It is often we find ourselves in this position. We have a three day work week coming up, and we have to prioritize our marketing efforts.
I have felt the “crunch” of a short week. You have too much to do and not enough time. Perhaps you have had that feeling also where there is just so much to check off your to-do list that you feel overwhelmed.
The answer to overwhelm is prioritization.
In setting up our teams for success, we follow this simple cadence that has delivered results.
It will work for you too.
Monday: Prewritten “open for the Holiday Blasts” emailed out for the holiday. (make sure you have staff and are “open” for referrals)
Tuesday AM: Follow up on the Focus 50 accounts from your High Performance Sales Academy Step One.
Tuesday PM: Step 3 of the High-Performance Sales Process – “WIN” The referral generator – follow up and report out on any referral from Friday- Tuesday. Make sure to use this as a patient vignette in your follow-up “Ask”.
Wednesday: Sales Message of the week to generate conversations for high-value patients or clients.
*52 Week RoadMap of Referrals members November 21st week on your calendar: Holidazzle – Help them to prepare and get ahead of any challenges that may keep them from truly enjoying the holiday.
Friday (if working): Clean up anything outstanding. Follow up on any referrals from the week. Finish your week strong! Make one extra call today!
A short week is your opportunity to compress time and maximize your productivity in 3 days!~
Happy Thanksgiving! Here at Home Care Sales, we are thankful for you and the many ways you help seniors and the fragile around you!
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pexels-martine-savard-265036-scaled.jpg17072560Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-11-20 09:58:302023-02-22 19:48:51What to do in a short week
So you know we always have these accounts that typically they were in that history where the maybe they’re referring four to five patients, a month to you.
And then, all of a sudden, they dry up there’s no business coming from those accounts and when this happens, hopefully, you catch it really fast,
the first month that you don’t see them referring you’re able to jump in, but if it has been that full 90 days before you catch it you want to immediately start to do an investigation.
So typically one of the first things I love to do is just ask everybody in my office, start with my nurse managers, was there any complaints that came in that maybe we’re tied to patients that came from that account.
Ask intake, did they have any interaction with the account and find out if anything negative could have happened. I may even pick up the phone and actually call
one of the nurses or the clinicians that we’re providing services to the patient that was last referred and make sure that everything was good that they had a good experience with our agency.
Once I’ve done my internal investigation again, talking to intake, talking to the clinical leadership, looking at that complaint log,
I’m speaking to the clinicians that service, the last two or three referrals that came from there, I would then take the steps of going over and meeting directly with the account,
and meet with my contacts there and ask them, hey you know I just spoke to some of the patients, it seems like things went really well with the last several referrals,
and yet I haven’t gotten any over the last 90 days.
And then be as quiet as a church mouse and wait to see what is their response, right. Find out what is actually the reason that they haven’t referred.
But do your homework, first because you don’t want to get caught surprised or not knowing that there was a customer service failure. If you do learn when you’re doing your investigation that a customer service failure did occur,
make sure that you then take the next steps to identify how can you make sure that that’s not going to happen again.
And once you have that understanding now go back to the account and explain, yeah hey I heard about the customer service failure, and I want you to know that my leadership has taken these three steps to make sure that this never happens again.
And can I ask you to trust me one more time with your next patient that needs services?
Process is key and as we always say at HCS, “With Structure Comes Freedom.” Now more than ever, it’s important to make sure your accounts are bulletproof. The High Performance Sales Academy is designed to help build lasting relationships that lead to consistant, predicable referrals.
If this is speaking to you, reach out to Mike for a quick consultation with the contact info below.
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-11-05 15:43:092022-11-05 15:43:09Insights: I have an account that was referring 4 patients a month. They quit referring. What should I do?
So a lot of reps will come to me that last week of the month and they’re like oh my God I’m not going to hit my numbers what am I going to do?
And my answer is typically the same I usually say well, what worked for you this week, what worked for you this month?
Go back and look at those week of the trigger questions and how did you ask for the business and they delivered a result.
I also will typically say go to where you know has the referral. So the ones that have given you the most volume over the last several months.
