Examination of selling styles and the need for specialized sales training

The present study was conducted to determine whether sales training material should be specialized for specific selling fields. Three focus groups of 20 healthcare personnel were formed at the University of Tennessee Medical Center to obtain personal experiences encountered with healthcare sales representatives. The questions and information gathered allowed the investigator to analyze whether or not sales representatives were being provided with accurate, detailed sales training within their field. Results indicate that 12 areas regarding healthcare policies and procedures should be incorporated into healthcare sales training material; (a) use of discount selling, (b) back-orders and pricing issues, (c) rapport-building, (d) product implementation, (e) time constraints, (f) specific healthcare policies, (g) cold calling, (f) personnel notification, (g) decision-making process, (h) healthcare selling strategies, (i) hospital challenges, and (j) medical educational background.