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"Price
is what you pay. Value is what you get." ~ Warren Buffet |
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In This Issue:
Our Top Picks NOW AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT!
LEGENDARY RESULTS: Managing Referrals & Increasing Admissions (Vol. 1 - Referral Management)
NOW AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT!
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, Spring is springing! In Chapel Hill over the weekend, I noticed
the first of the flowering trees start to spring forth their pink blooms. This,
more than a groundhog, portends the coming of spring. A time for rebirth and
positivity. Make sure to tap into these emotions as you motivate your sales team
members. For the sales person, this is the time to tap into these emotions to
drive more referrals. There is always going to be negativity, and certainly
there is plenty in the news today, but you must stay positive and spread the
feeling. This is your time! Congratulations to my good friend Gregg Hamerschlag of Primary
Wave Media and the launch of 1800HOSPICE. A number of very forward thinking
hospices have already snapped up the license for their service areas.
Click
here to view the press release they have recently released. Mike Ferris Get Credit for
Your Greatness Quality is on the tip of everyone's tongue. With every passing
month, the quality of care delivered by home care and hospice continues to
improve. Quality initiatives and best practice adoption is resulting in better
patient outcomes. Of this we can all be very proud. With more accountability in
the form of public reporting and ever increasing scores, it is a win-win-win.
The proverbial rising tide raises all boats. Still Time to Register for March AdmitRight™ Boot Camp! March 3 - 4, 2009 Michael Ferris and Polly Rehnwall of Simione Consultants are the nation’s leading experts on hospice sales, referral center management, and admission team best practices. Now you and your agency have the chance to attend two jam-packed days of skills learning and building, as well as never revealed before tips on how to supercharge your hospice referrals and admissions! Who Should Attend: Only the most progressive Hospice team members that are interested in increasing referrals, admissions, census, efficiency, profitability and beating the competition! (CEOs, COOs, Marketing, Sales, Referral Center, Clinical and Outreach) This is the first program of its kind, specifically created to empower you to blow your revenue goals out of the water for 2009 and beyond! Attendance is limited -- SIGN UP TODAY -- this program will sell out!
Join us in May for Square One Boot Camp! TWO DATES, TWO LOCATIONS! May 4 - 6, 2009 You have two registration options: For details, and to lock in a seat with a $500 deposit (balance due on April 4, 2009), click here. For details, and to lock in a seat with your full payment, click here. OR May 18 - 20, 2009 You have two registration options: For details, and to lock in a seat with a $500 deposit (balance due on April 18, 2009), click here. For details, and to lock in a seat with your full payment, click here. RESERVE YOUR SEAT NOW as we expect both locations to fill up quickly! To view a brief video of what makes the Square One Bootcamp experience so special, click here!
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 What happens when you provide sales training and you don't see
the expected results? Training alone does not change behavior. Behavior change
is not just about absorbing information and enduring role play exercises.
Behavior change happens over time and with the support and nurturing of others.
It comes from creating new habits and repeating them to build the foundation of
a strong account base. Make No Assumptions Have your marketers approach every sales encounter by making no
assumptions. There is a tendency to act upon information that the sales person
has assumed to be the case. - When you are presenting a specialty program, do not assume that they find the specific attributes to be important. - Don’t assume that anyone knows anything about telehealth. - Just because there are no complaints, don’t assume there are no problems. - Long-term referral sources have to be visited and serviced just as diligently and frequently as new referral sources. - Never base any portion of your sales presentation on facts that have not been confirmed. - If you have the best outcomes in your service area don’t assume that this is important to a referral source. - A prospect that promises to send their "next" referral cannot
be counted on to carry through on this promise without your help. Don’t assume
that they will actually send the referral; be proactive! Math Lesson 101:
How to Set Referral Goals Well, we all think we're pretty progressive if we can set admission goals, right? But how many of you know how to use that number to set referral goals? Here's how: Step 1: Use ADC and ALOS to estimate admissions. We've discussed this before, but for those of you just joining us, here's the formula: Targeted ADC x days in the month = patient days needed for that month. Divide patient days by projected ALOS to get admissions needed. So, if your ADC is 100 and it's January, you need 3100 patient days to meet budget. If your projected ALOS is 55 days, divide 3100 by 55 and you get 56 admissions. Step 2: Project your conversion rate. Let's say you've been averaging a 70% conversion rate of referrals to admissions. (75% should be your goal if you count every single inquiry as a referral, which most hospices don't.) At that rate, you're going to need 80 referrals in order to meet the goal of 56 admissions in January. Are we having an "aha" moment yet? And what does it mean to your organization? Step 3: Make it meaningful. It means you've got to average 4 referrals a day (we're excluding weekends) in order to meet your goal. So when it's January 24 and you only have 50 referrals so far, you better have a plan in place to generate 5 referrals/day over the next 6 working days, right? Right! Questions & Answers Question: How long should I allow my sales person to work on a prospective referral source before telling them to move on? Answer: Typically I recommend a ninety day time limit on actively
