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- Increase Market Share
- Provide Continuous Coaching for Busy Professionals
- Transform Your Community Liaison Into a Sales Professional
- Deliver a Customized Solution Designed to Integrate with Your Goals and Focus
- Establish a Comprehensive Marketing Plan
- Deliver Specialized Solutions for Home Health, Hospice and Private Duty Agencies
Sales Leadership
The 7 Keys of Highly Effective Marketing (Part 4)
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The Most Important of the 7 Keys: The Highly Trained Sales Team
In other industries the ongoing sales training for the sales team is standard. In home care it is still the minority of agencies that have professional sales training programs. Those agencies that have invested in the ongoing training are well rewarded. The training programs may involve outside experts and or internal resources. All sales people benefit from sales training, they either learn new concepts and strategies or have familiar ones reinforced.
The sales training should be consistent for all of the sales representatives as they are added to the team or replace an existing team member. If your new hires come with prior home care sales experience, make them take the same training and learn the way that your agency does things. The consistency of the image and message delivered by the sales team is very important. Many times new sales people will be bringing sales practices, home care knowledge or beliefs that are not consistent with the new agency. This must be guarded against to prevent the potential damage to the carefully built reputation of the agency in the community.
The best training program for home care sales team is to have monthly or quarterly one or two day training programs for all sales team members (including inside and outside salespeople). Ideally the entire sales team is assembled to ensure that all members hear and learn the same strategies and approaches. This will also serve to build the team and its cohesiveness. Additionally, the salespeople should read about sales and listen to CDs about sales in the car.
The agency will always have a large investment in the sales team and its members - professional sales training only makes sense.
Technology
The adoption of CRM (customer relationship management) practices is becoming more common place in home care. Other industries have invested heavily in CRM solutions to create a stronger relationship with their customer. There are numerous benefits including:
- Track effectiveness and results of sales and marketing initiatives
- Understand where the referrals are coming from and why
- Know what your sales team is doing and the results they are producing
- Manage all referral source information in a central database
- Rate accounts and prioritize sales activities
- Never lose important information if a sales person leaves the organization
- Know the customer and how to best service them to build a long-term strong relationship
The technology that the agency is using to manage their patient care such as point of care devices, telehealth, pathways, diagnostic tests, etc. can also be used to create a point of differentiation. This allows the referral source to have one more reason to specify an agency. The benefit to the referral sources and to the patients or clients must be communicated for maximum benefit to be derived.
The sales team should have the ability to make Power Point presentations to larger groups with a LCD projector or to small groups on a laptop. This presentation should be consistent with the agency’s marketing image and its other collateral materials. It should be very professional. The message must be crafted for each type of audience to make each presentation most effective.
Conclusion
Home care as an industry is rapidly being forced to adopt aggressive sales and marketing strategies and tactics. Competition is fierce and the ability to differentiate the agency in the eyes of the community, in particular the referral sources, will determine the long-term viability of the home care program. The relationships built over many years can be lost if the agency is unable to compete on the sales and marketing front as well as with service delivery.
Invest wisely in the sales and marketing program and the results will follow. Engage professional advisors to plan, implement, refine and measure the success of the sales effort. Create a sales culture in the organization is that is inclusive of all staff.
The 7 Keys of Highly Effective Marketing (Part 3)
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Packaging and Specialization
Everyday there are more agencies that are creating specialty to programs to meet the specific needs of their customers. The sales team should be probing for these needs and communicating them back to the agency. The agency can then develop a specialty program in partnership with major referral sources to create the perfect home care or hospice solution for their patients. This level of integration allows for the referral relationship to become almost unassailable by the competition. In fact, when the home care agency adopts the physician group’s protocols, the care becomes almost seamless. This improves patient outcomes and satisfaction with care and makes your referral source happy. This represents a win-win-win situation.
The key considerations when developing a specialty program are:
- Is there a sufficient market for these services in your community?
- Have you established the goals for the specialty program?
- Is the return on investment sufficient enough to support the cost of development and implementation?
- Are their physicians that are interested in assisting in the development of the program?
- Will the physicians write the orders specifically for your agency and the program?
- Does the agency have the staff with specialized training in the field being considered?
The market analysis showing that there is a sufficient demand in your service area for the care delivered under this specialty program is the critical first step. If the answer is no, then the actual return on investment will not be adequate. Set goals for the new program for increased referrals, implementation timetable, patient satisfaction, outcomes and all other key elements that you can measure. When calculating the return delivered by the specialty program, you must first deduct the referrals that you are already receiving and look at the incremental increases in referrals. Of course, the improved clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and strengthened relationships have value and should be considered in the calculations.
Packaging around existing core competencies allows the agency to develop a specialty program quicker and with less expense. Further, the agency has a current flow of referrals with care plans that are consistent with the plans that will be developed for the specialty program. Approach some of the current referral sources as potential partners in the development of the program. Whether you are partnering with existing referral sources or new ones, the involvement of one or more specialists is very important to the ultimate success of the program.
Successful specialty programs include:
- Orthopedic (for home care)
- Neuro Rehab (for home care)
- Cardiac
- Pre-hospice (for home care)
- Alzheimer’s
- Pulmonary
- Pediatric
The home care and hospice industry is rapidly adopting this concept and developing specialty programs. The packaging is important to establish a “brand” for the program in the community. If you are first to market you will have to blaze the trail and create the interest for this type of program.
Training is important for both the sales force and the clinical team. The sales team needs to understand the clinical aspects well enough to discuss the program in the community. The clinical team needs to understand how the sales process is designed so that they may integrate with it to promote the program when appropriate.
