Let me first apologize for the first line of this blog.   If the lady referenced in the title read that she would find me and teach me another lesson.  As a coach I watch salespeople make some of the same mistakes over and over again.  I think we naturally all make some of the same mistakes; it is just a part of learning the unique skills of training.  Although the story has nothing to do with developing sales people, the outcome has everything to do with sales success.

Most of my readers know I have a very long history in martial arts and law enforcement.  This story took place almost twenty years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas.  I was attending a seminar on Aikido.  Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies and philosophy. Aikido is often translated as “the Way of the Harmonious Spirit.” Ueshiba’s goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury.  In today’s world many of the law enforcement techniques used in Japan and in the United States are derived from Aikido.

The class was lined up in the usual style, in several straight lines across the edge of the mat.  Individuals were seated by rank with the most senior being to the right of the room from the perspective of those that were lined up.  Towards the far right of the line was a guest instructor.  She was an elderly Japanese woman that walked with purpose but appeared shy in demeanor.

As we worked out through the day it seamed that our partners stayed the same, each of us grouping up with people we knew or felt comfortable with due to experience.  After an hour or so the lady came to me and asked that I join her in practice.  I was not so arrogant to think that I could overwhelm the lady, but I was not prepared for what the next forty five minutes would bring.  I have never heard my joints stretch and pop in so many different ways.  Every time I thought she was going to break my arm or my wrist she would release her graceful grip and help me up.  She would smile and ask me to repeat.  I felt like I had been beaten with a telephone book when we finally switched partners.  I have to admit I learned a lot, but the price was high.

During lunch my instructor sat down with me and explained that it was not her duty to come find me to work out with, but my duty to seek her out due to her rank and experience.  Me going to her for help is what was expected.  Her coming to me to act as a throw doll was not a good use of her time.  I am happy to say that I was not the only example that day and it was a lot more fun seeing the five foot lady throwing the six foot guys around as a spectator versus the throw doll.

I promised there was a business analogy coming and here it is, how many of us as coaches have seen experienced people tell new hires to call them if they need any help?  I have seen it many times with business cards being exchanged and handshakes of thanks.  I never hear of the phone calls.  I think people are just too proud to ask for help or just to slow to figure out who is paying the bills.

For the first six to nine months most sales people make their dollars from referrals, deals already in the pipeline, and opportunities helped to finish by the experienced representative.  It takes time for a representative to develop relationships, credibility, and confidence in the sales call.

So why do more senior representatives just take the initiative and make the new hires call them?  I think the answer to this is they see representatives come and go, they do not get paid (directly) for helping new people, and they have had too many people say they need help but never hear from them again.

As coaches we have to remind the new representatives where their early success comes from and that they have to seek help from those that are better.  I new representative should never tell a senior sales person that they will call them for help and then never call.  The new representative should always seek help from wherever it may come.  That does not mean that it will be easier or faster, but I think we all learn better from other people’s mistakes.  If I was a new representative I would much rather have a mentor that has helped me in the field defend my actions at a national meeting than have a senior representative make a joke of my mistake because I never asked for help. 

No one likes being the throw doll, but sometimes a little dust on our pants puts us in our place.

I think we can all agree that meeting goals and surpassing quotas are metrics for measuring performance.  Other metrics could include customer retention, employee turnover, and new business achieved.  How do we help others perform in these areas?

There are four main components that allow an individual to perform in their job that can be remembered with the acronym T.A.S.K.  T.A.S.K. stands for Talent, Attitude, Skill, and Knowledge.  Some of these items are brought to the job by the employee, some are developed by the coach, and some are motivated by the manager.

Talent refers to an individual’s potential or factual ability to perform a skill better than most people.  I think that we can use the words talents and abilities interchangeably.  This is something that we are born with or is developed over a lifetime.  It is up to the manager to help identify what talent is needed to perform a job at the highest levels.  Finding employees with the right talent is like planting a rose in the right type of soil.  Start with the right talent, align it with the correct job, and then you have the ability to grow a great employee.

What else does the employee bring to the table to contribute to their success?  Attitude is the disposition or state of mind of the employee.  If talent is the soil of creating performance then Attitude is sunlight.  It is hard to grow most flowers without sunshine and it is hard to develop an employee without a good attitude.  Most of you that have been with me long know that I believe it is the employee’s and the coach’s job to bring the best attitude.  As a coach it is important to be an efficient attitude adjuster, to keep the employee as open to growth and change as possible.  Having a great attitude helps in the learning process and is a multiplier of employee performance.

