Sales Tip

Are You Shooting Yourself In the Foot?

In our industry we put a lot of time and money into our sales and marketing - from your collaterals to having and training your sales reps, we invest tremendously into getting the phone to ring with referrals.

But are you spending enough time and money making sure your referral center is fully trained in how to convert as many of those calls into admissions as possible? It’s no good to have your Sales team work their butts off or have great consumer ad campaigns to keep increasing the amount of referrals coming in if you referral centers aren’t converting those extra calls to admissions. We’ve seen it all across the country, and it is not pretty. From coast to coast, we’ve come in and helped to fix referral centers who were converting only 5-15% of their calls and helped them start converting double, triple and quadruple more calls into visits. Here are just a few of the secrets:

DON’T Over Screen The Consumer Calls: Especially in fall and winter, there is a tendency to dismiss cold/flu consumer calls as not medically eligible for our services, and thus never send someone out or log the call in as a “real” referral. While a consumer may be complaining about how dad is having a tough time with a cold or the flu, the unspoken underlying prospect could be a serious exacerbation of CHF or COPD. The same over screening could be said of other calls, such as slips and falls. Be mindful, ask questions, and make sure there isn’t anything more there before hanging up the phone.

DO Ask for the phone number!: It seems silly and completely obvious, but when we are asked to implement our mystery calls program at agencies around the country, we uncover a great number of aspects lacking - not least of which is them not asking for name and telephone number. Many times it’s a detriment to a consumer call, which then never gets turned into a “real referral” because the referral center is waiting on a call back that never comes. Sometimes it’s as simple as not getting the doctor’s name and number who is calling in the referral, which holds up the CTI process. So always ask for a name a number, no matter the call.

DO Have enough referral people: While even the most top notch referral coordinators can handle 10+ referrals in a day, having this level of constant workload is a recipe for things to fall through the cracks. Whether it’s a CTI, or consents, or potential admissions themselves, things will get missed. If each of your referral coordinators is handling 10+ referrals a day, this is also an excuse for them to over screen or dismiss any calls that aren’t readily apparent as referrals, since they don’t want to add anything “strenuous” (see: needing to do more research and make several extra calls in order) to their workload. So find out what your coordinator’s workload is and figure out how to best distribute it out – and this may include adding one or more coordinators.

For questions, or if you’re interested in our mystery calls or referral center programs, please feel free to email me at . Have a great day and happy selling!

Your Brand is Your Promise
Part 2

Branding is not solely logos and colors, and it is not an exact discipline. Every element of outreach, every “conversation” with the potential customer must be taken into consideration because branding happens at every point of contact.

Consistency of message and image are important to building a strong brand.  Every time you use anything different you are “muddying” the water and making it more difficult for the consumer to latch onto your brand.  For this reason it is vitally important that all elements of your agency use the logo, message, color, look and feel on a consistent basis.  Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by using multiple looks in the market.  Another element that causes some problems is when there is a name change.  This is a process that requires a long term approach.  You must use the old name with the new for a period of two to three years to make sure that you do not lose customers for the wrong reason.  Even then it is prudent to maintain the listing in the phone book, on the internet, etc. for the old name - just to catch those that didn’t get the new one!

First impressions are part of the brand created in the customer’s mind but it is truly the collective impressions on the customer by the agency.  These could happen through advertising and other outreach activities.  There are certain times in each relationship where the branding occurs.

Hospice providers have the benefit and the challenge of serving the end of life patient and their families.  There are two key seminal moments in the customer relationship for hospice agencies.  The first occurs during the admission process and the latter when the patient is actively dying.

One example of smart branding would be the agencies that have licensed the 1800HOMECARE vanity phone number.  The same principle that fueled the tremendous growth of 1800FLOWERS can work in our industry as well.  According to the findings of a June 2002 study by Response Marketing Group of Burlington, Vermont, nearly 60% of participants recalled the vanity numbers they had heard after only one exposure to a radio advertisement. 

“1-800-HOMECARE has enabled us to compete with the larger agencies in our market. With so much competition, we are able to give our prospective clients a number they never forget. It’s been great for recruitment as well.” said Marty Hoelscher of Superior Home Care in Utah.  By licensing a vanity number and using it consistently in all forms of promotional materials and advertising, an agency can gain brand recognition with less impressions and with greater retention.

