Please don’t let your marketers sound like this jackwagon

As you know, I have been caring for my Mom and have been traveling quite a bit. I recently received an “unsolicited” voicemail on my phone.

Every time I get a voice message or email, I always look at it through the lens of being a marketer. As a business owner I think, “is this compelling to get me to call them back?”

As you know, Cheryl and I have been upgrading many of our proven Home Health, Home, and Hospice marketing educational messages to include “remote” voicemails and emails.

We work really hard to make the educational messages compelling, business relevant, and with integrity.

Back to the voicemail.

He left the following message:

“Hey, this is JW from HW office. I just had a quick question for you. So please give me a call back at xxx.xxx.xxxx.”

 

Now when I listened, I was not sure who this was.

Was he a client? Was he someone I met at a recent conference? I didn’t know.

But if he was a client or potential client, I wanted to get him the info he needed to move his business forward. I was at a doctor’s appointment with my Mom, and I went to the car to return the call.

He said:

“This is JW.”  I said, “Hello JW, this is Melanie Stover returning your phone call.”

 

JW: “Oh great, Melanie, a while back, you ordered our cards on how to overcome objections, and that’s just the start of what we have to offer. Tell me, how did you like the cards?”

 

(Challenge #1 – While he didn’t lie on the Voice Mail – he used vagueness and omission to get me to call him back)

Me: “Yes, I got your cards to thank you. They were interesting.”

JW: “Interesting. Hmmm. What industry are you in, Melanie?”

 

(Challenge #2 – JW didn’t bother to even google my name – smart prospecting is at the VERY least know SOMETHING about your prospect)

Me: “Healthcare- Home Health, Hospice, and In-Home Care.”

JW: “Huh. So you don’t sell anything, and you bought objection cards? Do you bill insurance?”

 

(Challenge #3 – Open-ended questions would have got him the correct answers or at least learned how he might position his services as a solution to any of my problems, but he asked a closed-ended, yes-or-no question)

Me: No, I do not bill insurance, but the agencies I work with do.

JW: “Ok yeah, well, I don’t know much about how healthcare works with sales. But we appreciate you ordering the cards. Hope you have a good day.”

 

(Challenge #4 – don’t throw in the towel. Ask me some good open-ended questions. I spent $30 with them previously – why not ask – how I was using them? If I didn’t like my purchase – What would have made them better?)

He missed so much opportunity to LEARN SOMETHING – EVEN IF I was NOT going to buy anything else. How many times do you think you have “left something on the table? And just walked away from an account.

That is why we have a specific script for Step 4, the Reveal Call – before you exit – you can ALWAYS learn something that might save this account OR help you at the following account!

Me: “You too.”

JW: “Bye”

Me: “Bye”

JW did a few things that turned me off right away. He was not getting my business because of it.

I was busy with my Mom I really didn’t want to take the time to return his call but didn’t want to chance that it was one of our clients.

So when I quickly realized it was a sales call, that didn’t feel good.

What could he have done instead?

We teach in our programs to gain interest and create a compelling valid business reason for calling back.

He used vagueness as his “reason to call back,” and that is not enough.

Here is the framework we teach:

• WHO – Who are you, where are you from
• WHAT – Reason for your call – Educational message
• WHY – What’s in it for them
• CTA – call to action for a callback

And do it all with INTEGRITY!

Is INTEGRITY a differentiator?

 

I would submit to you YES!

A Home Health Marketer, Hospice Liaison, or In-Home Care rep with integrity SAVES your referral sources TIME! And TIME IS MONEY!

JW is not saving me time. In fact, he COST me time when I should have been moving on to another appointment with my Mom.

How are your reps being perceived by your referral sources?

Do you know what voicemails your reps are leaving?

Do they have all the components of our framework?

Do you get callbacks from your VMs?

We have got the library of scripts and templates for you in our Roadmap to Referrals Program if you don’t. Click here to grab a time on Mikes’s calendar that will work for you to explore more!

Together We Grow!

Melanie

 

P.S. I might have been home for too long. The original subject line (for those in western PA) was “don’t be a jag like this guy.” But then I thought the rest of the country would have no idea what I was talking about! Go Stillers!