cover

the following points:

• Discuss the sales strategy. Decide what products should be promoted on this call.

Also list the objectives for each call, the questions to be asked and commitments to

be closed.

• Decide on your roles. Make it clear to the your representative what you are going to

do and what you are not going to do during the call. Be sure your Rep representative

knows that the sales call is his or her responsibility.

During Your Joint Call

During your joint sales call with a new representative you want to remain as

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inconspicuous as possible. Fade out after the introduction. Don’t add or contribute your

ideas to the presentation or discussion. Keep in mind the following points:

• Focus all of your attention on the representative. Don’t divert the physician’s

attention by knowing glances. Encourage the physician’s interest in therepresentative by keeping your attention on the presentation.

• Keep out of the physician’s line of sight. If possible, stand in his or her blind spot. Let

the representative have total center stage.

• Be absolutely still. Remember, you’re an extra here and everything you do is a

distraction to the representative’s presentation.

• Resist the temptation to rescue your representative You accomplish absolutely

nothing by grabbing the bag. Prerequisite to any coaching situation is the right of

your representative to fail, so be sure to resist the urge to step in and help out.

• If asked a question, keep your answer short and brief and be sure to hand over the

conversation back to your medical representative. Some examples of hand-over

techniques: “In fact just this morning, Peter pointed out to me that a clinical study

was recently published in the British Medical Journal demonstrating this effect…

Peter?”

After the Call

Let the representative analyze the call. Ask your representative how it went, what was

good or bad, and what might have been done differently? Listen carefully to his or her

answers and try not to give the impression that you are testing every reply. You should

also:

• Ask specific questions. Instead of making the new representative defensive by

pointing out every error, use questioning to make your point. (“What did you think

about the physician’s objections?“ Let the representative come up with different

ways he or she could have handled the call. To help the representative analyze

specific parts of the call, we have designed a Post Call Analysis Worksheet

presented as Exhibit 14.a

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• Reinforce the things that were well done. Compliment the your representative on

skills that he or she is improving.

• This helps build the behavior you want. Watch for improvement, but don’t expect

perfection on the first call.• Suggest a better way. Many times the best technique is simply to tell the

representative how you would have handled a particular part of the call. Your

method may not be the only way to handle a situation, but your experience is

valuable and should be used when appropriate.

• Limit the number of points to be covered. Imagine trying to discuss every problem

with the first sales call. The Your representative could be devastated! If you focus on

only one or two ideas, the your representative will I learn more and feel better and

maintain his or her enthusiasm for making doctor calls.

• Get feedback. You’ll never know if the your representative understands or agrees

with you unless you get a response. Not much learning takes place with only one-

way communication.

• Build on strengths. Too often, field coaching is only used as a tool to point out errors

and areas of weaknesses.correct. However, building on an unusual strength or a

latent skill can be motivating and rewarding for both of you.

Your success in coaching depends on how well you give feedback

We as adults learn new skills by receiving feedback on our performance. Without such

feedback, we are unable to make corrections and improvements to our performance.

Therefore, a most important role for a Field Manager in any training situation is ensuring

that representatives receive the feedback they find most useful for improving their

performance.

With certain tasks such as throwing a dart at a dart-board or cutting paper along a

marked line, it is relatively easy to receive feedback on performance. In such instances,

feedback is immediately available on the quality and consequences of the performance.

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The learner is then able to make the necessary adjustments to improve his or her

performance.

However, many of the skills that our sales representatives use do not offer the samesimple feedback options. In such cases, a Field Manager must use his or her skills to

provide the trainee with feedback that will be as clear as a dart hitting a board. To be

effective with feedback, a Field Manager must also use analysis to observe the

performance and interpret it in a meaningful way. The feedback to the trainee is then

based on the observation and analysis of the performance. The feedback—however

detailed—will fail if the analysis has been neglected or is of poor quality.

[INSERT TRAINER—>TRAINEE—>PERFORMANCE DIAGRAM]

Trainer

Trainee

Performance

Feedback Skills

Analysis Skills

Giving feedback is an interpersonal skill

One difficulty with giving feedback is that it introduces another human element to the

learning system. In this respect, feedback skills are a form of interpersonal-skills

transaction between the Field Manager and representative. Should this relationship be

anything but positive, the representative is likely to create defensive barriers, thus

cutting off the benefits of receiving feedback and the opportunity to practice and

improve.

