The Legendary Sales Leadership Letter 
 September 2, 2008

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Mike's Message

Dear Friend,

As I write this I am still on the emotional "high" from working with another class of fantastic Square One Bootcamp students. It is amazing to see the metamorphosis of each student, regardless of their background. In this last class, we had a great cross-section with students who were brand new to our industry -- with and without sales experience -- as well as those who are industry veterans. We had students who included nurses, referral center managers, community outreach liaisons, facility liaisons and sales representatives. They represent home health agencies, hospices and companies with multiple service lines.

I love working with each of them and seeing their progress from unsure (scared to death in some cases) of the video role play practice sessions to polished presenters asking intelligent questions to discover their customer’s needs. They walk away knowing that they can, and will, be able to build those strong relationships in their territories that will make them successful in the years to come. The Bootcamp experience is great because, along with my team, I get to know them and their challenges individually. When we do the training program at the client site, there is less time to spend interacting one to one, and the students are surrounded by their co-workers, supervisors and others from their organization. I treasure both types of interactions, but am always re-energized by each Bootcamp experience.

My hope is that all of you in sales leadership (as well as those in sales positions) will stay connected to the joy that comes from the difference you make in the community. Just as I get re-energized when working with your sales people, you too should get that super boost from supporting and empowering each of your people to soar to new heights. Take a moment to reflect on what makes your job special and keep connected with that energy.

Best,

Mike Ferris

Director

Marketing, Sales and Customer Service Consulting Division

mferris@simione.com

Feature Article

The Toughest Job I Never Knew I'd Love

by Michael Ferris

Most in home care or hospice sales management today ended up there accidentally. This is a reflection of the progression in our industry from non-existent sales and marketing programs to a critical success factor. I have found that most profess to love sales and marketing and many wish they could dedicate more time in that area. This is where the fundamental decision comes into play; you cannot pay short shrift to the management of this area any more. You must choose to delegate these duties or others to enable the level of focus required.

Somewhere along the way, as you have risen through the ranks and/or worked with different organizations, you have undoubtedly been asked to manage or assist the sales and marketing efforts. And if you haven’t already, then in all likelihood you will! This is both a reflection of an industry in transition and increased integration of sales programs.

Knowing that, thanks to your efforts, more people are receiving home care or hospice services is extremely gratifying. Not only are you growing your program, but also expanding utilization within the community.

So if this sounds like you, here are some tips to make your job even more fun.

Reframe the conversation, differentiate your organization and its services to avoid selling a commodity. Bring excitement to the process! Help your sales team get excited about the difference their agency can make for each referral partner and each patient. This keeps it fun and makes your agency a preferred choice to work with.

Using quality indicators in your sales messaging is a great example. You are able to graphically depict the differences between you and the competition. This has proven very successful and it promotes improved home care compare scores in competitive markets. A rising tide raises all boats. So at the end of the day, by telling your story in the community and shifting the referral partner’s focus to quality and outcomes, all patients in your community win.

Be cautious, however, that you are not only selling your grades or scores. It is our observation that the others in your service area will start to focus on improvement and could pass you. If you are too focused on just the "best care available" then you are a living by the sword and could die by the same sword. This is why you must use this as one piece of your sales message.

Inventory all of your specialty programs and package them to be demonstrably better than the competition. If certain initiatives have made your great quality scores possible, then make that the conversation. Build a message that lets the entire community know why you are the best and most logical choice to provide home care and or hospice services.

Effective messaging has proven to be extremely effective and elusive. Organizations who can tell their story in a succinct and compelling manner are many times more effective, in all industries, than those who can’t. In home care and hospice there are few companies who possess strong, differentiating messaging making this a potentially huge competitive advantage. Once developed, the sales team and the entire organization must be trained to deliver these high powered messages effectively. An organization with great messaging but limited ability to deliver them is only slightly better than those who have not refined their message. (And this applies to the bulk of your competitors.)

