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Mike's Message
Dear Friend,
Jambo, Good Day from Tanzania!
I write this today on the veranda overlooking a coffee plantation in the
Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area in Tanzania. My heart is heavy as I must
depart to return home, but I am re-energized and excited about the many client
projects and trainings coming up. It is important to have time to reflect and
reconnect with the why you do what you do. My team is dedicated to helping your
home care or hospice organizations enable more patients and families to
experience the gift of your services. Thanks for allowing us to help you be
better at your important role in this process.
Hakuna Matata
For everyone familiar with the Lion King, you recognize the saying "Hakuna
matata" as meaning "Have no worries". I was pleased to find out that this is a
direct use of the Swahili language and that it is the basic premise here in
Tanzania. The country is incredibly beautiful, the wildlife phenomenal and the
people are magically warm and friendly. My family and I feel very blessed to
visit here and learn about the people and the country, as well as being able to
help bring a new dialysis program to the children of sub-Saharan Africa.
The Maasai people are indigenous to the area of Tanzania we are visiting and
have a very simple philosophy. Wealth is measured in terms of family, health and
cattle. The cattle are revered and are the measure of one's prosperity. (We
experienced a massage treatment with a Maasai Healer and paid in cows!) Tajewu
Ibiot, Injoo Kimjiunyeki, Inoto Emayani! (Be well, be healed and be at peace).
As many of you know, I believe that home care and hospices can learn much from
the hospitality industry. Any time you have the opportunity to observe great
service and operations when you stay in a hotel you should take note of what
they do well. In Zanzibar, I witnessed an extremely well-executed resort
experience. The Ocean Paradise lives up to its name in surroundings but is one
of the best examples of consistently superb service. The staff from top to
bottom has completely bought into the importance of creating the perfect
experience for the guests. They graciously make you feel like you are at home
with family. They have a team of people dubbed the "Animation Team" whose job is
to play with the guests. They find out what you were interested in and then do
it with you. This caused me to think about the magic that hospice brings into
the homes of its patients. There are great similarities to the remarkable things
that are done by the hospice's staff and volunteers every day to enrich the
family and patient experience. So if you need an example of how to empower an
organization to deliver excellence in service, this would make a superb example.
On a marketing note, I found it refreshing that in every camp, lodge or resort
we stayed, they did three things. They always greeted us with a warm (or cold)
wash cloth and a glass of fresh juice. They all encouraged and facilitated the
completion of their satisfaction surveys. And, every one collected my email
address for future communication. If in the bush of Africa these practices have
become ingrained, there is no excuse for us not to do the same for our
organizations. Do you religiously and proudly survey your referral partners to
measure, monitor and improve service? Do you have a regular email communication
going on with your clients and referral sources?
I have uploaded some photos on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/ferris.mike),
and will be uploading many more as soon as I have a fast connection. Are we
friends yet on Facebook? If not, why not??? Send me a friend request.
Lead the Charge of Optimism
The sales team must, more than ever, lead by example and action. They must be
the most optimistic leaders in the organization. There is too much pessimism in
the media and economy as well as concerns over the future changes in payment for
home care and hospice services. During these times, you must be very positive --
maintaining enriched dialogues with referral partners and most importantly,
bringing in more referrals. No matter what happens, the key to your
organization's long-term viability is the steady, predictable and increasing
flow of patient referrals. Your sales and people skills are at a premium;
practice them and polish them every day!
Will you be attending the NAHC Financial Management Conference in Boston, July
29th - 31st? If so, I look forward to seeing you there. Polly Rehnwall and I are
co-presenting "The Five Dysfunctions of the Home Care and Hospice Referral
Process: How Much are They Costing Your Organization?" and will be in the
Simione booth in the exhibit hall. Please stop by to say hello.
Thanks for all that you do. Happy Selling!