Go back and share with them hey my numbers are down a little bit this month is there anybody else that you think maybe can qualify or benefit? Because typically your biggest referral sources are also one of your biggest fans,
and they want you to be successful, so they will typically help you find another patient to work on.
I also usually will look at the account and see if I could increase one of my calls, like maybe I’m only going there every Tuesday.
And I’ve got this last week of the month, you know what maybe I’m gonna hit them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week.
Because now, if I have a conversation with them Monday I maybe will be able to uncover someone that’s going home by Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and be able to land those referrals if I see them more than once that week.
So typically I will increase my presence, by increasing my sales calls to those high prior priority accounts, the ones that are probably going to have a referral for me.
I also will take the time and take a deep breath to make sure I put on my mindset put on my superhero costume and role play my trigger question.
What questions, am I asking so that I’m getting them again to uncover a patient that’s going to pop into their mind.
If you are not part of the roadmap to referrals you may not understand that, but if you are, use your roadmap to referrals information.
Pop into your classroom rewatch the training videos watch me and Melanie doing the role playing watch the other members of the of that group the sales reps role playing using trigger questions on each other and grab something that you love from that video.
So you can do this I’ve got faith in you.
As a salesperson, hitting quota is par for the course. But there are times where the clock is ticking and you realize you need to drive more business. If you are an owner with a sales rep on your team that is struggling to hit the number, let us help. We can offer tools to take them to the level you are expecting and we can even take over coaching and management of those reps for you.
If this is speaking to you, reach out to Mike for a quick consultation with the contact info below.
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-10-22 17:03:352022-10-22 17:03:35Insights: It’s the last week of the month and I don’t have enough referrals
You know, we have an incredible program called Community Calls.
Community Calls is one of those programs where, if you could figure out, ask yourself this question, think of it this way.
If I could talk to myself my 20 year old self my 25 year old self to be honest, when I was just getting ready to open my first agency, and I could tell myself,
how to get to success faster, it would be to use the Community Calls program. And what I mean by Community Calls program is,
we each have in our service area one of those wonderful big large Assisted Living or personal care facilities that we absolutely want to work with.
You know they’ve got the best the best location in town, the best parking they’re clean they’re bright they’re new they’re shiny and they have a wonderful reputation and we know that we could get staff to love being in that building.
Yet they’re not referring to us. So one of the ways that you can break in there is that every single one of these buildings is filled with seniors and these seniors are bored.
They are lonely they get to go play games and have fun with some of the activities people.
But other than that they’re just sitting around and the pressure is on the staff at the Assisted Living facility to keep them engaged to keep them happy to keep them feeling part of involvement.
Imagine now you are the facility owner and somebody comes to you from in home care or from home health or hospice,
and says hey we would love to be able to come in and least once a month and for an hour bring all of your residence together and give them a conversational talk,
just about home health and hospice services and,
you know we’re going to have a little bit of a conversation too about maybe how to make the most of their next doctor’s appointment, or how to keep your brain healthy and smart.
How to eat choose the right foods to eat and the good news is is that we will even provide them with a flyer and a handout.
And now we even have the opportunity, if you would like you could offer some tours at the end, we could put a couple posters up at the local, you know pharmacies.
Maybe, even at like you know target at the return area who knows anything that’s local to the building where we could say hey we’re doing these health talks for seniors.
And for caregivers and we would love you to attend and we’re also offering free tours of the facility at the end.
This could be an opportunity now for the building to take care of two problems. One is, they’re taking care of the bored people that live in the building,
that are looking for something new to do. Now if you do a great job with this talk, which we do teach how to do this, by the way, in our Master’s Program.
But if you do a great job of giving a presentation, meaning you engage the audience, you know you could maybe have a couple of gifts from the dollar store that you said, who can share with me, one of the reasons that people fall.
And they raised their hand and they say Oh, they tripped over there sneaker or they fell over their dog or they couldn’t see where they were going, because it was nighttime and they tripped over something, whatever their answer is.
You give that little dollar store gift to these people that are in the audience keeping them engaged.
And they’re excited they’re happy they love your talks they’re going to tell their neighbors and their neighbors from the building are going to come down to the next month’s talk
if you give away little prizes like that. Now if you also have posted the signs and you put them up at the local pharmacies, you are attracting people to come into that building and be able to have a tour.
