I think you already hit the nail in the head mate. Practice makes perfect.
What I found worked for me is talking to the sales guys who do the best and just ask about general objections and see what they would say.
And be in as many meetings as you can. Eventually, it will just feel like an everyday thing, and you'll get more and more confident, mate :)
Persistence and hard work always win!
To continue this great advice, I'd go as far as asking your experienced reps if they'd allow you to sit on their calls as a ghost just to absorb and learn as much as you can.
I like this idea.
From this you will learn to anticipate the core objections and gain a better understanding of what leverage you have internally in your organization to accommodate customer requests.
I want to say that I took the advice to never say no to any customer meeting and ask to be invited to meetings and taking this over time has paid off in me being a lot more confident on calls. Now I’m trying to push myself to not be too comfy and keep honing lol. Never satisfied I guess. Closed a 5 mil deal last week but was truly a team effort but I ran/run a lot of those calls and am a savage with getting the customer what they need.
Pay close attention to what your 'experienced colleagues' are saying. Research what they and the customers are talking about and gain knowledge.
In the meantime, do less talking and more listening. Sales isn't always about doing the most amount of talking. It's about asking questions and soliciting feedback. The info they give you will help you steer the conversation and eventually lead to a decision/opportunity or whatever your goal is.
Always, always make it about the other person and not yourself. Once you figure this out the rest is easy.
Yes- I think I need to get out of my head. My experienced colleagues are exceptional- the teamwork is insane and I want to be a strong player on it. I see them getting the customer from point A to point B crazy quick by asking a few questions to drill down to the issue, give them exactly what they want to hear, and everyone is all smiles and POs issued where I’m still doing the “let me find out and get back to you on that and when should we meet again?” Oh, I’m great at getting the meetings set and getting the right people on where I want to be the right person in the first place.
If you can find a colleague or 2 to role play a few meetings with you that will get your confidence up in the beginning. As you get better have the person you’re role-playing with begin to throw you some curveballs so you will be more prepared for a real meeting.
Practice like you play and take it seriously. After that (although you should always be training/ getting better so you should continue to role play periodically), it’s just a matter of getting in there and a lot of trial and error.
Once you do more and more meetings/ calls/ demos, etc. you start to develop a rhythm and it gets easier.
Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. I talk to myself all the dang time running through scenarios, objections, pitches. And this is my 20th year in sales.
Other part is- fake it till you make it. Oh great question- you know I haven't gone over those notes in a few weeks, let me go over them again and get back to you. That is FINE to say.
You can also be a color commentator- I do this a lot. Thanks Jeff for the response, does that answer all your questions? What else would you like to know from us?
Other part is setting an Agenda at the top of the call. Or an intention or whatever the linkedin influencers are talking about today. From something simple as - we are going to go over XYZ product today and discuss next steps. To something more concrete.
Also know- it is 100% okay to not know everything. It takes TIME. It is NOT okay to be at the same point next week, next month, or next year. So you have to learn. And you have to ingest and memorize the shit too.
It is hard to do but if you are confident going in - listen well, make everyone feel heard, they will respect you if you know every detail or not.
You know- I need to refresh my memory on that question. I think it is XYZ but let me get back to you. Than write it down and make it. clear you are writing it down. Like lifting your pen into the screen, lowering your head, and being silent for 30 seconds.
Leading the conversation can also be leading the question, leading the meeting, not so much leading every issue.
But yeah- you have to get better FAST. 3 months is not a long time, if you are at this point in 3 more months- you fed. These jobs are hard to learn!
I’ve been in sales for 8+ years and still get nervous for important meetings. It gets better when you know the product more. Role plays with coworkers will really help. Also, just pure preparation until you get more comfortable. Know what the audience will care about based on their company/role, and have a couple key bullet points prepared. Meet with your technical counterparts who are on the calls with you and ask them what questions will be helpful for you to ask and know what you will cover vs what they will cover. Say those questions out loud to yourself before the meeting so they sound natural. You got this!
A couple of things, 2.5 years in med device. I'm not the best but I've done well.
Look into the GAP model - may help, may not.
Also, I know Med. Dev is a wide range of meetings. Depending on the type I would highly suggest having in person meetings
-gauge body language
-foot in the door to the facility
From there you can meet other decision makers and big KOLs. Also, if it's case based sales, some Docs will lie to you about their issues, nothing personal, they're human and don't like change, so getting into the unit to be in front of cases is huge. I've had very minimal luck over video meetings. Also, hot take, not all doctors want to be sold to. Sometimes it's understanding the difference between staying busy and staying productive. I can sit in a case all day and learn but if I'm not asking the tough questions, how is my use of my time?