Now that as an industry we have gone ‘from good to great,’ the quest is now to go from great to greater!  The consumer is becoming more educated about home care and hospice, the competition is pushing the envelope and the value of your brand has never been more important.  The sales team has the chore of expanding the brand in the community, what are you doing to support them in this effort?  Your brand is your promise, the sales team and the care delivery teams are building it everyday!

Want to know what your brand is in the community?  Ask your customers and potential customers.

Your Brand is Your Promise
Part 1

Brand loyalty is not just for the conglomerates and big businesses.  Smart branding is the best way to maximize your results.  Your brand is simply defined as the positive or negative inclination to select your home health or hospice agency over another.  It is the aggregation of the sales presentations, stories and relationships with the community.  It is the difference between being viewed as a commodity and not.

Selling a service vs. selling product is a much more difficult brand to build.  There is no ‘widget’ to use with varying degrees of customer satisfaction.  There is no packaging to use to brand the product in the customer’s minds.  At past NAHC Annual Meetings there have been incredible leaders from many industries as diverse as Ritz-Carlton and Harley Davidson.  They have shared the essence of what they have built as their brand, their promise to their customers.  In home care and hospice this is where we need to focus - our promise to the patients, their families and the community.

I believe that we should look at our companies as being in the hospitality industry.  There are many correlations to our industry with the exception that we are delivering the service as a guest in their home.  As a result it removes the ability to charm the customer with decor and vista.  I am sure that we have all had a less than stellar customer service encounter in a hotel that made up for it with ambiance.  This is not to forgive bad service, only to point out that we have less control over environment in our hospitality model!

The brand is a major investment that must be nurtured and supported with a consistent image, message and customer relationship.  Make it more tangible with stories and testimonials.  Provide the people your agency touches an easy mechanism to spread the word in the community.

Face Time (Part 2)

by Mike Ferris

Since the scarcest resource is available time to make sales calls, management must encourage the sales person to continually improve their ability to gain face-to-face access to the decision makers in their best accounts.  Face time doesn’t have to be with the doctor, in fact most of the time they are not the most important link in the process.  The person who calls in the referrals is the primary target.  When the face time is with the physician, the sales person must be able to gain maximum benefit.  Sales training should teach the representative to be practiced at doing so.

We can learn much from pharmaceutical sales representatives in dealing with physicians.  They are taught to cut to the quick when talking with the doctor and to focus in on specific details.  The process is many times referred to as ‘detailing’ the physician.  They use detail sheets and can succinctly explain the benefits to the doctor and their patients.  The takeaway from the pharma reps is to be prepared for any interaction with specific goals and topics for these interactions.  As an industry, we have historically been only marginally prepared to make powerful presentations.

The other skill that we can learn from the pharmaceutical sales people is needs assessment selling.  Ask great questions on every face-to-face call.  Be prepared with questions designed to either gain knowledge about the account or to have them tell you a need (that you have predetermined) and then present your solution.  Design and practice questions for all occasions and practice their use and delivery.

Managing account relationships is an art.  I hope these pointers about face time are helpful in crafting your sales and marketing program.  Sales people are expensive; make sure you maximize their effectiveness.

Face Time (Part 1)

by Mike Ferris

The number one activity that drives sales results is the number of face-to-face sales calls the sales person is able to complete.  Face time has proven to directly impact results, every time, for both home care and hospice.  In fact, the only two things that can shorten the sales cycle are quality face time with the right people and frequency of interaction.

To be effective the face time must be with the right person.  We define a face-to-face sales call as having a substantive conversation about business with a decision maker.  Our research indicates that successful sales people make, on average, 28.7 face-to-face calls weekly for home care and 24.3 for hospice.  The most successful (as measured by number of admissions) average almost 7 more face-to-face calls per week for both home care and hospice.  So we know from this that numbers drive results.

Another element is the relative rating of the account being called upon.  Those most successful sales people spend 64.7% with accounts rated as ‘A’ or Super ‘A’ compared with all participants spending 57.1% with these same accounts.  Frequency is the other key element to monitor and perfect.  Most reported calling on these key accounts on a weekly basis.

In the event that the sales person ever feels that they are a nuisance showing up at their accounts on a weekly basis, tell them to get over it!  By definition, their best accounts are the competitions top targets.  Should the account let them know that they are calling too frequently, that is the diagnostic tool that tells you that they are not adding value to the conversations.  If the sales person is bringing perceived value to the contact, they will not be seen as bothersome.

