Hi to Everyone.

First let me thank everyone for discussing wonderful topics here, so that people could be better informed from your experiences.

Now going to the topic -

I went for an interview, which is a Class III medical device company's sales organization and the position requires a quality assurance professional to mange complaints, incident reporting or even recalls.

Though we had a good conversation for more than 2 hours. But i felt at one point my Interviewer was not satisfied on one occasion. That he asked me - what and how would i implement a corporate policy or procedure to make sure our sales force would engage and commit themselves to follow it. especially handle and overcome objections from sales force.
say for e.g. we want to start a web based complaint/incident report software, which could automatically update complaints, in this scenario if our sales are not ready for the change, how would i get it done.

Well i did provide an answer where in i want to fit in the shoes of sales, analyze the Pros& Cons and get it done. I felt my interviewer was not totally satisfied with my explanation.

I would be interested to know from the Cove members of how they would deal with this issue, especially from your perspective and experience. I am particularly interested on your answers, as this provides me an opportunity to understand where i am lagging and could improve on the necessary skill.

I highly appreciate your responses and participation in this thread.

Thank you.

The corporate policy and procedure should reflect the sound practices and quality driven culture that these documents represent.

There shouldn't be any objections from sales personnel.

Why? The procedure/policy should not be a set of commandments, just a tool that aligns practices according to what is being, or is to be, done well; if people do not know what needs to be done so things will go well, the document is meant to guide them and provide the requirements.

The sales process should have enough flexibility that allows enough procedural freedoms to engage with customers in a personal enough way to make sure their needs and wants are being met. This could mean scripts would only include the minimum the sales person is expected to cover, and work to prohibit behaviors that do not conform with the company's ability to deliver, public image, and culture. The policy/procedure should be carefully made so as to ensure that happens without "tying their hands", so to speak.

The question about objections from the sales force concerns me. When I interviewed for Industrial Arts teaching positions, one principal asked me what I would do if my students engaged in a fist fight in the class room. He didn't much care for my answer either... :naughty: (That could be why I am not teaching now, heh)

I suppose I should have told him that the best way to avoid these disruptive activities is to promote an atmosphere where people can work together without undue concerns about being undermined. The work place should be a cooperative atmosphere where people feel "safe" to work to the best of their abilities.

If they do not feel safe to work to the best of their capabilities, the cause must be researched and discovered. I have researched and written about some of these behavior subjects in When Employees Don't Follow Procedures (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=12122).

I hope this helps!

I've moved this thread to the Occupation Discussions Forum as more appropriate for the topic.

Though we had a good conversation for more than 2 hours. But i felt at one point my Interviewer was not satisfied on one occasion. That he asked me - what and how would i implement a corporate policy or procedure to make sure our sales force would engage and commit themselves to follow it. especially handle and overcome objections from sales force.
say for e.g. we want to start a web based complaint/incident report software, which could automatically update complaints, in this scenario if our sales are not ready for the change, how would i get it done.You are dealing with the WIIIFM factor here. It is expected that the sales workforce, which is normally paid and rewarded bonuses for their ability in selling, would oppose to support a process that can have significant impact on their sales ability.

If you implement an effective feedback/product failure reporting process, chances are, you might have to stop new sales of a product upon indication of a high failure rate, as a corrective/preventive action measure.

Notwithstanding it makes sense for an organization to stop selling a product that might be failing at higher than expected rates in the field, if you look at this issue from a sales function short sighted perspective, they might feel that they would be contributing to their own demise...

How to change it? What is the corporate culture around managing risk? What is the sales function culture towards bonuses and convey early product failure data to the organization. Do they take the ostrich with the head in the sand approach?

Until you know what is the corporate culture, how can you propose any meaningful approach?