Now you are a business partner to that Assisted Living personal care home that you want to so desperately serve patients at.
If you were bringing in people to have a tour of the building every month,
do you think they’re going to want to partner with you to be their provider? Absolutely. In addition, if you have already done, for your salesperson,
this is a script and the script is written on a ninth-grade literacy level anybody can do this presentation it’s not in high language. I mean
let’s be honest, I do not have the broadest vocabulary in the world and thank God I don’t need it right, I could just talk to you in common sense and you understand what I’m saying.
That’s the same thing about these presentations, they are written on a ninth-grade literacy level.
And so, these presentations are just enough to engage with the audience and then each of them have a little tiny gift that they give, and that is what we call the call to action.
Where during this little fun interaction with the community and by the way, sales reps, when they are asked who used the Community Calls program, how do you like it?
Nine out of 10 times the sales rep says, I absolutely love it. Some of our car companies that we work with that have used this program,
they actually have a dedicated person who is now just doing nothing but the Community Calls program every single day going to different facilities in their drivable areas and delivering it. That’s how much some sales reps love this
program or this package I should say. So now you go in you do your little presentation, but the gift is that at the end you have an amazing call to action.
Meaning, something that is taught that asks the people that are attending the program,
who needs care, who would like to receive services? But it’s done in a way, without saying “who needs care?” And so that’s the thing that’s inside the program.
So if you want to break into a facility, go and have a call with Mike. Mike@homecaresales.com.
Figure out if the Community Calls program is for you, try it at a couple buildings you’re going to love doing it. The seniors are going to love you and the building is going to love you because
they get paid to keep us in bed, and if you’re providing them butts to come in and get toward to potentially move in.
As well as you’re providing them with services that keep people from falling, keep people out of the hospital, it’s a win win for them. So they want you there, they want these programs, they want these activities for their bored seniors.
I use this program not just to do it as a live session, I even did it for radio. So I got on my local radio station using the Community Calls programs, I call it the Health Matters series.
And every single Friday did a live radio show for 15 minutes talked about the lesson and for 15 minutes took calls.
And I did that for a couple years and talk about stress. These programs can be your example of how you’re giving back to the community.
It is marketing without you paying to market it is free marketing where you are getting in front of hundreds of people at the facilities and being able to share your message about your organization. So thank you so much.
As Cheryl discussed, connecting directly with seniors and facilities can be challenging but super rewarding. We have created a full program with handouts, scripts, and presentations made for you and ready to be edited/individualized for your usage.
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-10-08 16:53:562022-10-08 16:53:56Insights: Is there a good way to get into an independent living facility?
You know, unfortunately, one of the problems that we bring to our clients is that when they’re using our tactics, such as the roadmap to referrals and the high performing sales Academy, they end up bringing in so much new business that sometimes they have to start to pick and choose the clients that they wish to serve, and maybe clients that they don’t necessarily want to have on service.
So sometimes you were going to have to turn down a referral or there’s just maybe not a caregiver available and you can’t serve that patient.
Maybe you don’t have an aid that’s got time that’s available that day that the client wants to have service.
Whatever the issue is, this is a problem that you’ve got to handle professionally.
And I want to caution you on one thing that I have seen owners and sales people do over and over again, and they do this the wrong way, when you turn down a referral don’t lie.
Just tell the truth, unfortunately we don’t have staff to cover that patient.
Unfortunately you know we’ve got tons of medicaid patients on our service right now and we’ve got to stay budget neutral, so we really only have room on the schedule tomorrow for medicare patient.
Tell the truth, the truth is going to first of all set you free and you’re never going to have to remember what you said, if you tell the truth.
I also want to make sure that you are confident in knowing that when you were saying no you’re saying no just to this patient but ask for another patient to serve.
You know, for example, let’s say I can’t take a patient today and 19121 that’s just a zip code I’m just too busy right there I don’t have another nurse or another staff member that can get in that zip code today or tomorrow and I’m just so sorry, however, you know over in 19154 and North of that I’ve got a nurse that’s available, I’ve got an aid that’s available.
We could easily do somebody in that area, maybe there’s somebody else’s referral that you could switch around give them this one that I can’t handle and give me the one I can.
