To effectively coach front line salespeople, pharmaceutical sales managers typically have to walk a tightrope between allowing reps to struggle and learn on their own and stepping in to ensure that key lessons about time and information management, interacting with physicians, and dealing with rejection get internalized to ensure ongoing improvement.

John O’Malley, president of the Alabama-based Strategic Visions, Inc. (www.strategicvisionsinc.com), suggests that one common problem facing pharmaceutical managers is that they fail to understand the key difference between critiquing – which is simply identifying what needs improvement – and coaching, which is a more subtle process of sharing and educating.

“Other problems I see are with managers who have no systematic and repeatable coaching process so they wind up coaching by the seat of their pants,” O’Malley says. “This is often compounded by weak communication and interpersonal skills, and the resulting coaching sessions become helter-skelter in nature.”

Combined with another common problem – managers who become too emotionally invested in reps on a personal level and not a management level – these factors can lead to poor coaching tactics.

“Managers who want to be liked instead of being fair, firm, and focused on the sales rep’s performance, productivity, and profitability tend to avoid tough coaching,” O’Malley says. “Managers need to coach the weak and lead the strong, but know when to terminate the weak to spend more time leading the strong to greater heights.”

O’Malley also breaks down the coaching effort into three constituent parts relative to the sales call, which he prefers to refer to as a “value call.”

• Pre-call. Managers should review with the representative the purpose of the value call, what the goals are, the message to communicate, the targets, opportunities, and satisfaction factor.
• During call. The sales manager’s primary job is to listen and observe. Any coaching should consist of subtle, nonverbal signals of encouragement.
• Post-call. Based on the pre-call plan, critique how the value call went, then review and prepare for the next value call. Offer suggestions for homework to strengthen areas of concern.

While much of the focus of coaching tends to revolve around what reps are doing “wrong,” O’Malley says that just as much attention should be given to reps’ strengths, so that these areas can be reinforced and converted into a sales aid.

“Coaches should also ask probing questions that help salespeople understand their weaknesses through self-discovery,” O’Malley says. “Then the coach can assist as reps work to resolve this shortcoming in their approach to detailing. “Also, it’s important to realize that coaching women is different than coaching men. Due to their method of learning, women can multi-task better than men, whereas men tend to need hardhearted communications.”

O’Malley also emphasizes that coaching is not a one-time event – managers can’t simply impart their wisdom and then send reps off to sink or swim on their own. Instead managers should, while recognizing that results are the ultimate metric by which all salespeople are judged, monitor reps for small, incremental signs of improvement that lead to success.

“Some of the signs to look for are an increase in confidence, less dependence on the coach, more self-esteem, and a lessening in reluctance to tackle difficult accounts,” O’Malley says. “You can also watch for greater attention to detail in the way salespeople prepare for value calls by reviewing their next day’s action plans. Do this for a few days in a row, wait a week or so, and review their value call action plan for the next day. Is the detail still there? Are they thinking through the value call process? Are they closing more, in more creative ways? Have their talking points become more convincing?”

The answers to these questions, O’Malley says, should give you some idea whether your coaching efforts are working, and, if not, what additional training and coaching are needed.