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In This Issue:
Our Top Picks
LEGENDARY RESULTS: Managing Referrals & Increasing Admissions (Vol. 1 - Referral Management)
LEGENDARY RESULTS: Managing Referrals & Increasing Admissions (Vol. 2 - The Admissions Process)
Field Guide to Selling Hospice Services
Field Guide to Selling Home Care Services
Sit in on a class for FREE! 52 Week eSales Training Course
17 Proven Methods to Grow Referrals for Legendary Results in Home Care & Hospice (eBook)
Want More? Click Here
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Dear Friend, The first ever AdmitRight™ Bootcamp was a huge success with very positive feedback from those in attendance. I have two items of good news for those of you who were unable to attend. First, the entire two-day program will soon be available on DVDs to use at each of your locations. Watch for a special offer for Sales Leadership eNewsletter subscribers coming soon. Second, we are scheduling both AdmitRight™ and Square One Bootcamps for 2009 and you will be the first to receive the dates and locations and the opportunity to sign-up. I look forward to meeting many more of you over the next year. Happy 80th Birthday, Steamboat Willie The most recognized brand in our history turns eighty today and looks pretty good. Walt Disney first conceived this character on November 18th, 1928 and the rest, as they say, is history! He became Mickey Mouse and fueled an empire. This little guy enabled Walt to build a franchise that was dedicated to bringing joy to children. Walt stayed true to mission and built a fantastic brand by doing the right things for the right reasons. Sometimes we need to be less worried about being new and flashy and focus more on what we are known for and do best. Being a REALLY good hospice may be the best differentiating factor. The challenge is to convey this information in a fashion that will drive business. In home care and hospice we have an incredible brand as an industry; we just have not been very good at branding our individual companies. I was recently visiting with a very sharp National Director of Sales and Marketing who shared with me her idea of creating an internal campaign that underscored how good her hospice organization was at being the best "vanilla" hospice. In other words, they are really good at providing hospice services and she wants her entire organization to own that fact. She has a companywide vanilla ice cream tour planned to keep them in touch with what they do well and then to underscore the need to use the hospice's name not just the word hospice when communicating with the rest of the world. I have found that it is usually the simple concepts that work in getting the entire organization to proudly brand their hospice, one person at a time. As we approach the holiday season with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I would like to wish all of our readers a very happy and safe Thanksgiving with family and friends. I know that I am very thankful for all of my blessings and wish you all many blessings. Thank you for all that you do. Best, Mike Ferris Hitting on All Cylinders? Over the next few years it will be the survival of the fittest in home health and hospice. One area that has to be tuned and hitting on all cylinders is your sales and marketing program. You cannot afford to be without a strong one that is generating a high return on investment. Sales and marketing is expensive with sales people representing the largest single expenditure in the sales and marketing budget. Consolidation in the business world is a fact of life. It is seen in every business arena. Looking outside of our industry, we note that industries that enter a period of consolidation have seen the importance of a strong sales team and brand. The impact of consolidation is felt by all serving the market. Obviously, the acquirer and the acquired are directly impacted, but importantly, everyone is impacted either positively or negatively. You increase the potential for positive impact by increased aggressive sale activities. If the agency is involved directly in an acquisition then they must use it to their best advantage and be proactive in carrying the message to the referral partners. At the end of the day, the most important element for any home care or hospice is how they have differentiated themselves in the mind of the referral sources. The goal is not only to be the top agency in your niche, but, more importantly to be perceived as the top choice in your niche. Those perceptions are reinforced daily by all of the agency's staff including the inside and outside sales team. Differentiation must be understood and communicated by everyone in the organization at every encounter. The organizational culture should be permeated by pride in the very elements that make up what makes the agency special. A major question that is raised in my interactions with agencies is "where do I find the time to perform all of the activities necessary to support and perfect the sales and marketing program?" These conversations always remind me of the insights provided by Michael Gerber in his book, e-myth Revisited, where he points out the need to create the space for working on your business not just in it. Refining your marketing message, printed materials and sales strategies takes time. You can (and should) hire experts to help you with these efforts but senior management must be directly involved and take responsibility for the success or lack thereof. Competition is good, if you are ready! You can make consolidation, changes in payment or other environmental factors into opportunities if you are properly positioned and hitting on all cylinders! 