Define your assets. Start with your own self inventory and then evaluate the other resources in your organization. Build upon strengths and get help with the weaknesses. Outside experts can expedite the process and help you gain the necessary skill sets to turn the weaknesses into strengths. There are many excellent consultants in our industry today who can help with any of these areas for improvement. Collaborate with other providers in your community and seek synergistic relationships to strengthen your program.

Know what your resources are for delivering the message consistently across everything that you do. Many times we see hospital-based or affiliated agencies feeling ignored, having to fight for dollars and resources from the health system. Tap into those resources but don’t depend on them to deliver the message. The fight should be to keep your needs at the top of their list -- you just need their marketing and design expertise. Hiring good help to develop the look and feel of your message will translate into superior graphics and design.

The good news is that you should be having more fun than ever before. If not, then that may be your diagnostic tool that you need to get some help to freshen things up! The toughest job you never knew you’d love is also the most important single element for your organization achieving its mission and vision. Without predictable growth, it becomes very difficult for all areas of operation. Good Luck and Happy Selling!

Sales Training Corner

See You in September for the Next Square One Bootcamp

Make plans to join us in Chapel Hill in late September for the next Square One Bootcamp:

September 29 - October 1, 2008
Courtyard Marriott Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 

Reserve your seat now! 

“This training opportunity exceeded my expectations. I now have the tools to support my organization and help to make it grow. On a scale of 1-10, it was 10 plus for me. I noted the program was beneficial to both novices and those who were more seasoned in sales.”
~ Julie Schnitter, Hope Hospice

To view a brief video of what makes the Square One Bootcamp experience so special, click here!

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!" -- Barbara Edmisten, Highland Hospice

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

As many of you know, I am big on finding ways to tie promotions to what your organization does and/or what makes it special. And when you can tie seasonal, topical elements into these promotions or campaigns, you will find that they really resonate. Here are a couple of examples:

Flu season

Every year there is a flu season. Our industry plays an integral and important role in making sure that the elderly population we serve is educated, inoculated and kept as free as possible from the complications of flu and pneumonia illnesses. Most of your companies provide flu shots for patients in their homes as well as operating flu clinics in the community. I have seen great success in getting credit for these valuable services you provide by educating your existing and prospective referral partners. Creation of a sheet that explains, on one side, the importance of flu prevention in the elderly population and on the other side, in the general population.

Most then use this educational sheet along with any antibacterial giveaway items to talk to the referral partners about the challenges they have managing patients who are frail and living at home. It opens the door to discussions about many ways that home care and hospice can help them with the management of these patients and the prevention of unnecessary hospitalizations or ER visits. The giveaway items that I see most commonly used in these promotions are hand sanitizers, anti-microbial phone pads and tissue dispensers.

Hurricane Season

It is late in the season this year, but not by any means too late to have discussions about safety plans for the elderly and frail patients during hurricane season. Home care and hospices play such an important part in the community management of patients during times of emergency, and many times do not get credit for doing so. Find ways to educate your referral partners on just how important your role is in this process. You can use small flashlights (these seem to be the most popular items) as giveaways to go along with your educational materials.

Note: You do not have to have a giveaway item to use these ideas, but if you have in your budget dollars for giveaways, this will enable you to get maximum benefit from those dollars spent. As you know, I am not a big proponent of spending on lots of giveaway items, but I am a HUGE proponent of getting the maximum mileage out of those dollars. It is much better to have something that is different and tied to mission, than just an item to hand out.

Calendars

If you will be distributing calendars, the time is now! Each year it seems that agencies are out distributing calendars earlier and earlier. The race is on, and if you use calendars in your promotions, make sure to get them into your referral partner’s hands in a timely manner. The other suggestion I have is to make them different and special. There are many calendars out there; make yours the one that is most used by your referral partners!

