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So, I was at the Urologist the other day (TMI, eh? You should read my personal blog :-).
And while that experience wasn’t particularly pleasant, it was enlightening.
Not for the medical part, but for the marketing part.
You see, as I was entering the office of the physician, a very attractive, young sales rep from Eli Lilly was finishing up her initial pitch to the doctor on the merits of prescribing Cialis.
He wasn’t all that interested.
She stated that she would be back in a few minutes and was going to get coffee…. “what do you want?”
“I’m fine,” he said.
She persisted…at least 6 times.
“I’m bringing you back a coffee one way or another, so you may as well tell me what you want.”
He finally relented and placed an order.
Pharmaceutical companies are ueber-sophisticated sales organizations. I’m told (but haven’t verified this) that Pfizer has something like 10,000 reps on the street.
You ask: why would a sales rep be so insistent in bringing back a coffee to a doctor?
I don’t know the EXACT reason, but as I saw the moment unfold, I thought back to the book “Influence” by Robert Cialdini and hypothesized that she was trying to employ the principle of “Reciprocation.”
If she bought the doctor a $4 cup of coffee, he would have no choice but to feel obligated to reciprocate.
And how does he do that?
By prescribing more Cialis!
You can doubt it, if you like, but Cialdini’s research backs it up and, though I have no evidence, I would venture a guess that Lilly has a strong sales training program…and this is a part of it.
So, next time your doctor writes you a prescription, ask him/her if the sales rep came with a cup of coffee.
