The Legendary Sales Leadership Letter 
 January 15, 2008

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed
is more important than any other one thing."
- Abraham Lincoln -
 

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Mike's Message

Dear Friend,

Happy 2008!

With the New Year come great things, including:

• A new format for our eLetter

• Refined PPS payment system for Medicare home health care

• New Year's resolutions and goals

• A clean slate

• A new hospice sales and marketing book from Mike Ferris

Use this time of year to review your goals and make sure that you have the plans, systems and habits to blow your goals out of the water!  You will notice that I included "habits" in the preceding sentence.  You have to have really good habits to be really effective.  The most effective people have great habits in the areas of:

• Time management and utilization

• Preparation for sales calls

• Documenting sales calls and follow-up actions

• Continual interest in professional education -- reading books, listening to audio books and participation in training opportunities

• Reviewing and practicing basic sales skills

• Following up

• Asking great questions

• Being on time or early for everything

• And many more . . .

We can't wait to hear about your successes in the New Year!  Contact us at (800) 293-5471 or lisa@hchms.com. 

Hope you enjoy the eLetter and Happy Selling!

Best,

Mike Ferris
Managing Principal
 

Feature Article

Key to Success:  Know What the Customer Needs

The Needs Based Sales process is one that is based in finding out what the account wants, not what you want.  Keep it simple and straight forward.  Listen carefully and be open to any and all answers you receive to your questions.  Make no assumptions; always verify your understanding of what they told you they need.

You may have an intended direction, but at anytime you may uncover a very important piece of information that you did not expect.  Selling home care and hospice services requires nimble sales people who can think on their feet.

If you talk in statements rather than asking great questions, you will receive statements in response.  Most people will take the other side of the issue, especially if they feel they are being sold.  Ask questions and you get answers.  Questions will always get you further than statements, so ask more questions.  Remember the old axiom:  "telling is not selling!"

The Process

Keep a list of your questions in a notebook, in your copy of the Field Guide to Selling Home Care or Hospice Services, on note cards, your laptop, or any other convenient place to review them in the field.  Keep them handy and use them when you are formulating questions for your upcoming sales call.

To uncover needs, you must establish yourself as someone who is genuinely interested in their needs.  People identify with people who they perceive as helpful, attentive and interested.  When someone identifies with you, they are more likely to be receptive to using your services.  Given the choice, people do business with people they like.

Start with a goal in mind and ask your first question.  Wait for the answer and be prepared to probe further.  You may have gotten a "non-answer" to your first question, in which case you should be prepared to handle it as an objection.  Then probe further to get to the answer.  The other possible outcome may be that they headed in a different direction, but one that would also be meaningful to your relationship.  In that case, you must be quick on your feet and be ready with probes that are consistent with the current subject matter.  The original set of questions and topic may have to wait for another day.

Be patient!  You can't solve their problems unless they realize that they have them!  Discussing, probing and restating helps them clarify the problem (need) in their mind.

• Don't jump right in after they give you an answer that you are looking for and start trying to sell them something.  It may be your first instinct, especially if this is a new process for you.  Guard against this natural temptation; it undermines the whole process.  It also cuts off the flow of information you are receiving from them.

• Don't start selling them on your services until you have uncovered their needs, verified the need in the customer's mind, and gotten as much information as possible related to the need.  Keep probing and don't appear that you are selling them anything.  You will have time to sell them your solution later.

• Do have a genuine and visible interest in what they are telling you.  Take notes, nod in agreement, preface further questions with statements that tell them you heard them.

• Do be prepared before presenting the solution.  The most effective approach is to bait the hook and set a future appointment to bring them the information that will help them.  Our goal is to make them better at what they do, make their job easier and establish yourself as their trusted source for home care or hospice information and services.

Be prepared with good questions, be a good listener and you will see the results show up in increased referrals and stronger relationships.  Don't offer the solution until you have listened to their answers with great interest.

Sales Training Corner

Square One Bootcamp
February 11th - 13th - Only 3 seats remain!

Now available for registration:
Square One Bootcamp
March 17th - 19th

REGISTER TODAY to guarantee your seat!  Click on the links to the left under "Upcoming Training and Speaking."
 

Sales Tip

Quick Sales Tip

Is your vision 80/20?

At least 80% of your referrals come from less than 20% of your referral partners.  These key accounts are the most important asset you have in your territory.  Are you paying them enough attention?  You should be in your top accounts on a weekly basis and should keep track of your calls on your top 25 accounts to make sure you don't miss them.