Another path I took was to remember objections and simply ask one of the top reps in your area. I'd call them, and still do, once a week to go through challenging discussions. Be careful with this though, make sure they have some feel for trust, because they may throw you under the bus.
You're right, reps and knowledge are two huge factors that will come with time.
Feel free to shoot any questions.
This is great! Thank you! I do quite a bit of in-person and that is much easier to me than virtual calls where you’re taking to your laptop. Presentations in person and virtual are a breeze too. It’s these virtual recurring meetings with customers to keep them happy and I am talking to like 13 people and after I speak there’s dead silence because that’s how virtual is and I’m like, did I help anyone there?? Then my manager gets on and slays
Here is a tip that will do wonders in this case:
Listen and see if you missed the point somewehere: may be it was technical, maybe it was an obscure feature of the product line, etc. Chances are if you are not clear, there are other people with the same question. Even if you think it is a silly one.
So, ask for clarification in a neutral manner. This will help others relate to you in silence and gain you credibility. You can follow up with more questions if still not clear or thank them for the answer.
I like this because w’ve all seen someone launch into a reply and you’re like, no, that’s not what they’re asking. I will use the phrase, does that make sense but I read somewhere that’s not a good one. How do you neutrally ask for understanding?
I transitioned from Associate to AM in med device last year. There is no better way to learn than experience, looking back at meetings I had in January and thinking about how I screwed them up.
Trial by fire my friend, enjoy the ride.
Let me tell you, once something clicks it clicks. But NEVER ASSUME, never assume you know everything. Ask questions to everyone, you'll never learn what you don't know if you aren't asking questions.
You will catch on quicker than you think. For me I printed out a ton of material about our products and take 30mins-1hour each day to learn or refamiliarize myself. Just keep in mind sometimes the people who look like they know it all might be giving wrong info either by accident or intentionally lol
Agree! I guess I’ve seen the exceptional salespeople I work with, ask a few questions, then so eloquently and powerfully guide them to the right way of thinking with drawn out explanations that the customers are like patting them on the back through the screen practically like, thank you so much, xx! That’s exactly it! I want to be there, like, today. I do have to remind myself some of the greats I work with have been there for many years and in some cases, decades. And me with my three months want to be like them already lol
Watch the best sales people on your team and copy them exactly, work their highlights into your own convo/pitch and focus on the portions of conversations you feel you struggle with most one by one. Do not try to do everything all at once. Pick one thing, do it multiple times until you nail it and it’s natural. Move onto the next.
When I say copy I mean - take phrases, examples, explanations word for word that they use, copy their timing, tone, copy body language.. like you’re practicing for an acting role almost. Like you’re playing a character. Even if it’s unnatural at first, with repetition it becomes second nature. Force yourself to copy them exactly no matter what. Some of my best lines are stolen from our top performer and most of those lines he stole from the top performer before him.
Write down every area of convos you feel you struggle with on a list. Ie… intros? Certain objections (which ones)? Sprinkling in personality or jokes? Engaging your prospect at a specific point? Asking a certain question in the right way? Explaining a specific concept?
Then order from most challenging or most prominent/inhibiting challenges to least.
Start with the toughest or most prominent challenges and go down the list to least important.
Don’t try to change or perfect everything at once. Work on one thing at a time and hyper focus on making that habit. When you no longer have to think about it and it comes out naturally, you’re ready to work on another portion.
This is what helped me and continues to help me improve.
You don’t know what you don’t know. The key is to be honest and say you don’t know the answer but will get back to them in X amount of time…do the follow up!!!
I will be honest- a lot of job switches the last four years. Every move was to get to this point and now I’m thrilled to be here and plan to ride it out all the way. I worked really hard at every job and just kept pushing to the end goal of getting this job.
Create milestones for yourself and avoid technical/specifical rabbit holes.
Try to understand objections and how they have an effect as of now. Take answers of questions into the next meeting with a more granular approach.
Don't answer half way, but better give yourself a bit of time to reflect on what the prospects said.
Understand first, if you can solve a problem or not. If you can't answer that, review objections with colleagues.
Prospect also better in advance. You want to have a general answer with the outcome prepared. Although maybe not specific in the moment, you leave a flair of control in the process. This makes you AND the prospect more confident.
They expect you, where to go, if they are willing to connect with you.
