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The Pharma Career Ladder · The medical rep · Step 5: The visit · Lesson 8

Reading the room

Four signals a doctor is finished before you are

By Ahmed El Menshawy · 20 years in pharma, from medical rep to country manager in the UAE. Founder of RepPharma. LinkedIn
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A doctor almost never tells you the call is over. He shows you.

Most reps I coach are good at preparing the message. Fewer are good at noticing when the doctor has stopped receiving it. The call ends in his head long before it ends in yours.

Four signals I teach new reps to watch for:

  • The glance. His eyes go to the door or the patient list.
  • The screen. He opens his laptop or turns to the monitor.
  • The short answers. "Yes." "Fine." "OK."
  • The stand. His chair moves back.

When you see one, do not push on to the next slide. Say your one line, agree the next step, thank him and go. He will remember that you respected his clinic, and that is worth more than the slide you skipped.

“Leave one minute early and you are welcome back. Stay one minute late and you are remembered for it.”
Reading the room: Four signals a doctor is finished before you are

Lesson 8 of 15 in Step 5: The visit, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.

More lessons in step 5: The visit

Lesson 1First thirty secondsWhat the doctor decides before you open the detail aidLesson 2Opening without a pitchThree openings that earn the next two minutesLesson 3The patient type openingNaming the patient before naming the brandLesson 4The question you never askFour kinds of question, and the one most reps skipLesson 5SPIN in a two minute callSituation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff, compressedLesson 6Listen twiceThe two-to-one rule between listening and talkingLesson 7Silence is a toolWaiting after a question instead of filling the gapLesson 9What you say after the dataTurning a study into one sentence a doctor repeatsLesson 10Features, advantages, benefitsWhy reps stop at the featureLesson 11Three levels of a benefitThe patient, the practice and the doctor himselfLesson 12The value equationBenefit over cost, in the doctor's termsLesson 13Storytelling with a patient caseA case that lands in thirty secondsLesson 14Three minutes in a corridorStructuring a call you did not planLesson 15Group calls and lunch meetingsRunning a room without losing the individual

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