ProfessionalDevelopment
Picture this: Your life sciences training team has just been gifted with a whole crop of new sales reps. Eager to distinguish themselves and make an impact, they dive into their training — only to find themselves isolated at home, slogging through hours of elearning modules.
Rah-rah “Welcome to the Organization!” messaging? Check.
Disease state? Check.
Mechanism of action? Check.
A cursory nod to healthcare system utilization management strategies like formularies and prior authorizations? Check.
They might participate in a virtual simulation exercise or two to test drive messaging and objection handling. And boom — they are certified to go out into the field to influence customers and drive sales numbers.
But have you really prepared them for their role?
Not likely.
As learning professionals, we know that effective onboarding is critical. In fact, according to a study from CareerBuilder and SilkRoad Technology, 93% of employers agree a good onboarding experience influences a new hire’s decision to stay with the organization. However, 29% of employees don’t think their organization did the right things during onboarding to help them succeed in their new role. And on a scale of one to 10, 27% rated their most recent onboarding experience a five or lower.
Leaders often prioritize speed. The goal is to get reps into the field as quickly as possible to meet those critical share-of-voice metrics. But their haste is often at the expense of effectiveness. As a result, much of rep learning happens on the job through haphazard trial and error.
This creates a precarious situation for people who may never have worked in pharma or healthcare. Many come from sales backgrounds in entirely different industries, but selling in life sciences is a whole different ball game.
Unlike other industries, where sales often involve direct persuasion of the customer or end-user, life sciences sales reps must influence healthcare providers (HCPs) who prescribe medications and devices rather than the patients who ultimately purchase them.
This indirect sales dynamic requires reps to build trust and credibility with HCPs. Selling skills, clinical expertise and local market access savvy are critical. A poor first impression during the first weeks of a rep’s tenure can prematurely — and permanently — damage a relationship with a customer.
These unique challenges demand a broad set of skills that go beyond traditional sales training. And they are often challenges for which new reps find themselves ill-equipped.
When reps aren’t adequately prepared, they face one of two crises: a crisis of confidence that paralyzes and demoralizes them, or a crisis of overconfidence where they don’t know what they don’t know, which is readily evident to their customers.
Neither sets them up for success.
What if, instead of starting with formal learning, we sent new reps into the field first?
Imagine this:
Two weeks of shadowing. New reps spend two weeks shadowing experienced colleagues (and, of course, sign a compliance pledge to only observe, not participate in, any conversations with customers). They witness the dynamics of HCP offices, learn how compliant messaging shapes conversations, and watch how seasoned reps handle objections and rejection.They see firsthand what their days will look like — live and virtual customer calls, manager ridealongs, using sales tools — even the practicalities of where to grab lunch or take a break. They receive an unvarnished example of life as a life sciences rep.
Guided reflection. To deepen their learning, the new reps engage in daily guided reflection exercises:
What surprised you today? Why?
What did you admire about your mentor rep’s approach? Why?
What would you do differently? Why?
What questions do you now have about the role of a life sciences rep?
What skills or knowledge areas do you believe you need to shore up to succeed?
These exercises build self-awareness and critical thinking while helping reps connect their experiences to what they’ll learn in formal training.
The benefits?
Engaged learners: Early exposure to real-world scenarios gives reps the “why” and “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) behind their formal training. Experiencing HCP interactions gives them a view into the types of questions they’ll be asked and the skills and expertise they’ll need to manage customer conversations with confidence. This allows them to identify their own learning needs early on and approach formal learning with purpose.
Curriculum insights: After spending time in the field, the new reps may bring back questions and scenarios your existing curriculum might not address. This feedback allows you to refine and modernize your training to reflect current realities in the field and provide more relevant content.
Future leaders: Experienced reps who mentor new hires can gain valuable coaching experience. Over time, this cultivates a pipeline of potential managers and leaders, enriching your organization’s talent pool.
By flipping the traditional model, you’re aligning training with real-world experience. Reps are better equipped to handle the complexities of their roles, making them more confident and competent. You’re also building a culture of continuous learning and coaching, where everyone — from new hires to seasoned reps — plays a role in driving success.
Not every training team has the resources or latitude to make such a radical change in onboarding. But you can still reap the benefits of such an approach by making some small tweaks to your existing program.
Take your training team on the road. When was the last time your trainers and content creators spent time in the field? And when they’re there, what do they do? What questions are they asking? What are they observing?
Implement a program that allows your training team to fully experience life in the field while capturing actionable insights.
Recruit some new hires as “market researchers.” When they’re released into the wild as newly minted reps, ask a few of your trainees to capture their thoughts in a daily log. Use the guided reflection questions above as thought starters.
Give your first-line managers an opportunity to weigh in. Gather a group of four to six managers on a call and do your own market research. What are they hearing or experiencing with their new hires? What questions do they ask the most? What have they seen them do well? Where are they getting hung up?
Launch a pilot. Experiment with a field-first approach on a smaller scale:
Find an amenable leader willing to let you experiment with a handful of newly hired reps.
Identify existing reps who can serve as mentors and develop a checklist of experiences you’d like them to provide during the two-week field experience.
Create a formal daily reflection mechanism to ensure you’re capturing critical insights.
Add metrics to track the performance of the pilot group against those trained in your traditional manner.
Align your content with data you collect from the daily reflections so the reps can tie what they’re learning to what they experienced.
Your pilot experience will inform larger changes to your onboarding, and provide data and anecdotes to help you gain alignment from leadership.
By embracing this field-first approach, you can create onboarding that reflects — and respects — the realities of the life sciences sales rep role.
Using real-world experience as a catalyst, you can motivate your new hires to understand and master the essential skills and knowledge required to thrive in their careers. In the process, the insights and experiences gathered through this immersion will allow you to shape a more effective and engaging training program, fostering success and growth for new hires.
As a bonus, you’ll have the opportunity for continuous pulse checks on the evolving needs of your sales force.
Jenny Allen is the founder of Nemawa Consulting. Email Jenny at jenny@nemawa.com or connect through www.linkedin.com/in/jennystrachanallen.