2009 AdmitRight™ and Square One Boot Camp Dates Coming Soon! As a Legendary Sales Leadership Letter subscriber, you'll be the first to receive the dates and locations of both Boot Camps and the opportunity to sign-up. 52 Week eSales Training Course Our groundbreaking and highly-acclaimed 52 Week eSales Training Course is available for one to one hundred students. It provides a weekly lesson (takes about 30 minutes to complete) that will keep your sales team members' skills sharp. Students have said that the course supported them in becoming better at their profession, increased their referrals and forced them to review the basics. On average, our 52 Week eLearning participants have increased their referrals by over 31%! "With the help of the 52 Week eSales Training Course, I have been able to increase our accounts by approximately 20% and have increased referrals and admits by an even greater percent. Thank you, and my company also thanks you!" Special offer for Sales Leadership Letter subscribers: Enroll up to 10 students for one low price of $599 (does not include audio CDs)! Click here to take advantage of this offer. Sales Tip Many times the holidays become an excuse for the sales team to blame a drop off in referrals. Just like most anything else, it is up to the sales person to look for the opportunity. You should be out in the community with a strong message about how home care and/or hospice are perfect for the holidays. Hospice is very important during the holidays and can have an even greater magic during these seasons. But that is for those patients and families already on your services. You have to take it the next step further to make sure that your referral partners understand that it is the perfect time for a family to enter into a conversation about hospice. Typically the family gets together for the holidays and there is a real opportunity to evaluate what will be best for their loved one and many times that will involve a hospice election. If your referral partners feel like they should "leave that conversation for after the holidays" then their patients and their families will not have better quality holidays. Think of it this way: the family member still has a terminal diagnosis and that is not easy on the families. But they will have to go through the holidays without physical and spiritual support from a hospice program. It is very consistent with our mission to make sure that we help the community understand that there is no better time to have the hospice conversation than during the holidays. On the home care side, we can help keep the patient safely at home to celebrate the holidays with the family. The family can be family and not caregivers during this important season. There are so many benefits, but you must make the case in compelling fashion to make sure that your referrals continue to flow. Finally, the home care or hospice must make it very EASY to make patient referrals during the holidays. You can provide them with real value added by taking the hassle out of referrals when they are short staffed and their personal time is even more valuable. What better time to demonstrate why they should refer to you and your program year round, than during the holidays. So your job as a Legendary Sales Leader is to not let your sales team use this (or any other excuses) for lower referral volumes. Set the Agenda to Control Visit Time Does this sound familiar? "But you just don't understand. We have to deal with all these chaotic family members and it just takes a long time to do these visits!" As I've worked with admissions nurses in all settings, I've concluded that some of the basic lessons of time management can apply directly to hospice admissions visits. The best way to stop being pulled in all directions by the family? Set the agenda at the outset of the visit! Here's how: After greetings and introductions are made: "I know how difficult this is for everyone. Let's talk about what will happen today. I'll be here for about 40 minutes. First, we'll talk about your concerns and I'll answer some questions about the kinds of benefits that ABC Hospice can provide you and your loved one." "We'll take another 10 minutes to sign some papers that will get the ball rolling so we can get you the help you need." "Then I'm going to take a few minutes to exam your dad. While I'm doing that, I'd like you to fill out these forms for medical information about him." Ask them to write down any additional questions they have while you examine the patient. When you're done, review the information they have completed. What if you don't know if the patient meets hospice criteria or if the family will choose hospice care? Do the paperwork anyway and say to them, "We'll have you sign these papers so that if and when you decide to use ABC Hospice, the paperwork will be completed and we can start service with no further delay." For non-cancer diagnoses: Preface your discussion by indicating that Medicare has very strict criteria that must be met and that you'll need to make sure that the patient's medical history and status support the admission for hospice care. But go ahead and do the paperwork anyway. Setting the agenda at the outset not only adds needed structure to the visit, but gives you the opportunity to limit questions that are usually best suited for the care team or are repeated at the first visit anyway. Callers in Crisis: Helping Them (and You!) One of the toughest challenges for call coordinators is dealing with families who are calling for hospice help and are so distraught that the call manager spends 20 or 30 minutes just trying to calm them down. The sad