Many times the initial and ongoing success of the program will hinge on whether or not the physicians are willing to act as advocates for the program and the agency. When developing the program qualify the physicians for commitments to refer to the program. Then enlist them in the promotion to others in the community. This is a great place to collect and use testimonials.
The naming of the program is another important aspect of its marketing. It should be reflective of the services and area of specialization. Easy to remember and understand is always a good idea. If it is the first program of its type in your service area, then you have the opportunity to create the brand associated with this type of specialty program in the community. In addition to the name there needs to be a USP (unique selling proposition) for the program. It should explain why someone should use the program.
Focused Message
There is a good reason that successful politicians are constantly staying on message. They know that if they have a focused message and they deliver it consistently they have the highest chance of being elected. Clearly the message must resonate with the voting citizens. The same principles hold true in creating your advertising, sales and marketing message. Know the target market and focus the message on the benefits to this segment of the market. If you are tracking why each referral source selects the agency, focusing the message becomes much easier.
Each member of the sales team must understand the agency’s message and be prepared to deliver it consistently to each of the referral sources they manage. The message must be adapted to resonate with each of the referral sources to reflect their key interests. By keeping the salespeople focused on the central message the effectiveness of the team will be greatly increased. Keep focused on the message and its benefits to the intended audience.
Next time, we’re going to close with the most important factors.
The 7 Keys of Highly Effective Marketing (Part 2)
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Last time we talked about competitive market research, and using benchmarkingm and how the data from the Simione Financial Monitor makes that process all incredibly easy. This week, we’re going to talk about two more keys: customer service and building relationships.
Customer Service
Home care is a service industry and will always be one. Therefore the ability to continually perfect the service delivered will be an important part of the overall sales and marketing success. Without great customer service the effect of the sales and marketing effort will be spinning wheels. The focus must be to do everything possible to make the referral source’s job easier and to enable the best service for their referrals.
One thing to make sure that all agency staff understands is this; there will always be problems in home care. It is an industry with a lot of moving parts and they are all human. This means that the staff must welcome each new problem and rejoice for the opportunity to provide service that exceeds expectations. The old saying about every complaint representing a golden sales opportunity is nowhere more applicable than in home care!
The home care sales team must seize every opportunity to build relationships by exhibiting strong customer service. They should be viewed by the referral source as a trusted service representative that will handle anything that they need pertaining to home care. The salesperson must be visible and accountable at all times and under any circumstances. The strongest relationships are between companies and customers where there has been a problem and it was resolved to the customer’s complete and total satisfaction.
Strong Relationships
The goal of every sales and marketing effort should be to build strong relationships. Home care marketing is all about relationships. The stronger the relationships the greater the reliance by the customer on the agency to provide the entire range of home care services required. There are many ways to build and maintain strong relationships. Every sales representative should be constantly looking for ways to better know their customers. This will lead to the opportunity to cement referral relationships.
The key to forging these strong relationships is to know everything that you can about the customer and then have than information available to the entire sales team. This would include the inside sales people also know in many organizations as intake. If the inside sales people know what the outside sales rep knows, then it is possible to truly offer seamless and complete CRM. The deeper the knowledge of the customer, their personal aspects and service requirements, the better able the agency is to provide this level of super service. The more people in the organization that have access to this information the greater the impact of this personalized communication and service.
The relationships that the agency maintains in the community with its referral sources and other customers are the most valuable asset. In home care this asset must be constantly cultivated, nurtured, managed and protected. Cultivated to build new relationships and foster deeper relationships within existing referral source organizations. Nurtured to constantly develop the relationship and the level of trust the referral source has with the home care agency. They must be managed to ensure the best results and consistent service. Relationships must be protected at all times to keep the asset safe from competition.
Next time we’re going to talk about specialization and having a focused message.
The 7 Keys of Highly Effective Marketing (Part 1)
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The new year is almost upon us, and one thing is certain: competition is getting fierce in hospice and home care. Existing agencies are expanding and new ones are opening. Even in the certificate of need states, the level of competition is heating up. So what do you need to do to make 2012 the start of your next big successes?
The marketing plan developed by each organization will determine, in large part, its success over the next five years. We may not know the future of Medicare rules, regulations or payment rates, but we do know that competition for those patients will continue to be intense.
Development of a superior marketing plan will pay great dividends no matter the size, scope or type of agency. Should plans include diversification into other sectors of the home care field, then the plan to market and sell those services should be carefully crafted to enable the successful diversification.
Over the next several articles, we will go over the seven keys to future marketing success:
Competitive Market Research
Know the competition and the market! It is imperative that strong market research is conducted as a part of the marketing plan and as an ongoing process. Knowing how the competition compares is extremely important to the success of the program. The demographic of the market(s) that are served and the projections for the next ten years will determine the viability of the agency’s programs and services.
To conduct the competitive analysis the agency needs to establish an ongoing “secret shopper” program that will shop the competition and your agency. The key attributes that are to be surveyed need be established to track the comparison with the competition. The sales team must be armed with the knowledge of what each competitor does well and what they do not. Only then will they be able to craft a specific targeted and effective sales message that will deliver maximum results. This is essential and you can do this internally or hire an outside firm like Simione to conduct the research for you.
For the market analysis you will want to consult with the available demographic and other industry specific data. If you are a member of the Simione Financial Monitor (as discussed in this issue’s guest column) you will be head and shoulders above everyone else using medicare cost reports, and other current benchmarks available to the public, because your data will be incredibly specific, timely, and has various tools integrated so that you can see how your agency and others are being affected by each regulatory rule both in existence, and forecast how it will be affected by future rules.
There are many other sources of information available in the public domain, with little definitive or extensive information, like Medicare cost reports, for instance. By knowing how your agency stacks up against others in your region, and in the country, management can better decide where and how to spend the budget.