Best,
Mike Ferris
Director
Marketing, Sales and Customer Service Consulting Division
mferris@simione.com
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Feature Article
Keep it Simple!
by
Mike Ferris
Many times we emphasize how your agency is perceived and
experienced by referral sources as the lowest common denominator way to win in a
competitive referral situation. While it's important to be perceived as an easy
agency to work with, you have to make sure every aspect of your process is
simple!
Make it simple to identify prospective patients for home care or hospice
services
~ We must not make them responsible for determining eligibility, appropriateness
or other qualifiers for services. If you are going to distribute hospice
criteria, make sure you give your referral source a mental trigger to call you.
If you give them a hospice criteria cheat sheet with your agency's name on it,
for example, that can become a trigger. When they think hospice (and the trigger
is your tool for criteria) they should call you. DON'T make them figure out
the intricacies of hospice appropriateness. If you do, you will reduce the
number of calls you get by 50% or more.
Simplify your sales process
~ Make it very easy for your sales team to focus on only one service or program
during a sales call. If you ask them to multi-task and sell everything at once,
you will diminish their success and you will confuse the customer. A confused
customer rarely buys.
~ Be strategic in selecting the product or service based on the prior
conversations that uncovered what is most important to the particular referral
partner. There is plenty of time; take one step at a time, probe thoroughly for
needs and then present the best (singular) solution!
Here are some keys to consider in making it simple:
~ Only sell one service at one time!
~ Simple selling enables referral partners to do simple referring.
~ Ask questions.
~ Listen, and don't talk too much.
~ Don't overstay your welcome.
~ Have a prepared and rehearsed presentation!
~ Have prepared and rehearsed responses to common objections!
~ Don't forget to let your sales prospect experience how much easier you will
make their life and how much better they will be at their job!
~ And most importantly, have a prepared and rehearsed way to ask for the
referral in your own words -- on every call.
Make it simple to refer to your program by adopting this simple strategic sales
process. Establish clear sales objectives for every sales call using these
simple selling techniques. Then watch your referrals take off!
What we know is that if you can make the referral source's life easier, you will
earn their business. Look for every single way you can make it easy to work with
your agency, as well as for ways the referral source will perceive it easier as
well. Customize your service protocols to fit their needs by asking them how you
can make things easier on a regular basis, including how to handle orders and
paperwork (paperwork is the number one complaint about dealing with home health
and hospice).
Think easy. Think simple. You will see your referrals increase and improve your
long-term relationship with key accounts. Don't overcomplicate the process and
don't confuse the customer, and you will see your referrals expand dramatically.
Good Luck and Happy Selling!
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Sales Training Corner
Join us this Fall for Square One Boot Camp
Make plans now to join us in September for the next Square
One Boot Camp! Send us
your liaisons and we will send you back highly trained home care and hospice
sales professionals.
SEPTEMBER 14 - 16, 2009
Courtyard Marriott Chapel Hill ($129 per night)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
(800) 321-2211 for reservations
CLICK HERE for details
(including the agenda) and to lock in a seat!
"This has to be one of 'or' the best seminars in the country.
I came in here with only two months experience and now I feel that my gun has
the bullets I need to be the top salesman in my area in home health care! I am
thankful!"
~ Oscar Hinajosa, NSCL Home Health
To view a brief video of what makes the Square One Boot
Camp experience so special, CLICK HERE!
Next AdmitRight™
Boot Camp Scheduled for November in Dallas
AdmitRight™ Boot Camp is
designed for those who are charged with the management of sales, referral center
and admission team for hospice. If you are in one of those positions, you need
to attend this Boot Camp! You will come away with a ton of ideas on how to
improve your processes to increase referrals, improve referral center and
admission team processes. All of which will add up to increased ALOS, census and
fulfillment of mission in community. More people will receive needed hospice
services.
AdmitRight™ is specific
to hospice and will provide you the tools and direction on how to train your
teams to deliver the results!