Having received the feedback, the representative may wish to use this on his or her

next performance. In such a situation, the Field Manager still has an important role to

play. He must design and structure suitable learning opportunities that provide a

supportive climate in which the trainee can try out the modified performance. A carefully

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designed role-play is a useful technique, either as an end in itself or as an intermediate

step before a real-life performance, e.g., the next sales call.

Guidelines for Giving FeedbackThe challenge in giving feedback is to do it in such a way that is helpful. Feedback

should be designed to reinforce positive behaviors and to overcome or remodel

negative behaviors. Here are some guidelines for giving feedback:

Examine Your Motives for Giving Feedback

Are you genuinely trying to be helpful? Is there any element of revenge, point-scoring,

flattery, manipulation, face-saving, or one-upmanship?

Feedback Should Be Prompt

Feedback should be given immediately following the behavior in question or as soon

afterwards as is feasible. Feedback should not be postponed until it is too late to be

effective.

Feedback Should Be Timed Appropriately

Although promptness is important, feedback should also be timed for when the

representative trainee is receptive. Feedback will not be well received when a

representative is particularly emotional, occupied with some other task, or preparing for

a critical event, e.g., a sales presentation to a senior hospital consultant.

Focus Feedback on Behavior Rather Than Personality

It is important that we focus on what a person does rather than comment on what we

imagine he or she is. To focus on behavior, use adverbs (which relate to action) rather

than adjectives (which relate to qualities) when referring to a person. Thus, we might

say a person “talked considerably at this meeting” rather than that this person “is a

loudmouth.” When we talk in terms of “personality traits” we imply inherited constant

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qualities that are difficult if not impossible to change.

Relate Feedback to a Specific Behavior

Focusing on behavior implies that it is something related to a specific situation thatmight be changed—it is less threatening to hear comments about our behavior than our

“traits.” Thus, “when you interrupted me just now, I felt really angry,” not “you are always

interrupting.”

Ask the Representative for His or Her Impressions

Ask the trainee how he or she felt about the interview. This provides an opportunity to

highlight his or her faults and shows you how sensitive he or she is to criticism. You will

still be required to give your feedback by reviewing the representative’s self-criticism,

identifying the more important items, and identifying the good points to provide

motivation.

Give Feedback in Small Doses

Be selective by choosing one or two important points on which to concentrate. Try to

identify the most significant weakness that has the biggest impact on the success of the

representative’s sales calls. For example, a lack of doctor involvement and an

unsuccessful closing technique might result from a poor questioning technique.

Always end your feedback on a positive note by giving praise for those skills that were

effective. Feedback is not helpful when it is:

• Too Critical—Criticism is necessary, but if it is excessive or too negative the trainee

will be demotivated and performance will suffer.

• Too Subjective—Try to make feedback objective. The more subjective it is, the

more it will seem like personal criticism.

• Incomprehensible—The trainee must fully understand the behavior being

discussed and your reaction to it.

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• Prescriptive—If you always provide the answers, the trainee will be less likely to

cope with problems in the future. Rather than saying “What you should have done

is...” you should ask “If you were to do that again, what would you do differently?”

•

Excessive—Don’t hammer the trainee into the ground. When you have reached thelimit of negative feedback, switch to a debriefing, e.g., “Right, now what are we going

to do about it?”

Your Role as a Coach

Your performance as a coach will be more effective if you review positive skill usage,

suggest skills needing improvement, and suggest new techniques when providing

feedback.

• Review Positive Skill Usage —Begin your comments with positive skill usage so

your feedback will seem less threatening. Representatives will understand that

you’re there to help, not to criticize. Encourage representatives who are using a skill

effectively to keep on using it with specific comments, such as “You did a good job of

questioning. If you follow that, you’ll do well,” or “Your eye contact was very effective

in keeping his attention. Keep it up.”

• Suggest Skills Needing Improvement —Keep in mind how difficult it may be to

receive feedback about skills that need improvement. Some representatives may

find it difficult to admit a shortcoming to themselves, let alone to another person—

especially their manager. Help your representatives become aware of skills they are

not using effectively with specific comments such as “Your summary included only

features. To show how the product will help patients, you need to match features

with benefits,” or “To avoid causing confusion, it’s important to ask only one question

at a time. You confused the customer by asking two questions at once.”

• Suggest New Techniques—Use your own experience creatively to help the

representative become more effective. The representative will appreciate knowing

what works for you. Another way of doing this is to make the next call a joint call in

which you demonstrate effective techniques.

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In summary, as coaches we should always keep in mind the following “do’s” and

“don’ts”:

•

Do’s —Do focus feedback on the present.