Next time, we will talk about another key: customer service.
Your Sales Rep’s Keys to Success (Part 3 of 3)
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Last time we talked about what a Sales Rep’s keys to success were, as well as what the typical day for a sales rep looks like. This time we’re going to dig a littler deeper and talk about Time Allocation and how to make it more efficient.
Time Allocation by Segment
One of the tools that makes the home care sales team more effective is a time allocation plan. This plan allows the salesperson and their manager the ability to plan how much time will be allocated to each different type of referral source. Then each day the salesperson keeps track of where they spent their time. At the end of each week they tally it up and then prepare a monthly analysis. If there are significant variations it should trigger a conversation with the sales manager about why that happened and any adjustments made to the current and upcoming months.
This allows the salesperson to achieve their goals by design not by chance. Here is a sample time allocation for a home health sales person:
Physician practices 40%
Skilled nursing facilities 15%
Hospital discharge planners 10%
Assisted living facilities 10%
Rehabilitation facilities 10%
Administrative time 7.5%
Sales training 5%
Sales meetings 2.5%
Benefits of Using a Time Allocation Planning Tool:
- Forces diversification
- Eliminates procrastination
- Allows achievement of results by design not by chance
- Establishes premium on salesperson’s time
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If you’re interested in getting a time allocation planning tool, please email
Best Practice Revealed
An important element in the sales management and training program for any agency is the need to effectively allocate the sales team’s time. Great Lakes Home Health, Hospice and DME in Jackson, Michigan has found that their sales team has seen their effectiveness and productivity jump dramatically this year. William L. Deary, CEO attributes a large part of this to his sales team’s use of a time allocation matrix that allows them to achieve their goals and objectives. “This practice has taken our team to the next level” he said “it has made their calendar into a proactive planning tool that becomes the roadmap for managing their territory.”
Any agency that implements a time allocation planning tool will find that it is a real struggle at first. Once in use it enables the salespeople to see where they are spending their time and make adjustments when it is not consistent with their goals and objectives. It is important for the sales team to understand that it is a tool to empower them not to check up on them. It is part of smart sales planning not a punitive program.
Your Sales Rep’s Keys to Success (Part 2 of 3)
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Last time we talked about what a Sales Rep’s keys to success were, and this time we’re going to dig a littler deeper. In order to better understand how to manage and improve our Rep’s numbers, we need to take a close look at how they spend their day. Do you have a clear understanding of the who, what, where, and when that your Sales Professionals take on every day? Do you know when they are seeing your best ("A") accounts? Your “B” accounts? etc.
Here is the typical day for a Sales Rep:
7:00a.m. Daily / weekly review of upcoming calendar
Review time allocation by segment (see sidebar) and make any adjustments
Check E-mail and respond to urgent requests
Start new page of mileage and activity log for the day
Synchronize PDA with CRM database
Review referrals and service tickets from prior day - add to today’s schedule thank you calls and service follow ups
Finish getting dressed
7:45a.m. Call office from car to check in and get any updates
8:00a.m. Pick up bagels and fruit
8:15a.m. Set up telehealth equipment and food for meeting with hospital discharge planners
8:30a.m. Demonstrate telehealth equipment and answer questions for group of discharge planners
9:15a.m. Pack up and load back into car
9:30a.m. Drop by largest referral source to follow-up on service problem, thank them for referral, deliver orders, pick up signed orders, ask about missing order and check to see if they have any patients that will be needing home care. Get two new referrals.
9:45a.m. Call office with new referrals, update status on missing order and report that service problem is resolved. Find out about new problem, non-admit and three other referrals
10:15a.m. Drop by large orthopedic group to confirm lunch for tomorrow – confirm that key players are going to be there and find out if there are any special diets (since the last time you asked)
10:30a.m. Deliver orders to practices in medical tower next to hospital
11:00a.m. Cold call on new cardiology practice in medical tower
11:00a.m. Call on discharge planners at hospital
11:30a.m. Drop off information as promised at the dialysis center, ask for any referrals
noon Meet social worker from SNF for lunch
1:15p.m. Take welcome basket to greet the new P.A. at second largest referral source
1:45p.m. Blood pressure clinic at senior high rise apartments
2:45p.m. Meet with owner of rehabilitation facility to discuss new specialty program for orthopedic rehab patients
3:15p.m. Take cake to remember the receptionist’s birthday at large referral source
3:30p.m. Drop by to meet new referral source and probe for needs. Find out why they are using my agency and reinforce their wisdom.
4:15p.m. Drop by physician office to thank for referral and explain the reason for it resulting in a non-admit. Talk about new CHF management program and set-up meeting with doctor to demonstrate telehealth equipment.
4:30p.m. Call on six referral sources on the Wednesday afternoon list and ask for referrals - follow-up on needs
5:00p.m. Respond to page from discharge planner and facilitate referral to hospice as favor - get two other referrals when reporting back.
5:30p.m. Go to office, check in with director, pick up mail, check voice messages, E-mails and see if there are any facsimiles. Write notes and letters to follow-up on today’s calls.
6:15p.m. Complete all paperwork and make notations in CRM system after synching PDA
6:30p.m. Check for any other items that can be completed in non sales hours
7:00p.m. Head for home
Sounds pretty glamorous, don’t you think? Did we mention that it was raining most of the day? These are the daily activities that are required to execute the plan that was prepared long before the beginning of the month. Planning and strategy sessions must be carved out of weekends, evenings and other times to make it all possible, and as a sales manager it is your responsibility to help your Reps with this planning and make it the most effective plan you can.
Next time we’re going to talk about time allocation strategies, to better maximize your Rep’s limited time.
