A department meeting with six doctors is not six calls. Very often it is one call, with five spectators.
Group meetings look efficient on a call report. In practice, the rep presents, the senior doctor asks a question, and the others nod and go back to their clinics. Nobody's individual need gets heard, and nobody agrees to anything.
How I teach reps to run the room:
- Know the room first. Ask who is coming and what they want.
- Find the quiet one. He may be the one who treats the most patients. Ask for his view by name.
- Short talk, long discussion. Let the doctors debate their own cases.
- Watch the senior doctor. The room follows his reaction.
- Follow up one by one, in each doctor's own clinic, within the week.
- Keep it within the code. Education first, any hospitality modest and secondary.
The fifth point is where most of the value is lost. The meeting creates interest. Only the individual follow-up turns it into a decision.
One meeting, six doors. You still walk through each one alone.
“The meeting opens six doors. You still have to walk through each one alone.”
Lesson 15 of 15 in Step 5: The visit, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.