Next time we’re going to finish up by going over other skills to use during the face to face time, and how all of this is going to really help increase your referral numbers.

Three Keys to Being a Great Sales Rep: Organize, Organize, Organize (Part 5)

by Mike Ferris

Over the last several weeks, we’ve talked about ranking accounts into ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘T5’, we’ve talked about organizing your calendar - how you visit those A, B, C, and T5 accounts - we’ve talked about how to take those calendars and use them to organize our Territory Management. Last week we talked about how to put together an efficient monthly calendar, so now it’s time to talk about how to put together an efficient weekly calendar.

First off, like we said last time, each sales person should keep a “month at a glance” calendar for the coming twelve months and a “week at a glance” calendar that is completed for the month ahead.  Before the start of every new week you will need to sit down and slot these activities as follows:

First, enter in any scheduled events and presentations you have already set up from your month at a glance calendar into your upcoming week’s calendar. This will help anchor the rest of your week, knowing when you absolutely positively have to be in one certain place at a certain time.

Next, slot in any office functions and meetings. These have the same effect of anchoring, but are sometimes more flexible based on what’s going on out in the field.

Third, slot in your KEY account activities. What might be happening this week that will only happen this upcoming week, or is a unique opportunity for you in some way.

Next, slot in your ‘A’ accounts - when you’re going to see them is the most important decision and effects all the other ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘T5’ accounts.

Fifth, slot in your project account calls - the ones you are making a priority to see if you can convert them.

Next, do you route lists and slot in the rest of your account according to this route list. This will help decide when and where you will be when you’re going out on calls for the entire week, so make efficient decision because your time is the most valuable asset and commodity.

Last, slot in any necessary administrative time.

And that’s it - it’s that simple to put together an efficient calendar that makes the best use of your time and talents. Good luck and happy selling!

Three Keys to Being a Great Sales Rep: Organize, Organize, Organize (Part 4)

by Mike Ferris

Last time, we went over territory management, and how to do that efficiently and productively. We got back on the ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE train after a hiatus, and went over some more of the different aspects of being a Sales Rep that should be organized, and how to do it.

Over the last several newsletters, we’ve talked about ranking accounts into ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘T5’, we’ve talked about organizing your calendar - how you visit those A, B, C, and T5 accounts - we’ve talked about how to take those calendars and use them to organize our Territory Management. This week we’re going to learn how to put together an efficient monthly calendar, and then next time we’re going to put together an efficient weekly calendar.

First off, each sales person should keep a “month at a glance” calendar for the coming twelve months and a “week at a glance” calendar that is completed for the month ahead.  Before the start of the new month you will need to sit down and transfer any events scheduled for the upcoming month from your “month at a glance” calendar to the next month’s set of “week at a glance” calendar.

Next, slot (schedule) each of your ‘A’ accounts to be seen at least once during each week.  Insert them in priority order trying to accommodate the best time to see each one.  Place an ‘A’ next to the entry on your calendar.

Then, slot your five Project accounts – they should also be seen once a week.  Place a ‘P’ next to these. If you remember, these are the top 5 prospects you determined to have the highest probability of becoming and ‘A’ account.

Lastly, add in your route lists that would coincide with where you will be when you make your ‘A’ and Project account calls.

Now, after you’ve done all this to your monthly calendar, you can fill in the less important ‘B’ and ‘C’ account calls based on the routes and schedule of your more important ‘A’ and ‘T5’ (top 5) account calls. It’s that easy.

Next time we’re going to go over how to put together an efficient weekly calendar.

Three Keys to Being a Great Sales Rep: Organize, Organize, Organize (Part 3)

by Mike Ferris

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to go over the different aspects of being a Sales Rep that should be organized, and how to do it.
Over the last several newsletters, we’ve talked about ranking accounts into ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘T5’, we’ve talked about organizing your calendar - how you visit those A, B, C, and T5 accounts - and this week we’re going to take those calendars and use them to organize our Territory Management - the third part of our ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE series.

As you may remember, we had you grouping your accounts into various lettered categories - so after you have rated all of your accounts the first step in territory management is to locate ‘A’ accounts and your Project accounts on a map.