Your Sales Rep’s Keys to Success (Part 1 of 3)
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The job of salesperson (or whatever you call them in your organization) for a home care or hospice agency is a tough one. They not only have to sell themselves to the referral sources but they also have to sell themselves to the agency. Others in the agency think that they have a cushy job. The sales rep only comes by the office once or twice a day, takes lunches and other food items to people, attends training sessions in exotic locations, talks on the phone, drives around town, etc.
The job is definitely not cushy. The combination of long hours, difficult schedule that is constantly changing, juggling of requests to accommodate the clinical department’s needs, the intake people’s requests and service the referral sources makes this a tough job.
Keys to success as a home care or hospice salesperson:
- Focus
- Planning
- Execution
- Follow-up
- Organization
- Goal oriented
- Strong sales skills
The average home care or hospice salesperson visits fourteen facilities, offices or practices and drives 138 miles each day. In addition they have to file at least three reports or logs, send four letters and make twenty-two phone calls. This is on an average day and most salespeople are quick to point out that most days are not average! Then during holidays they also have to deliver thank you gifts, calendars and other items to keep the referral sources thinking of them.
Next time we will talk about the sales Rep’s typical day and how it can be streamlined.
Do You Know What’s Most Important to Your Referral Partners?
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As we teach in our Square One Boot Camp and on-site Sales Rep Training, the best way to get referrals and strengthen your relationships with referral partners (so that you dont lose any accounts to your ever expanding competition) is to uncover their needs and find ways to fulfill them. We teach all the best strategic questions to ask, how and when to ask them, and how to use their answers to get referrals. But what other ways are there to find out what’s most important to your Referral Sources?
In this day and age, where competition keeps getting fiercer by the minute, having a process in place to find out what is most important to your best referral partners is paramount. If they are your best accounts, you can bet your bottom dollar they are your competition’s number one target. So how do you protect that relationship?
First, get started immediately. Determine a strategic plan to know what is most important to your top accounts by getting input from your Sales Reps (they are, after all, in front of those Referral Sources all the time and know them best). We suggest using multiple approaches, so have your Reps throw out any and all ideas they have - use a “blue sky” brainstorming session where cost or ability aren’t included. You can then wittle those ideas down into what you can accomplish within your available time, ability, and budget.
One idea is to do a referral partner survey by mail or in person. Another idea is a mystery call program geared towards Referral Sources. We currently have one we’ve used across the country, but you can implement your own as well. When doing in person surveys, top referral partners should be interviewed by the sales Rep as well as management to find out what is most important to them. People like to feel appreciated and that their opinions and input are valued. All of these conversations are win, win, win.
When implementing your new process, make sure and practice your approach and have the questions well designed before embarking on these interviews or sending out surveys. Look closely at the surveys to make sure they are giving you the right feedback, supporting the image of you in their minds, and providing opportunity to expand their use of your services. Make doubly sure that every question on there is necessary, as the shorter you can make the survey the better response rates you will get. Including SASE also increases response rates exponentially.
When you find out what is important, this will give you the ability to protect the relationship and to know what you should be using in your sales and marketing initiatives with each account.
Good Luck and Happy Selling!
Practice Makes Perfect: The Essentials Of Training Your Sales Team (Part 2 of 2)
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Last time, we talked about how sales training is important, and refreshing that knowledge even more important. We talked about how top corporations require regular sales training, and that even their top sales people are sent to training to refine their skills on a regular basis. We’re going to get deeper into this, and these simple things you can do for your team:
Create reminders to keep the sales concepts and practices in your sales team’s minds. Have meetings on a regular basis that allow the team to share successes and get help when they are stymied. Set up regular email reports that the sales team members must submit to sales management on a daily or weekly basis. Review the basics of sales on a regular basis with the entire team. Even your most seasoned sales people will benefit from these reminders of how it is done. All sales people get into bad habits or take shortcuts; only with regular reminder programs can you guard against this and provide your people the support that they deserve.
Goals and plans must be maintained and monitored. Goal setting can be the most motivating process if you make it become a part of the way your team operates. Each team member must take ownership of their goals and be responsible and accountable for producing the results. Well planned activities are the way that goals are achieved. There should be support in the form of current referral reports and coaching. Invest in coaching for the sales team and the entire investment of team and coach will pay many dividends.
Observation is critical as well and should be an integral part of the coaching process. Make sure that the sales people have the knowledge that they are important by having managers ride along with them. You will want to have some of the ride along observations happen without notice so that you can see what they are really doing and how they are planning and using their time.
Finally, help the sales team to make the intangible seem tangible. Selling home care and hospice services are selling intangibles. You are selling a service that most do not need when you contact them. Anything that you can do to make it tangible will pay off big time. An example would be the practice of taking telehealth reports out to the physician and showing them how their patient is progressing. If you can find out when the patient has their next scheduled appointment then you can have a fresh copy of their latest telemedicine reports in their charts. This provides a tangible item that shows them what is going on in the home. While most sales reps don’t want to hear this, taking orders out to the physicians provide a reason to be there and tangible proof of the services being delivered. Coupling that with telemonitoring reports and any other updates on the patient will make their job much easier in the long run.
Whatever you do in the way of selling and marketing your services, don’t do it half way. Hiring sales people is only the first step. Giving them initial training is the next. The final step is to make sure that they have ongoing support in practicing the basic sales activities. Keep them practicing and they will continue to out produce the competition. Remember that if you are marketing your services, you are in sales. Think accordingly and Act accordingly. Happy Selling!
Practice Makes Perfect: The Essentials Of Training Your Sales Team (Part 1 of 3)
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Sales training is important, but refreshing that knowledge is even more important. Large corporations require regular sales training. Even their top sales people are sent to training to refine their skills on a regular basis. The very best sales people in all industries are constantly working to improve their productivity. Since most work on a commission basis this is the only way that they can constantly raise their income. As with most professions, smart companies observe what the top performers do and then try to emulate them.