news is that we oftentimes do such a good job of calming them down that they say they'll talk it over with their family members and we don't hear back from them until they're once again in crisis! Learn from 911 operators: One of the lessons we can learn from professionals who handle crisis calls is that we must take control of the call in order to help the caller. While families calling for hospice help are not facing immediate, life threatening danger like those dialing 911, parallels can be drawn between the two. When you listen to tapes of 911 calls, you don't hear the operator saying things like "oh, that's too bad" or "gee, I'm sorry that happened." Instead, you hear them giving specific instructions and focusing the caller by telling them exactly what they need to do. The same is true for your call coordinators. Families in crisis are looking for direction, because they're feeling out of control. You have the opportunity to provide it by taking control and telling them exactly what they need to do! 1. Empathize and direct. It's fine to say that "you understand how difficult this is." But if the caller continues to tell more of their story or sob uncontrollably, it's okay to say, "Now, Mary, listen to me. Here's what we need to do. I'm going to have one of our nurses come over to talk to you this afternoon so we can help you with your situation today." 2. Maintain a sense of urgency. If the caller says that they're really not ready yet, refocus them by saying, "Mary, you called me today because you need some help. This is an important time for you and your family and sitting down with our nurse today can help you with the decisions you need to make." The worst thing you can do is to assure them that it's okay "to think about it." How can we say that when we haven't even seen the patient or assessed the family situation! 3. Reassure them that they did the right thing. Families oftentimes feel a sense of guilt that they are calling because it signals to them that they are "giving up." So it's important to reassure them that they "did the right thing" by contacting you and that you can help them sort through this tough time. ’ Don't forget: This may be the most difficult call they've ever made. Meeting with them today is the best help you can give. Question: We have some competitors who are "cherry picking" the best referrals and declining the tough and not profitable cases. How do we compete against them? Answer: That is a great question that reflects a problem that exists, to some degree, in every market in the country. The answer, albeit not easy to accomplish, lies in actively selling your agency, its services and points of differentiation to the accounts making the "cherry" referrals. This may sound elementary, but it is the number one thing that you can do to counter the competition. And the approach is not to point fingers or suggest that the other agency is doing anything untoward. The approach has to be one based on the needs of these accounts and your ability to provide the solution that will make you the logical choice for these patients. If they represent the best patients, then they merit an investment in the sales effort to make sure that the referral partners recognize that there is a difference and that they should be using your services. Question: How should I proceed when an administrator of a facility says that they have an exclusive contract with a Hospice that they are satisfied with? Answer: This is a great question and one that I receive with frequency. The situation you outline is pertinent to many different situations that involve handling an objection that says the prospect is happy with their current provider(s). There are several elements to your strategy: 1) Keep your ear to the ground for any changes -- particularly dissatisfaction or service problems. They will not tell you about them, but if you pick up on the information and can probe them at the right time, they will open up and you will have an opportunity. The other thing to keep in mind is that there will be frequent management and staff change. 2) Watch for any opportunity to place a patient in their facility and execute a one-time contract. 3) Find out what is important to all of the players in the facility and any unmet needs or other ways that they could be using hospice services. Many times the Director of Nursing or Social Workers will welcome an excuse to have another hospice agency as a resource and choice for their residents. It is not easy, but well worth prevailing. About Us Our Proven Process:
Delivering optimal results begins with an evaluation of your sales, marketing and customer service program in order to design solutions custom tailored to your agency and your area. Our experts know home health and hospice, bringing years of marketing and sales experience and best practices to you. Customized Solutions: Have one or a few specific needs? We can guide you through creation and implementation quicker and with more success than anyone else. Below is just a small sample of our capabilities:
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More than 800 home care organizations have trusted the team of experts at
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hospices, small proprietary agencies, and large national chains. The size,
capabilities and commitment of our uniquely qualified consulting staff offer
unparalleled industry insights and innovative yet practical solutions. Our track
record of engagements with successful client outcomes is unmatched. Have a wonderful, blessed and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Selling! |
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