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The
Legendary Sales Leadership Letter |
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Mike's Top Picks
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Two months down and ten to go! Are you ahead of your goals for the year? If not, why not? The best way to beat your goals for the year is to get ahead and stay ahead.
March is a great month for sales (and college basketball). It's also National Professional Social Work Month. If you haven't already done so, make plans for how you'll recognize your social workers. Spring is at hand and people will be coming out of the winter and typically have a new and renewed attitude.
Speaking of basketball -- between the NCAA Tournament (65 teams), NIT Tournament (32 teams) and the new College Basketball Invitational Tournament (16 teams), the total number of college teams participating will number 113. That means that virtually everyone's alma mater will be in one of the tournaments. Do you know who your key referral partners are rooting for? You should know their favorite teams and remember them. Watch the news to see who wins and be sure to congratulate them. As we have pointed out before, the more personal you make your communication, the more you will set yourself apart from the competition. Note: Whether you follow college basketball or not, this is worth your time and effort.
Happy Selling! Best,
Mike Ferris |
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Key to Hospice Sales Success: Facilities
The referral backbone of most hospice programs can be the stream of referrals coming from facilities. Both in-patient and out-patient facilities should comprise a good-sized chunk of your business. Are you doing everything that you can to make sure that you predictably get these referrals each and every month?
Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) are important relationships for hospices. It is my contention that you have to earn each new patient referral by how you serve the patients that are currently on your service in that facility. All of your customers in the facility must be happy with all aspects of the relationship with your hospice to maintain a predictable stream of hospice patients. There are several customers that must be kept happy to keep the referrals coming through:
The Social Workers and Director of Nursing must be happy with the way that you respond to the referral, how you interact with the family and the level of care provided. But you cannot assume that they give you credit for all of the great things that your staff does. For that reason you must make sure to put in place programs that will enable you to receive the credit for all of the good things -- not just the blame when things go wrong! Look for ways to keep your staff and yourself visible in the facility.
If you are not in a conversation with the MDS Coordinator, you should be. They are the ones who know all of the needs, problems, issues, education needs, etc. for the facility. As a bonus, they don't get called on as much as the SW, DON and administrator.
The staff of the facility are like family to many of the patients and as such may be the number one influencer in which hospice to select. We must always make sure to interact positively with all of the facility staff.
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Our groundbreaking and highly-acclaimed 52 Week eSales Training Course is available for one to one hundred students. It provides a weekly lesson (takes about 30 minutes to complete) that will keep your sales team members' skills sharp. Students have said that the course supported them in becoming better at their profession, increased their referrals and forced them to review the basics. On average, our 52 Week eLearning participants have increased their referrals by over 31%! Special offer for Sales Leadership Letter subscribers: Enroll up to 10 students for one low price of $599 (does not include audio CDs)! Click here to take advantage of this offer. Upcoming Square One Bootcamps The last Bootcamps before we break for the summer will be March 17 - 19 and May 5 - 7. Seats are still available for both sessions. |
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Don't Forget the "Little" Guys!
Many times we are all focused on making sales calls on the physician, discharge planner or other person at the top of the referral food chain. But all too often, if you don't have a relationship with the others surrounding them, you will find yourself being frustrated and not understanding why the referrals aren't coming in even though you have had great meetings with the bosses.
The person that calls in the referrals (we'll call them the referral clerk) is probably the most important person in the entire process. If they are not on board with using your home health or hospice agency, you may have a hard time getting the referrals. The physician sends a referral to you but it doesn't show up. Upon investigation, the referral clerk tells the doctor that they tried, but the agency couldn't take the patient or were too hard to work with. Without the referral clerk being on board, your chance for long-term success in the account is in jeopardy.
Take a moment to speak and listen to everyone in your accounts. The housekeeper in the SNF can be your best friend; have you taken a moment to speak to them and get to know them?
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Lead by Example
When leading a sales team you must always think about your actions and words. The sales team (and the entire organization) are watching you and will form opinions and take action based on what they observe. You must always be on! Think before speaking or acting to make sure that you don't inadvertently give the wrong message.
Another example of your leading by example comes with making sales calls and presentations. Make sure you do as you say that your sales team should. They will be much more receptive if they see you performing consistently with how you ask them to perform in the field. As an example, when you are making joint sales calls, if you are there as a participant (vs. observing) you should use the same skills as those you are teaching. Tell the sales person what the goal is for the call, have a plan for the call, be prepared, and document your call notes. Discuss the follow-up and next steps for the call just made. Actions speak loudly and will really help you to reinforce the desired message to the team.
Finally, you should be very good at listening and making sure that the sales person knows they were heard. If you commit to taking action, do so on a timely basis and keep them up to date with any issues you are resolving for them. Don't minimize any issues they bring to your attention as the issue is clearly important enough that they brought it to your attention. You will lose a team quickly if they feel that you are not listening to them and that you do not have their back!
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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. Question: What are your tips for setting goals and obtaining them? Answer: The number one tip is to know why you are doing what you are doing. What drives you and what are your aspirations? Establish your personal goals and make sure that your professional goals support them. Be very clear on these elements and the rest will fall into place. If you're already enrolled in the 52 Week eSales Training course, refer to Week 41 for more on goal setting. If you're not a student, click here to learn more or to sign up! Question: Do you have any feedback on how an intake department should look so that it successfully supports the sales reps? Answer: This is an excellent question and one that has many answers. Much depends on the structure of your organization and is not part of your job description to determine. That being said, you should work to partner with the intake department and have them view you as an integral part of their team. If they think immediately of informing you when referrals are received, new doctors making referrals, or any service issues, then you will know they view you as a part of the solution and are on board with common goals for growth.
The intake department should be concerned
with providing great service to the referral partners. They should
serve as an important resource in developing account information and
gaining added data about account preferences, needs, and personal
information. They should be your partner in building the strongest
possible relationship with referral partners. Gain their trust and
confidence, and you will (together) generate many referrals. Make
sure they are asking referral partners if they "have any other patients
we should be setting up services for" at the end of every referral call. |
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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:
Call (800) 293-5471 or
write us and see how
we can improve your home care and hospice sales skills! |
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Thanks for doing what you do for our industry. You have a fantastic opportunity to make a difference in your community. You will make that difference by consistently telling the story of home care and hospice 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! |
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