Ten Principles to Improve Your Healthcare Sales
Yes, the principles contained in this paper will guarantee your success (no hyperbola here).
And, no, I don't claim to be the all-knowing sales guru.
Many great sales trainers have gone before me, and this paper brings together that collective knowledge to provide you with the correct principles for success.
This paper is about principles not techniques.
There are hundreds of papers, books, tapes, seminars, etc.
that will teach you different aspects of selling; how to better qualify prospects, ask the right questions, make a presentation, and close a sale.
But without a correct understanding of the true principles of effective selling, you will probably struggle to achieve the success you desire.
1.
Prerequisites to Success Before you begin a sales career, you need to be completely honest with yourself.
Do you have a strong enough desire to do what it takes to succeed? Do you like people? Are you comfortable meeting new people? Can you get up in front of other people and give a speech?...
Or are you willing to try? Are you competitive? Do you like to win? Are you willing to learn new ideas? If you can say "Yes" to all of the above questions, then read on...
otherwise, maybe selling isn't for you.
If you can't get over the discomfort of being in front of others, and you are not willing to work hard for success, you need to look into another career.
Selling is the highest paid hard work or the lowest paid easy work...
Take your pick.
Which side of the equation do you want to be on? For example, I have a brother-in-law that is quiet and reserved.
He is NOT comfortable being the center of attention or in front of groups, and he's not very self-motivated.
His wife tried for years to get him to go out and sell for a living.
And during those years they struggled financially, because he could never overcome his timidity.
Now he installs heating and air conditioning equipment, and he's happy and comfortable with what he does for a living (and is no longer financially stressed).
Don't make the same mistake he did, be totally honest with yourself! You also need to make a commitment to give your career 100 percent of your efforts.
If you don't, you'll never enjoy your work, nor will you have the success you want to achieve.
It's like when an airplane takes off from the runway; its engines must be at full throttle.
If not, then the plane will never reach the velocity necessary to get off the ground.
In the same way, if you are not willing to give your selling career the energy required, you will never get off the ground...
but you will continue to struggle financially until you either crash at the end of the runway or commit yourself and increase the throttle and take off! 2.
Skip the School of Hard Knocks I've spent over 20 years in selling and relationship management through running a healthcare crm company.
And for much of that time, I learned the good old fashion way, via the school of hard knocks.
Let me tell you, trial and error isn't the most efficient way of learning.
Sure, chemists and microbiologists make great discoveries using this method, but you don't have to learn that way.
There are many great people who have already blazed the trails before us, and if we are willing to learn from their experiences, we are guaranteed a "shortcut" to success.
It's like having all the answers to the final exam right there before you! From my experience, the most powerful tools to teach you the theory and practice of effective selling are readily available at your local library.
Here is my top ten list of must reads:
3.
You must use this New Paradigm for Selling (i.
e.
, Managing Relationships).
To be truly successful we must, as Johnson puts it, "Sell On Purpose.
" Selling On Purpose is a unique way at looking at selling and relationship management.
Contrary to what mainstream sales trainers would suggest; It means to define your purpose in relation to the buyer's needs and wants, i.
e.
, if you satisfy the buyer's wants, you satisfy your true purpose.
This will change your whole perspective to selling.
Instead of "selling" a customer, you focus on helping the customer to buy those products or services that will get the customer what he/she wants.
Or in the case of Physician Relations, help the Doctor get the most out of what your facility provides, and you will get the physician referrals you desire.
"The fastest way to achieve your goals is to stay on purpose.
The fact is, with a product or service you believe in, selling is inherently purposeful.
You do add value.
You help people solve problems, seize opportunities, and help them to feel better about themselves.
" Johnson goes on to say, that "to Sell On Purpose, is to help people get the good feelings they want about what they bought and about themselves.
" And here's the paradox, by helping your customer/physician get what he/she wants, you will invariably find the enjoyment and success you want.
It may seem completely counter-intuitive, but I promise it works! From my own experience, when I changed my focus away from making "sales", to helping my clients satisfy their wants and needs, my sales increased significantly.
And there are also other side benefits: Once your customer understands that you are only interested in solving his problems and meeting his needs and wants, the walls of distrust disappear.
Instead of putting you off and fighting you; you become a team working together to solve mutual problems.
It's incredible how your stress levels will decrease, and your job fulfillment will increase when you switch to this way of thinking.
It really works! 4.
You must really believe in your Product and/or Service.
Selling is a transfer of enthusiasm.
It's the process of transferring your enthusiasm and belief in your product or service to your customer.
As a result, to be successful, you must truly believe your product is better, more efficient, at a better price or that you can provide better service than your competition.
I can't over emphasize that if you do not believe that using your own product/service is in the best interest of your customer, you will not be able to produce the enthusiasm necessary to make the sale or increase your referrals! In fact, unless you are willing to buy and use your own product/service, how can you possibly generate enough enthusiasm to get your customer to buy your product or service? (Assuming you can buy it...
it might be hard to buy a Boeing 747 if that's what you sell.
) I recently observed my niece as she began her selling career selling expensive knives and cutlery.
She told us how these knives were better than any on the market, and I am sure she was sincere.
We bought a few as a duty to the family.
However, I personally would never have bought the knives because of their exorbitant price.
In fact, as soon as my Niece ran out of family members to sell to, she could not sell any more knives to anyone else because of the high price.
