Should new MRs study the product?

 Aristotle identified three concepts used to persuade people

1. Logos - appeals to the audience's reason, using logical arguments or citing research to persuade, etc.
2. Pathos - appeals to your audience's emotions and feelings, such as storytelling or empathizing with them to create a connection with them.
3. Ethos - appeals to the audience's sense of ethical stability and trustworthiness, building trust with the audience by demonstrating expertise, integrity, goodness, etc.

The first thing new pharmaceutical employees are trained on after joining a pharmaceutical company is DPK (Disease & Product Knowledge), which is disease knowledge and product knowledge. If you're not a pharmacy major or a life sciences major, you're in for a horribly painful time at this stage. 

Through this process, new Medical Representatives (MRs) learn and take pride in the excellence of their products and their superiority over others. 

But that pride is often shattered once they hit the field, once the training period is over and they're assigned a territory and start working with customers(Drs). 

Why? 

• Product problem: It's hard to differentiate generics(not new drugs).
• Customer's perspective: Everything a new MR learns is new to them, but in many cases, the drug has been on the market for 10 years or more, and the doctors who are the customers have much more knowledge and experience with the drug than the new MR. 
• Customer's perspective 2: The customer has heard the product details from so many MRs that they often don't listen when the new MR tries to explain the product details and often interrupt them. 
• MR's perspective: After messing up a few times, he is scared, intimidated, and he's like, "This is not right," and he's like, "What am I doing trying to detail to a doctor, a medical professional?
• MR's Perspective 2: Many seniors say that "All that detailing we learned in training is useless, just show up diligently." After hearing this advice, new MR used to feel like I'm not the only one who's wrong, that this is the way the floor is, and that it's foolish to detail it. 

Nevertheless, DTK is an integral part of new hire training at pharma companies. It is irreplaceable. This is because DPK education - disease and product education - activates logos, pathos, and ethos. 

1. Logos: Sometimes it's important to present your product's differentiation points in a logical way. This is especially important for new products or when customers have little experience or knowledge of your product.
2. Pathos: In the movie Parasite, there's a line that says, "The real battle is in the momentum." Momentum is important in customer relationships, too. "Our product is the best." When you see a sunshine chick confidently saying, "Our product is the best," you think it's ridiculous, but at the same time, you don't want to ruin that innocence. It's the same thing with friends: we tolerate swearing at each other, but we don't want to swear at their parents or girlfriends. It's a recipe for disaster. When you see that MR is genuinely proud of their product, even if the product itself isn't that differentiated, it makes you think, "If someone is talking about it so passionately, let's give it a try.
3. Ethos: What are some ways MRs can show authenticity and integrity? The first thing that comes to mind is diligence. You need to show that you're frequent, familiar, and predictable, but that's not enough. In fact, it's not uncommon for new MRs to have conversations with customers and not really understand what they're saying. All they can do is smile and nod, but the customer can tell. "Oh, he doesn't understand me, this conversation is going to be hard." On the other hand, if you've had enough DPK training, it's much easier to understand what the customer is saying. And the customer's perception of this MR is not only "smart," but also "hardworking and genuine." In other words, studying hard strengthens the MR's ethos.

So, if you're a new MR at a pharma company, study hard. It may be painful and futile. But those hours will become your business card and your ethos.