So ask and be honest and be transparent, it happens to me all the time that there’s somebody in one county that I can’t cover,
but boy I wish I had 10 more patients over here in this other county where gobsmacked just bittin at the bits, right there just dying to get that extra referral.
I think that just again making sure whenever you say no only say sorry once. You lose your authenticity at saying sorry that I can’t accept a patient
when you say it over and over again. I was listening to a phone call just the other day for one of our clients,
and it started off with oh I’m so sorry but we’re not going to set Mrs. Jones then they gave the reason why I’m really sorry I just too terrible that I can’t accept it, you know
we’re just so busy, and I just can’t take it, and then going on and on, I could see that the referring account was losing their mind listening to the long repeated over and over again apology so apologize once be consistent be sincere and tell the truth.
Looking for staff? It’s a huge issue for everyone these days, but we’ve seen some agencies have much more success than others. This quick action course can help!
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-09-24 19:02:552022-09-24 19:02:55Insights: When we have to turn away a referral because of staffing, how do we maintain credibility?
Which referral sources do I focus on to get the most referrals?
This is a GREAT question. The way you are going to get more referrals is to focus on those who are WILLING and ABLE to refer to you! Are they WORTHLY of your time?
Read that again. Is THIS account WORTHY of your time?
Most representatives are often subservient to their referral sources. We challenge that paradigm at Home Care Sales.
The owners and representatives we coach and work with KNOW their VALUE! They have significant knowledge in the senior care space through experience and our programs. They ARE the post-acute care experts.
This means they are not “begging” for referrals. They are TRUE care partners with their referral sources and, therefore, MUST prioritize who they spend their time with so that they can make the MOST IMPACT in their communities! When you have the knowledge and the experience, YOU become a resource to your referral sources, helping them get care to the seniors who deserve it! Your care!
Back to the question – which referral sources do I focus on?
These are “A” accounts – that are currently referring to you and have the potential to refer MORE!
These are the accounts that you HAVE to defend and protect!
2. Prospects who have qualified and refer between sometimes and your “A” accounts – We call them “B” accounts.
When I am coaching, I tell the reps that if they gave you “1,” they have two or more! They just don’t know how to use you. They don’t know the breadth and depth of what you can do for their patients or residents.
This method expands the referral sources mindset into which diagnoses you could care for and how you would care for them. Most clinicians – myself included were not taught about home care, home health, or hospice in college, and if your mentor didn’t use these post-acute care services, then you didn’t learn about it in your clinical practice either! You know this to be true.
How often has a client or patient’s family said, “OMG, I WISH we would have known about you SOONER!” The power of selling by Diagnosis is that you reach into the current caseload of your referral sources and pluck out the EXACT high-value referral type that YOU want for your agency.
3. What about those “onesies,” twosies” referral sources? …Or Referral sources that you KNOW have patients or residents to refer but “Just don’t get it.”
In the past, we would have had to be ruthless with our time, and these folks just would have been at the bottom of our list, and we would not have been able to call on them much. But COVID taught us a VERY valuable lesson!
YOU CAN MARKET REMOTELY! Woo Hooo!
All those accounts you could not justify getting in your car and going across town – NOW you don’t have to! You can simply use remote marketing tactics – phone and digital have changed Home Care Marketing FOREVER!
During COVID, we honed our copyrighting and messaging skills so that the same weekly message we deliver in person in the roadmap to referrals, we have created email, voicemail, and pdfs of our unique selling point for that week!
We can reach so many more referral sources with our message!
This is the BEST time to market Home Health, Hospice, and In-Home Care!
We can change lives together!
Make a bigger impact and income by serving more seniors!
Here are three ways we can work together when you are ready:
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/bbaf5dd64cff472b584721b55f2b9236.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-09-14 12:48:412022-09-21 07:58:23Which referral sources do I focus on to get the most referrals?
This is the year of retention. Hi, I’m Melanie Stover one of the co-owners of home care sales and we’re talking retention.
Yes, staffing is a challenge, and we know it’s going to be a challenge for a while,
so well so many people are talking about recruiting and I love recruiting you should keep doing that.