After a home care agency or hospice takes the first step of training their sales team, they must then embark on a program of continual coaching and training. The most successful sales people are constantly improving their approach and technique and having their knowledge refreshed. Ongoing learning is part of being a professional sales person. Sales is an art form and it requires practice to achieve excellence.
Hiring sales people for home care and hospice requires a focus on finding those applicants that possess the personality and character necessary to deliver the results. It is better to hire someone with good sales skills and experience selling a service, selling an intangible. They should have the core competencies to be able to effectively sell the agency’s services. Careful hiring practices are essential to assembling a highly effective sales team. Do not hire anyone that is not cut out to be a sales person. The craft is one that requires practitioners that have the innate skills to be good sales people. They must be self starters and should be motivated by the desire to compete and win. They should be focused on consistently beating their goals and set new sales records.
The sales person should earn their way through their sales productivity. Just as a field nurse has certain productivity standards, so too should the sales team. Set goals based on beating the referral patterns observed in the same month in prior years. Every market is different, but once you have several years of data under your belt you should be able to predict which months are the strongest and the weakest for referrals.
Another way for the sales team to “sharpen their saw” is to maintain a sales learning library. There are many great sales books and most are available on tape. Just visit your favorite local or online bookseller and you will find more than enough to choose from. Make them available to the members of the sales team. Some agencies will require certain reading - if you do, make sure that the sales people submit book reports to the group. Each will find different important parts to the same sales book and by having them all report back to you and the team; everyone will get more out of the assignment. If you send a member of the sales team to a conference (such as the NAHC Annual Meeting which has many sessions on home care and hospice sales and marketing), make sure that they know that on their return they will have to give report and share their knowledge with the entire team. Make attendance a reward for exceptional sales performance.
If you would like more information about the acclaimed industry specific sales training Simione Square One Boot Camp, click here.
Next time we will explore this further, and really get into the nitty gritty of the what, when, how, and why.
What In The World Do I Need With Hospital Liaisons?
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As most sales managers go, they have little if any interaction with hospital liaisons on a daily basis. Most of the time, the hospital liaisons are managed by admissions, and is treated much more like a medical position than a sales position. This is an obvious extension of the fact that liaisons are nurses, and perform care plan oversight as well as admissions on occasion. But this is a dangerous view to take when it comes to hospital liaisons as they have the ability and access to become a solid and large source of referrals for the agency.
In many agencies we visit, their hospital liaisons have been given no training when it comes to sales or marketing, and instead are trained to emphasize the RN duties over anything and everything else. This is a highly inefficient use of hospital liaisons, and a waste of what could be a eternal fountain of referrals. Hospitals have what we need: patients who qualify for care. We have what hospitals need: a way to reduce hospitalizations and lower the LOS. It stands to reason that the two should meet in the middle - but we don’t. And the reason is because our representatives in the hospital, the liaisons, aren’t being taught to sell to the case managers and physicians they encounter on a daily basis. The solution? Training.
Whether you use our Hospital Liaison training (on site or online), it is vitally important that there start to be crossover between sales and liaisons, and that you, as sales manager, try to find ways to help the liaisons learn, build, and strengthen their sales skills. If you’re going to run a seminar or training for your sales team, invite the liaisons. If you’re going to hand out sales objectives for the week, give a copy to the liaisons. If you are helping your sales reps meet their monthly sales goals, start and run the same kind of program for the liaisons.
Obviously, by sheer nature of the way Liaisons in the industry view their jobs now (and how they are viewed by others in the industry), it’s going to take a little work to get it started. It’s going to take some convincing, and some inter-department cooperation, but ultimately, you as sales leader of your organization need to take it upon yourself to help those hospital liaisons. Again, if not you, then who? You are the expert of all things sales at your agency, so there is no one better to do it than you.
As with everything, each agency is different and how the sales team and liaisons interact, and how the sales managers and liaisons help each other out will look different at each one. But find a way to work together, find a way to help them, and their numbers will shoot straight up - helping them, you, and your agency.
The Art Of Persuasion (Part 2)
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Both charisma and passion are important, the difference between them being that charisma is a characteristic, and passion is an emotion.
To increase your charisma, you must develop and maintain complete confidence in yourself and your message. Be willing to show a lighter side while projecting trust and instilling confidence. Industry and company knowledge is critical. Pleasant, professional, and appropriate appearance is important - always dress the part! You should be sensitive to others and their needs. Rapport is developed through being interested and demonstrably being a very good listener. You should be exciting and engaging to listen to, with a concise and clear message. Be sure to let your passion show!
We know that the most successful home care and hospice professionals are very passionate about the difference they make in their community. Passion is many times the differentiating factor others cite when selecting an agency. When you have passion for home care or hospice, you have a sense of mission that drives you, stimulates your imagination, and motivates you to higher levels of achievement.
Rapport Building Habits of Legendary Persuaders:
-They are interested in what is important to the customer
-Respect that time is of the essence
-They present benefits (not spewing features)
-Very good at presenting logical solutions based on customer needs
-Excellent long term relationship builders
-Are perceived as a trusted advisor and home care / hospice expert resource
Legendary Persuaders are able to connect with people because they have no preconceived judgments. They are upbeat, positive, and are there to serve, assist and help. They are respectful and dont waste others time. Their body language is open and friendly and they use a tone of voice that is warm and pleasant. They speak in a naturally relaxed manner, while maintaining good energy and enthusiasm. They instill hope and optimism and are thoughtful in their choice of words and speaking.
