Do you want to get into medical sales but are secretly afraid that you don’t know enough?
Here are 37 B2B healthcare sales tips that I wish I knew before joining one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world as a sales manager.
B2B healthcare sales are a golden opportunity for salespeople who know their secrets.
You’re about to become one of them.
1) A Horrible Truth
Healthcare professionals don’t consider meeting with you, a sales representative, a priority. They’re busy, so you should view every chance to speak to them as an opportunity to open doors for your sales organization.
2) The Solution to Your Stress
Your meetings will be canceled at the last minute. Prospects will keep you waiting. People will be rude to you. Welcome to B2B healthcare sales. Be flexible and maintain a positive outlook.
3) What Experts Do
Learn all you can about your prospect’s organizational structure and financial situation. Without this information, you can spend months talking to the wrong person.
4) Could This Be the Best Sales Secret?
Research what types of prospects buy from you the most. Your time is limited; spend it on opportunities you’re most likely to close. Partner with your the healthcare marketing team in your company to identify patterns and act accordingly.
If independent doctors buy more from you than hospitals, focus your lead generation campaigns on healthcare providers who are more responsive to your offer.
5) What’s Working in Medical Sales
Find alternatives for your medical sales portfolio. Even if you’re not in charge of developing your company’s healthcare marketing strategy, develop a deep market expertise that allows you to detect opportunities, and move fast. Don’t depend on hospitals. Private practices make faster purchasing decisions, helping you to close more deals.
6) The Real Commitment Behind B2B Healthcare Sales
Patients don’t buy from you as a B2B healthcare company, but their satisfaction must be a top priority. Include in your sales pitches how your product improves patients’ lives.
7) Are You a Small Business Owner?
B2B healthcare sales demand a business owner mindset. Even if you’re part of a large sales team, treat every account as an independent business; focus on providing outstanding service and increasing profitability. Be resourceful as entrepreneurs are.
8) Top Sales Reps Do This
B2B sales reps are consultants offering customized solutions tailored to each customer, not catalog sellers marketing the same thing to everyone. You must own the sales process and add value to the healthcare buyer at every journey step.
9) Never Go to a Sales Meeting Without Them!
Testimonials from healthcare professionals are one of the best ways to persuade decision makers and B2B buyers in the industry. The healthcare sector demands proof; your job is to provide the best testimonials and success stories.
10) Good News for Entrepreneurs
Think like an entrepreneur. If you don’t take action and rely on your initiative, you won’t make any sales. Being a sales leader is not about inspiring discourses but of continuous and consistent action.
11) Are You Using Your Time Wisely?
Most of the people you talk to in the B2B healthcare industry have no purchasing power. This isn’t a bad thing. You need internal allies in B2B companies to move your sales funnel.
But you must balance your time between decision makers and advocates to avoid spending months talking to someone without buying power.
12) Prevent Organizational Mistakes
Healthcare organizations are dramatically different from each other. You can’t make assumptions. Do your homework and research your prospect’s organizational structure.
13) A Secret That Healthcare Professionals Don’t Want You to Know
Healthcare professionals protect their workflows. If your product requires radical changes in the workflow of a healthcare organization, it will be tough to sell.
Ensure that your product matches your prospect’s way of doing things or that its inclusion causes as little disruption as possible.
14) How to Make B2B Friends and Influence Healthcare People
Contacting the chief medical officer of a prospect first is not always the best idea.
If your product is used by laboratory technicians and prescribed by physicians, it’s crucial to convince them of your value. Connecting with allies who advocate for your product will shorten the sales cycle.
15) Home Economics 101
The B2B healthcare industry doesn’t budget for large purchases every month. If you sell capital equipment to hospitals, save your commissions. There will be months you sell nothing.
16) Face-to-Face Turbulence
In the age of COVID-19, meeting face-to-face with healthcare decision makers is a challenge. Find creative ways to deal with the loss of personal contact.
Develop virtual demos that capture the essence of face-to-face interactions. Rehearse and practice these activities until they look and feel natural. Patient care changed after the pandemic, and so do the way to demosntrate your product’s value.
17) Make B2B Marketers Pay
Sales professionals depend on marketing to establish goals based on industry forecasts and market share. This method leads to frustration.