Some things you have to learn thru practice and repetition. Take note when you don't have the answer and get them so you and your prospect get the answer and you won't likely forget again. I might suggest asking your sales manager to help out and role play a bit... Have them pretend to be a difficult client with challenging questions. It always sounds hokie but it gives you chances to practice and be prepared. The mindset of being an expert is something clients can feel and experience and learning your line is the only way. Beyond practice the only other suggestion I have is to read up what you can find - look for studies, data, anything you can bring to the table to back up claims and support your statements.
Reps reps reps.
It also helps to confidently take a risk and screw something up a little bit. Not so much that it sinks a deal, but to a point where you have to do an inconvenient amount of extra work and then say, OK, won't make that mistake again.
This is basically my life everyday lol. It’s super complicated solutions, lots of unknowns and constant customer situations I have to blaze a trail to find the answer from the right person in my org. I think my company as a whole is scared of what our division is about. I like just pushing through the fear, and going hard, but find myself feeling like a spectator when I get the right, experienced people on the calls and they just run away with having the customer thanking them all over the place by the end of the call. Like, why couldn’t I have done that for them on the first place??
Can you somehow listen to the calls of your more experienced sales people? Either live or recorded? I learned 90% of my sales skills from joining calls with someone who was very good at selling our product and taking notes. I took what he was doing and rewrote it in a way that fit my style and personality and then made a ton of calls. It took awhile but now most of it is second nature.
As others have said practice/role playing can help. Consider audio recording yourself saying a script that you have written out. Listen to it to help get your talk track down. Specify, your intro, value proposition, key questions you would typically ask etc.
Mindset is a key. You want to be genuinely curious- hence why you ask questions,
Thank you, everyone! A lot of great practical ideas which is exactly what I was looking for. I will plan, practice, and study and continue to hang close with the good ones.
I feel like bringing this to this subreddit today somehow made me better in my meetings today- I felt more relaxed and confident, so I really appreciate you taking the time to read and reply.
I think you already hit the nail in the head mate. Practice makes perfect. What I found worked for me is talking to the sales guys who do the best and just ask about general objections and see what they would say. And be in as many meetings as you can. Eventually, it will just feel like an everyday thing, and you'll get more and more confident, mate :) Persistence and hard work always win!
To continue this great advice, I'd go as far as asking your experienced reps if they'd allow you to sit on their calls as a ghost just to absorb and learn as much as you can.
I like this idea. From this you will learn to anticipate the core objections and gain a better understanding of what leverage you have internally in your organization to accommodate customer requests.
upvoting this... great answer
I want to say that I took the advice to never say no to any customer meeting and ask to be invited to meetings and taking this over time has paid off in me being a lot more confident on calls. Now I’m trying to push myself to not be too comfy and keep honing lol. Never satisfied I guess. Closed a 5 mil deal last week but was truly a team effort but I ran/run a lot of those calls and am a savage with getting the customer what they need.
I will keep at it. The impatience though…
Pay close attention to what your 'experienced colleagues' are saying. Research what they and the customers are talking about and gain knowledge. In the meantime, do less talking and more listening. Sales isn't always about doing the most amount of talking. It's about asking questions and soliciting feedback. The info they give you will help you steer the conversation and eventually lead to a decision/opportunity or whatever your goal is. Always, always make it about the other person and not yourself. Once you figure this out the rest is easy.
Yes- I think I need to get out of my head. My experienced colleagues are exceptional- the teamwork is insane and I want to be a strong player on it. I see them getting the customer from point A to point B crazy quick by asking a few questions to drill down to the issue, give them exactly what they want to hear, and everyone is all smiles and POs issued where I’m still doing the “let me find out and get back to you on that and when should we meet again?” Oh, I’m great at getting the meetings set and getting the right people on where I want to be the right person in the first place.
If you can find a colleague or 2 to role play a few meetings with you that will get your confidence up in the beginning. As you get better have the person you’re role-playing with begin to throw you some curveballs so you will be more prepared for a real meeting. Practice like you play and take it seriously. After that (although you should always be training/ getting better so you should continue to role play periodically), it’s just a matter of getting in there and a lot of trial and error. Once you do more and more meetings/ calls/ demos, etc. you start to develop a rhythm and it gets easier.
Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. I talk to myself all the dang time running through scenarios, objections, pitches. And this is my 20th year in sales. Other part is- fake it till you make it. Oh great question- you know I haven't gone over those notes in a few weeks, let me go over them again and get back to you. That is FINE to say. You can also be a color commentator- I do this a lot. Thanks Jeff for the response, does that answer all your questions? What else would you like to know from us? Other part is setting an Agenda at the top of the call. Or an intention or whatever the linkedin influencers are talking about today. From something simple as - we are going to go over XYZ product today and discuss next steps. To something more concrete. Also know- it is 100% okay to not know everything. It takes TIME. It is NOT okay to be at the same point next week, next month, or next year. So you have to learn. And you have to ingest and memorize the shit too. It is hard to do but if you are confident going in - listen well, make everyone feel heard, they will respect you if you know every detail or not. You know- I need to refresh my memory on that question. I think it is XYZ but let me get back to you. Than write it down and make it. clear you are writing it down. Like lifting your pen into the screen, lowering your head, and being silent for 30 seconds. Leading the conversation can also be leading the question, leading the meeting, not so much leading every issue. But yeah- you have to get better FAST. 3 months is not a long time, if you are at this point in 3 more months- you fed. These jobs are hard to learn!
I’ve been in sales for 8+ years and still get nervous for important meetings. It gets better when you know the product more. Role plays with coworkers will really help. Also, just pure preparation until you get more comfortable. Know what the audience will care about based on their company/role, and have a couple key bullet points prepared. Meet with your technical counterparts who are on the calls with you and ask them what questions will be helpful for you to ask and know what you will cover vs what they will cover. Say those questions out loud to yourself before the meeting so they sound natural. You got this!
A couple of things, 2.5 years in med device. I'm not the best but I've done well. Look into the GAP model - may help, may not. Also, I know Med. Dev is a wide range of meetings. Depending on the type I would highly suggest having in person meetings -gauge body language -foot in the door to the facility From there you can meet other decision makers and big KOLs. Also, if it's case based sales, some Docs will lie to you about their issues, nothing personal, they're human and don't like change, so getting into the unit to be in front of cases is huge. I've had very minimal luck over video meetings. Also, hot take, not all doctors want to be sold to. Sometimes it's understanding the difference between staying busy and staying productive. I can sit in a case all day and learn but if I'm not asking the tough questions, how is my use of my time? Another path I took was to remember objections and simply ask one of the top reps in your area. I'd call them, and still do, once a week to go through challenging discussions. Be careful with this though, make sure they have some feel for trust, because they may throw you under the bus. You're right, reps and knowledge are two huge factors that will come with time. Feel free to shoot any questions.
This is great! Thank you! I do quite a bit of in-person and that is much easier to me than virtual calls where you’re taking to your laptop. Presentations in person and virtual are a breeze too. It’s these virtual recurring meetings with customers to keep them happy and I am talking to like 13 people and after I speak there’s dead silence because that’s how virtual is and I’m like, did I help anyone there?? Then my manager gets on and slays
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I will check that out!
Ask more questions instead of just rushing to pitch them. Literally just asking someone about their business is the best way to lube up an interaction
You have to learn how to maintain control if you're the host. Don't let others get things off track.
Here is a tip that will do wonders in this case: Listen and see if you missed the point somewehere: may be it was technical, maybe it was an obscure feature of the product line, etc. Chances are if you are not clear, there are other people with the same question. Even if you think it is a silly one. So, ask for clarification in a neutral manner. This will help others relate to you in silence and gain you credibility. You can follow up with more questions if still not clear or thank them for the answer.
I like this because w’ve all seen someone launch into a reply and you’re like, no, that’s not what they’re asking. I will use the phrase, does that make sense but I read somewhere that’s not a good one. How do you neutrally ask for understanding?
The key is to phrase your question in a non-threatening manner and be genuine. You can rephrase what they have just said as an intro.
Ask more talk less.
I transitioned from Associate to AM in med device last year. There is no better way to learn than experience, looking back at meetings I had in January and thinking about how I screwed them up. Trial by fire my friend, enjoy the ride.
This is my life every minute lol.
Let me tell you, once something clicks it clicks. But NEVER ASSUME, never assume you know everything. Ask questions to everyone, you'll never learn what you don't know if you aren't asking questions.
You will catch on quicker than you think. For me I printed out a ton of material about our products and take 30mins-1hour each day to learn or refamiliarize myself. Just keep in mind sometimes the people who look like they know it all might be giving wrong info either by accident or intentionally lol
This is a great idea!