Next, put your ‘B’ accounts, ‘C’ accounts and qualified prospects onto Route Lists.  These route lists are geographic groupings of your accounts. Make sure the route lists are kept up to date with all of the accounts in that area of your territory.  Everything should be kept to a manageable number of ‘B’ or ‘C’ accounts and qualified prospects (and this will usually be about 8 - 12 accounts on each route list).

Then, list your accounts in order of priority. If your route list is too long, you will not be able to easily manage it and see the accounts with any kind of predictable results - so because you’ve listed them by priority, you’ll easier be able to cut it down to what you are able to manage effectively.

Thats just a taste of how to do effective Territory Management using the Account Management tools we went over in previous weeks. Next time, we’ll go over how to set up a monthly planning calendar.

Make No Assumptions!
Sales Tip from April 13th, 2010

While we’ve been doing a series on organization the past two newsletters, we’ve gotten requests to take a break for a week. With that in mind, we’re going to talk about a cardinal rule when selling Home Care or Hospice services to our referral sources: Make NO assumptions!

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, OR information you’ve inherited from another Sales Rep when you move into a new territory. DON’T do it - gather your own information because even if something was true even 1 month ago, things change so often in our industry that it’s important to stay current and keep asking questions.
This also shows up just as much with existing referral sources as it does with prospects.

Here are some places to watch out for assumptions:

- 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 or any other specialty program.
- Just because there are no complaints doesn’t mean there aren’t any 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

You get the idea. In our next newsletter, we’ll get back on the organization band wagon and go over Territory Management. Until then, happy selling!

Three Keys To Being a Great Sales Rep: Organize, Organize, Organize (Part 2)
Sales Tip from March 30, 2010

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to go over the different aspects of being a Sales Rep that should be organized, and how to do it.
After last week, when we talked about ranking accounts into ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘T5’, we mentioned that this week, we’re going to focus on organizing your calendar - how you visit those ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘T5’ accounts.

First, you need to know that 60% of your time will be spent with ‘A’ and ‘T5’ accounts - which equals 30+ calls a week. Next, 25-35% of your time will be focused on ‘B’ accounts - those you think have the potential to become ‘A’ accounts - and the only way they will become ‘A’ accounts is if you spend the time calling on them. This will equal 20-30 calls per week. Lastly, 15-20 calls per week will be your ‘C’ accounts, and will equal only 10-15% of your time.

Now that you see the breakdown of time allocation, make a list of your top 25 accounts - this is the list of your accounts that you will visit AT LEAST once per week, every week. Make a grid to track these accounts to make sure that they are seen once a week or more. At the end of each week, review your calendar and mark the top twenty-five account management grid you created with the date(s) you visited each. Then, review the grid to see any gaps - if you have any, evaluate why and how you will remedy. If there are multiple gaps on a specific account – it either needs immediate attention or should not be included on the list any more.

If you’re interested in receiving your own Top 25 grid that we have electronically, please email . Lisa will be happy to send it to you.

Now, next week we’re going to take these calendars and grids and use them to organize our Territory Management - the third part of our ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE series. 

Three Keys To Being a Great Sales Rep: Organize, Organize, Organize
Sales Tip from March 16, 2010

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to go over the different aspects of being a Sales Rep that should be organized, and how to do it. This week, we’re going to go over one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle - organizing your accounts (or account management).

First, ask yourself: do I have the accounts I call on a regular basis ranked in any particular way? Do I know how many referrals are coming from each account? How many admissions? If so, do I have all of them ranked as ‘A’ accounts, ‘B’ accounts, ‘C’ accounts, and Top 5?

Now, for those of you who answered “no” to the first three questions, the first step you should take is to find out how many referrals are coming out of each of your accounts (and while you’re doing this, as a very important side note, figure out what diagnoses are being referred from each account as well – we’ll cover this on a later date), and how many of those referrals are turning into admissions. Once you have those numbers together, work with your Sales Manager to determine a good system of ranking these accounts. In some territories, 10 referrals a month may make it an ‘A’ account, and in other territories that might not even make it a ‘C’ account. So determine how you will rank your accounts, and then start to organize everyone you call on.

Got you’re ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ accounts determined? Good. The next step is to figure out who your Top 5 are. Now, what we mean by Top 5 is not who refers the most – we want you to determine which 5 accounts have the best chance of turning into ‘A’ accounts. Your Top 5 Opportunities. These can be new prospects, or ‘Bs’ and ‘Cs’. You will visit these accounts the exact same way you would ‘A’ accounts - at least once a week and evaluated monthly for progress.