I think one of the things that we absolutely must focus on is retention, you have great
staff, how do we feel, how do we keep them feeling the love of your agency?
So, here are some tips that we’ve done this year that have really made a difference with
our staff be it our clinicians, our office staff (of course) our sales and marketing teams.
Let’s talk a few tips about how to really leverage retention.
So the first thing is obvious, everyone says “pay.”
Do we have competitive pay? …and I will share with you that, yes, it matters.
Most people will I mean obviously they care about how much they get paid and when they’re leaving they will cite.
“Oh, I’m leaving because I’m getting more money,” but it’s not the truth.
It’s an easy thing to say, and it saves a lot of face, but I would submit to you that they’re probably leaving a manager or an environment.
That’s what the research says.
So, think about that.
Yes, you want to be competitive with your pay, but what can you do to add value, besides pain?
I mean that’s the biggest thing right? …It’s that we’ve got to add value to our offering so that we can continue to care for patients and care for them a long time, and the best way to do that is to have clinicians who stay a long time.
I tell my marketers all the time.
What are we selling we’re selling these clinicians so if we don’t have caregivers.
We have nothing to sell.
So consequently, be part of the solution in your retention program at your agency.
If you are a marketer if you’re an owner, think about that.
Obviously, you got to get your salary and benefits right.
I would like to also share with you that people want to be heard and validated.
So listen to your team members listen to your staff (do surveys)
Recently, one of our clients (who’s doing a big retention program) just did a survey and found out some really interesting things.
Now, they were negative, but let me share with you, they were the administrator of that office needed to hear them.
Because it was about a supervisor who consistently was getting some feedback in the surveys – so get the feedback, so you can get honest, open communication and address it!
Make them be heard and then act on some of that feedback
The second thing or the third thing I want to share with you is.
Create leaders not bosses.
Right?
Nobody wants to be told what to do.
We all want to empower our team to be critical thinkers.
So how are you doing that?
Are you providing them with continuing education?
Invest in your employee’s future.
And we do that through skill development, one of the things that I ask our sales REPS to do is to show me their calendar.
If there is not an hour blocked out each week for skill development, I know they’re not a student of the game.
Are they really investing in their future?
So, is it (for us obviously) it’d be like sales and marketing tactics…
how to develop rapport… I want them to continue to sharpen their skills.
Same with our clinicians are you investing in them is there some type of training that they would like to participate in, in order to better themselves?
The other thing that we talk about is making them proud to work for you.
What are you doing?
Are you a values match?
I know many of my clients right now are defining their values, putting it right on their email signatures saying what do they stand for.
Are they compassionate?
Have Integrity?
What is it, what do you stand for, and have you articulated that?
I would also like to share with you, many of our clients are offering their clinicians to do volunteer activities and get paid for them.
So allowing them so many hours a pay period or a month to participate in some type of giving back to the Community.
How are you deepening that relationship with them beyond productivity?
We know productivity is important because we’ve got to get revenue.
We’ve got to get patients served – your clients served, and I recognize as a business owner,
I need to have revenue in order to pay my bills and pay my payroll.
I also recognize that people will stay with you longer when they feel deeply connected to you and your mission.
So tell them and tell them often that mail email signature line is a great place to remind
them every day of what you stand for.
Recruiting and Retention is such a big part of what we do.
We at Home Care Sales have developed a recruiting and retention program and we invite you to check it out click below (In the description) and learn more about our recruiting and retention program so that you can continue to grow through retaining your top talent at your agency.
Thanks for joining me in this video.
We look forward to seeing you next time, and together we grow.
Retention. It’s a huge issue for everyone these days, but we’ve seen some agencies have much more success than others. For some it’s agency culture, for others it’s feeling valued, and of course, the grass always looks greener as the old adage says. Regardless of why… we have to put special focus on keeping our staff content.
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-09-10 01:41:552022-09-10 01:41:55Insights: How do you retain your staff during difficult times?
You know I love getting this question because a lot of times this is when we really have to analyze what’s happening with our sales reps.
And I want to share with you, when a rep hasn’t brought in those referrals you’re not the only one, as an owner,
who or as a sales manager, who was feeling the pinch trust me the person themselves are also usually panicked about not delivering their numbers.
