4-1 | Why Medical Staffing Didn't Grow Even Under Leadership from the Medical Industry - Judgment Bias in Personal-Dependent Sales (1/4)

This is a story from when I was entrusted with the business turnaround of a medical staffing agency.
Both the president and the sales manager were former pharmaceutical representatives (MRs),
and both were individuals who had achieved excellent results and were confident in their sales abilities.

They were well-versed in the medical industry and skilled at building relationships with doctors.
At first glance, it seemed like the best possible lineup.

However, the reality was,
sluggish sales and chronic deficits.
In short, they couldn't secure "orders."

The premises for their sales were as follows:
• Sales targets were mainly general hospitals
• Driving around to first build human relationships with doctors
• Visiting with gifts during night shifts
• The premise was to follow the success experience of MR sales

It wasn't that this approach itself was "wrong."
However, it was not suited for staffing sales.

The core needs for staffing are:
• Medical office work
• General hospital reception
• Accounting
• Receipt processing
and so on.

These are not born from:
• Deep trust with doctors
• Long-term human relationships

but rather from:
• Sudden vacancies
• Unexpected resignations
• Needs for someone to start tomorrow

which are accidental and sudden demands.

In other words,
the success experience as an MR itself had become a judgment bias.

What I changed was not the "people" but the "premises"

I only did three things.

1. Changed the sales targets

From focusing on general hospitals to clinics, private hospitals, dental offices, and veterinary clinics.
I concentrated on areas where decision-making is fast and sudden needs are likely to occur.


2. Changed the sales methodsFrom traveling by car to sales by bicycle.

I visited facilities around town in detail,
creating a structure to pick up on "happening to be in trouble right now."


3. Changed the sales philosophyA shift from prioritizing human relationships to a system-based sales approach that captures accidental demand.

From personal-dependent sales to a "gleaning model"

I compare this model to the following:

Experienced people, when fishing in a lake, identify spots and aim for them.
I set up fishing rods every meter and go to change the bait once a day.

Then, a fish bites somewhere.
I optimize the bait after seeing the fish.
Then, I catch even more.

This is a model of standardization × contingency × improvement loop.

Experienced people, based on their accumulated past experience,
will change locations if they don't catch fish at the points they have determined.
Or they change the bait or the way they fish.

However, beginners cannot perform such feats.
That is why they place many fishing rods at equal intervals with bait that the assumed fish likes.
And they go to change the bait every day.

In other words, if the denominator is large, the probability of obtaining the numerator, which is the result, increases.
At first, "coincidence" is fine.
However, once you find this "coincidence," you turn it into "inevitability."
You cannot easily increase the number of people who can produce results if you rely on experience and intuition.
But if you look for the causes of catching fish,
and increase the reproducibility of catching fish, then you will be able to catch them automatically.

Let's put aside the idea that sales is a personal art for a moment
and try to make sales scientific.
If you do that, the causes for not getting results will lead you to "experience" and "industry common sense."

In the next installment, I will explain "the reason why the reform was accepted by the field."