The past: A physician’s endorsement sold a product. The relationship between the sales rep and physician was THE key to success. Today: There are innumerable people involved in the decision to adopt a product, from product review and P&T committees, pharmacy directors, administrators, material managers, to department head nurses and so on. Each constituency has its own interest and agenda at stake. Those in sales are continuously negotiating and having to balance these interests and agendas. The art of negotiation is often overlooked by sales organizations, yet it is an invaluable skill when trying to navigate the multiple relationships in today’s healthcare environment.
Negotiation training programs tend to fall into three general categories:
- Programs offered by MBA schools such as Harvard and Northwestern. Instruction is led by academics with impeccable credentials. Typical cost is $10,000 per person.
- Programs conducted by former sales wunderkinds sharing secret tactics they personally used to negotiate BIG deals.
- Programs which are based on the book “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Emphasis is on teaching tips, tricks and formulaic approaches that rely heavily on situational tactics. As an example, one program crams in 197 different steps, rules, approaches, issues and “critical truths” that attendees are asked to learn.
The third category probably offers a good balance between effectiveness and cost for most Life Science companies. However, after surveying over two dozen negotiation training programs it appears that these programs fail in either one or both of these two significant areas:
- No framework is provided to effectively manage an entire negotiation process, including pre and post activities
- Interpersonal skill development in conflict management, emotional intelligence and communication is nonexistent
Fisher and Ury recognized that people’s emotions strongly influence negotiation outcomes. Emotions generate behaviors that can make it difficult to discern the interests of others, that can cloud judgment, and that can create challenges to communicating effectively. It’s not the recall of reactionary tactics but the ability to interact effectively that will improve a sales organization’s negotiation effectiveness.
Perceptum’s Negotiation program teaches universal integrative negotiation concepts and principles. Within the context of an adaptable framework, participants learn to prepare, conduct, and evaluate a successful negotiation, sharpen interpersonal skills that foster cooperation, and improve conflict management and communication skills. Special attention is paid to conducting difficult conversations and understanding emotional intelligence. After attending our program attendees will know how to think critically, communicate effectively, and negotiate masterfully regardless of the situation and people involved.