Sales Leadership

Use Instant Replay for Visit Coaching

Just as it's important to coach referral coordinators on effective call management by monitoring inbound referrals, it's equally important to coach admission team members on visit and time management by observing field visits. Yet, as with call monitoring, there's a resistance on the part of both the supervisor and staff to conduct this critical training component.

Excuses, Excuses

As a manager, be prepared for the myriad of reasons why visit observation isn't possible. Here are two that are fairly common:

1. Too intrusive. We hear this all the time. "I can't bring you along for something like this. It's just too overwhelming for the family to think this is also an evaluation." This is absolute nonsense. Our research shows that the family is just so glad that someone can come to the house to help, they simply don't care if it's one or even two additional people.
   
   And don't fall for the "the family said they didn't want anyone else to come" line. The family doesn't even know anyone yet from your hospice. What this indicates is that the nurse called them and positioned another person coming as a negative. We've actually heard this more than once, so don't fall for it.
    

2. Too nerve-wracking. Well, of course people are nervous when being evaluated or observed. Hello? But for some reason it's acceptable for care team managers to conduct supervisory visits for their nurses. In fact, it's a critical component of quality improvement. What makes admissions any different?
   
   Tip: The more frequent the observation process, the less nerve-wracking it becomes for both staff and management. So get out there more often!

Key Coaching Tips

1. Coach on the way. While driving to the visit, talk with the nurse about what kinds of barriers she feels in managing the visit. Then discuss one or two things she'll focus on today (for example, setting timeframe and agenda at the outset of the visit).
    

2. Observe in silence. This can be one of the hardest things for managers to do, particularly when they want to reinforce and support the benefits that the nurse is describing. But remember, you're a fly on the wall, and this is her visit, not yours.
    

3. Watch the watch. Note the start and end time of the visit. Also make note of other key time markers, such as the start and end of the registration forms and physical assessment. But don't keep checking your watch! Instead, clip a large dial watch on your notepad so that you know the time without looking like you're in a hurry.
    

4. Take detailed notes. Without detailed notes as to what exactly was said, you don't have any way of changing the phrasing of responses or providing feedback on how to improve the dialogue flow.
    

5. Use instant replay after you leave. Once you exit the visit, spend a few minutes in the car or back at the office discussing the visit. Ask your nurse how she felt it went, what barriers or issues she identified, or what concerns she had. Then walk through your notes and talk about some of your suggestions. One that we see all the time: Our failure to ask the patient and family what's most important for them from today forward.

Important: Always start with the positive! If the family was kind of chaotic and the visit drifted all over the place, acknowledge that it wasn't an easy one, and that even the most seasoned nurses can get caught in the vortex of the chaos.

Most important, remember to measure progress (or not). Coaching only matters if they know it really counts.
 

Ask Polly

The Top Dog
Who Runs the Referral Center?
By Polly Rehnwall

As demand for hospice care expands and competition increases, the whole referral and admission function has also grown to be a key strategic focus. Many hospices automatically assume that a nurse should be in charge of referrals and admissions. But is that the best way to go?

The RN perspective. Part of the problem that can occur when a nurse is in charge of admissions is that it can become a heavily focused clinical (versus customer service) function. Many of the traditional “what’s the diagnosis” and “are they still on chemo” questions derive from a screening mindset. However, this shouldn’t be interpreted as a criticism of the nursing perspective. It’s just the focus that comes with a clinical background.

The service perspective. On the other hand, if the referral and admission process is regarded as a community service function, then the manager of that department should have a solid customer service background. Can a nurse have that strong service focus? Of course. It’s just not as prevalent as the clinical strength that he or she brings.

Maybe a social worker? In a lot of ways, having a social worker in charge may make more sense. Most consumer callers are family members, not patients. And many of the issues at admission deal with family caregivers. Plus, it’s oftentimes more palatable to the traditional mindset of the organization to have a licensed clinician in charge.