So far we have soil and sunshine.  So logically I would talk about water next, which is Skills.  Skills are usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate.  Skills are taught by the coach and honed by the employee.  A quick way to kill a plant (I have found through the experience of not having a green thumb) is to over water.  The quick way to confuse and reduce performance of an employee is to try to teach too many skills in a short period of time.  As a coach you have to concentrate on one or two skills at a time.  Once the employee has reached an acceptable level of performance you can then move on to the next skill.

Finally there is the fertilizer in this analogy of growing a plant.  I know that just opened me up to a lot of different thoughts about training.  We will therefore define Knowledge as acquired information gained through personal experiences making it unique for each individual.  This is where training comes in as a resource.  We give information out to the employee so they can combine it with their daily experiences to grow the other areas of performance.  The employee will never grow or feel complete without the nourishment of Knowledge.

Creating Performance – Are You Up To The T.A.S.K.?

Make sure that your Representatives have (at the bare minimum) their updated marketing materials with them in the car.  This is a huge deal for management and should be stated that EVERYONE should have their materials with them at sales calls and meetings.    

The representative should have the book, their computers, brochures, resource materials, customer files, and other items needed to work effectively in the car.  These items should be organized and stowed neatly (not sliding around on the dash).  

Example of what I would say to a rep:  It is a good habit for you “work wise” and for how you want to be perceived by others for you to always be prepared for the job.  An analogy I like to use is if you had a pipe bust in your house and you needed a plumber.  So you call a plumber and the plumber shows up in a empty pickup truck with one big wrench to fix your problem.  Now compare this to another plumber that shows up in a van and he opens the door and he has every tool imaginable.  Your initial impression would be that the second person is more prepared and professional, even if they may both use the same wrench to fix the problem.  The second plumber is prepared for multiple possibilities and he appears prepared.  The second plumber appears to be hoping that he brought the correct wrench.  I hope this makes sense as you prepare your representatives for their daily possibilities.

1. Don’t fuel the rumor mill. It exists in every organization and goes into overdrive when managers limit top-down communication. If rep doesn’t hear the news from you, they will likely get it from another source.           

2. Hold all employees to the same performance standards. Be consistent in communicating and maintaining your expectations for quality. Letting certain employees or situations fall under the radar can fuel speculation of favoritism.           

3. Observe and listen during meetings. How do others speak to and about your reps? If people are being questioned unfairly or criticized, speak up in their defense.  

4. Be accessible. Don’t let e-mails and voicemails stack up without acknowledging them. If you can’t address questions immediately, tell your reps when you can.         

5. Ask questions. One-on-one, impromptu discussions with team members can give you an indication of any political issues brewing before they escalate.     

CLIMBING THE MOUNTIAN

The very first thing a company must do as it sets out to develop a new drug is proper planning.  This is the hypothesis generation stage and it is crucial to a timely and cost effective development. Think if you were a mountain climber and you only packed the things for your climb that you thought you needed based on the way Mount Everest looked at its base.  You may pack some good boots, pants, a sweater, and other hiking equipment.  In time you would hit the snow and ice fields which would force you return to the base to repack for a different environment.  The development of a new drug is a similar process of planning and making preparation.

During a new drug development a company needs to know:

            What the drug is intended to do?

            Is there a need or desire for the new drug?

            How much will the drug cost?

            How will the drug be dosed?

            Is there a differentiation between this drug and existing drugs?

            What is the projected return for the drug financially?

            And ten thousand other questions…….

The reason that this is important is because the whole process is based on the fact that a drug is consistent throughout the discovery process.  To give an example, what if a drug is developed and is introduced into people in clinical trials as an injectable drug.  Then marketing comes in and says that they have found through surveys that doctors will not use the drug and people will not like the drug as an injectable, but they would like a topical ointment.  Changing the drug from an injectable to a topical ointment means redoing most of the previous studies.  The reason for this is a change in formulation of the drug and vehicle of delivery, which in theory can change the way the drug acts in the body.

So who should be included in the beginning?  A representational team may consist of members from the following departments:

            Chemistry

Manufacturing

Pre-Clinical research

Clinical Research

            Project Management

            Process R&D

            Pharmaceutical R&D

            Clinical Pharmacology

            Drug Metabolism

            Safety Assessment

            Pharmacology

            Regulatory Affairs – Worldwide

            Bio-Statistics

            Marketing – Worldwide

            Managed Care

Legal

All of these people will have information that will invaluable to the decision making process.  They will plan outline out the development of the new drug and set expectations for the process.