—Do focus feedback on behaviors you observed.

—Do focus feedback on the most important areas.

—Do focus feedback on specifics.

• Don'ts

—Don’t focus on past performance.

—Don’t judge the person.

—Don’t overload with feedback.

—Don’t generalize.

Allocating Coaching Time to Your Sales Team

The are two basic rules that you need to remember in allocating coaching time is:

1. “Do the greatest good for the greatest number of representative.”2. Spend more coaching time with those who have the greatest need“

The following simple tips are helpful in preparing your coaching time budget on a yearly

basis. Follow them on a step-by-step basis, then adapt the sample forms at the end of

this chapter to your own needs.

Plan the Days Available for Coaching

This can easily be done after deducting vacations and holidays from the total available

work days, which are then multiplied by a factor of 50%. The assumption here is that

you would need the other 50% of your rime for other administrative duties and

paperwork.

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Sample Coaching Budget

Number of days in year, less weekends 261

Holidays 10

Vacation 10Nonworking days -20

Working days 241

Percent of days to be spent on administrative duties

(50%) 50% X 241 = 120 -120

Days available for dual calls 121

Classify Your Sales Representatives by Coaching Needs

Some representatives require more of your time and attention than others. Be careful

with your “low-priority for coaching” representatives. They are usually your best

producers and could feel left out. Remember every great salesman is insecure and they

are easily prone to the “Neglect of the Gifted Syndrome.” What this means is that you

may find yourself paying much less attention to your better representative. Remember

that even your most productive workers also need the attention of their managers.

Sample Classification of Sales Reps by Coaching Needs

Name Classification Name Classification

Kerr Sabado C Nieffen Mata C

Francis Lim B Jaime Rodriguez B

Ellen Abcede B Tom Jones A

Jean Rafael B Rene Porrillo B

Celine Uy A

Priority Code:

A = High-priority coaching, needs most attention.

B = Average need for coaching.

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C = Low-priority coaching, needs least attention.

Allocate the Total Number of Coaching Days per Representative

Your allocation of coaching days will, of course, be based on your priority classificationof ho coaching each Rep needs.

Quarterly Coaching Calendar

Name Priority First Month Second Month Third Month

Sabado (C) 2 0 0

Lim (B) 2 0

2

Abcede (B) 0 2 2

Rafael (B) 2 0 2

Uy (A) 2 2

2

Mata (C) 0 2 0

Rodriguez (B) 0 2 2

Jones (A) 2 2 2

Porillo (B) 2 2 0

Total Days Coaching 12 12 12

Draft Your Quarterly Coaching Calendar

There are many advantages to preparing and following the coaching budget on a year-

round basis. There are instances when a Field Manager will hold a special coaching

session because of certain danger signals. These danger signs could include a low

number of physician calls, too many repeat calls, too few product presentations, too

much sample usage, a great number of missed calls, too few clinical trials, loss of

accounts, very few new accounts, and of course, failure to make your budget.

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However, as a rule, you’ll find that budgeting your coaching time will offer important

benefits to you and your representatives. As the Field Manager, you will have a good

idea of how your coaching time is being spent, and your representatives will have the

benefit of your attention when they need it the most. Overall, you will be doing thegreatest good for the greatest number of representatives, and in the long run everyone

will benefit

10 Reasons Field Managers Don't Give the Praise They Should

High-achieving managers may have difficulty recognizing subordinateaccomplishments that do not approach their own personal standards.

Some managers who expect the best see no need to reward it.

People who have been raised in impersonal environments may have difficulty expressing warm, personal praise.

The manager may not spend enough time with subordinates to see their significant accomplishments.

The organizational tradition or climate may not encourage the giving of praise.

Some representatives are "only" doing their job, and never excel enough in the eyes of managers to warrant praise.

Some managers believe the stick is more motivating than the carrot.

The most common excuse for praising too little is "I'm busy."

Another fear: "They might use it to pressure me for a salary increase or promotion."

"If I tell them they're doing so well, this might lower their performance standards."

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The Accompanied Call

A Coaching Checklist

The following checklist was prepared as a practical guide to help District Managers, tomaximize productivity and training efficiency when doing joint calls or Field Work

Contacts.

Before

Give the representative enough notice for the visit.

Don’t cancel the visit for trivial reasons.

Check on the business objectives for the day.

Try not to oblige the representative to change his or her itinerary for the day.

Check the call objectives for each business call.

Arrive before the first call in the morning.

Dress for the territory being covered.

