| 80% of you won’t agree with this. 20% will: | | | | better performance, or they probably will perish. |
| 100% – 20% = Failure for a medical sales rep | | | | So now that you understand the power of the 80/20 |
| How can that be? | | | | rule, how can you use it to your advantage as a |
| If you are a field-based medical sales, laboratory sales, | | | | field-based sales rep? |
| medical device sales, or pharmaceutical sales rep, | | | | - Any marketing or sales promotion you design or |
| don’t you always have more tasks to accomplish | | | | implement should be geared/designed to appeal to |
| than time to do them? | | | | your top 20% of accounts. They usually have the |
| Hello 80/20 rule! | | | | financial ability to buy what you are offering–if they |
| Simply stated, the 80/20 rule says: | | | | want it. Many of the smaller accounts may like what |
| - 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your | | | | you are offering and the special “deal”, but they |
| accounts. | | | | don’t have the financial wherewithal to buy, even if |
| - 80% of your problems will come from 20% of your | | | | they want to. Marketing departments normally look |
| accounts. | | | | for feedback from the field prior to designing and |
| - 80% of your peers will try, 20% will succeed. | | | | launching new marketing programs. Have the |
| - 80% don’t understand your technology. 20% do. | | | | marketing gurus come out and travel with you in your |
| - If you make 10 prospecting calls, 2 or 3 are usually | | | | 20% accounts so they will understand the needs of |
| decent prospects. Which means 80% are “not | | | | your largest customers. |
| worthy”, 20% are. | | | | |
| - If you attend a “cross silo” meeting within your | | | | - When you are setting your scheduled calls for the |
| company, 80% of the people will be players, 20% will | | | | week, make sure you spend at least 80% of your |
| be losers less than winners. | | | | time in the field. Back in the day, we used to call it |
| - If your organization notices a small problem with a lot | | | | “belly to belly” selling (I think that actually may be |
| of reagents they manufacture (not a deal | | | | a Tom Hopkins saying). Out of 5 business days, you |
| breaker–the reagent still works, it just doesn’t | | | | should spend at least 4 (80%) in front of customers. |
| work as well as it should), 80% of your customers | | | | There aren’t too many sales you can make if you |
| won’t notice or require help, but 20% will. | | | | aren’t in front of the customer. Don’t even |
| As a rep, you may not even question the rule. After | | | | think about going off on the |
| all, in most territories, the top 20% of accounts produce | | | | -the-customer tangent”. You get my point. 80% |
| 80% of the revenue. From the first day on the job, | | | | of their time should be spent on the phone, which, for |
| you are trained and driven to make you sure you | | | | them, is in front of the customer. That is their |
| exceeded the needs and expectations of those top | | | | “belly to belly selling”. |
| 20% accounts because they controlled the | | | | - If you make 5 presentations in a week, only one is |
| success of your territory. Focusing on the other | | | | likely to be a real possibility. Now you could argue that |
| 80% of your accounts while neglecting the top 20% | | | | a 20% closing ratio is pretty poor. That may be true |
| will ensure you don’t meet your sales plan. Even | | | | in some applications, but in others, closing 1 out of 5 |
| if the other 80% love you and your offerings, they | | | | would be a great closing ratio–what if you were |
| normally aren’t big enough to be able to buy more | | | | selling airplanes or some other really high-priced |
| to make up for the loss in your largest (the 20%) | | | | item? Maybe 2 or 3 out of the five proposals you |
| accounts. | | | | met will close. That would be the exception, but still, |
| Here’s the management application of the 80/20 | | | | with the 80/20 rule in mind, it will make you |
| Rule: “Feed the eagles and starve the | | | | “prove” to yourself that they are a real |
| turkeys.” A manager should spend the most time | | | | prospect, even if you have a dose of skepticism |
| feeding the eagles: traveling, training and working with | | | | (because of what you know about the 80/20 rule). |
| the reps who are doing the best–the “high | | | | This mindset can really help you when you are |
| flyers”, the eagles, the top 20%. Starving the | | | | forecasting and trying to assess the probability of |
| turkeys refers to the other 80%. They either have to | | | | closure in a certain time period. |
| move up with the eagles through positive actions and | | | | |