Now, in the next newsletter, we’re going to go further into detail on how to manage this new list you’ve created and put together a solid calendar, as well as go into other aspects you should be organizing.

Ask The Extra Question - Sales Tip from March 2, 2010

Our last Sales Tip focused on making the extra call. Today we are going to focus on asking that one extra question.


Why was Columbo so good at solving cases?  He asked that one last killer question on his way out the door - and it was usually that last parting bit of info that helped solve the case. The same goes for asking that one last question while you’re wrapping up a call.


First, let me say that a solid relationship with your referral partners is built on trust and a partnership so intertwined that your agency becomes a tool for how they practice medicine. Imagine how much you can solidify your relationship with your referral partners if you ask that one extra question that really lets them know you are concerned about them and their patients, and want to find out more ways you can help.


As March is kidney disease month, let’s use that as an example.

Questions that start with:


By the way...


Example:  By the way, what challenges do you face with patients with acute kidney disease?

One other thing...


Example:  One other thing, how do you currently screen patients for acute kidney disease?


Oops, I almost forgot to ask you...


Example:  Oops, I almost forgot to ask you about your patients with chronic kidney disease, how do they impact your practice?


The examples would be those you might use if your agency had a Kidney Disease awareness campaign going during March.  You can use this approach for any type of patient, but it has a lot of power, and will also increase the effectiveness of your single sales call.

The Extra Call - Sales Tip from February 16, 2010

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!

So, when you have finished with your scheduled activities and are ready to quit, don’t. Find that one extra call to make. Make that one extra call or contact really count, and watch the results roll in!

The Missing Ingredient: How to Boost Your Agency’s Referrals in Only 3 Days - Sales Tip from February 2, 2010
Home Care and Hospice Industry’s #1 Sales Course Now Available at Your Doorstep

While you get slightly different experiences walking through the halls of NAHC conventions and NHPCO conventions, the one thing you’ll always find in common is what’s whispered in the corner between Sales Managers and discussed between CEOs at their expense account dinners: Square One Boot Camp.

No other Sales and Marketing course in the country has had more success from its students, and acclaim from their bosses. William Deary, CEO of Great Lakes Home Health and Hospice, says ”our referrals have grown significantly and our conversion rates improve each month. The consulting, coaching, and support has been critical to our success.”

Over the last 8 years, Square One Boot Camp has gone from being the first full service Home Care and Hospice Sales Training course to being the best. Designed as a way for agencies to get their new Sales Rep hires to hit the ground running, students came from all over the country and left saying things like ”Amazing”, ”First rate!”, ”Absolute gem” and ”Awesome!”. 

Now, not content with being the industry’s best kept secret, Square One Boot Camp has expanded to include an On-Site Training Program. With a thorough pilot testing process, the results are in: the Sales Reps are motivated and the Agencies are happy. Mike Ferris, Founder of Square One Boot Camp, shares, ”We’ve long been excited to see such great results from the Sales Training Course, but over and over we kept hearing one complaint: ‘Why can’t I get a program like this into my agency? Can you bring Square One to my offices?’ Finally, I sat down with my team and we developed a way to do it.”

Kara Osborne, a former Hospice Sales manager and one of Square One’s trainers confides ”I’m excited we finally found a way to do what the industry kept asking us for. Our Boot Camp in Chicago was such a success and we hope to bring that same success to agencies around the country.”

”With competition increasing every day, the importance of customized sales training grows more and more evident. Whether an agency is small or large, every single one can use the tailored training of Square One Boot Camp to springboard past their competitors, and flourish for many years to come,” states Mike, who now runs the Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service division of Simione Consultants. “We love helping the Home Care and Hospice agencies in our industry find their path to success, so whether they come to us or we come to them, we’re here to guide and support.”

For any questions or more information, including a sample agenda, you can reach Mike Ferris at

Use Your Leverage:  What is Holding You Back? - Sales Tip from January 19, 2010

Do you want to grow your admissions this year and become THE big dog that you can be? 

What’s holding you back?

We all say we want big results.  But then we get stopped, over and over again. We think we are stopped by circumstances, by other people, by bad timing and bad luck. 

This is never the case. We stop ourselves. 

What is observably true is that we let ourselves be impacted by our circumstances. We have an idea, a goal, a plan and we start to put things into action. And then something happens. 