Much like effective politicians, their presentations are practiced and targeted to the audience. They are very good at staying on message. Their demeanor is always genuine, never artificial or fake.
Legendary Persuaders ask great questions, and demonstrate genuine interest and concern for the answers. They are patient - willing to ask several layers of probing questions. Above all they are very good, practiced listeners.
How Your Passion For What We Do Can Translate Into Sales (Part 1)
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The best way to create a solid business foundation is to foster a sales focused organization that is customer centric. If the agency approaches every decision with the question “what’s best for the patient?”, then everything else will fall into place. Acting in this manner does not run contrary to operating a good business - it simply keeps things in proper perspective. And, it empowers all members of the agency to focus on selling its services, increasing referrals and pride for the company.
Customer-centricity marries sales with customer service. Training teaches your customer service (intake) personnel how to recognize and respond to sales opportunities, customers are recognized as the organization’s most important asset, and the sales approach and management of customers takes a long term orientation.
Customer centric sales techniques are built around needs assessment. The sales people (both outside and inside) ask purposeful, relevant questions. They have meaningful conversations with customers, and offer solutions directly related to their needs. This then empowers referral sources to make the only logical choice - your agency.
Selling home care and hospice services requires the perfect balance of sales and people skills, product knowledge, enthusiasm, and ethics. Long term success will elude those who are not passionate about home health and hospice. There are easier places to make a living than selling these services, but none more rewarding.
Passion is contagious and produces sales results! Having a positive image and visualizing success are essential to maintaining an enthusiastic attitude. The sales team must feel that they are empowered, appreciated, respected, and heard. This is true in all realms of sales, but is especially true when selling an intangible such as the services we provide.
Next time we will talk about how to put the customer first and how this will pay you dividends, as well as in the following weeks go over how to communicate quality to the community.
Hitting On All Cylinders?
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Over the next few years it will be the survival of the fittest in home health and hospice. One area that has to be tuned and hitting on all cylinders is your sales and marketing program. You cannot afford to be without a strong one that is generating a high return on investment. are Sales and marketing is expensive with sales people representing the largest single expenditure in the sales and marketing budget.
Consolidation in the business world is a fact of life. It is seen in every business arena. Looking outside of our industry, we note that industries that enter a period of consolidation have seen the importance of a strong sales team and brand. The impact of consolidation is felt by all serving the market. Obviously, the acquirer and the acquired are directly impacted, but importantly, everyone is impacted either positively or negatively. You increase the potential for positive impact by increased aggressive sale activities. If the agency is involved directly in an acquisition then they must use it to their best advantage and be proactive in carrying the message to the referral partners.
At the end of the day, the most important element for any home care or hospice is how they have differentiated themselves in the mind of the referral sources. The goal is not only to be the top agency in your niche, but, more importantly to be perceived as the top choice in your niche. Those perceptions are reinforced daily by all of the agency’s staff including the inside and outside sales team. Differentiation must be understood and communicated by everyone in the organization at every encounter. The organizational culture should be permeated by pride in the very elements that make up what makes the agency special.
All of the steps taken beyond quality of care are what make agencies superior performers. Just as quality is a continual process, so too is the reinforcement of relationships. The sales and marketing plans are essential to managing and protecting the key referral relationships. Management is responsible for mentoring, coaching and training the sales people. Sales training should be a continual process that reinforces the basic sales skills and understanding of the agency’s sales program.
The perception of the organization in the mind of the referral partner should be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis. This is accomplished by the careful probing by the sales people to find out what is most important to the referral sources and why they choose the agency. Referral source satisfaction surveys, both mailed and verbal, should be performed regularly. The information gained is invaluable since you are able to pick up on any trends or changes before they impact the referral stream. Proactive, ongoing conversations with your best referral partners will remind them of why your program is special and provide a vehicle for their participation in the constant improvements. Finding out from prospective or new referral sources what they think about your agency is valuable information as they are less biased than the frequent referrers and advocates.
A major question that is raised in my interactions with agencies is “where do I find the time to perform all of the activities necessary to support and perfect the sales and marketing program?”. These conversations always remind me of the insights provided by Michael Gerber in his book, e-myth Revisited, where he points out the need to create the space for working on your business not just in it. Refining your marketing message, printed materials and sales strategies takes time. You can (and should) hire experts to help you with these efforts but senior management must be directly involved and take responsibility for the success or lack thereof.
Competition is good, if you are ready! You can make consolidation, changes in payment or other environmental factors into opportunities if you are properly positioned and hitting on all cylinders!
Until Next Time, Happy Selling!
Fuel Your Mission: Team Up Your Sales and Finance For Success!
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The most vital component to success in today’s home care and hospice industry is making sure your financial team and sales team are working closely together. There is no room for error when it comes to delivering the number of new patient admissions you need to fuel your agency’s mission.
Too few admissions can create havoc in the budgeting, staffing, and scheduling process. When the sales team can deliver a steady increase in the number of admissions, and your financial team steps it up in tandem, your entire agency will run smoothly, efficiently, and with a bigger bottom line.
The sales team must be managed and trained to insure that they are operating with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. While an agency’s greatest need is to deliver more admissions per sales person, this can only be accomplished by having the most professional sales team possible. One way in which an agency greatly benefits from such a sales team is when they are trained to provide information to the financial team that can measure and track the cost of acquisition for new cases. This helps determine the return on investment for the sales and marketing program, which is one of the most important and overlooked aspects of sales and marketing success.
Metrics related to sales, such as benchmarked data, is improving and will be an ever more important element for management of the organization. Other important data elements that should be measured and monitored include market share, referral concentration, trended admissions by referral partner, and hospital discharge patterns. Each year better data becomes available, and organizations need to know how they stack up. An executive dashboard can be developed to keep all of the management team focused on these elements.