pursuing a qualified prospect. I coach sales managers to have their sales people
keep their prospect list to a finite, defined number. The number will depend
upon the nature of their territory -- primarily how mature it is. Once the
number is determined, then the sales person is able to focus their attention on
converting these from qualified prospects to referral partners. The only thing
that can reduce the sales cycle is frequency of interaction, and the only way to
effectively increase the number of interactions is to reduce the number of
prospects. If at the end of ninety days the sales person has worked the prospect
diligently and there have been no referrals, you should be able to cross them
off the list. Once the list is made, there are only three ways to get off of the
list: start referring, be judged as not a good prospect, or leave the area. The
only way to put a new hot prospect on the list is to cross an existing one off.
Hope this helps! Question: Do you feel BP clinics are worth the investment of time vs. their actual return? Answer: Unfortunately, I would say that in many cases they are not. Most of the time blood pressure clinics are done because they are on the schedule. Many are done because your agency has been doing them since before your sales person started in his or her position. The biggest issue is, do you know which ones are generating positive returns? You must have an objective method to measure results from each of the blood pressure clinics. How many referrals come from the specific clinic or location that the clinic is being held? Does the facility director send us referrals because we do the clinic? Make sure that you are not just doing the clinics because you enjoy spending time with the people attending. If you are going to do a clinic, maximize the number of people attending, provide them with a card that they can take to their doctor, and get credit for helping them from the facility director. Question: What should our marketers say when the discharge planner says that they use a rotation list? Answer: First, they should make sure your agency is on the list. Second, your sales people should start to probe for the discharge planner's needs. The more they can find out about their use of home care or hospice and the other agencies on the rotation list will give them the opportunity to tilt the table in your agency's favor. Every little thing will enable your agency to get more than your "fair" share.
About Us Supercharge Your Referrals, Revenues and Profits! Headed by two industry powerhouses -- Michael Ferris and Polly Rehnwall -- Our Marketing, Sales and Customer Service Consulting Division is designed to give you the easiest experience possible by providing the most comprehensive solutions to supercharge your referrals, revenues and profits! If it only took one phone call to deal with all your marketing and sales needs, would you make it? In an environment of growing competition and shrinking margins, you have to increase volume and improve market share in order to be successful. That means having a skilled sales team, quality marketing strategies and a customer service model that improves your conversion of referrals to admissions. With every type of solution we provide, you won't just beat the competition -- you'll establish your competitive advantage for years to come! Our Proven Process: - Evaluate and assess talent, model and 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: - On-site Sales, Marketing, or Customer Service Consulting and Training With just one phone call, you can tap into all the resources and knowledge of the home care industry's touchstone consulting powerhouse -- Simione Consultants. We have an ability no other company can offer -- the only one-stop shop to handle all your marketing and sales needs. Simione Consultants, LLC was the first organization of its kind dedicated entirely to home care -- a commitment we continue to maintain today. For more than 40 years, we have demonstrated we understand and are responsive to the changing and diverse business needs of home care and hospice organizations. Value Driven, Success Outcomes More than 800 home care organizations have trusted the team of experts at
Simione Consultants, LLC to get them through the challenges of yesterday and
today, and to gain the leading edge for tomorrow. We provide expert assistance
to hospital-based and hospital-affiliated agencies, visiting nurse associations,
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. |
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This newsletter and all content and information contained herein are the property of Simione Consultants, LLC and may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the publisher. 176 East Main Street, Unit 8 | Westborough, MA 01581 | (800) 653-4043 | (508) 366-7409 | Join our mailing list to receive new products, helpful hints, speaking dates, and more! |
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