Last week, we began our series of tips on how to improve the impact and results of your printed materials.  This week, we share with you two more helpful tips:

2) Use Photos and Graphics that Tell the Story

The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” is very true in designing effective printed pieces.  The photo must be one that makes the customer experience the proper emotion to be most effective.  Captions under photos should be included to best explain what is going on in the photo that is important to the customer.  Don’t assume that the customer looks at the photo and understands the importance.  Make it easy for the consumer to get the intended message.

Use graphics that are additive to the message and that make it easier to understand the message.  For example:  A service area map is always more effective than a list of counties or cities served.

If you use graphics or photos designed to “grab” someone’s attention, make sure that they are consistent with the image and message you are building.

3) Use Effective Headlines

The headline must tell the reader exactly why they should consider your agency.  Crafting the right headline should be something that you get professional help with.  The right headline can make your brochure or advertisement ten times more effective.  This is especially true for print ads and Yellow Pages ads.  The headline is the single most important item in these ad designs.

Use sub-headings to explain each section or each paragraph.  This will make your copy more effective and easier for the customer to find what they are looking for.  You cannot expect the customer to read every word in a brochure—they will skim the headlines and read the information that answers their question.

Next week:  Two more tips in our series.  Be sure to check back then!

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Home care and hospice agencies spend a fortune each year on printed materials and advertisements.  Brochures are printed that may be nice looking but are not effective.  Agencies spend a lot on print advertisements, including Yellow Pages ads, but, how effective are they?  It is critical that agencies make the return on marketing investment as high as possible by creating the most effective collaterals and advertisements.  Start by defining your target audience and the goals for the campaign.

Then, over the next few weeks, we will share with you seven tips to improve the impact and results of your printed material.  Here’s the first one:

1) Sell Benefits not Features

This single piece of advice can make an investment in a marketing campaign, brochure, advertising campaign, etc. a success rather than a failure.  When developing the list of benefits you should always keep the customer in mind.  If you know what is important to the intended customer then you will be able to design your campaign for maximum effectiveness. 

Don’t make any assumptions about what will be important to the customer.  Ask your current customers the questions to know what they value about agency and its services. 

Define the target market and what they want from a home care or hospice agency.  Look at your message from this customer’s viewpoint.  Test, test and test your message some more.  Talk to your customers.  Conduct surveys with prospective customers and or new target markets to find out what they need and their attitudes toward home care and hospice.  Test new marketing messages to make sure that they are answering the needs of the intended customer with interviews, focus groups and surveys.  Your message must resonate with the intended market to be truly effective.

Customers want to know how your service will meet their needs, make them feel safer or otherwise provide them with something of perceived value.  List all of the benefits of working with your agency.  Then determine those that are most important to the intended audience.  Include them in the creation of your marketing piece or campaign.

Be sure to check back next week for more helpful tips in our series!

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The mystery is over! Where has Mike been with the blog posts???

He has been at Trader Joe’s! We now have our own TJs in Chapel Hill. (see photos below for proof)

As most of you know, Mike is a HUGE Trader Joe’s fan. The family has many favorite items only available at TJs. He used to have to buy things for the family while traveling. Or we would drive to Alexandria, VA (closest TJs until earlier this year) and then to Cary, NC (when they opened earlier this year).

Trader Joe’s should be on your list of places to shop, ESPECIALLY if you are in the sales position and need different, interesting, delicious and inexpensive things to take to your accounts.

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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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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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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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Everywhere I look there are more blogs every day. So, you say, why are you adding to the list? (Blog is short for Weblog)

My goal is to provide you, the Home Care and Hospice Sales Professional, with an easy to use personal tool that will aid you in being the best at your chosen profession. A resource that can provide a starting point for information you need to do your job.

Blogs are great because they can easily be updated at any time for any reason, reflecting news of the day, industry news, sales ideas, new information, seasonal or other news, in short, anything that I want to communicate to you. It is also a great way for you to ask the questions that are on your mind of myself, our experts and your fellow sales professionals.

So watch for more great information coming your way on this Blog each and every week.

Happy Selling!

Best,

Mike

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