Happy Independence Day!
Posted by Mike Ferris on Thursday, June 28, 2007 and posted in Sales
Patriotism - Celebrate Fourth of July by taking red, white and blue giveaways to your referral sources. Or give tickets to a fireworks show for the entire family. Find a way to tie this theme into your activities for the week.
Dates to remember during the week:
National Unassisted Homebirth Week
Freedom Week
National Laundry Workers’ Week
Special Recreation Week
Halfway Point of 2004
Stay Out of the Sun Day
International Day of Cooperatives
I Forgot Day
Compliment-Your-Mirror Day
Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day
Excerprted from 101 Home Care Promotional Strategies That Deliver Legendary Results Without Busting Your Budget.
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Don’t Forget the “Little Guys”
Posted by Mike Ferris on Thursday, June 14, 2007 and posted in Sales
Many times we are all focused on making sales calls on the physician, discharge planner or other person at the top of the referral food chain. But all too often, if you don’t have a relationship with the others surrounding them, you will find yourself being frustrated and not understanding why the referrals aren’t coming in even though you have had great meetings with the bosses.
The person that calls in the referrals (we’ll call them the referral clerk) is probably the most important person in the entire process. If they are not on board with using your home health or hospice agency, you may have a hard time getting the referrals. The physician sends a referral to you but it doesn’t show up. Upon investigation, the referral clerk tells the doctor that they tried, but the agency couldn’t take the patient or were too hard to work with. Without the referral clerk being onboard, your chance for long-term success in the account is in jeopardy.
Others in the accounts would include all of the support people. The receptionist, medical assistant, office manager or the gatekeeper in physician practices can all be important allies. They can help you to get information, can put in a good word for your organization and most importantly won’t be getting in the way of your referrals. In skilled facilities, everyone including the receptionist, biller, work clerk, certified nurses aide, MDS coordinator, activity director, housekeeping or foodservices personnel can be important to your success. They are the extended family for the long term care patients and can be an important influencer in the selection of a hospice provider.
The best way to make sure that these people in support capacities are on board is to treat them with respect and interest. Find ways to make your interaction with them personal. Ask them for their names and make note of them. Later you can use this information along with birthday, favorite sports team, college, hobby, family or pets to demonstrate that you did pay attention and are taking the time to do something personal. If you take them an item that is personalized, you may be the only one who does so. The doctors get many items from drug representatives and others, but the support people typically don’t. Nothing expensive, just thoughtful. Take them something on a visit when you are not taking anything to the rest of the office for maximum impact.
Your investment in building relationships with these support staff will pay long-term dividends. You never know when you will need their help or that they will be promoted. They can help you get the appointments and the face time with the key players. They know what is going on and can provide info about others. If they go to work elsewhere in the community, they will be a valuable asset in another office. It is a veritable merry-go-round in the local medical communities, you never know where they might show up!
You will find yourself not competing with pharmaceutical reps, but rather receiving preferential treatment. The long-term investment is probably less than trying to make your way into a new account by taking a large lunch as your entree to the account. Be creative, have fun and make some friends.
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Summer is Here!
Posted by Mike Ferris on Saturday, June 09, 2007 and posted in Uncategorized
Summer is here! School is out! Time for family fun!
Post your summer plans or stories here and let other home care and hospice professionals share in your experiences.
Have fun!
Here’s my daughter Becca’s friend Buddy:
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Thanks for Reading the Blog
Posted by Mike Ferris on and posted in Blogroll Home Health Care Hospice Sales Thoughts
The next step is to pick one or more blog postings and comment on it / them!
Simply click on the link below the post and add your thoughts, comments, experiences or ideas.
Here is my frustration, I have not been able to get you (or your home care or hospice colleagues to join in and post to the blog postings) to participate. We see the statistics of how many people view the blog postings, so we know that people are using the blog. What makes it really frustrating is that we seem to attract a ton of spam postings (subjects not appropriate for a G rated blog!). These have to be deleted before they reach you.
Help me out! Post your comments today!
Thank you for reading the blog!
To encourage you to post a comment (I know if you do it once, you will add more in the future), I will send you a link to order my best selling book - The Field Guide to Selling Home Care Services with Legendary Results or The Field Guide to Selling Hospice Services with Legendary Results and receive a second copy at no cost! You can select either book and receive two copies or select to receive one of each. You will receive an email with this special offer link in it after you post your comments.
Thanks, Mike
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