The new brochure doesn’t cause the referrals to pour in, or someone doesn’t let me see them, or a new campaign you developed generates very little interest. These trigger our emotional response and thoughts.

When this happens you have a choice. You can go in one of two directions: You can become totally consumed with the excuses (the negative thoughts and emotions) or you can separate yourself from them and look for the best leverage. 

We’ve all been there; and the key is not to get stuck there for a long time. 

You have to get over whatever negative energy you created and focus on how to make the proverbial lemonade out of lemons. Think about what happened and how you can turn it to your best advantage. Then analyze the payoff—if you turn it around how many admissions do you think will result? If the number is not significant, then move on.

Now that you’re back on the horse, you have to look for the best way to leverage your time and opportunities. Another really bad way to stay mired in the muck is to embark on something that is not meaningful (maybe it seems easy) and now you are locking yourself into poor results. There is nothing more satisfying than looking adversity in the face and then hitting a home run. If you don’t get a thrill from creating a significant stream of referrals, you may be in the wrong position! 

In the event that you are thinking that this sounds too simple, get over it! You have a fundamental choice: you can have events and happenings make your job (and life) difficult or you can use them to fuel your passion and success. These reactions are not hardwired in many of us, so you have to focus on the process and make it habitual. 

That leads me to leverage, as this is the other key to getting out of your way and being hugely successful. 

At ALL times you must know that you are spending your time on the most important activities that have the greatest potential. Anytime you compromise on this principle you are, by definition, limiting your success. Use the skills you have learned from us:

1) Focus on what is important.  Let go of what is not.

2) Know your top five opportunities for growth and constantly move the plan forward.

3) Have your top twenty-five account list well organized and your call cycles set to match.

4) Have your limited in length prospect list at the ready and integrated into each day and week’s plans.

5) Look for how you can make those extra calls each day.

6) Have value added, enriched conversations with your referral partners and ALWAYS look for how to expand their use of our services.

Hope this helps!

Am I in the Right Place? - Sales Tip from January 5, 2010

Sometimes I get asked, “how do I know if this is the right career for me?” by sales people who are either new to the industry or struggling to find their way.

This is an excellent question because, if it is not, there are easier places to make a living.  There is no more rewarding job in sales, but only if it is right for you.

Here are some tips to discover where you stand in regard to this question:

1) Are you passionate about the difference your agency makes in the world?  Passionate about the difference home care and or hospice makes in the community?

2) Make a list of pros and cons of your job.  Which was easier to come up with, the pro or the con?  Which list is longer?

3) Do you wake up in the morning and can’t wait to get to work?

4) Does the day fly by or does it drag on and you can’t wait for the day to end?

5) When you talk about your job to your family and friends what do you say?

6) When you talk about your agency to others, what do you say?

By answering these simple questions, you should be very clear on whether you are in the right place or not.  If you are, then have that be additional reinforcement and motivation.  If not, then you should rethink your plan and your position.

Be Genuine, Let Your Passion Show - Sales Tip from December 15, 2009

When you’re engaged in conversation with your referral partners, remember to be genuine.  It’s easy to get caught up in our script of questions, and be so focused on our objective that we forget to let our passion and our genuineness show.  Let your passion for what you do show through.  In all of our sales training, we teach salespeople to find out what is important to the referral partner and position themselves as having the best solution.  This is a critical sales skill, but will be lead to greater success if you approach it from a genuine perspective. 

You need to let your referral partners know that you truly care about helping them, that you want to understand their needs and are committed to providing a solution that helps both them and their patients.  Exhibit genuine concern.  Let people know you love your job because every day you get to bring help to someone in need.  Let people know that you believe unreservedly in the services you offer.  Be excited about delivering your mission.  Sell with energy, and let people know why you’ve invested so much energy in your job.  If your passion in life is to change the world one home care patient at time, let the world know.  Tell people about it.  When you have passion, you demonstrate authority, and confidence in what you sell.  People follow passion.  When your customer feels your passion, they relax a little, forget about being sold to, and just want to hear more.  People refer to passionate, genuine people. 

What better industry than ours to demonstrate passion and a genuine desire to help people.  We have the greatest jobs in the world, and we shouldn’t be afraid to share that with our referral partners.  Remember that selling is a service, and you’re selling something of value.  The difference between a good salesperson and a great one is passion and a genuine approach.  If you are NOT genuine in your approach, and passionate about what you sell, your referral partners will think you’re being dishonest with them.  On the other hand, combine your sales skills with a genuine approach and demonstrated passion, and you’ll be hugely successful.



