Focus Magazine - Fall 2011 - 43

CLIP&GOACTIVITY

VARIATIONS
Everyone “Plays” a Product

Competitor Golf
Remembering the unique characteristics of competitor products can be a daunting task for sales representatives who are new to a product or therapeutic area. This activity can help reinforce those differentiating characteristics.
TIME REQUIRED: 45 to 60 minutes; depending on number of competitors NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 4 to 25 SET UP: 1. Identify characteristics of competitors, including differentiating factors.
2. Create note cards ("cheat sheets") for each product. 3. Set "par" for each competitor by answering the question, "How many questions will a sales representative have to ask in order to guess which competitor this is?" 4. Create scorecards. As in golf, the lowest score wins! 5. Set stations around the room, indicating the station number and par for each. 6. Recruit facilitators to "play" (i.e., represent) the product at each station. If you do not have multiple facilitators, ask participants to study and prepare to play the role of a product during this activity.

Instead of using facilitators to "play" each product, have half the class act as products and half act as golfers. • For the first part of the workshop, “products” prepare by studying their characteristics. The "golfers" review all competitors. • Golfers then play through the course of products. • The groups then switch sides and the process begins again. Note: Best for longer workshops and fewer participants.

Go Solo
If the workshop group is small, each participant plays his/her own game.

Add the Element of Positioning
FACILITATION: 1. Divide the group into teams; 4 or 5 per team for a group of 20 to 25 works best.
2. Give each team a scorecard and provide instructions: • • Each team starts at a different station. Teams approach the station, note the par number, and make a list of the questions they want to ask of the “product.” For example: - Do you have a black box warning? - Are you a first line treatment option? - What are your contraindications? • The team asks a question and the person “playing” the product answers. After hearing each answer, the team guesses the product or chooses to ask another question. Each question and each incorrect guess counts as 1 “stroke.” The process continues until the team correctly identifies the product. Teams mark their scores for the “hole” based on par, and rotate to the next station.
If you have enough facilitators to play each "product," add selling to the game. After the team identifies the product, the facilitator asks them to role-play a positioning statement. I The Competitor Golf activity was developed by Red Nucleus, which creates interactive eLearning, print-based workshop and blended solutions for the life sciences industry. Get more activities and practical advice from the Red Nucleus Training Matters newsletter at http:// red-nucleus.com/subscribe.asp.
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3. Direct the teams to their first stations. 4. When all teams are finished, have them rotate to the next station. 5. When the teams complete all stations, have them report their scores and declare a winner!

Questions that force the product to identify itself are not allowed (e.g., “What product are you?”)

FOCUS | FALL 2011 | www.spbt.org/resources/focus-magazine.aspx

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Focus Magazine - Fall 2011

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