Selling and Buying Home Health In Style

HHT Banner 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Selling And Buying Home Health In Style

What your sales people need to know about themselves and their referral sources

September 2, 2009

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In this issue...

-- Selling And Buying In Style

-- Assessing Your Selling Style

-- Meet Elizabeth Jeffries In Person, And Identify Your Selling Style

-- Meet The People Who Have Been There

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome,

Welcome to this issue of Home Health Care Today, the leading electronic newsletter for home health care and hospice executives who want to grow their business and get ready for the future. Every other Wednesday, we bring you strategies and insights that will help you take your agency to new heights.

For ideas to grow your Private Duty Home Care business, subscribe to Private Duty Today, the bi-weekly newsletter for non-medical home care CEOs. Your complimentary subscription is available at www.privatedutytoday.com.

Selling And Buying In Style

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE, CPBA

We've all met home health care sales people we instantly liked. There was something about them that attracted us. They were easy to talk with and they made us feel instantly comfortable. Easy connection! I even wanted to buy their services for my family.

Of course, we've all met sales people who ruffled our feathers, pushed our buttons and turned us off, and sometimes we weren't even sure why! But communication was tough and uncomfortable and we couldn't wait to get away from them. The last thing we wanted was to do business with them.

Ah, the differences in people! "If they were more like me," we say, "we'd get along just fine and they'd buy more from me, too."

While it's true that it may be easier and more fun to work with or sell to people who are more like us, it's not usually possible to choose the style of the people we work with or the prospects we need to approach in home health care. However, people can learn to make those relationships better simply by understanding, accepting, and adjusting to the differences in people.

We've known since Hippocrates time in 400 or so B.C. that there are 4 dimensions of behavior. Today, while we know a great deal more about behavior, research still validates that there are 4 primary styles. We simply use different language to describe them. We've progressed from describing body fluids to describing behavior styles, and even to using colors and animals as analogies for people!

We are complex creatures and while behavior is only one dimension of who we are, it's a huge dimension. Why? Because it's so visible! You can't hide it and certainly, many can't control it. We notice that people move fast or slow. We experience thinkers or talkers. We show more spontaneity or thoughtfulness. We can tell when a person is more analytical or emotional.

Most importantly, our behavior, the way we tend to do things, can create connection or conflict in relationships.

When home health care sales professionals make sales calls to physicians or hospital discharge planners, they bring their whole selves to the process.

Take Dominant Donna. She's forceful and competitive. She moves fast, needs results, is impatient, but also is a self starter and innovative. In a sales situation with a physician, she's a natural Closer. She'll ask for the order and hand the physician the pen to write the order on the spot. Caution for Donna, unless she's selling to someone similar to herself . . . Donna needs to pace herself. She can move too fast for many referral sources and can push too hard or be insensitive to the slower speed in which they may move.

How about Influencer Isaac? He's extroverted and has never met a stranger. He's optimistic, verbally articulate and has a great sense of humor and playfulness. In meeting with a discharge planner, he's a natural Presenter. Isaac doesn't like details and may procrastinate about filling out sales reports or tracking referrals that turn into admissions, but it needs to be done!

Caution for Isaac, unless he's selling to someone similar to himself . . . Oh and if he is? He may get off track and not get to the outcome. Isaac is very social. He needs to be careful of talking too much and dominating the conversation. He needs to listen better, ask questions and control his time. Isaac may benefit from support staff to help him with details and let him interact more with physicians and discharge planners.

Then there is dear Steady Sam. Everyone likes Sam. He's a team player. He's easy going, patient, and loyal. In a sales situation he's a natural Server. Perfect sales person for follow up and making repeat visits to referral sources. Sam tends to be an introvert and an internal thinker.

Caution for Sam . . . even if he's selling to someone like himself. Sam needs to be clear about his goals and step up and communicate more openly. He tends to have lots of wisdom, but it's hard to get to it. When selling to referral sources, Sam needs to remember to ask for the order!

Lastly there's Compliant Carol. She likes structure, systems, and procedures. She's organized and task oriented. Count on her for quality and accuracy! In a sales situation, Carol is a natural Planner.

Caution for Carol, except when selling to someone like herself . . . Accuracy and quality are so important to her. She also needs to be attentive to relationships. She tends to be more controlled in her expressions and it would be easier to relate to her and buy from her if she was more personable. Accuracy and data are important when meeting with referral sources, however, Carol needs to be cautious about perfection, over-analyzing and getting bogged down in details. She needs to stay in action too.

While all of the examples of home health care sales professionals above are accurate for each dimension, rarely is a person only one dimension of behavior. Most sales people are a combination of 2 or 3 dimensions and even that can shift depending on the situation and the referral source they are interacting with.

Home health care sales people don't have to have a PhD in communication or psychology to read people, build relationships or successfully sell to them. Most of the time these valuable sales people just need to know themselves better and pay more attention to the style of the physician or the hospital discharge planner! Understanding behavior styles and learning to flex their style when needed are powerful ways to help them reach that end.

Assessing Your Selling Style

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to know more about your selling style? Want to see if your style is a good fit for home health and hospice sales? With a simple online behavioral assessment, you'll get a graphic display of your natural selling style and your adapted selling style.