And the first thing that you got to do is check to see what are they saying, because obviously their sales message, whatever words they are using,
they are not really doing the job right, and so we have to always remember there’s usually four things that make a big difference with your sales rep success.
One is that they have to make sure that they are communicating with the mind of their prospecting accounts
needs being in their mind right.
Meaning if I know that a doctor is concerned about patients that have CHF not going back to the hospital,
I’ve got to be able to get there, and have a conversation with him about that right. So I very quickly, I have to realize what’s important to the prospecting account.
And if it’s that the CHF patients have a high risk for hospitalization I’m going to want to focus my conversation on what’s important to them.
How do you get to that is by asking the right questions right what is top of mind for you right now.
What’s important, what’s happening for you, what are the metrics that you guys are following every month or every year, what are you working towards this year, as far as metrics that are being observed from maybe at the hospital systems.
Those are conversations that are going to help you identify what’s important to your prospect.
You’ve got to think of it this way, your sales person has to be able to answer questions that are in your prospects mind already, and the only way that you’re going to uncover them is by asking great questions.
And we can’t just think that we know what they need and just say well home health is great, in home care is great, hospice is free, so give us a patient.
It’s really that we’ve got to understand
what they need for their patients and the only way to do that is by asking these questions.
So find out what is your salesperson saying, look at their schedule, where they traveling, are they seeing people with enough frequency, and are they asking?
The best way to do this is to role play.
If your salesperson does not have a high performing sales academy you absolutely got to get it for them, because it’s going to help them learn that language of love.
To be able to tap the person in the brain, to get them to actually give you a referral.
And most importantly, if they don’t have the roadmap to referrals you better check it out, I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t tell you how this can change your results.
Because it takes away the guess of what your salespeople have to say every week, and it gives them a valid business reason to see an account and the right way to ask for a patient using a vignette. So check those products out if you haven’t gotten them yet.
You know managing a marketer or liaison can be hard. In the midst of staffing issues and an extremely competitive market, some owners don’t have time to provide the direction that their sales team needs. We want to help. Contact Mike Masciccio (info below) or hop on his calendar to discuss getting you the tools your need or having Home Care Sales coach and manage your team for you.
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-09-03 16:36:382022-09-21 07:59:05Insights: My rep hasn’t brought in any referrals for two months. What should I do?
This summer, we had our family vacation in Cabo San Lucas. The boys LOVED it!
Of course, what is there not to love about a family vacation?
However, when I asked them what their favorite part they both replied the beach! My boys love the beach and swimming, so it was not surprising they said that but what followed?
“Mom, I love how we can be on the beach, and all the people come, and we can buy stuff.”
The boys love to buy “things” on the beach from the vendors, henna tattoos, wooden carvings of turtles, sunglasses, t-shirts lots of wares for sale. And A LOT of the same thing. Which got me thinking about differentiation.
How the beach vendors differentiated themselves fell into three categories:
By Price
By “customer service.”
By relationship and humor
Price: The 1st one is obvious by price. We are all consumers, and we know how to ask for a price and compare and get the best price. On the surface, all the t-shirts look the same, so you may simply look for the best price.
Which happens a lot in private pay in-home care – potential clients “shop” on price because that is all they know how to do. As the in-home care provider, you must elevate the conversation and share with the caller the differences on “why you” (we have a great exercise on this in the High-Performance Sales Academy). Even t-shirts can be different. We have all purchased a $5 t-shirt from the beach, and one wash later, it fits a barbie doll.
Was it even worth $5? – most likely not! A higher quality t-shirt might have cost more, but we could use it more. Similarly to in-home care – not all home cares are created equal.
DON’T let it be just about price!
Customer Service: While the product was the “same,” the customer service was different per salesperson on the beach.
Example: A child’s toy – a top – it was wooden and simple, but the guy we ultimately bought the top from offered to “customize” it by writing the boy’s names with a wood burner and the date, so we will never forget where we got them from.
This was a great example of taking something that is a commodity and “upgrading” it with customer service!
Many referral sources see Home Health, Hospice, and In-Home Care as a “commodity” all the “same,” but often, you can upgrade your position by “out customer servicing” the competition.
