If I could coach only one part of a call, I would coach the opening.
It is short. It happens on every single call. And in my experience it decides whether the doctor listens, or waits politely for the rep to leave.
So on some double visits I watch nothing else.
How that day runs:
- In the car park, I tell the rep: "Today I will watch only your openings."
- In the clinic, I watch two things. The first words: about the doctor's patients, or about the product? And the doctor: did he lean in, or wait for it to end?
- At the cafe table afterwards, I ask before I tell. "What did you want your first sentence to do?"
- I ask the rep to repeat the opening word for word. Hearing it back does most of the coaching.
- Together we build one better opening, linked to this doctor's patients or the last visit.
- On the next call, the rep tries it and I stay silent.
- The following week, I ask how the openings have gone.
One skill, one day, a real change the rep can feel.
“Fix the opening and the rest of the call gets a chance.”
Lesson 13 of 23 in Step 4: Coaching, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.