By: Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA | kbarlow@barlowmccarthy.com
While there’s prep, good follow up and essential problem solving, at the end of the day, in the world of relationship strategy- it’s all about the meeting. Quality time with the stakeholder is far and away the most important role for physician liaisons. Are you ready? Do you have the right blend of asking and telling? Can you leverage a conversation toward a referral? We’ve got a lot to do in 5-10 minutes! There are many things we don’t control in the meeting, let’s focus on what we can. Here’s my starter list. See if you agree.
- First impressions
Leaders count on us to make a positive impression with our doctors. We’re guests in their office, so we need to recognize our role and their role. Look and act the part. Be authentic and prepared. If you look like a vendor, you are a vendor- even if you say you are not. Be your best possible self-right off the bat.
- Start with them
Actually, they are the start, the middle and the end! It’s so much easier to align our benefits when they’ve communicated their needs. Using my house guest analogy, there are behaviors that make you a good guest, and none of them are about one-way conversation. If you know your prospect is hard to engage or that you struggle with conversation vs. a pitch, do some role-play, even if it is with yourself. Another good way to stage this is to start with a shared agenda.
- Crisp delivery of benefits
Assuming the door is open to talk about your offerings, provide your messages with clarity and ease. Someone once shared this, be brief, be bright, be gone. It’s very good advice. In our excitement to share, it’s easy to talk too much, to over-explain or to go off on tangents. This is your chance; get to the point, deliver with the right level of content and passion, then mum’s the word. And, crisp is also about enunciation. While it’s generally not a problem for field staff, don’t forget to make your voice easy for them to listen.
- Be interesting
The first rule of stimulating conversation is to speak about topics the doctor cares about. But I want to refine this just a tad, interesting and intentional is the goal here. Good conversations about football or family are not the end-game. The meeting is about their practice needs, so talk about their patients. Adding tidbits of insight or new information about people and services is also a good way to increase their attention.
- The right pace
We’ve all said it, “doctors/customers time is precious…” The tendency is to shove a lot of content into a few minutes. Pace is critical, and more is rarely better. Fast talk makes the audience work too hard, doctors won’t stay with you. Talk then breathe and ask a question to shift the conversation back to them. To make the meeting the best it can be handle the stress of the moment – and yourself.
And of course, it goes without saying, this does not just happen. What if you only get one chance with this doctor? Preparation is mission critical. Commit to making sure that you never do visits where you just wing-it. Do you have techniques that have worked for you to ensure the meeting is the best it can be? If yes, share the wealth.