Coach, but don’t pressure, the representative before the call.

During

Show confidence in the representative.

Sit or stand discretely and avoid movement that may distract the doctor during the

presentation.

Pay attention to the sales presentation and avoid looking bored or uninterested during the

call.

Avoid making notes during the call.

Be prepared to help the representative if your assistance is requested.

Avoid interruptions during the sales presentation to correct the representative (in front of the

doctor) or to reinforce or “echo” points.

After the Call

Ask your representative to analyze the call.

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Ask specific questions to help in analyzing the call. “Did you achieve your call objectives?”

Recognize positive points and avoid over - focusing on negative points.

Avoid criticizing personal traits; concentrate on matters of fact.

Provide honest, accurate feedback after the call. Focus on one or two major areas of weakness, rather than over - criticize on too many negative

points.

Act like a coach, not like a “snoopervisor,” and remember to provide reinforcements.

Don’t insist on your style of selling.Avoid leaving before the work of the day is

finished.Complete the work contact evaluation of the day’s work.

Write a follow - up letter after the visit.

10 Reasons Field Managers Don’t Give the Praise They Should

1. High - achieving managers may have difficulty recognizing subordinate accomplishments

that do not approach their own personal standards.

2. Some managers who expect the best see no need to reward it.

3. People who have been raised in impersonal environments may have difficulty expressing

warm, personal prais

4. The manager may not spend enough time with subordinates to see their significant

accomplishments.

5. The organizational tradition or climate may not encourage the giving of praise.

6. Some representatives are “only” doing their job, and never excel enough in the eyes of

managers to warrant praise

7. Some managers believe the stick is more motivating than the carrot.

8. The most common excuse for praising too little is “I’m busy.”

9. Another fear: “They might use it to pressure me for a salary increase or promotion.”

10. “If I tell them they’re doing so well, this might lower their performance standards.”

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Guide Questions for Post-Call Analysis

1. Setting Objectives:

• Did I examine the doctor's call record card?

• Was I well prepared? With a real plan?• Have I set my objectives before the MD visit?

• Which objectives did I achieve?

• Which objectives were not achieved? Why?

2. Obtaining Information regarding the MD's Practice:

• Did I obtain all the necessary information?

• What did I forget?

• How can I obtain the missed information?

3. Opening

• Did I take time to build a relationship with the customer?

• Was my opening right?• What opening statements were well received?

• Did I bridge smoothly from social to business discussion?

• Any observation or “stupid” actions?

• What would I have done differently?

4. Probing for Doctor Needs

Did I obtain a good knowledge of the doctor's needs?

• What aspects of the doctor's needs required further probing?

• What would the customer have gained in giving me the business?

• Did I explain this point convincingly enough?

5. Presentation:• Did I present those features which respond to doctor needs?

• Did I translate these features to benefits?

• Did I use good questions?

• Did I get good MD participation?

• Did I use my literature and samples effectively?

• Did I use product name mentions throughout the presentation?

• Did I identify; use opportunities to support? (Clinical Papers?)

6. Buying Signals":

• What “buying signals” were given to me during my presentation?

• How have I responded to these “buying signals”?

7. Handling Resistance

• What objections did I meet?

• How did I handle them?

• Did I find the real reason for this resistance?

• Did I use proof sources?

• How would I handle the resistance differently in the future?

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ents of Perri Cebedo & Associates


8. Handling Competition:

What competition did I encounter during my presentation?

How did I handle it?

Did I use proof sources?

How would I handle competition differently in the future?

9. Supporting:

• Did I reinforce with a clinical paper my doctor's own good experience on my products?

•Did I identify or create an opportunity to mention or demonstrate a clinical paper?

•Did I follow the four steps in presenting clinical studies?

1. Create the need for the paper?

2. Establish credibility?

3. Present main points showing graphs/tables?

4. Ask for MD feedback?

10. Closing:

• Did I summarize benefits relating them to identified MD needs before asking for a commitment?

• Did I get a commitment* to increase prescriptions by expanding indications, dosage, length of usage or

patient types? Which?

• Did I get a clear and specific commitment appropriate for the call?

• Did I establish a follow-up or an action step?

* A good commitment is SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented and Time-bonded.

11. Adjusting to the MD's Social Style

Style:

What was the social style/profile of the physician?

• Did you adapt my presentation to the social style of the doctor?• What new personal data can I add to the doctor's record card?

Summary:

• What two things would I do in my next visit with this doctor?

• What will be my objective for the next call?

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