The best way to align marketing and sales interests is to share a sales volume metric. This practice creates a collaborative environment. Don’t ignore the advantages that digital marketing can offer to your pipeline. Build allies.
18) Follow the Money
The economy and the local business climate influence B2B healthcare spending. Pay attention to these dynamics to adjust your sales strategy. Keep an up-to-date buyer persona that changes as the economy does.
19) Sales Questions?
Collect your company’s best sales questions. Classify them by categories: cold calling, discovery sessions, email marketing campaigns, marketing automation KPIs, objections, and other interactions. Share them with sales reps to repeat your high-performing practices.
20) Positive Results
Your attitude predicts your results in sales. Getting no for an answer is a daily reality. B2B healthcare sales demand positivity, or you will burn yourself out.
21) The Most Important Conversation
Do you think about what to say next, or are you listening to your prospect? Are you trying to sound witty or understand your customer’s problem? Sales conversations are all about the prospect.
22) This Will Increase Your Sales Commissions
Nothing happens if you don’t take action. Plans are fantasies if you don’t implement them. Research is essential, but taking bold steps increases your sales commissions.
23) Confessions of a B2B Healthcare Account Manager
There comes a day when you realize, as a salesperson, that your motivation depends on the goals you create for yourself. Passion comes from within.
24) Your Everyday Superpower
Learn the principles of copywriting. B2B healthcare communication relies on writing; you must communicate clearly, persuasively, and engagingly. Even if you don’t see yourself as a B2B marketer, consider that behind every marketing strategy, there’s a goal that aligns with yours: getting attention. Learn how to do it in a persuasive way.
25) Are You Misunderstood?
Make sure others understand you. You are in the middle of corporate cultures. Healthcare customers aren’t necessarily as familiar with your company’s jargon or culture. Communicate with your target audience on their terms.
26) Are You Blocking Your Own Sales Efforts?
Action is the engine behind healthcare lead generation. A conversation with a prospect must lead to a commitment. A demo, another meeting, a sample—keep the sales cycle with forward momentum. Use your company’s content marketing assets as tools to keep top of mind with prospects who might forget a conversation you had weeks ago.
27) How to Be Brave
Healthcare sales will test your patience. It takes up to 12–18 months to close a B2B sale. Exercise to strengthen your grit and resilience. It’s time to rejoin the gym.
28) Do You Have Your Customers on Your Mind?
Improving your customer experience is your main task as a sales professional. Be proactive, offering possibilities to make your customers happy. People remember sales leaders who always have a solution available.
29) The Mystery of Sales Costs
Pay attention to your sales costs. Sometimes, you’re losing money, and you’re the last person to know. Keep an eye on transfer prices if you’re part of a global organization, as sometimes healthcare marketers change them without telling you.
30) Everything You Need to Be a Successful Sales Manager
If you’re a sales manager, be open with your team. Explain the reasons behind your decisions. Insincere managers block sales from within.
31) Avoid Unpleasant B2B Sales Surprises
Some prospects aren’t ready to buy. It’s your job to nurture these leads along their customer journey. A healthy sales pipeline depends on your ability to cultivate numerous relationships.
32) Do You Know Where Your Memory Went?
Remember dates, promises, tasks. Use an app or take notes. Don’t let your sales future slip through the cracks.
33) Are You in Love?
Don’t be the middle person. Be passionate about your product. Prospects notice sellers who don’t believe in their products.
34) The Solution to Most of Your Troubles
Reply to emails and customer requests without delay. The best sales strategy falls apart if you don’t stay on top of your duties.
35) Are You the Problem?
Don’t bring an excuse to a problem. Customers don’t care about your reasons; they want solutions. It’s your job to offer them alternatives.
36) Curiosity Saved the B2B Sales Rep
Be curious about your successes and failures, about your customers and the healthcare market. Your success will match your level of curiosity.
37) A Motivational Story
B2B sales are about making things happen inside your healthcare organization and with decision makers. If it feels like everything depends on you, you’re on the right track.
Your Turn
B2B healthcare sales require a new mindset. You need to care.
All the tactics, hacks, or tips are irrelevant if you don’t care about your customer’s success.
Their success is your success.
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