By: Susan Boydell | sboydell@barlowmccarthy.com
If you could change one thing about your physician relations role, what would it be? I bet most answers are about things your organization needs to change that would make you more effective. All of these are likely opportunities for your internal stakeholders to take on. But what about you? What about those things you can control, those things you can do differently?
Most of us don’t thrive on change. But, we all know that change is a constant in everything we do. And, if we keep doing things the same way we always have, we risk becoming irrelevant. Since that is not a desirable option, here are several ideas to help you challenge the status quo in your everyday field work. Pick one or two and commit to try something different. You might be surprised how adaptive you are.
- Learn Something New. Pick a practice or two you’ve been calling on for a while. The ones where you often think you have nothing new to share. Learn something new about their patients. Perhaps it’s a new request or a need they’re hearing from their patients. Write down a couple of new questions to start the conversation and document what you learn. It could open a door to other offices as well.
- Make Appointments. If most of your weekly visits are drop-ins, set a goal to make one appointment daily. Again, work on your phone script. If you have a team member who is good at setting up an appointment, ask to shadow on a couple of calls. Be willing to try new approaches to see what works and doesn’t.
- Do a Clinical Deep Dive. Pick a clinical area that you wish you understood better. Then, create a learning plan that includes reading, observing and interviewing your clinical experts. Remember, this is so you can ask better questions and have a deeper conversation with a referring physician about their patients.
- Take on Your Data Aversions. Look for a mentor to teach you the basics of data analysis. Ask your mentor to give you a project with data and your target list. Then, use your analysis to create a sales plan. Track your results!
- Tell Your Story. Add a story that ties your field activity to new referrals earned in your next results report. Think about what’s important to your leaders. Package the “story” to demonstrate impact in a new way. Then, take it one step further and get on a key growth meeting agenda and present your results.
- Build an Internal Relationship. Everyone has that internal stakeholder who doesn’t get what you do. Create an internal sales plan to advance that relationship. This isn’t a one-and-done tactic but a commitment over time. Create milestones to chart your progress.
These are just six ideas to get you started. Maybe your commitment is to focus on one new idea each quarter. If you get sidetracked, ask yourself what got in the way. Was it something you could control or something out of your control? Change is a learning process so focus on your learning and change will happen!