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Pharma Reps: Is it time to Unleash your Inner Samurai?

5/1/2017

Okay, so what do pharmaceutical sales representatives have in common with Samurai warriors, you ask?

A lot really.

Like the ancient Samurai warrior, the pharmaceutical sales professional must also focus on mastery, and survival – especially in today’s complex and competitive healthcare environment.

Samurai warriors had to practice their martial arts skills for years to master the techniques required to defeat an opponent in a sword-fight that lasted seconds.

Their repetitive training made their skills so ingrained – so instinctual – that they could execute their techniques and strategies in combat without even thinking.

Without the noise, distractions, and internal dialogue cluttering their minds.

Their minds were free - to be in the moment - without having to think about what to do next.

In martial arts, this Zen-concept is called "Mushin" (pronounced moo-shin).

Mushin = “No Mind.”

This is an original hand painted calligraphy of Mushin (No-Mind), that was a gift from the mother-in-law of my martial arts teacher, B.C. Yu.

Now, back to you, the pharmaceutical sales professional...

While your “battle” for the time, attention, and the SALE of your product may not be a life or death struggle with your customer, there is still a lot riding on those precious few moments that you may get with him or her to execute your skills!

This is NOT the time to…

Fumble for your words,
Struggle to locate your selling resources,
Or, to THINK about what YOU plan to DO or SAY while your customer is talking!

Rather, this IS the time FOR YOU TO BE IN THE MOMENT – fully!

Like the great undefeated Samurai warrior, Miyamoto Musashi...

Your mind should be free to instinctively respond to your customer and execute your skills and expertise by maintaining a state of:

Mushin

“No Mind!”

In part two of this post, I’ll walk you through exactly how to put the Zen concept of Mushin into practice, so that you can learn how to prepare yourself to execute your pharmaceutical sales calls with the same confidence level legendary Samurai displayed in swordsmanship.

In the meantime, enjoy this 45 second video clip I found on YouTube titled, "No Mind," from the movie, “The Last Samurai,” as the American military captain (character played by Tom Cruise) learns the concept of Mushin.

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Become Extraordinary! Part 3

6/18/2015

Become Extraordinary (part 3 of 3)

My last several posts focused on why some people become extraordinary while most of us do not. What’s their secret? How can you become extraordinary too?

If you want to be extraordinary, you must do extra – ordinary things with your time and energy.

In this post I will focus on the third simple way to becoming extraordinary.

3. Begin doing Extra – Ordinary activities in your work or career:

Two hikers are walking through the woods and encounter a mother bear that is angrily protecting her cubs. The first hiker stops to quickly change into his running shoes. The second hiker nervously laughs and says, “What’s the point of that? You can’t outrun that bear.” The first hiker replies, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you!”

My grandfather (in law), whom we affectionately referred to as “Grandpa-the-Great,” was an extraordinary individual in almost every way. He gave me some sound career advice about 25 years ago declaring, “Kevin, to be successful, you only need to do 10% more than everyone else!”

Now, I can’t say where Grandpa-the-Great got the “10%” figure – or if he even just made it up on the spot, but I have benefited from that advice ever since.

The point for you, dear reader, is that it takes very little extra-ordinary effort to become extraordinary in your career or profession!

Let me explain by using a metaphor about a small, one-employee (you) service business. Please be sure to read on – because this may give you an insight into your work and career unlike anything you’ve ever read before!

Success in business, as with almost anything else in life, is achieved at the margins.

For the sake of simplicity, assume your small hypothetical service business has a steady monthly revenue stream generated from your sales of $10,000.

The fixed overhead of all your monthly expenses (rent, utilities, insurance, advertising, car, etc.) is $9,000 – leaving a gross profit of $1,000, or 10% of your sales.

Using the 10% rule from Grandpa-the-Great, what happens to the gross profit if you marginally increase your monthly sales by another 10% per month?

Will the gross profit go up 10% too?

Actually, if the current sales are $10,000 per month and you increase them by 10% to $11,000 per month--your gross profit would increase 100% from $1,000 to $2,000! (Remember, the fixed costs remain unchanged).

What does this have to do with becoming extraordinary?

Let’s get back to you and your job. You are most likely part of an organization. From the organization’s point of view, ordinary performance is equivalent to the efforts needed to attain the success from our hypothetical example BEFORE the profit increase. It does not suggest those efforts are easy or unsatisfactory, just that they are ordinary.

Extraordinary performance, on the other hand, is represented by the 100% gross profit increase in our hypothetical example.

However, the difference between the ordinary and extraordinary results was a margin of only 10% extra effort on your part!

Now, keep in mind that this example is a metaphor to help you understand that relatively small and consistent extra effort, a marginal difference over what is ordinary, will generate extraordinary results!

This is a universal principle that transcends across all career fields.

...And, it is why Hiker number one knew he didn’t have to be faster than the bear—just marginally faster than Hiker number two.

...It is also why Grandpa-the-Great knew that if he worked 10% harder than his peers over the course of his lifetime that he would become extraordinary (and take my word for it, he was!).

How hard would it be for you to do 10% more than everyone else?

It’s not that hard at all! Most of what we do on the job is the result of what has been previously established by the performance culture of our place of employment anyway. This "standard" has not been optimized for extraordinary performance!

How can you become more effective in your output? What efficiencies can you develop in your position? Which of your responsibilities and objectives are the most important and valuable to your company's mission and success? Focus your extra effort on those areas.

Working 10% harder can also mean working 10% smarter. Approach this strategy as a competitive mindset and a higher level professional standard for yourself versus an expanded to-do list in an already hectic schedule.

Like the magic of compound interest, your sustained effort of working 10% harder than ordinary will yield extraordinary benefits to you in regards to your job- skills, knowledge of your field, professional reputation, and your capacity to confidently assume more responsibilities over time!

Extraordinary people are exceptional because of the extra-ordinary activities they focus on with their time and energy.

Over several posts, I explored three simple ways you can become more extraordinary, including mastering a skill or subject matter outside of your work, volunteering your time and resources toward something important to you, and by dedicating 10% more sustained effort to your career.

Becoming extraordinary is a choice. The choice is yours to make!

Instead of choosing to spend all of your free time being a customer of those who lead extraordinary lives, why not dedicate some of your time to becoming more extraordinary yourself?

Pharma Reps: Is it time to Unleash your Inner Samurai?

Become Extraordinary! Part 3

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