We have discussed the importance of the sales team delivering on their budgeted admissions, what can finance do for the sales team?
First and foremost, make sure sales representatives are paid on a timely basis. Their salary, incentives, and expense reimbursement should be a high priority. In any industry, one of the worst disincentives for sales people is to mess with their cash. Incentive plans should be crafted to be easy to understand, directly tied to performance, and as immediate as possible. Expense policies should be set up to make it easy for the sales person to comply, and with quick turnaround on the payments.
There should be a clear understanding of the organization’s policies and procedures related to expenses for sales and marketing purposes. Finance should be a part of the orientation of every new sales person. The better they understand, the better they will comply. Start with the organization’s philosophy regarding these expenditures, and then the rules and regulations. Policies should be reviewed frequently by legal counsel to insure corporate compliance. Compliance is an extremely important element and is another area where the two departments need to have a close, synergistic working relationship.
With finance and sales on the same team, success is certain to follow. Both must support each other, and in doing so they will provide the rest of the organization what is most important: providing extraordinary care to the patients served.
Father’s Day and Our Industry
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While Mother’s Day has long been a holiday to show appreciation and love towards those that brought us into this world, Father’s Day has kind of gotten the short end of the stick. While I’m sure we love both of our parents, Mother’s Day has been practiced for hundreds of years longer, is practiced in more countries around the world, and holds the record for more money and time spent picking gifts.
So while everyone says they appreciate their parents equally, it’s the Mothers who get all the focus and attention.
The same could be said for our industry. While medicine has been practiced since ancient Egypt, Home Care didn’t get any real traction until 1886, and Hospice didn’t begin in earnest until 1967. The focus of health is always on medicine, and it is a much harder fight to prove the necessity of Home Care or Hospice. As such, it is harder to gain attention and appreciation in our industry - and I think it’s high time to flip that around.
Home care and Hospice as industries have never done a good job getting credit for their greatness. Further, many agencies have not done much, if anything, to get credit specifically attributed to their agency for the deeds they perform in the community. As a Sales Manager, it is vitally important to do this in order to keep up morale and keep your team inspired.
The best way to accomplish this is a concerted effort that starts with senior management and works its way down through the organization. There must be recognition of those doing the right things and accountability for those who do not.
When the organization receives thank you letters or cards from patients or families, make sure they are circulated to the staff members involved in their case. Additionally, you should take those thank you letters and, with patient identifiers removed, use them to create a “brag book” for the agency. This “brag book” can then be used as a marketing tool to share with the community, among other promotional uses.
When recognizing a staff member for going above and beyond the call of duty, you can issue them a certificate and have the physician that referred the patient to your agency sign it along with your director. This will get your Reps face time with the physician (as they need to sign it), and it reinforces to the referral source how important both they and their patients are to you. It shows them the care with which your agency treats it’s own employees as well.
We all love stories - people will tell and retell stories that resonate. Make sure that you translate victories into stories, and help your Reps to spread them throughout the organization (to help them bond with other teams), and with their referral sources so that they can market effectively to the community.
When you have hospice patients that are discharged alive, you can create graduation certificates for the patient. There is the opportunity to create a lot of goodwill in this process - and if your Reps don’t manage this type of situation properly, you may end up with unhappy referral partners. When creating the certificates, again, I would have the referring physician be one of the signatories.
Celebrate birthdays with patients and take photos. These photos can be sent to families and then shared by the Reps with the referring physician and their office staff.
Those are just some ideas on how Home Care and Hospice can enjoy the same credit for the community’s health, and your sales people can use and enjoy the appreciation they merit by your agency’s actions.
And in the spirit of our industry, while fathers on Father’s Day may have received less, they reported greater enjoyment then mothers did of their Mother’s Day celebrations. Home Care and Hospice people don’t need recognition in order to do their jobs well, as they have an extraordinary passion for what they do. But because of all the passion we have, the community deserves to see that as much as possible.
Do You Know What’s Most Important to Your Referral Partners?
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As we teach in our Square One Boot Camp and on-site Sales Rep Training, the best way to get referrals and strengthen your relationships with referral partners (so that you don’t lose any accounts to your ever expanding competition) is to uncover their needs and find ways to fulfill them. We teach all the best strategic questions to ask, how and when to ask them, and how to use their answers to get referrals. But what other ways are there to find out what’s most important to your Referral Sources?
In this day and age, where competition keeps getting fiercer by the minute, having a process in place to find out what is most important to your best referral partners is paramount. If they are your best accounts, you can bet your bottom dollar they are your competition’s number one target. So how do you protect that relationship?
First, get started immediately. Determine a strategic plan to know what is most important to your top accounts by getting input from your Sales Reps (they are, after all, in front of those Referral Sources all the time and know them best). We suggest using multiple approaches, so have your Reps throw out any and all ideas they have - use a “blue sky” brainstorming session where cost or ability aren’t included. You can then wittle those ideas down into what you can accomplish within your available time, ability, and budget.
One idea is to do a referral partner survey by mail or in person. Another idea is a mystery call program geared towards Referral Sources. We currently have one we’ve used across the country, but you can implement your own as well. When doing in person surveys, top referral partners should be interviewed by the sales Rep as well as management to find out what is most important to them. People like to feel appreciated and that their opinions and input are valued. All of these conversations are win, win, win.
When implementing your new process, make sure and practice your approach and have the questions well designed before embarking on these interviews or sending out surveys. Look closely at the surveys to make sure they are giving you the right feedback, supporting the image of you in their minds, and providing opportunity to expand their use of your services. Make doubly sure that every question on there is necessary, as the shorter you can make the survey the better response rates you will get. Including SASE also increases response rates exponentially.