Inside candidates. While it’s usually wise to try to recruit from inside the organization, understand that anyone with care team experience may bring a bias towards protecting the teams from medically questionable or complicated patients. Again, it’s not a slam on insiders, it’s just something to be managed.

Other traits. So what are some of the key skills needed to manage a referral operation today?

Conviction. Sometimes it’s awfully hard to keep pushing the agenda of change that the “see every caller” AdmitRight model demands. Whether you have a separate admissions team or rely on the care teams to do their own admission visits, it can be hard to convince a team member to go see a caller whose only question was where to get a hospital bed. So conviction (with a capital C) is critical!

Goal-focused. This role requires someone who is driven to succeed. They understand that budgeted admissions aren’t just something that finance creates and hopefully will happen. Every admission is celebrated, not because it’s a number, but because it represents one more person helped. A manager has to instill this spirit in her team so that the phone ringing off the hook on Friday is seen as a good thing, and not as a weekly nightmare.

Customer-driven. Moving from the “we have to have” mindset (i.e., the information demanded of referral sources) to the “you don’t have to get us that, we’ll figure it out” mindset of the brave new world is never easy. A manager needs to support her team on the front end (not demanding information) and on the response side (how to get the info needed in different ways). Customer-driven is much more than smile school. It involves a willingness to look at challenges and barriers through a very different lens.

Questions and Answers

Reader Questions and 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 are this week's questions answered:

Question:

Would you share the top three things that helped you to build a successful business? 

Answer:

The top three things that I have used to build a successful business are:

1. Knowing the customer for the services, what they want and need. Knowing what is most important to them, clearly defining expectations and maintaining strong communication.

2. Delivering on promises, being dependable, honest and ethical.

3. Declining any projects for which I would not be the best choice.

Question:

How do we increase our referrals from hospitals that have their own home care agencies?

Answer:

The number one thing to do is to define specific subsets of patients that you can expect to receive as referrals from the hospital. Once you have established your ability to do a great job with these patients, are easy and dependable to work with, then you can expand their use of your services. We must always make sure that we provide them with something that they can "hang their hat on" when and if they are questioned about why they gave us the referral vs. their own agency.

Some of the basic possibilities for types of patients include:

• Service area -- where do you go that they do not

• Services they don't provide

• Specialty programs that meet specific needs

• Service times and dates -- can you serve their needs after hours, late on Friday or on weekend and holidays?

• Overflow patients -- who do they call when their agency can't take the patient?

• Availability of staff -- great example is physical therapy -- if they are quoting a week lead time, you can meet the needs by admitting within 24 hours.

Question:

When a patient goes into an SNF for rehab and after two weeks the patient wants to go home, but the staff at the SNF wants to keep the length of stay in and tells the patient that Medicare might not pay if they leave against medical advice. My sales rep feels like she is stepping on toes but she feels the patient should be able to go home when they want as long as they are safe.

Answer:

This is a variation on a common question. The answer has several components. First, you must be able to partner with the SNF to best meet their needs and those of the patient. Every case is different and should be evaluated individually. Be cautious of categorizing their evaluation as right or wrong. The patient, the physician and the staff at the SNF should be involved in each case and its appropriate management.

There are financial ramifications of the SNF's discharge policies and to ignore them is to set your agency up for failure. Be open and honest and work with each facility in a manner that meets all needs the best.
 

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 Bootcamp

• Marketing Program Development

• Interview Sales Candidates 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.

Home Care Consulting Pioneers

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.
 

Closing Thoughts

We are now in the final four months of the year and summer vacations are over. Kids have returned to school and it is time to get REALLY serious about the final kick for 2008. Review your plans and make sure everything is aligned with being incredibly focused on super success. If you are ahead of goals, work to get and stay further ahead. If you are behind, then make adjustments to get caught up and hit the finish line with gusto! Soon we will be talking about the planning process for 2009; work now to make this year finish with a bang!

Good Luck and Happy Selling!

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