Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017 - 32

FEATURESTORY

Influence & Impact Others
■ By Amy Glass and Mark Jarvis

W

e all do it. We all want to get
better at it. Other people also
try to do it to us. Influence.
It's a hot topic, and an essential
skill, whether you're a sales
representative, a training manager or a
marketing director. As organizations
become flatter, it becomes more
necessary to influence from every seat.
ink about it. Is your organization
matrixed, cross-functional and
collaborative?
If so, you have a great need to
influence with and without authority.
As field sales reps, we need to
inform and influence internal
stakeholders and our customers in an
increasingly challenging marketplace
- with access issues, crosspromotions and selling in a more
crowded space.
Learning the 3 Cs of Influence can
help you increase your impact.

Connection
Connection is about building
rapport and relationships. How? We
start by understanding the other
person's perspective. Oen, when we
want to pitch an idea we get so
focused on our own perspective that
we lose sight of other people's views.
is is essential to building
relationships and moving others.
Challenge yourself to truly
understand what's happening with
your company's internal stakeholders
and externally, in the practices,
hospitals and clinics in your
territories. Perspective-taking helps to
move minds.
Empathy is the emotional
component of perspective-taking.
Empathy is such an essential skill that
some medical schools in the U.S. are
now teaching it. Many of us get so
busy solving problems that we forget

Field sales reps need to
inform and influence
internal stakeholders and
customers in an increasingly
challenging marketplace.
the value of empathy and
encouragement. Build your empathy
muscle by tuning in to others - know
what's going on with them. Be aware
of the filters which distract you from
listening and showing empathy.
For example, we know someone
who interviewed to be on a team
which expected to launch a drug later
in the year. She was disappointed
when she didn't get the role. Months
later, she was at an oﬀsite, chatting
with the person who had gotten the
role - and was complaining about the
stress and workload! She found it
impossible to empathize since she had
wanted the opportunity. Can you
relate?

Communication
In sales, the ability to ask
thoughtful, probing questions is
essential, both for understanding the
other person's perspective and to
subtly influence. Yet many of us
struggle to ask probing questions.
At a recent class for field sales reps
who felt they were strong at
questioning and could wing it, when
they asked for an example of a
question they would ask doctors, they
struggled and then said, "Is eﬃcacy
important to you in your treatment
options?" We can do better than this!
Consider the following types of
influence questions:

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FOCUS | Field Sales Training 2017 | www.L-TEN.org
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017