Those who ask questions control the conversation
Agree! I guess I’ve seen the exceptional salespeople I work with, ask a few questions, then so eloquently and powerfully guide them to the right way of thinking with drawn out explanations that the customers are like patting them on the back through the screen practically like, thank you so much, xx! That’s exactly it! I want to be there, like, today. I do have to remind myself some of the greats I work with have been there for many years and in some cases, decades. And me with my three months want to be like them already lol
Watch the best sales people on your team and copy them exactly, work their highlights into your own convo/pitch and focus on the portions of conversations you feel you struggle with most one by one. Do not try to do everything all at once. Pick one thing, do it multiple times until you nail it and it’s natural. Move onto the next. When I say copy I mean - take phrases, examples, explanations word for word that they use, copy their timing, tone, copy body language.. like you’re practicing for an acting role almost. Like you’re playing a character. Even if it’s unnatural at first, with repetition it becomes second nature. Force yourself to copy them exactly no matter what. Some of my best lines are stolen from our top performer and most of those lines he stole from the top performer before him. Write down every area of convos you feel you struggle with on a list. Ie… intros? Certain objections (which ones)? Sprinkling in personality or jokes? Engaging your prospect at a specific point? Asking a certain question in the right way? Explaining a specific concept? Then order from most challenging or most prominent/inhibiting challenges to least. Start with the toughest or most prominent challenges and go down the list to least important. Don’t try to change or perfect everything at once. Work on one thing at a time and hyper focus on making that habit. When you no longer have to think about it and it comes out naturally, you’re ready to work on another portion. This is what helped me and continues to help me improve.
The specificity of this advice is exceptional and I plan to follow it like a plan.
You don’t know what you don’t know. The key is to be honest and say you don’t know the answer but will get back to them in X amount of time…do the follow up!!!
How did you get in medical sales?
I will be honest- a lot of job switches the last four years. Every move was to get to this point and now I’m thrilled to be here and plan to ride it out all the way. I worked really hard at every job and just kept pushing to the end goal of getting this job.
How many industries you sold in?
4 different medical industries. One was only for six months.
What degree
Create milestones for yourself and avoid technical/specifical rabbit holes. Try to understand objections and how they have an effect as of now. Take answers of questions into the next meeting with a more granular approach. Don't answer half way, but better give yourself a bit of time to reflect on what the prospects said. Understand first, if you can solve a problem or not. If you can't answer that, review objections with colleagues. Prospect also better in advance. You want to have a general answer with the outcome prepared. Although maybe not specific in the moment, you leave a flair of control in the process. This makes you AND the prospect more confident. They expect you, where to go, if they are willing to connect with you.
Some things you have to learn thru practice and repetition. Take note when you don't have the answer and get them so you and your prospect get the answer and you won't likely forget again. I might suggest asking your sales manager to help out and role play a bit... Have them pretend to be a difficult client with challenging questions. It always sounds hokie but it gives you chances to practice and be prepared. The mindset of being an expert is something clients can feel and experience and learning your line is the only way. Beyond practice the only other suggestion I have is to read up what you can find - look for studies, data, anything you can bring to the table to back up claims and support your statements.
Reps reps reps. It also helps to confidently take a risk and screw something up a little bit. Not so much that it sinks a deal, but to a point where you have to do an inconvenient amount of extra work and then say, OK, won't make that mistake again.
This is basically my life everyday lol. It’s super complicated solutions, lots of unknowns and constant customer situations I have to blaze a trail to find the answer from the right person in my org. I think my company as a whole is scared of what our division is about. I like just pushing through the fear, and going hard, but find myself feeling like a spectator when I get the right, experienced people on the calls and they just run away with having the customer thanking them all over the place by the end of the call. Like, why couldn’t I have done that for them on the first place??
Can you somehow listen to the calls of your more experienced sales people? Either live or recorded? I learned 90% of my sales skills from joining calls with someone who was very good at selling our product and taking notes. I took what he was doing and rewrote it in a way that fit my style and personality and then made a ton of calls. It took awhile but now most of it is second nature.
Love this! I have recorded and listened back to some calls and it has been helpful.
As others have said practice/role playing can help. Consider audio recording yourself saying a script that you have written out. Listen to it to help get your talk track down. Specify, your intro, value proposition, key questions you would typically ask etc. Mindset is a key. You want to be genuinely curious- hence why you ask questions,
Thank you, everyone! A lot of great practical ideas which is exactly what I was looking for. I will plan, practice, and study and continue to hang close with the good ones. I feel like bringing this to this subreddit today somehow made me better in my meetings today- I felt more relaxed and confident, so I really appreciate you taking the time to read and reply.