We see this at the intake position, making it “easy” for the referral source to refer. Or at the rep position speaking with the family, welcoming them onto service, and sharing “what to expect” as they transition home. The rep can make the whole process smoother and a better experience for the referral source and the patient.
Relationship and humor: By the 5th day on the beach, we had pretty much seen all the wares, and the salespeople had come to recognize the boys. One of the funniest lines of the week was a salesman walking by with a case of bracelets who said to us, “Hi Ladies, you haven’t bought any of my stuff you don’t need yet. Almost free for you today!”
It made us laugh, and my friend Melissa called him back. He was different, used humor to make a connection, and it worked! She bought a bracelet!
This is also why we say in the RoadMap to Referrals program to incorporate some fun! Yes, you are a professional, and this is serious business. But we could all use a little fun, and it deepens your relationships with your referral sources!
There are always “lessons” around us every day!
Be a student! Home Care Sales and Marketing can be challenging! But it doesn’t have to be. We are here for you! We got your back!
If you are interested in discovering how to leave the overwhelm and uncertainty behind, email Mike@homecaresales.com and he can tour you around the programs that can help you grow!
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/pexels-pixabay-219998-scaled.jpeg16962560Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-08-27 00:51:182022-08-27 00:55:19What can we learn from a hot beach in Mexico?
This week on coaching calls for office hours and their sales management program a rep asked me “what am I supposed to do, because my agency doesn’t take all the insurances that the referral source would like?”
hmm…
Well, I would wish that the agencies that we work with all of them take all the insurances in the entire world.
Many of you can’t get on formulary many of you can’t get on panels.
We appreciate some panels are shut down, so there’s going to be areas where you just can’t get on that insurance.
Now I’m sure your leadership is trying their hardest to get on those panels and continue to try.
Here’s what a mentor told me once and I told this particular rep just this week.
You’ve got to sell what’s in the bag What did he mean by that, he said to me Mel you got to sell what’s in the bag, yes, you wish that you had X Y & Z you wish that you had this feature or this level of customer service or this insurance.
But you don’t.
You have this series of products and services.
And while you can bring it up to leadership and say I wish we had Humana I wish we had Blue Cross Blue Shield.
You can’t dwell on it, because it’s only going to bring you down and you gotta sell what you have. You’re going to position what you’re able to take.
I appreciate it might be a little bit harder. that’s where dogged and persistence pays off.
You know what we find in our sales management program and the high performance sales academy is that most referrals, if referral source is going to refer to you with our system they tend to refer to you in that
five to eight visit range, meaning you’ve seen that referral source five to eight times face to face in person, and this rep has not achieved that yet, and she was really down on herself.
And I said to her listen you haven’t even been there, four times in person face to face.
So while you’re saying you wish, you took all these insurances that may be part of the challenge I appreciate that.
You also haven’t put in the work yet, not fully, she’s showing up every day and she’s doing what we asked her to do in the system.
But at four times you know, yes, maybe once in a while you’ll get a referral early in the process, they don’t even know if you’re going to stick around yet they’ve had so many reps come and go, and come and go.
Stick in there.
Be doggedly persistent.
It may be about the insurances and your leadership’s working on it.
But it may just be about you, showing up and sharing the message that you have what you’ve got in your bag, to sell in order to care for more seniors.
So hang in there, tell your team persistence wins. It’s the key to the success. You got this and we can help.
If you’re looking for a system where you get referrals and that five to eight visit range, please jump on a call with Mike.
He does discovery calls with you, and you can make an appointment email him Mike@homecaresales.com and get on his calendar, see what we’ve got maybe we can help you too, I hope you have a great day, keep serving seniors and I’ll see you on the next series.
We have had several agencies joining the Sales Coaching & Management in the last month and we are loving seeing reps evolving into superstars. If you are ready to have us take over your sales management, simply reach out to Mike via email, or with the link below you can set up a meeting.
https://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/insights-logo.jpeg6751200Melanie Stoverhttps://homecaresales.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/HCS-Logo-GENERIC-01-300x74.pngMelanie Stover2022-08-24 15:26:432022-08-24 18:19:57Insights: We don’t take all the insurances. How can we compete?