Doctors go through years and years of classes, training, and all-nighters just to learn every possible thing they can about being a doctor. They learn all of the organs of the human body and how to deal with them, but they don’t learn a whole lot about sales and tact. In the last two to three years, many prominent medical schools have begun to include bedside manner classes in their cocktail of requirements for graduation. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn valuable lessons about sales from doctors.
All About the “Patient”
Once you enter a doctor’s office, it’s all about you. A doctor doesn’t come in and talk about how amazing they are and all of the huge accomplishments they have. They start talking about you. They ask about your worries and your problems and what you expect to happen in the next few years. They ask if you have any issues and thy talk about what you can do to fix those issues.. When your salespeople talk about themselves first, it’s like a doctor saying hello and getting on the scale to show you their weight; it just isn’t right.
All About Trust
Because someone is a doctor in the first place, we automatically assume they have gone through rigorous training and schooling to be where they are. We don’t need to see their list of credentials to trust them and their claims. If we’re ever lucky enough to see their office, we’ll see diplomas and certificates everywhere. They may even have a shelf full of books we can’t even begin to understand. But above all, they can talk to you knowledgeably about the issues you might be having. Even when they can’t immediately tell you what’s wrong with you, they can use methods they’ve developed over the years to determine what they can do to help you.
Your team might not be able to win the trust of clients over quite as fast, but they can certainly take the time to earn the trust of potential clients. When they don’t, and they’re just in it to make some sales, people notice – and people walk away.