SAND ON THE BEACH

Now you have a plan and objective of developing a new drug for a specific task.  So what molecule are you going to develop?  This is the discovery process.  Imagine that you are standing on a beach with sand beneath your feet.  Your represent the company and the sand is molecules.  If you paint a box around yourself you will define the sand (molecules) that you can effectively look at to see if they meet your needs.  You can have friends look in your box and see if they can find the right grain of sand.  Other people outside of your box represent other companies and academia that is searching their own boxes.  If you do not have the time to search your own box you can buy (or license) a grain of sand from one of the other people.  This whole process is based on defining your needs and looking for the most reasonable solution.

Lead Optimization is the narrowing of the field of compounds to one good drug a series of back ups.  Lead optimization and the pre-clinical studies are the hired guns for the development process.  If a drug is not going to make it through discovery the company wants to find out during these shorter and cheaper studies.  If the lead optimization studies are very intense and harder than required the company will be able to weed out the weaker candidates.  The idea behind this weeding out process is to find the compounds that will have the greatest chance for success.

Optimization is the process of enhancing the compound for potency, selectivity, and bioavailability.  This is the first look at ADME and chemistry as the company begins:

            In vitro tests

                        Potency

                        Selectivity

            In vivo tests

                        Disease model evaluation

            Pharmacokinetics

                        What the body does to the drug

            Toxicology

                        Short studies in rats

                        Gross evaluation

                        Genetic toxicity

            Formulation

                        Solubility

                        Dosage form (capsule, tablet, emulsion, ointment….)

                        Physical properties

                        Scaled-up synthesis (production)

                        For on going studies

                        Evaluate synthesis of large quantities

Once you have your molecule you can enter the development process.

SCHOOL HOUSE ROCKS

Some of you may remember a cute little cartoon on School House Rocks called “I’m Just a Bill,” where a legislative bill goes through the process from being written to being signed into law.  I tend to visualize the drug development process like this video.  There is a set of studies that must be done to meet FDA regulations for the approval of a new drug.  The set of studies varies from drug to drug, so the FDA suggests that a company meet with them before diving into a lot of studies.  The time from hypothesis of a new drug to its launch is 11 to 15 years.  The time from beginning of development to market is typically 8 to 11 years with a cost of $350-450 million.  The discovery process includes pre-clinical, phase I, phase II, and phase III.  The FDA will be looking for three things based on guidelines that have come into existence through the years; safety (1938), efficacy (1962), and value (1990’s).  It is important to realize that if you have a drug that is safe and does the job but does not differentiate itself from other products on the market it may not be approved. 

5 out of 5000 potential medicines tested in discovery make it to being tested in humans.  There is about a 10% chance of a drug making it through the development process if you have a drug that you feel is a great candidate and that has a probability of being approved.  Only 30% of marketed products return the cost of drug development.  Management is constantly reviewing information from all departments to stop the development of a drug if it is not going to be approved.  The farther you get into the development process the more expensive the development becomes.

If the second dirtiest thing in the doctor’s office is the magazines in the waiting room (that every sick person has handled) then the magazines on the airplane and other waiting areas are not any better (may be worse).  Take your own folder of clean reading material to maximize your down time by reading the latest trends. 

I hope you fill your “My Did File”.

Imagine if you will a nice pretty duck skimming across a perfectly smooth lake.  No ripples in the water, or a sound to be heard.  What a graceful and beautiful sight to see the duck glide across the water.

Now imagine that you are a fish looking up at the same duck.  The duck is paddling like heck and looks like a cartoon as it searches and hunts the water for the next fish dinner.

A good trainer appears to others as the duck on the top of the water.  Although all heck is breaking loose (the agenda is off time, someone just quit the class, and the caterer forgot the food) the trainer still appears to be as calm as can be.  The trainer needs to instill confidence that everything is OK, because we know ultimately it will be.

We are the ducks gliding across the water, even if we are paddling like heck to stay afloat.

Have you ever baked Pillsbury cut and cook chocolate chip cookies?  I remember once thinking that I wanted to make one big cookie, like they sell at the cookie store.  I put all the dough on a pan and pressed it out to one big cookie.  Needless to say that my technique did not work.  The cookie came out all burned and crusty on the sides and soft and undone in the middle.

This is what projects are like in training.  Someone important comes to you and says they want a major problem fixed.  You say that what we would normally do is do part of the training at the national meeting, part of the training at an area meeting, and the rest at a regional meeting.  The important person tells you that they want it all done at the same time so the field can be more effective.

I am sure you know where I am going with this by now.  If you try doing the whole project at one time you risk burning out the experienced or “better” reps.  You also risk sending some inexperienced “or not so good” reps back in the field without understanding what they are supposed to be doing (they are actually worse than when you started.

For good cookies you need to take your time, follow directions, and do each stage the right way the first time.