Your DM is riding with you two days this month, lucky you.  How can you make this intrusion into your personal space in the car a good thing?  Read on.

Having been a Pharmaceutical Sales representative for years, I understand how riding with your DM can cause you to be nervous and frustrated.  By following these suggestions you will be doing everything you can to ensure the ride-along not only goes well, but actually helps you to climb the ladder of success within your company.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sign up a Colleague

Someone you work with could benefit from receiving pharmasalesreps.com. Sign them up now or forward this email and let them subscribe. One of you may win a t-shirt!

Click here http://pharmasalesreps.com/newsletter.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Don't be late.

I don't know where you live, or where you manager lives, but I can guarantee that 99% of the time he or she will have travelled farther than you to work together.  Show up 10 minutes early -- you have no reason to be late. 

Being late shows a lack of respect and sets a bad tone for the rest of your field visit. 

This is one of the easiest rules to follow in order to have a good meeting with your manager and it never ceases to amaze me how often reps show up 5 to 10 minutes late for these meetings.

2. Have a plan, and let your DM know it.

Theoretically, your day with your DM should be no different than your days without her.  You should also have a plan for whom you want to see, when you want to see them, and what you hope to accomplish during that meeting.

By having this plan in writing, and handing it to your DM at the start of each day it shows you a. actually have a plan and b. are putting that plan into action.

3. Prepare your car for the ride-along

Take 15 minutes prior to meeting your manager to clean out the dog hair.  You don't want the only memory they have of their time with you, to be a dry cleaning bill.

Get rid of the old, outdated, dog-eared marketing material and make sure you have enough samples and current support material to last you for the entire field visit. I'm sure you spent time at your most recent POA going over the new material, now is the time to show that you've mastered it.

When you don't have something the doctor requests, that you should, it leaves the impression that you aren't paying attention to the details and sales are slipping away.

4. Have something scheduled early

This ensures you get off to the right start.  Explain to one of your friendly offices that you will be doing a dreaded ride-along with your boss and it would be great if they would let you bring in breakfast before the first patient.

This shows an excitement and energy to get the day started as opposed to working very late which may show an inability to get the job done in a timely manner.

If that breakfast goes well, it will also set a good tone for the remainder of your field visit.

We will be examining the rest of that field visit -- and all you can do to make it a success -- in the next newsletter.

Please try to follow every one of these items every time your District Manager works with you.  Very few reps will.  If you are one of the few you will be well on your way to assuming additional responsibility within the company.

Copyright 2007 OHM Consulting LLC

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe, http://www.pharmasalesreps.com/unsubscribe.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------