Then learn more about how you can adapt your style to match the buying style of your key referral sources. Adjust your sales presentation to fit the needs and wants of your customer.

It's insights like this that will give your home health and hospice sales team that little competitive edge they need to differentiate your agency from your competitors.

Take the Leading Home Care Sales Assessment today!

Meet Elizabeth Jeffries In Person, And Identify Your Selling Style

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark your calendar for September 16, 17, and 18 to come to Louisville, KY for the 2009 Home Health and Hospice Business Builders Workshop. Meet Elizabeth Jeffries in person, identify your selling style, and learn how to recognize the buying styles of your key referral sources.

Elizabeth is a former home health nurse, award winning professional speaker, author, and Certified Professional Behavior Analyst. Each person coming to the workshop will complete the Leading Home Care Sales Assessment online before you arrive. Then Elizabeth will walk you through the written report and give you the inside scoop on your selling style.

For many participants, this will be the single most important part of the program. It will provide insights that will help you adapt your selling style to fit the buying style of your key customers.

Elizabeth will enlighten, inspire, and motivate you to take your selling skills and behaviors to the next level. The result will be a high impact selling style that is sure to bring in new referrals that turn into admissions.

Also, we'll have back with us Dr. Tray Dunaway, MD, CSP, a physician and surgeon from Camden, South Carolina who will help you connect the dots of home health care and hospice. Then Dr. Dunaway will guide you through the process of building relationships with physicians and penetrating the doctors' office staff.

Stephen Tweed, CSP, will be there to describe in detail the seven sources of competitive advantage in home health care and hospice, and to apply the top ten techniques of highly effective home health care marketers. Stephen will also guide you through the seven step relationships selling process and describe how to turn referrals into admissions.

You won't want to miss this exciting opportunity to gain new sales and marketing skills that will enable you to be more competitive in your marketplace.

<brToday is the last day for Early Bird registration. You will save $200 per attendee and there are additional discounts for groups of 5 or more, so register today!

Meet The People Who Have Been There

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While we continue to build the content and approach of our business builders workshops, we always learn from the past successes of previous programs. We asked past participants to tell us what they found most important or most useful from participating in our workshops. Here are the viewpoints of some people who have been there:

"When I read about the training on Stephen Tweed's website, the course outline immediately piqued my interest. Having worked for 20 years on the operational side of home care, this program appeared to be exactly what I needed to transition out of my comfort zone.

After attending the program, the information proved to be extremely valuable in providing insights as to how to approach various selling situations within the home care industry. Moreover, as a team leader, the training helped me provide better guidance to those on my sales force.

In particular, I found Dr. Tray Dunaway to deliver superb and entertaining anecdotes which truly remain in the forefront of my mind while talking with doctors. His message as to how to communicate with MDs proved extremely useful resulting in direct referrals from targeted doctors."

Sarah J. Sullivan
Executive Director
ResCare HomeCare
Chicago, IL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I think the presentation that helped me the most was Dr. Dunaway's. His presentation really helped me to understand how the doctors think and how to persuade them better. Altering the message so that it appeals to the doctor has really helped me to converse with them better. Now, I have better ways to talk to them and educate the doctors about how and when home care referrals could be made.

We offer many services, so now I can change the message to highlight a different service and how that service could help a specific type of patient. The practice sessions with the feedback really did help."

Kathy Bynum
Joplin Regional Marketing Manager
Integrity Home Care

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR CAN MAKE! As a result of your training and our marketing and sales efforts, we have tripled our business! Marketing efforts have more than doubled our Medicare admissions over the last year. Thanks to the intense marketing training, our referral sources have more then doubled in key target areas.

My background is in sales and marketing training and yet I still learned so much from Stephen Tweed, and Dr Dunaway! As a result I was able to fine tune my own craft. Your tools provide a great foundation for a beginner or seasoned sales professional! We employed these tools and the management of the sales team accountability and productivity reports to produce more referrals, more admissions and better outcomes - everybody on the team gets it and our agency is finding that because everyone is involved everyone benefits. "

Vickie Shoopman
Director
Bayada Nurses
Tucson, AZ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

"I wanted to write to thank you so much for the Sales Professional Conference in San Antonio. I learned a great deal. The conference really helped build my confidence during sales calls. I found it especially exciting to come back home, put the things I learned in action and watch the resulting success! In the 2 months following the conference, I had 267 referrals and 175 admissions! I was also promoted to marketing director for our company, Home Bound Healthcare. I now oversee the marketing staff for 7 locations. I look forward to attending your conferences again. I feel it helps even those who have previously attended to serve as a reminder and motivator. Thank you again."

Sheri Maurer
Marketing Director,
Home Bound Healthcare
Moline, IL

About the Author

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For over 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home health care & hospice companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of seven books, five of which were written specifically for the home care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim President & CEO of a $25 million home care company.

Stephen is a past-President of the National Speakers Association, a 3500 member international society of experts who speak professionally. He is also the father of a 38 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis.

Meet the entire Leading Home Care Team

Permission to Reproduce

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Permission is granted to healthcare publications, associations and companies to reproduce this article in your publication, or to distribute copies to your leaders, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Home Health Care Today. Copyright 2009 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

Contact Leading Home Care

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

email: stephen@leadinghomecare.com

phone: 1-866-209-5101

web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~