Do You Have a Plan? - Sales Tip from December 2, 2009

One month left in 2009. Do you have a plan?

Do you know what sales and marketing activities will generate your admissions for next year?

Will 2010 be significantly better than 2009?  What’s your actual plan to make it better?

For many it takes a very long time to actually get the concept of planning.  Most commonly they pretty much go one month at a time, hoping their efforts lead to where they want to be.

Yes, you may plan some strategies, activities and projects.  But all too often we find that, at the end of the day, you have essentially crossed your fingers and hoped for the best.  You are very busy and are depending more on hope.

Hope is not a strategy!

You figured that if you did a certain number of sales calls, lunches, etc., you would be okay.  You stay in the reactive versus proactive world.

This is not enough to become a superstar sales professional.  You should build your plan as you would build a house.

It’s up to you, but with more competition and more sales professionalism in our industry, old ways will not keep you ahead.  You must have a plan that’s designed to bring in a predictable growing stream of admissions for 2010.

Here are some recommendations to keep in mind while you complete your personal sales and marketing plan for 2010:

1.  Decide on exactly what kind of referral partners you want next year.  Are you willing to settle for the level of accounts and account productivity you’ve been getting?  How will you aim for the ideal referral partners as you tend to get what you intend.

2.  Determine the services and programs you want these referral partners to benefit from.  Don’t just think about them; write them down in great detail and make them real with a clear understanding of what is in it for them.  It’s not a plan unless it’s written and it is not a good plan unless it is built upon the value added services that you will bring to the referral partners and a clear knowledge of the benefits to them.

3.  Make a list of your top five opportunities for growth, your top twenty five accounts, your top prospect list.  List the players in each account or prospect.  Now write-up the specific benefits to the specific people at each specific referral partner.

4.  Estimate the potential admissions for each.  List your next steps for each account and your plan to realize that potential.  Prioritize by biggest potential.

5.  Develop the sales campaigns that you will use in the first quarter of the year. 

6.  Build your route lists for 2010 after defining the plan steps above.  Schedule your month of January. 

7.  Execute on the plan.  Ask the probing questions to uncover their needs, present the benefits of your solutions, get them to make a list of patients that would be appropriate and convert to admissions.  Remember to be concise, stay focused on them (not you) and demonstrate how what you offer will meet their needs, make their lives easier, improve their patient’s quality of life and provide the value add that you bring to the equation.

8.  Keep track of your success and always look for ways to be more focused on the key activities that will deliver the greatest results.

Following this type of planning process will attract more referral partners and increase production from existing ones.

This is a simplified planning process; it’s not intended to be a full blown plan, but rather a tool to make sure you are on the right track.  It works and you will see improved results. Then, you can then work to fine-tune and refine it to bring in more admissions and develop more sophisticated referral partner relationships based on value—not just your good looks!

Good luck and, don’t forget to submit your personal plan and win the valuable prize package!



Growth Strategy: Expand the Use of Our Services - Sales Tip from November 17, 2009

As you all know by now, one of my number one strategies is to ALWAYS be looking for ways to increase the use of our services by our referral partners.  This is one of the best ways to grow your business, strengthen relationships, get more referrals from your ‘A’ accounts and to convert ‘B’ accounts to ‘A’ accounts.  And at the end of the day, more patients and families get the gift of hospice or home care.  Win, win, win, win, win . . .

Examine what benefits you bring to your referral partners during the holiday season.  What is the extra value add for the holidays?  This could include less unnecessary ER visits, calls to on-call doctor, office hours returning and fielding patient calls, etc.  Could be the peace of mind that comes from patients with less anxiety and problems during the season, etc. 

Once you determine what your extra holiday benefits are to each of your referral partners (individually—remember, one size does not fit all!), then you can craft your questions to get them to share their problems and stories.

A great questioning strategy to employ during this time of year is to ask, “what special challenges (or frustrations, etc.) do your patients present during the holidays?”

What would make their lives easier during the holidays?  Want to know?  ASK THEM!

