From the book
The Five Ps of Sales Enablement
Most healthcare product launches miss forecast. Not because the product fails clinically, but because the sales team does not have the tools to convert the conversations they are already having.
The Five Ps are what your sales team actually needs. Together they create a conversion engine that works consistently, regardless of which rep is in the room.
Playbook
The problem
Your best rep closes at 38%. Your worst closes at 12%. Same product. Same training. Same market.
What a good playbook does
A playbook captures what your best performer knows and makes it available to everyone else. Messaging architecture for 60 seconds, 2 minutes, and 10 minutes. Objection handling. Competitive positioning. Proof points matched to audiences.
The test
Institutional knowledge, captured and transferable. If your best rep left tomorrow, everyone else still knows what good looks like.
How this tool helps
This tool gives you trust-specific messaging. The strategic alignment, the match reasons, and the stakeholder priorities for each trust are your playbook inputs. Different trusts need different conversations.
“If one rep converts at 30% and another at 10%, that is not a performance issue. It is a systems issue.”
From “It's Not a Sales Problem” by Michael Colling-Tuck, Chapter 8
Pitch Tools
The problem
Your rep has 12 minutes with a surgeon. Slide one: company logo. Slide two: company history. Slide three: product portfolio. By slide four, the meeting is lost.
What a good pitch tools does
Pitch tools that tell stories, not feature lists. Modular: 3 slides for a corridor conversation, full deck for a formal presentation. Designed for how reps actually sell, not how marketing wishes they would.
The test
Ask your reps which materials they actually use. Not which ones they are supposed to use. The gap between those answers tells you everything.
How this tool helps
The proposal this tool generates is a pitch tool. It opens with the trust's priorities, not your company history. It is already modular and trust-specific.
“On the train home, they create their own version. They strip out the company history. They add a case study. Now multiply this by your entire sales team.”
From “It's Not a Sales Problem” by Michael Colling-Tuck, Chapter 8
Products for Prospects
The problem
A great meeting. The surgeon says 'this looks promising, let me think about it.' Two weeks later: 'remind me what this was about again?'
What a good products for prospects does
Materials that keep you present when you cannot be there. Market insight reports. Case studies showing peer outcomes. ROI calculators. Educational content that delivers value regardless of whether they buy.
The test
The quality of these materials signals the quality of your product. If your leave-behinds look cheap, clinicians assume your product is cheap.
How this tool helps
The trust analysis PDF this tool generates is a product for prospects. It shows the trust their own data, with your product positioned against it. Leave it with every stakeholder in the decision-making web.
“Within forty-eight hours, people forget the majority of what they heard in a meeting. Products for prospects solve this.”
From “It's Not a Sales Problem” by Michael Colling-Tuck, Chapter 8
Proposition for C-Suite
The problem
Your clinical champion loves you. Then the deal goes to the finance committee. The CFO asks about payback period. Your champion does not know. The deal stalls.
What a good proposition for c-suite does
Board-level value articulation. ROI calculators modelling different scenarios. Total cost of ownership comparisons. Strategic alignment documents showing how the product supports trust priorities.
The test
The language that works with clinicians does not work with finance, procurement, or the board. Same product. Completely different conversations.
How this tool helps
This tool recommends building a financial model using the trust's own data from HES, GIRFT, and national registry sources. That model IS your C-suite proposition. Walk in with their numbers, not yours.
“Win rate on large deals doubled within a year. Not because the product changed. Because the conversation in the boardroom changed.”
From “It's Not a Sales Problem” by Michael Colling-Tuck, Chapter 8
Proposals
The problem
Eight months of relationship building. 'Can you send a proposal?' Two weeks of scrambling. Old templates. Copy-pasted sections. A competitor who responded in three days has already been to present.
What a good proposals does
A proposal framework that puts outcomes first and company credentials last. Opens with their priorities, their challenges, their targets. Shows experience solving the same problem at comparable trusts.
The test
A good proposal is about the hospital, not about you. Customer outcomes first. Company credentials last.
How this tool helps
The proposal this tool generates follows this principle exactly. It opens with why you are writing to them, aligned to their annual report. Your company story comes after you have demonstrated that you understand their world.
“Healthcare probably has some of the worst proposals I have ever seen. Written by the local rep on the old brand template. Talking about your company. Ninety-nine out of a hundred could do significantly better.”
From “It's Not a Sales Problem” by Michael Colling-Tuck, Chapter 8
The Five Ps serve the Decision-Making Web
Every NHS procurement involves multiple stakeholders: the clinical champion, the ward manager, the procurement lead, the finance director, IT, quality assurance. Each has different priorities. Each needs a different conversation. The Five Ps give your team the tools to have all of them.
“Same product. Completely different conversations. Empowered teams can have all of them.”
See which trusts match your productThe book
It's Not a Sales Problem
The Five Ps are Chapter 8. The book covers 18 chapters on why 73% of healthcare product launches miss forecast and what the 27% do differently. Including the 3 E's Framework, the Decision-Making Web, the Messaging House, and the complete methodology behind this tool.
By Michael Colling-Tuck. Published 2026. Available now.