When you find out what is important, this will give you the ability to protect the relationship and to know what you should be using in your sales and marketing initiatives with each account.
Good Luck and Happy Selling!
Know When To Bring In the Big Gun: CEO as Sales Person
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In all industries, including home care and hospice, one of the most effective or ineffective sales people can be the CEO. There are many considerations, but when used intelligently, the CEO can be extremely effective. The key is to use the CEO at the right time, in the right situation, and recognizing their strengths. You cannot assume that the CEO will know the right time or place. The results can be disastrous, so be careful what you ask for!
So how can a sales manager use the CEO’s energy and knowledge without risking disaster? The key is to understand the primary strengths of the CEO as salesperson, before extending the invitation. Do they like to sell? Are they good at it? How much do they know about sales? These elements all play into your initial strategy.
There is no doubt that involving the CEO or other senior management in sales can provide a breakthrough, and/or raise the level of the sales conversation. But just because the CEO leads the organization doesn’t necessarily make him or her effective when it comes to sales. In fact, involving the top dog in the sales process with key referral partners can sometimes be a recipe for disaster.
By way of example, in one recent situation, the sales manager decided to bring the CEO to a meeting with a prospective referring hospital. The sales manager was a real sales professional and had confirmed the purpose and agenda of the meeting with her CEO and with the hospital discharge planning department. The sales process had been in the works for a few months and had seemingly reached an impasse. The sales manager asked the CEO to come in to support the process and underscore the importance of the account.
After making the initial introductions, the CEO promptly took over the meeting and, ignoring the agenda, began a detailed discussion of how the head of the discharge planning department should be doing their job. The CEO set about to demonstrate their knowledge in order to prove the prospect wrong, dismissed their questions and points of view, and then couldn’t understand why the prospect wasn’t receptive to the proposal on the table. It took the sales manager nine months to recover the referral relationship to prior status.
Fortunately, not all examples of CEO sales involvement have such bad endings. There are numerous situations in which a CEO’s presence and input helped break down objections and barriers, resulting in substantial sales successes and strengthened strategic relationships.
Not only can the CEO further specific sales initiatives, they are also important in the cultural aspects of becoming a sales organization. The success of the organization in creating and empowering a sales culture depends on leadership’s visible actions and statements. Leadership must lead by example and encourage and inspire the workers in every position and at every level to be an active part of the sales program. With the CEO involved in selling situations, it will speak volumes about their commitment to sales.
The sales person must find spots to use the CEO (or other key management or clinical experts) to maximum advantage, and they should only book them into situations where they will be additive to the process, well received, and comfortable performing. If you recognize when to use these ‘Pros from Dover”, you will see great results.
There is a right time and wrong time to bring them into the mix. In most cases, the timing is going to be after the sales person has qualified the account and the situation. Never take a CEO into a situation where you are not certain that the account is well qualified, and where specifics are still unknown to the sales person. You cannot afford to be surprised in front of the CEO.
The key to effective use of the CEO lies with very disciplined call planning. This can be time-consuming, and the CEO might need to be educated about it, but the payoff is there. This is a process and will likely require some advanced preparation and role playing. The plan for the call should include: current situation, goal for account, goal for the call, CEOs role in the process, what if scenarios, expected outcome, and next steps. The CEO should be clear on information about the others that are scheduled to be in attendance, and be prepared with personal insights.
Some benefits to bringing in the CEO (or other senior management):
-Possess strategic knowledge about the industry
-Experience and personality
-No one knows the organization’s story better
-Lets an account know how important they are
-Have authority to make a decision and promise on the spot
Some considerations:
-Do they have sales ability and are they realistic about their limitations?
-Do they get defensive when things don’t go as planned?
-Do they empower staff (you specifically) to be creative and control the process?
-Will they be additive to the process?
Your answers to these questions will dictate whether this is a good idea or not! If there are concerns, you should discuss them with the CEO or sales manager and work through them before embarking on a program that will involve the CEO in the process. They can be your biggest asset, but that is up to you and your preparation.
The Importance of Leadership: (Part 2 of 2)
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Last time we talked about how critical Leadership is to an agency’s sales and marketing success. We discussed that from the top level of management down, there must exist a dedication to the sales and marketing program, to the training, re-training, support, coaching, guidance, and of course, managing of our teams. We talked about how difficult it is to accomplish every thing we have to do on a daily basis, to have a consistent and concerted effort to meet with your Reps on a frequent basis to discuss goals, go out with them on their calls to do sales coaching, and provide all the support and guidance they need. So what is the prize for making the time to dedicate to your team, and providing the mentoring, coaching and training (either from yourself or having consultants like us help)?
Well, besides more more referrals from your professional referral sources, the support and guidance will help bring the team together, promote a sense of togetherness, and as a result, your INTERNAL referrals will grow as well. We’ve done studies about the internal vs. external referral cycle, and in actuality if the agency receives a significant number of internal referrals it will end up generating a greater number of external referrals and the total becomes greater with each successive year. How’s that for an incentive to find time to dedicate to your team?
To expect your staff to generate internal referrals, you must lead by example and you must reward and recognize positive behavior. So the greatest single thing that you can do as a home care or hospice leader is to empower and support your staff in making a difference. By doing so you will empower them to market the agency and its services and will in turn generate record results.
So if it is your job to lead and direct the sales and marketing program or to execute it, you must accept the leadership responsibilities. Empower those in your charge to be great sales and customer service leaders. Get them the best training, know when to give them the proper re-training, spend time out in the field (or have consultant like us) with your Reps to monitor progress and give coaching for improvement. Encourage and assist those to whom you report to - excel as leaders. This focus on quality leadership will increase your referrals in a dramatic fashion.
The Importance of Le
