An exceptional medical representative consistently in the top one percent of his company recently told me, "I've been in this industry for 15 years, and the most important thing I do to excel is listen to the physicians and go at their pace." While this sounds very simple, developing this skill requires practice and a commitment to being truly clinician-focused.
 
The influence of empathy :

A skill required throughout the customer development process is the ability to get in step, or get back in step, with your clinicians.

As pharmaceutical representatives, we need to get in step with our prospects by being like them. This creates feelings of trust and rapport, and actually helps us empathize. Stephen Covey, in his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," describes empathic listening as listening with the eyes, ears and heart. Empathic listening is listening for feeling and for meaning, listening to understand, not just listening to respond. One way to accomplish this is with pacing.
 
You may find that this strategy works more quickly and predictably, and can be easier to remember, than the common "personality styles" approach