Dear Friend,

Your Agency's Winter Olympic Games

How great is it to have the Olympics to capture our imaginations and inspire legions of kids who want to be the next winter sports superstar? I hope that you are getting the opportunity to enjoy it with your family and friends. Truth be told, kids aren't the only ones who can be inspired by the Olympics. You and your sales reps can be inspired too, as this is the perfect time to create your own agency's Sales Winter Olympic Games!

As a sales manager, its important to keep your reps motivated, and you can use these Sales Olympic Games to both boost your Q1 sales campaigns and your sales reps' morale. You'll make everyone that much more focused.

As a salesperson, its important to stay passionate and inspired, so create your own games to set new personal best sales records and bring home your own Gold Medal.
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The Key to Your Agency's Success: Partnering (Part 1 of 2)
by Mike Ferris

The most successful home care and hospice agencies are those that are able to form a partnership with their referral sources. This is true universally across the country in agencies large and small. So what does that mean, partnering?

Partnerships are formed with referral sources by the agency's sales team by isolating the specific needs each referral source has, and then creating a service program that will consistently meet those specific needs. When a partnership relationship is attained, then the referral source just naturally sends their home care and hospice referrals to the agency. Sounds easy, right? Well, let's dig a little deeper.

Partnering is by far the most effective method of building and maintaining a successful home care or hospice program.
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Online Referrals: A Help or a Hassle?
by Polly Rehnwall

Ever order anything online? You select the items, you add them to the shopping cart, and then comes the dreaded "new customer" order form. How many times do you wish you could just wave a magic wand (or click a key) and all those empty name-address-credit card blanks would be filled in for you?

What's in it for them? Many hospices have decided that their website can be used for something other than announcements, donations and service menus. That's a good thing. What isn't so good is when we decide to create interactive tools that make the customer do the work for us. First, we need to consider the reason we put up with the hassle factor when we order online:
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The Secret to Sales Success: The Need for Role Playing
by Kara Osborne

For some reason, most salespeople we encounter tell us that they hate to role play. Why is that? We hear all the time that reps would rather try out a new skill in the field, where there is real business at risk, rather than in a safe environment where they can practice perfecting their message in front of their peers.

As a sales manager, it is important that you encourage role playing within your team, and create an environment where role playing is common practice. When used effectively, this practice can boost your sales reps' confidence, skills, and referrals.

So what constitutes an effective role play? There are 3 critical components to a successful role play:
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What creative ideas has your agency come up with for its own Winter Olympic games?

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The Extra Call

Making one extra sales call each work day will make you at least 8 -- 10% more effective. At the end of each day, find one more call to make that day that you did not have planned, and get face-to-face with that person. Since it is, by definition, an extraordinary effort, make the call count. Really make it a very impactful call and get a commitment for referrals! The math behind this idea shows just how powerful this idea can be:

~ One extra call a day is equal to more than 250 extra contacts in a year

~ 250 extra contacts can result in one additional referral per week

~ One additional referral per week is 52 per year and can make you a super star!"
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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:
My manager makes us do role plays, and I hate it. How can I convince my manager that role plays aren't necessary?

Answer:
Well, you may not like my answer, but role plays are critical to your success. You're not alone, most salespeople cringe at the thought of doing a role play in front of their peers. For some reason, most reps would rather practice their skills in the field where business it at risk, instead of amongst friends. Role plays however are the best way to practice new skills, and work on improving existing skills. Click here to read more...