I'll admit it... I'm
confused.
At the Leading Home
Care office, at
conferences around
the country, at my
email inbox and
office phone... I
get the same
question all the
time. "Michael, what
do we need to do to
get our marketers to
sell more and be
more effective?"
The answer is
simple, and always
the same:
- Make sure
you have the
right people
- Make sure
you have the
right leader for
your sales team
- Be clear
about the goal
- Put the
rewards in place
for
reaching/exceeding
the goal
- Train your
people on the
vital sales
skills they will
need
- Let them go
to work...
Truly, it couldn't
be any easier...
could it?
Time after time
though, I see
managers and
administrators not
following through on
that simple plan.
Perhaps they figure
they can skip a step
or two and still
succeed (hint, just
like the sales
process... the more
you skip the worse
your results will
be). I'm almost
always privy to the
aftermath... the rep
getting fired, the
small agency selling
or closing down, the
sales manager
pulling their hair
out, the owner
steeped in
frustration.
There are no
shortcuts to
building a winning
sales effort.
In this time of PPS
changes, thousands
of providers
flooding the
non-medical space,
Medicaid changes and
Medicare Advantage,
I get the sense that
some agencies are
saying "What's the
use... we'll just
get what we get".
It doesn't have to
be that way.
It takes a very
modest effort to
pull all of these
facets into place to
create a
professional sales
organization. If you
do that, you're well
ahead of many of
your competitors. If
you do that and KEEP
training and
developing your
sales team, you'll
be miles ahead of
the competition.
That's how you build
greatness.
I had a client tell
me about a "90
thousand dollar
mistake" they made
last year in the
hire of 2 sales
reps. Ouch!
It costs so much
less in time and
money to make sure
you get the right
people up front...
and now that client
is doing that.
If you have a great
sales effort...
congratulations!
You're among the
industry leaders. If
your sales effort is
less than perfect,
follow the simple
steps above and
bring it together.
With every change in
reimbursement to our
industry it gets
more challenging to
run a profitable
agency. That's the
EXACT reason why you
want your sales team
to be the best. Now
is NOT the time to
pull back your sales
effort because you
believe it's a
cost... it's the
time to forge ahead
with your INVESTMENT
in a quality sales
team. As competition
for "good" referrals
gets greater... the
best salespeople and
the best agencies
will win.
It won't simply be
enough to be good at
sales in the next
generation of
homecare... we'll
need to be great.
Let me know how I
can help.
