Coach's Blog » Home Care Sales 101

Home Care Sales 101

Okay, most of you know I hold sales boot camps and do on-site sales training. What you may not know is that one of the most immediate impact areas my home care sales coaches and I have with companies is one of the most basic…How to sell home care services!

Yep, you heard me correctly, we make the most dramatic difference teaching the most basic part of home care marketing: how to close a home care sale! This week I’m opening the vaults and sharing with you one of my most powerful and effective teaching points.

Oftentimes, home care sales calls feel like a social visit or a “drive by”. There is no readily available referral lying around to take, so a sales call is seen as a visit with the “remember me” at the end. This is where the true sales professional separates themselves from the social visit mavens. As with all sales, home care sales has an effective and proven path toward a referral that should be learned and followed.

Approaching a Referral Source

The selling of a service as immersed as health care takes a special sale. The salesperson must not only win over the trust of the referral source, they must also convey a willingness to be educated on the patient’s best interest. It is not merely a demonstration of ability, but a worthiness of the responsibility of care that must come through. The salesperson must not come across as an expert, but rather someone willing to learn about the needs of the referral sources’ population. Knowledge of procedures is necessary, but often trust is formed when the salesperson relinquishes the expertise of the needs of the patient to the referring party. Most often it is far better to display the compassionate elements of your company than the expertise at this point in the sales process.

Interviewing a Referral Source

The secret of obtaining referrals begins with the referral source’s willingness to let you (your company) assume responsibility of care. This needs to begin with an interview process where you allow the source to fully unload all their thoughts and frustrations involved in a referral to a home care company. Resist the need to interrupt or offer suggestions. Urge the source on until definite problems or frustrations are revealed by agreeing without interruption or one word statements that lead the speaker on with their thought process. Write down every word of this interview that is possible. In fact, openly allow the referral source to see you writing down every word. It shows your value and concern. End the interview process with a request to allow you to study these points. Resist the temptation to offer immediate solutions even though some may seem apparent. Close this sales call with a promise to provide solutions and a scheduling of a future visit. This will allow you to study the best solution and give the referral source the feeling of their concerns having validity to you.

Demonstrating Your Company’s Abilities

This would seem fairly easy, and in most cases this is where all the support emphasis is provided. However, this is where most sales calls derail. If you have done an adequate job in agitating the referral source’s need and frustration during the interview process, stick to your script. You have it in the form of written needs that you have obtained with your prior contact. Answer each need fully as best you can. Get the referral source’s input all along the way. Never move to the next known need or frustration if the source is still concerned. A demonstration of benefits can take minutes or several visits. This process is totally at your referral source’s discretion as to when the needs have been fully addressed. This process is complete when there are no more questions or concerns directed toward your company’s abilities to provide care and comfort to a referred patient.

Validating Your Claims

At this point of the sales process you should now be considered worthy. Now it is the time to differentiate yourself from the ones before you that have gained this recognition. Having a Power Binder that contains your clinical outcome results, testimonials, thank you notes or letters from discharged patients all add to your company’s validity and solidifies you in the minds of your referral sources. Outside input directed toward your quality of care is often 10 times as effective as your own claims. This process should cement your company in the minds of your referral sources and supports every thought you have instilled in their minds that you are now worthy of accepting responsibility of their patients’ care. End this process as soon as you feel the client “gets it.” Too much emphasis on this step can begin to unravel the compassion element set forth earlier.

Handling Objections

A tremendous amount of hard work and strategy can be lost if you are not prepared for this step. This involves asking the question, “Is there any reason you can think of that our company shouldn’t be given some of your referrals?” The answer to this question may be about prior relationships with other companies, some preference not explained by a third party, a specialty program that has been enacted, etc. There are literally hundreds of credible objections that may arise, but here is a secret in all negotiations….the same 5-6 are used 90% of the time in each market - I call this the Law of Six! Your job in pre-call planning is to come up with viable counterpoints to these 5-6 and have them at the ready. Once a tried-and-true objection to providing your company its business is effectively challenged, most referral sources never have a retort or state additional objections. Sometimes this one statement that you have adequately addressed has always been the “shutdown” statement and no other thought was ever needed by the referral source. Spend time with role play on this very important step to make certain you are coming across as informative but not confrontational.

Closing a Sale

This is often overlooked. But even a service sale must be closed. The act of selling a tangible object is obvious at close; the customer leaves the payment and takes with them the object. The closing of a service sell such as health care should be just as concise. Close with the promise of referrals in the future. Ask the person “Can we count on you giving our company the opportunity of caring for some of your patients?” Make certain the referral source verbalizes agreement then just as you gave their statement extra credence during the interview process write down in a note pad the time period in which they think a viable referral will be available. People strive to keep their word and this verbal promise is what you came to get! Thank the referral source for their time and assure them that you are personally available for problems or concerns should they arise.

End the entire sales process with a self critique. Write down as exactly as you can what worked, what didn’t, the parts where you felt the weakest, and your obvious strengths. Each call you will ever make will be unique, but working on these steps in acquiring a referral will make you more skillful and move all your contacts with referral sources closer to the sale.

So there’s one of my most effective topics. I hope you find it valuable and share this message with your entire sales staff. You may find spending less of your agency’s money on cookies and more on actual sales training and education may be your best bet in increasing referrals.

If your agency needs to jump start with a proven and innovative product sample package, click here. If you would like more information on this and other proven and innovative strategies, visit my online coaching site at www.MyHomeCareSalesCoach.com or click here to sign up for a free 30-minute live call with a TAG Home Care Coach.

Please visit my blog next week when I reveal one of the advantages we can benefit from with the millions of dollars being spent by pharmaceutical companies on consumer marketing each year.

Working to grow your referrals,

Adam
a.k.a. - Home Care Referral-Man

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