Major 10 Twitter Tips for Laboratory and Clinical Sales Reps

Shane Gibson is an internationally known trainer, coach, and motivational speaker in the area of sales performance, and is the author of Closing Bigger:  The Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals.  His credentials are too many to list, so here’s the link to his bio.  His recent blog post (10 Twitter Tips and Sales and Business Gurus) listed people he thinks it’s important to follow on Twitter (one of them is yours truly), and a really helpful set of tips for how to use Twitter.

Twitter is blogging in 140 characters or less.  You can follow and be followed, and find out what the rest of the world is doing.  It’s a way to network and a way to research.  If you’re not on it already, you’ve got to get with the program.  In the spirit of Shane’s article, I’ve decided to put up my own list of Top Ten Twitter Tips for Laboratory and Pharma Revenue Reps.  And pharma revenue reps, clinical diagnostics sales reps, hospital equipment sales reps, surgical supplies sales reps, laboratory sales reps, imaging revenue reps, biotechnology sales reps, genetic research sales reps, medical device sales reps…..

1) Use your name, or a name that makes sense with your business.  Unless your twitter account isn’t a business tool for you…then you can do whatever you want.

2) Use http://www.twellow.com/ to discover the people that are like you or are in your space. So, I searched medical, clinical, molecular, pcr, diagnostics, clinical pharmaceutical, and others like these….
who should you search for??

3) Use http://www.monniter.com to “monniter” the twitter world for THREE keywords to watch what people are saying… like I did with Twellow.

4) Follow anyone who looks like your clients, your suppliers, your vendors or your experts.  And, follow anyone who has something of interest to you….I follow a lot of internet marketing specialists - not related to me, but of interest and useful.

5) Don’t spend too much time on Twitter.  You can literally Twitter the day away.  I suggest a short time every day.  Like everything you do, make sure that the value that you receive is worth the time that you invest in it.

6) Ask queries on Twitter - someone on there knows the answer.  About everything.  No kidding.

7) Don’t forget to talk about your work.  That’s what we wanna hear about….not really what you’re having for dinner (unless it’s really interesting).  We wanna hear about the conferences you attend, the discussions that you hear, the books that you read, the mentors that you love, the vendors that you hate, the articles and blogs that you couldn’t live without, and we want to know what you do so that we can recommend others to you!

Be consistent - at least 10 posts a week or you aren’t a real Twit.

9) Learn the code.  The “at sign” (this guy: “ @ “).  Use it when you want to send a public message (called a “reply”) to a specific person.  If you sent “@salesrecruiter : testing Twitter” it would reach me AND it would show up in my “Replies” tab (near the top of your profile page…on the right.  Check here whenever you sign in to Twitter; it’s where people send replies or public messages specifically to you.  (Note: if you send a reply message, make sure that you don’t add punctuation right after the name.  “ @salesrecruiter “ will reach me.  “ @salesrecruiter: “ (note colon) wouldn’t.

10) Follow me @salesrecruiter

Enjoy.

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Headhunter at the nationally
recognized laboratory and pathology sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
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