Trader Joe’s is a phenomenon that is sweeping the east coast, Trader Joe’s is a very well priced and merchandised in a fun atmosphere, You can eat better quality at lower prices on a regular basis.  West coasters know and love TJs already!

I was in one the other day (they opened the first one in North Carolina on Monday) and saw some great gift items for the sales people to take out to accounts, They have a three level tower of boxes with different types of goodies made with cranberries.  They are reasonably priced and would make great ‘B’ account gifts.

Check out Trader Joe’s for unique items that will fit the budget and tickle your customers!

(Note: Those of you who know me, know that I am a huge Trader Joes junkie!)

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The Spellings of Chanukah

There seems to be some confusion surrounding the actual spelling of Chanukah. Part of the reason for this confusion may be due to the fact there is no exact English translation of the Hebrew word for Chanukah.  Here are a number of the different spellings one might encounter.

* Chanuka
* Chanukah
* Chanukkah
* Channukah
* Hanukah
* Hannukah
* Hanukkah
* Hanuka
* Hanukka
* Hanaka
* Haneka
* Hanika
* Khanukkah

While in the United States it is most common to use the spelling “CHANUKAH,” rest assured that they are all the same celebration.

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Be Thankful for your sales team.

Without them there would not be enough referrals to achieve your goals and fulfill the mission of the organization.

Home health and hospice sales people are some of the best people in the world. I have the honor to work with them on a daily basis.

They come in all shapes, sizes and skill sets. Each one deserves your appreciation and support.

The best way to support them is to provide them with the training and ongoing support they deserve. Be sure to check out our books, elearning courses and bootcamps.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best,
Mike

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Now that the holidays are upon us, you must look for opportunities to make them work for you. Here are a few tips for selling home care and hospice in the holiday season:

1) Focus on relationship building
2) Not a good time for initiating sales campaigns to new accounts or about new services and programs
3) Great time to sell service - customer service can and should be played up in the holiday season
4) Use the opportunity to get face time with the physicians
5) You can stil probe for needs in the course of holiday conversations
6) And most importantly - you should still have a goal for each sales call you make!

Happy Thanksgiving! Watch for some recipes for your left over turkey on the blog in the next few days!

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When you discover that magic ingredient, the one that makes a person ‘squeal’ with delight, use it to your best advantage. The other day I witnessed a gatekeeper who was clearly moved by the fact that the sales person had brought pumpkin flavored cream cheese in with the bagels. She had not had any in a long time but it evoked memories that transformed her. Needless to say, the rep know has a friend for life and one who will help ‘butter up’ the decision makers in the facility.This is an example of a chance happening that provides an important insight that can be recorded in the sales person’s customer relationship management system. She now has a trump card she can play when needed. By the way, the pumpkin cream cheese was totally by accident. Who could have known that it would have this kind of reaction! Keep your antennae up and look and listen for those little things that mean so much to a referral source.

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The Socratic approach is that of asking questions and allowing the other person to define their beliefs and preferences. This the approach that ALL home care and hospice sales people should adopt. Ask questions that will allow your referral source to tell you what they want and need. If you are not getting the level of information you want, then continue to dig with additional follow up questions. Make it into a quest - the quest for the nugget of information that will enable you to develop an unassailable relationship based on the referral source’s needs. You will own the accounts if you follow the lead of Socrates!

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