Keep your top 25 list handy and have a strategy for each one of those accounts.  Know these accounts well, their needs, wants, challenges, etc.  These accounts should account for about 50 to 60% of your time in the field.

Get face-to-face with the decision makers and influencers in your top accounts and you will maintain their business and increase referrals.

Sales Leadership

Sales Leadership Minute

As a sales manager, you have a difficult and important job.  In our industry, it is not unusual to find yourself in this position quite by accident!  You must provide leadership, coaching, management and deliver results.

One of the big challenges is getting the sales team to do their paperwork on time and turn in their reports.  Sales people don't like paperwork!  Your job is to make sure that the paperwork is as minimal as is possible and that each item has a well-understood purpose.

Necessary Reporting:

• Plan

• Activity/execution

• Results

• Regulatory requirements

Step one:  If the paperwork is not related to one of the above items, question the need for it.

Step two:  How can it be made easier/streamlined?  Is there an electronic solution?

Reader Questions and Answers

In each Legendary Sales Leadership Letter, Mike answers your questions.  Send them to us or call (800) 293-5471 and we'll make sure that yours are answered in a future issue. 

Here are some of your burning questions with answers:

Question:

What should I be saying to the accounts that are not giving me the time of day?

Answer:

I would refer you back to some of the prior lessons in the 52 Week eSales Training Course (this is a good idea anyway) that deal with gatekeepers and qualifying.  You must know that there is potential in the account before continuing to "not get the time of day."

Question:

How many times should I call on an account before I give up?

Answer:

Normally, I would say that if you have been in the account at least 10 times and qualified them and probed for needs with no results, I would cross them off the list.  90 days is the timeframe that you should be able to get them to start sending referrals if they are a good prospect.

As with many things in your job, this is not a hard and fast rule, but rather a yardstick to use to know when to move on.

Question:

How do you approach a facility that says they have their own end of life program and don't need hospice?

Answer:

Find out more about that program and how it is used.  Help them to contrast the benefits of each program and in so doing they will see the benefits of using hospice alongside their end of life program.  Every facility is different and it will take time, but the one strategy that we know doesn't work is trying to prove them wrong!

Seasonal Events

February is coming!

In addition to being the home of Valentine's Day, February is also:

• American Heart Month

• Bake for Family Fun

• International Boost Self-Esteem Month

• International Expect Success Month

• Library Lovers' Month

• National African American History Month

• National Bird Feeding Month

• National Cherry Month

• National Children's Dental Health Month

• National Hot Breakfast Month

• National Parent Leadership Month

• National Time Management Month

• National Weddings Month

• Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month

• Relationship Wellness Month

• Spiritual Teachers Month

• Wise Health Care Consumer Month

• Youth Leadership Month

• Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month

• National Caffeine Addiction Awareness Month

This year, Nurses Week is May 6th - 12th; Doctor's Day is on March 30th; and Social Work month is March. Plan ahead!

Excerpted from 101 Home Care Promotional Strategies That Deliver Legendary Results Without Busting Your Budget.
 

About Us

Home Care and Hospice Marketing Solutions is the leading industry-specific resource for home care professionals.  Founded by Michael Ferris, we specialize in Sales, Marketing and Customer Service Coaching, Training and Consulting for home health and hospice agencies.

We have expertise in Private Pay Home Care, Medicare Home Health, and Hospice including not-for-profit and for profit organizations.  Our services enable home care agencies to understand and capitalize on the opportunities in their market. 

The strategic and tactical services offered by Home Care and Hospice Marketing Solutions include:

• Sales training

• Coaching

• Sales management support

• Live sales training events

• Electronic sales training programs

• Market analysis

• Demographic profile reports

• Competitive analysis

• Comprehensive marketing plans

• On-site training programs

• Sales, marketing or customer service programs for corporate meetings

• Sales recruitment

• Customer service analysis

• Customer service training

Call (800) 293-5471 or write us and see how we can improve your home care and hospice sales skills!
 

Closing Thoughts

Thanks for doing what you do for our industry.  You have the most opportunity in your organization to enable the community to have access to home care and hospice services.  You make a difference in your community every day.  Remember that we must first do well before we can do good.  Home care and hospice sales professionals are in a growing and exciting career. 

Until next issue, Good Luck and Happy Selling! 
 

This newsletter and all content and information contained herein are the property of Home Care and Hospice Marketing Solutions and may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the publisher.