mation along with gifts and entertainment to push their products to doctors. This also is a questionable business practice and many companies actually forbid their employees from accepting such gifts, dinners and entertainment.In my opinion, using such lists and databases to prospect clients is probably the most ineffective method of gaining leads. Cold calls can just aggravate potential clients. For example, I worked for a dentist office as a receptionist and I was constantly screening calls from dental supply companies. The dentist I worked for refused to deal with such salespeople and we were instructed to inform them of that. Often, the salesperson would attempt to call and act as a personal phone call for the dentist. However, such a tactic never proved successful because of the extensive phone call screening process we utilized in the office. The problem with cold calling is that if the contact person is not willing to speak with a sales representative, there is nothing that the person on the phone can say to convince them otherwise. Those salespersons that stepped through the door were never granted appointments. Instead, their business card was taken and placed on the desk somewhere just to be lost by the next morning. Also, such a practice by the AMA can actually hurt their credibility among their members. I have personally had my name sold by various sources and companies and I receive approximately three sales calls per day requesting that I sign up for some credit card. However, as a frustrated customer, I have just cancelled the credit card instead. This can be a similar reaction by doctors and can end up having a negative effect upon the American Medical Association.As a salesperson, I would rely less on the lists rather than other methods I have available to me. The goal is not to alienate potential clients, but rather to qualify leads. Maybe methods such as sales letters could be used instead to introduce ...
