Two weeks ago, I was speaking to a new homecare
sales rep. As we talked about his plan and strategy, it
was apparent that this young man had some solid
guidance. He had developed a top 20 list of referral
sources, he regularly "ran the list" to determine the
next steps in each account and he knew the key
players at all of his stops.
You'd think this guy was on the way to big sales
success in homecare.....but his next statement proved
otherwise.
"I always felt it was too pushy to
ask for a referral Michael" he told me. "I don't want to
be seen as someone who is too aggressive".
You might be scratching your head thinking "I can't
believe someone would think that way". They can, they
do....and you might even find someone on your team
that thinks the same way.
If you have SALES PEOPLE on your team, asking for
the SALE is right in their title.....it's part of the job! I
promise no one will ever be surprised when one of
your reps asks for a sale......they're expecting it, so
let's not short circuit the process by NOT asking.
I've talked to more than a few case managers that
simply tell me "if a rep doesn't ask for a referral, I won't
give them one". Life is like that......there is plenty for the
asking.....and we leave a lot on the table if we don't
ask. Just last week at the CPDSP conference in San
Antonio, I was sitting at the lunch table surveying the
dessert offerings. Not seeing anything I liked, I asked
one of the waitstaff if they had any ice cream in the
kitchen. The gentleman smiled and told me he would
see what he could do. A few minutes later, as I was
speaking to one of the attendees, the waiter returned
with two scoops of ice cream. "Oh, it's good to be
famous" exclaimed the woman I was speaking
to, "you get special treatment AND special dessert".
"No" I countered, "That man didn't know me from
you.....I got the ice cream because I asked for it".
See how simple that is?
As part of the curriculum for the CPDSP program, we
talked to the group about different ways to ask for a
patient referral. Here are some we came up with:
- Do you have anyone that might need homecare?
- Are you discharging anyone this week that might
need care?
- Is there a patient that I can help you with?
- Would you refer ONE patient to me so that I can
show you how well our new program works?
- Can you think of one of your patients that would be
a good fit for our services?
Pretty simple....huh? Obviously these are a few
examples and everyone will have their own "style" of
asking for the referral. What you DON'T see here is
some fabulous, used care sales techniques for
asking for a referral......why?
They're simply not needed in homecare sales. If you
represent a quality company, present your services
with professionalism and are talking to the "right"
person (that is, the person that can refer the type of
patients your agency can take care of), you should be
able to use one or two of these simple closing
questions and get results. Please make sure your
reps aren't doing all of the great selling until they get to
the "ask" part and then leave with a line like this......
"Well.....thanks for your time.....If I can do anything for
you....just let me know"
As a professional sales manager, that line should
make you cringe.
Asking for the sale isn't pushy, it isn't too forward and it
doesn't turn people off. What asking for the sale DOES
do is give your prospect permission to say one of two
things.....
Yes.....or No.
If it's yes, great! If it's no, let's regroup and see what
we've missed so the next time we get that
yes.
If you are unsure about whether your
team is asking for the sale every time, the only way to
be sure is to get out in the field with them. Watch,
listen, even make a call or two for them if needed. If
you do nothing more than get them asking for the sale
on every call, you WILL see an increase in your
results. Pretty good return for something we should be
doing anyway....isn't it!