NOVEMBER 10 - 11, 2009
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott ($159 per night)
Irving, Texas
(800) 228-9290 for reservations
CLICK HERE for details (including the agenda) about the Hospice
Referrals and Admissions Boot Camp.
REGISTRATION OPTIONS:
Both Days, One Person, Tuition Only:
CLICK HERE
Both Days, 2+ People, Same Organization:
CLICK HERE
Both Days, One Person, Tuition + DVD:
CLICK HERE
ATTENDANCE IS LIMITED -- THIS PROGRAM WILL SELL OUT!
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%!
"There was a great deal of good advice and
organizational tips. As a small organization our resources are limited and there
was great advice on using our current resources effectively."
~ Nancy Walbridge -- Hospice of the Rapidan
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.
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Sales Tip
Getting Past the Gatekeepers
Preparation and cunning are two important requirements in
successfully getting to speak with your intended customer. Get rid of the small
talk and the typical sales person approach and be more creative and prepared.
With a new prospective account relationship, your goal is to find out who calls
in (transmits) the referrals for home care or hospice. Know as much about the
prospect as possible. If you select your targets carefully and have
pre-qualified them as being one of your top prospects, you must make the
approach strategically.
Think about other referral partners in similar situations or fields of medicine.
What are their attributes? What is most important to them? How do you earn their
business? You must know that the key benefits are in working with you and your
agency. If you are approaching an Internal Medicine practice and want to discuss
how you can benefit them, your approach might sound something like this: "I
specialize in helping Internal Medicine practices manage their CHF and COPD
patients, reducing the number of phone calls to your office and keeping them out
of the hospital. Who calls in the CHF patient referrals to home care? (or
hospice?)"
Once you get in front of the referral person, you will want to gain their
attention with a similar statement and then engage them with probing questions
to find out specifically about their needs.
But, you are thinking, "Wait a minute, Mike, it is not that easy!" My answer to
you is that it is just this easy to explain; the difficulty comes in executing
these strategies in the real world you live and work in! It may take more than
one statement of benefits or approaches to get past the gatekeeper. Remember
that if they are especially good at keeping pesky sales people out of the
office, then once you become the provider of choice, you want to help them be
good at that job!
Some keys to dealing successfully with gatekeepers include:
~ Treating them with respect and as you would want to be treated. Never talk
down to them or act dismissively towards them. You will want to gain their
respect as not being just one more pushy sales person.
~ Find out what their needs are. If you can determine their motivation, you can
gain access more easily to your potential referrer. Ask them questions about
their job and what they do.
~ Remember that there is no right or wrong. Stay focused on your singular goal
of having the opportunity to engage the person who transmits the referrals for
your services. On your first call, you should leave with at least the knowledge
of who they are.
~ On subsequent calls use the assumptive approach, "I am here to see Mary Smith
(the referral person). Is she available?"
~ Do not get distracted from the task at hand. If the gatekeeper has not yet
decided to let you speak with the referral person, don't confuse them by
starting to ask to see the doctor or nurse, etc.
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Sales Leadership
Recruiting
Depending on the size of
the organization, the recruiting of new sales team members may fall fully or
partially on the shoulders of the sales manager. Regardless of how the
responsibility falls in your organization, the quality of recruiting will
determine the quality of the sales team. That statement may sound like a
"no-brainer" but way too many managers have let exactly these activities be
handled in a manner that is less than complete. Don't fall into this trap.
There are several keys to successful recruiting:
~ Reputation in the community
~ Network of contacts
~ Visible career path
~ Accurate description of ideal candidate
~ Complete job description
~ Proactive approach to recruiting
~ Innovative
~ Aggressive
If recruiting a sales manager, several issues must be addressed.
First, your agency must decide whether to recruit from within the organization
or not. Do not automatically decide to promote the top sales person into a
management position. The danger in this strategy is promoting a great sales
person who is not a great manager. Not only will you lose your best sales
person, but a bad sales manager can damage the effectiveness of the entire
team.
