It’s often been said that an effective sales presentation starts with asking good questions. Questions help uncover needs, which help establish the demand for your product or service.

Good questions also often facilitate a longer conversation. This is especially true in medical sales, where time with the provider is often limited.

If done properly, asking the right questions at the right time can not only help extend the time you spend with your doctor, but it can often lead to them talking themselves into a sale.

Here are 6 questions that every medical sales rep should be ready to ask their doctors:

OPENING QUESTIONS

“How are you currently treating patients suffering from _____?”

This question is a good way to start gathering information about the practice. Listen to what the doctor says and what they omit. This can uncover pain points and elicit further implication questions.

“How does your practice evaluate new programs to implement?”

This is a key question that gives you information on how to position your product or service. Be sure to make note of what the doctor’s criteria for new programs are, then weave that into your close.

SETUP QUESTIONS

“If I snapped my fingers and this program was up and running in your practice today, where would you see yourself utilizing it?

This question helps the doctor visualize the product or service in use and paints the picture for what this will look like in their practice. It’s also a perfect lead into your next questions.

“…and how would you see your practice benefiting?”

There is a saying in sales, “Telling ain’t selling!” Explaining to a doctor how they are going to benefit is not going to have the same impact as if you get them to reveal it themselves.

“…how do you think your patients who suffer from ____ would benefit from this program?”

Like the previous question, this helps the doctor visualize for themselves what this would look like in use in their practice.

CLOSING QUESTION

If you asked the previous questions effectively, the doctor already gave you the roadmap on how to close the sale.

 “So doctor, if I understand you correctly, your practice would benefit from this program by ____, and you think your patients would benefit because ____.

 How soon would you like for your practice and patients to begin seeing those benefits?”

This is known as an “assume close,” which works perfectly if you have established clear benefits to the patient and practice.

This also creates a sense of urgency for the doctor. When you are talking about improving the quality of care for a patient, typically a doctor will respond that they want it as soon as possible. Why make patients suffer any longer than they need to?

Pull through with busy practices can sometimes be challenging. By closing in this manner, this helps establish benchmarks and a timeline based upon what the doctor told you is important to them.

For more medical sales tips, visit everyancillary.com. There you will find dozens of training videos and resources on 50+ medical ancillary programs. You can also find vendors who are looking for distributors, and you can connect with them directly with NO MIDDLEMEN!