The Ride Day
Over the course of my career, I’ve done hundreds of ride days with distribution sales reps.
Back when I was a young Healthlink rep, I’d walk into a practice with a bottle of AloeGuard and ask the nurse to put her hand out to fill it with soap. I’m not sure 52-year-old Scott would have the nerve to do that today. I only got smacked once and yelled at a few times during those demos, but we sure sold some soap on those ride days. The best part was the look on a PSS rep’s face when I would do it the first time. When we walked back to the car, they’d always ask, “Are you gonna do that in every account?”
I would reply, “Why yes, I am. And you’re going to make 37% margin on reoccurring soap business the rest of your career because of it.”
From lotions and potions to demoing latex gloves. I am sure you are asking yourself how on earth do you demo a latex exam glove? Billy Harris would pull one over his head and then blow it up. I never did that, but I did put a glove on the nurse’s hand and stretch it from the cuff all the way up to the shoulder. Or I would step on the glove’s fingers and stretch it waist high without ripping. I started using this technique after accidentally punching a lady when the glove ripped on me. At one point, we put the entire alternate site team through clown training. They were taught how to do magic and tie balloon animals. We then challenged them to ride days dressed as clowns with latex gloves blown up with helium and go tie balloon animals in pediatric offices. We looked like idiots, but we closed a lot of business.
More important than the business we closed on those ride days with distribution reps were the lifelong relationships we gained. I still keep in touch with many of those reps. They supported me and I supported them. Ride days provide you with time to really get to know someone. I believe those days launched my career and allowed me to show empathy towards the reps, because what they do isn’t easy.
Ride Day Etiquette
- Show up on time
- Have a pre call to discuss the day and how you will approach each meeting
- Never push an account so hard that you embarrass the distribution rep
- Never quote a price if the rep hasn’t given you permission
- If you end up at an account a competitive rep has already brought you to, tell the rep you’re with – they may not like it, but they will respect and trust you going forward
- If you have follow-up from the day, make sure you do it
Since COVID, it seems like we’ve lost the art of doing ride days. If you haven’t done ride days in a while, go have some fun and get to know each other while closing business. Who knows, you may actually realize how much you enjoy doing them.
Happy Thanksgiving,
R. Scott Adams, Publisher