For every home health or hospice care plan a physician is a key member of the team.  The more you can engage the physician in the process, the stronger the bond.  The agency’s sales people and management should be probing for needs and presenting solutions.  When the relationship with the physician progresses to the point of reliance on the agency for all things related to home health and hospice, then they can become a champion for the agency.

It may take years to gain the required level of confidence and reliance.  The physician that truly values the services of a particular agency typically has had past experiences that have created tremendous trust in the agency.  Usually this means that there have been problems that were resolved to their complete satisfaction.  And, as we all know, trust takes years to develop and only moments to destroy.  Never take these key relationships for granted, assume nothing and stay in close contact with them and their staff.

There are two ways to expand business with a particular referring physician; increase your share of their home health and hospice referrals or expand their use of home health and hospice in their practice.  To garner a greater percentage of their referrals, it is necessary to know the competition and the referral source’s needs / hot buttons.  Then position the agency as the logical solution for their known needs.  The other way to increase referrals is to bring ideas, technology and information to the physician that will have them use home health or hospice for more types of patients.  For hospice that can translate into longer length of stays.  Never assume that the physicians know all of the possible uses for your services.

One way to foment the development of strong relationships is to include the physician and their staff in the development of new programs and protocols.  Pride of authorship is created when the agency involves a physician in developing these protocols and specialty programs.  If the plan of care is created using “their” methodology, they then can take ownership and will be better champions for the programs and your agency.

The other key component of creating and maintaining these key referral relationships is service - make their lives easy and earn their business.  Create service protocols that make the interface with the agency feel customized and you create a significant competitive advantage.  It must be easy for them to work with your agency, because when push comes to shove, they will take the easiest path to complete a referral.  Once you have established the service plan for the referrals source, never assume that there are no changes - keep probing for service needs.

When talking with physicians and their staffs, remember that the patients are THEIR patients not yours.  This may seem like a small semantic point, but it can make a big difference in how they hear what you are saying.  The patients many times have had the same physician for many years and when they are referred to home health or hospice they still feel that they are their patients.

Work to develop strong, personal relationships for best long-term results.  Help them be great champions for your organizations.  Good Luck and Happy Selling!

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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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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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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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