If the decision is made to bring someone new into the
organization, then make sure that he or she has time to establish a good track
record before a promotion is offered.
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Ask Polly
It's Time to Get U.R.G.E.N.T.
by Polly Rehnwall
Acronyms work! They can help us remember an important process or
message. For hospices, "U.R.G.E.N.T." sends a powerful message to your team that
a sense of urgency on their part is key in getting patients and families the
help they need in a timely way.
U. Understand. "I understand how you must feel" or "I
understand what a difficult time this must be for you." When we tell callers or
families that we understand their situation, it shows that we
empathize with them, and empathy is a key factor in gaining their trust.
R. Reassure. "I want to reassure you that you did the
right thing by calling us today." Why is this so important? Research shows that
when families call, they often feel guilty because they have "given up."
Even though we reassure them that there is always hope and that we will treat
the patient aggressively for comfort care, families often struggle with having
to take this step. So it's important to tell them that calling us was the
right thing to do for their loved one.
G. Get help. Research also shows that just picking up the
phone to make the call is a first step that many families feel is "enough for
today." However, we know that getting help today is what makes the hospice
experience so much better. So it's our job to remind them that they called
because they need us, and it's important that they get our help today.
E. Essentials. What are the essentials that we need to
know to schedule a visit? Name, address, and phone number. That's it!
N. Next step. Tell them what happens next. But first, ask
their permission to contact the physician and/or facility to inform them of the
request for help with hospice care. Then the next step is to schedule a visit
today from the hospice representative.
T. Thank you. Last, but certainly not least, thank
them for calling you today. We think we always do this, but you'd be
surprised at how often we forget this critical step.
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Questions & Answers
In each Legendary Sales Leadership Letter, we answer your questions. Send them to us or call (800) 653-4043
and we'll make sure that yours are answered in a future issue.
Here is this week's question answered:
Question:
What do you do when you are recovering from a bad past
experience and the account is bad mouthing your company? The account refuses to
give us another opportunity to prove ourselves. How do we respond to this
disgruntled account?
Answer:
Excellent question. It underscores how important it is that your
sales team are exceptional customer service specialists who excel at problem
resolution. It also speaks to the need to hire people who truly are passionate
about what they do, whether things go right or when they don't.
This happens from time to time and is never an easy situation. I
stress to anyone considering a career in sales for home care or hospice that one
thing is guaranteed: there will be problems! No matter how
great your agency is, there will be problems because there are numerous moving
parts within an agency and they are all people.
It is important that your home care or hospice sales person welcomes the chance
to take a problem and turn it into a golden sales opportunity. This mindset is
essential to these types of situations head on, and if your sales person can't
begin to see these as opportunities, then they will have difficulty obtaining
long-term success in their position.
The first step is to make sure the problem was resolved and the account feels
that they have been "heard." Many times in problem resolution, the one thing the
customer wants most is to be able to tell someone why they are unhappy -- to vent,
and feel vindicated in doing so. Sometimes (though not always) that is all that
it takes.
The second step is for your sales person to approach the problem as they would
an objection, because that is the complexion it has taken on in your question.
Make sure they know that you are "so glad they brought this up -- this is
exactly why I am here!" and then proceed to break it down, resolve it, and gain
commitment to restart the referral process.
Note: Remember to use probing questions in order to make sure that the stated
problem is the REAL reason they have not been referring.
Hope this helps!
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About Us
Marketing, Sales and Customer Service Consulting Division
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
- Design customized solutions
- Assist with implementation
- Coach your staff
- Train your sales people
- Support your organization's continued success
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
- Referral and Admission Management Consulting and Training
- Square One Sales Boot Camp
- Marketing Program Development
- Interview Sales Candidate Video Training / Corporate Videos
- Collateral Materials, Sales Letters, and Advertising Consulting
- Mystery Shopping / Market Analysis
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. |