Have fun and get extra business out of every interaction with referral partners during the holidays.  We get sales people who think that their referral partners don’t want to be sold anything during the holidays, so they just make “nice, friendly, warm calls with gifts and cards”.  Wrong!  They don’t want to be sold any time of the year!  But they would much rather have you bring added value and make their holiday lives easier than to just have to waste time with warm and fuzzy.  Note:  I am not saying not to be warm (or fuzzy, if that is your personality), just to make sure that you are bringing benefits to those you interact with at your best accounts.

Have fun, happy holidays and HAPPY Serving!



Building Trust - Sales Tip from November 3, 2009

Trust is the cornerstone of strong home care and hospice referral partner relationships.  But, how do we build trust?

It is a long term process; trust is built over time.  It can be destroyed in an instant, but takes a long time to earn.  Consistency builds trust. If you are seen on a regular basis and perceived as a value add, you will build trust.  Professional appearance builds trust.

The secret to building trust (and perceived value) is investing your time in understanding the referral partner completely. Strategic questions designed to find out what is important to them are essential to your sales process, but they also show that you care about them as a person. If they think you have their best interest in mind because you have demonstrated by asking and listening carefully, they will trust you more (with good reason). You must consistently demonstrate that you care. 

Some other keys to building trust:

~ Listening more than talking.
~ Consistency of message and approach make people comfortable. 
~ Delivering value and being a resource for the referral partners supports trust.
~ Strong, proactive problem solving skills will build trust.
~ Preparation—you will build trust by appearing prepared.
~ Reinforcing the benefits that are important to them.
~ Establish common ground and local ties.

As you can see, the key sales skills that we teach all are part and parcel of building relationships built on trust and value.

Hope this helps!



Focus on Solution Selling - Sales Tip from October 20, 2009

In all of our sales training (and at the core of all great sales training) we focus on how to find out what is important to the referral partner and how to position ourselves as having the best solution. We refer to this process as Needs Assessment Selling, but it is also known as Needs Based Selling, Solution Selling, Consultative Selling, Stop Selling and Start Partnering, etc. It is an easy process to describe but many times is elusive to the home care or hospice sales representative. In our advanced sales training, we work through the process in detail to develop the sales campaigns that will deliver the results. In using this approach we teach the sales person how to be good at Needs Assessment Selling by using it to develop the program to sell their specific program or solution.

Here is an example:

The home care sales person wants to develop stronger orthopedic referral partnerships. Specifically, he or she wants to generate more post operative hips and knees. Here is the broad brush of the process:

1) What is important to the referral partner, in this case the orthopedic surgeon?
2) Who is involved in the process?
3) What are the benefits of our solution to each of those involved in the process?
4) What questions do I need to ask to get each of these players to tell me their needs, frustrations, goals, etc.?
5) Where are their pressure points?
6) What are their motivations?
7) Who are the competitors?
8) Identify any barriers.

Armed with the answers to these questions, the sales person can build a strategic sales plan specific to the individual referral partner. In the case of the orthopedic surgeon, there are specific pressure points and needs that can be addressed with your solution that will enable you to “own” the account. Orthopedic surgeons have a lot of power to direct and determine who will provide the post operative rehab services. Get them on your side and you will enjoy explosive growth in your ortho referrals. This is a long-term process to gain the position with them, but well worth the time, talent, energy and resources.

One last thought to add to this process:

Ask yourself how you can position yourself as a true partner in the process. How can this be accomplished for the orthopedic surgeon? Well, one thing to work on is the fact that of all of the current fields of medicine, hip and knee surgeries have the greatest number of patients who SELECT their surgeon based on references and referrals from their other patients. Position yourself as a partner that will help to facilitate that process and you will earn the business for the long-term.

Find their pain and prescribe your solution to eliminate their pain!

Hope this helps. Happy Selling!

Be Relaxed! - Sales Tip from October 8, 2009

As a home care or hospice sales professional, you must be confident, passionate and relaxed! When you observe many of the top sales people, you see that they are relaxed when they interact with their accounts. They are able to relax because they know their stuff, know the value they bring to their accounts and are open to results. Being relaxed has nothing to do with not being a strong sales person; in fact, it is the opposite.

The confident and relaxed sales professional asks closing questions as a matter of course. They are constantly probing for needs and finding out more about their accounts. They have their questions formulated before they make the sales call. They handle objections with ease because they have prepared and practiced their responses.

So, as you prepare yourself to be a top performer, relax knowing that you are representing the best home care or hospice and that you are a huge value add to your accounts.

Relax, have fun and let the referrals roll in!