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Professional Selling

Professional Selling "Report: AMA to Sell Membership List" This article, which was published in The New York Times on Sunday, November 12, discusses the American Medical Association’s recent plans to pull out of a deal that it had originally signed with the Sunbeam, Corp. and has signed a new deal to sell its subscription and membership list to a database marketing firm. According to the article, The AMA will sale of the list of 650,000 doctors in the United States will be a joint venture also including HelathCarePro Connect and Acxiom Corp. Critics claim that the sale can encourage pharmaceutical and medical supply companies to utilize "questionable marketing practices" and it violates the AMA’s own ethical standards as well. Such pharmaceutical and medical supply companies can used the detailed information regarding doctor specialties and drug prescription patterns, as well as other pertinent information, to push their products. The story published on Crain’s Chicago Business website reported that these companies can use this information combined with special gifts, promotions or dinners to sway the doctors in their business dealings. AMA officials supported and argued for the deal, stating that such information is not private and can actually be found through other sources and databases, making such a deal completely ethical. Not all doctors disagree with the new deal and selling of such databases by the AMA. The system actually allows doctors to limit contact they have with marketers and can actually be removed from such lists. Also, by eliminating such a deal, the AMA loses funds that would be used to finance research and other programs subsidized by the AMA. There are two aspects of the article that pertain to various class discussions. First of all, the use of such lists, directories and databases by sales associates of pharmaceutical and medical supply companies is one type of prospecting discussed in class. Some lists may include just names and telephone numbers of people within a particular industry or profession. However, other databases, including that which was being sold by the AMA can include more pertinent and valuable information to sales associates. These lists can help the associate in pursuing and qualifying leads, yet it should not be the sole source. Searching through these databases should be combined with other forms of prospecting such as networking, trade shows, promotional activities, or through satisfied customers. Using a purchased database may not always prove to be fruitful and successful for the salesperson. For example, if Pfizer were to purchase the database from the American Medical Association, they would be just one of many pharmaceutical companies targeting a list of certain doctors. Doctors will then become less open to hearing from a salesperson due to the fact that they may be targeted by a multitude of pharmaceutical companies. Information from the database may also be in need of an update or may not be so accurate, and thus hurting the presentation of the salesperson. In the particular database distributed and sold by the American Medical Association, a doctor’s specialty as well as drug prescribing patterns are listed and can be crucial for a salesperson’s presentation to the doctor as well as which doctors to target for their sales. Another aspect of professional selling that is addressed in this article is ethical issues in selling. Although the selling of the database is not an illegal business practice on the part of the American Medical Association, it can be seen as a betrayal of the trust of doctors and other medical professionals who have faith that their information is kept private. However, the situation would become and illegal business practice if the American Medical Association promised potential members that such information would be secure and only used by the AMA itself. Also the medical supply companies use this information 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 new products. Also, the lists should be used in combination with other sources such as satisfied customers. This could give the pharmaceutical salesperson more credibility with the doctor or medical association. The purchasing companies of the database just has to ensure that the lists are used properly and do not have a negative and reverse effect upon their sales. Bibliography:

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