You see, deep down she did not believe that the knives value was in balance with their price, and as a result, could not convince anyone else (besides family members who felt obligated to buy) to purchase the product.
You must believe and be excited about your product/service, and you must believe it provides value.
You must also be convinced that the product or service will benefit your customer, otherwise, like my niece; you will soon be looking for another product to sell.
5.
Learn the Science of Persuasion.
If you really believe in your product/service, that it provides true value, and its price is in line with that value, then you must be willing to do everything in your power to persuade your prospects to own the product.
Or, in the case of physicians, to use your facilities, equipment or specialists.
There are hundreds of techniques that have been taught over the years to help you do a better job of persuading your customers.
You need to learn how to adapt these techniques to your own situation and be able to use them effortlessly.
From the Puppy Dog close to the Ben Franklin, and dozens of others, effective persuasion techniques are available in hundreds of books.
I highly recommend you read Zig Ziglar's, Secrets to Closing the Sale to become proficient in using these methods of persuasion.
If you can honestly say to yourself that your customer "must" have your product or service, you will be able to create the kind of determination and enthusiasm needed to convince even the most hard-nosed prospect to buy (or refer)! 6.
You must know your Product/Service.
The biggest frustration I experience when I'm investigating some product or service, is talking to a sales person who does not know as much about the product as I do.
The more times you tell a prospective client that "I don't know" or "I'll have to get back with you" the more likely your prospect will look for somewhere else to get the product or service.
You're doctors must have confidence in you in order to feel safe in referring their patients to your facility.
If you don't know your capabilities well enough, you will have a difficult time building the confidence necessary to get the referrals.
Another aspect of knowing your product is your ability to deal effectively with objections that will certainly come up in a typical physician meeting.
If you know your capabilities well, and can anticipate the concerns of your doctors, you will greatly increase your closing ratio.
Do your homework.
Understand what your facilities strengths and weaknesses are, and know your competition.
7.
You need to have a Competitive Advantage.
If you don't know what your competitive advantage is...
find out! You need to give your customers a reason to buy exclusively from you.
That reason may be a new technology that is not available anywhere else...
better support, better pricing or something that gives you an edge over your competition.
Your advantage is your unique selling proposition.
And, as a result of this advantage, your prospects must buy from you to get the benefits desired.
Now I realize that many times you do not have control over your facilities offering and it's pricing.
Nevertheless, you need to work with your marketing/sales management to establish a competitive advantage of some kind or create some sort of specialization that will give you the advantage you need.
Failing the above (no unique selling proposition), you can still create your own personal competitive advantage...
by being someone your doctors prefer to work with.
The reality is that even if you have a technical, price, etc.
advantage, your doctors will usually prefer to refer to someone they like.
Therefore, sometimes your unique selling proposition is you.
8.
Your Integrity will Eliminate Their Fears.
People worry about making a mistake, especially when the stakes are high...
As a result, you must put their fears to rest.
Money back guarantees and personal assurances will help remove your customer's fears.
Before a new doctor will trust your product or service, they must trust you as a person.
Your personal integrity is an absolute necessity in order to gain your doctor's trust.
You must be completely honest in all representations you make to the doctor, and you must never oversell the capabilities of your product or service.
Most of us have a built-in radar that warns us when another is stretching the truth.
You can not afford to have that radar go off as a result of something you say that is untrue.
Frequently, a potential customer will ask for references before they will commit to moving forward.
You must be able to give enough names and phone numbers to satisfy their need to be assured that working with you will be a good decision.
As a result, you must treat all of your customers the best you can, so that they will be willing to give you the ongoing references you will require.
9.
Use Technology to make yourself more Effective.
In today's fast-paced world, you can't afford to be spending time doing things the "old-fashioned way.
" You need to take advantage of the latest tools that will help you be more efficient with your time and more effective in your efforts.
For example, a healthcare CRM tool that helps you create reports and proposals in half the time it takes to do them manually is a tool that will make you more efficient.
A technology that will tell you the right time to execute the next step in your selling process with a given prospect will make you more effective.
And needless to say, the more effective you are, the more sales/referrals you will achieve.
10.
Love your Work.
You've probably heard the saying that if you love your work, you'll never "work" a day in your life.
Success in any field demands a lot of time and effort.
If you hate your work, you'll find it difficult to put in the time necessary for you to achieve the success you want.
I've found that persuading others to act in their own best interest (i.
e.
, "selling on purpose") is the most exciting and challenging work.
And the ability to effectively persuade others makes my work interesting and enjoyable.
And to be honest, I think my product is the best one on the market!
And, no, I don't claim to be the all-knowing sales guru.
Many great sales trainers have gone before me, and this paper brings together that collective knowledge to provide you with the correct principles for success.
This paper is about principles not techniques.
There are hundreds of papers, books, tapes, seminars, etc.
that will teach you different aspects of selling; how to better qualify prospects, ask the right questions, make a presentation, and close a sale.
But without a correct understanding of the true principles of effective selling, you will probably struggle to achieve the success you desire.
1.
Prerequisites to Success Before you begin a sales career, you need to be completely honest with yourself.
Do you have a strong enough desire to do what it takes to succeed? Do you like people? Are you comfortable meeting new people? Can you get up in front of other people and give a speech?...
Or are you willing to try? Are you competitive? Do you like to win? Are you willing to learn new ideas? If you can say "Yes" to all of the above questions, then read on...
otherwise, maybe selling isn't for you.
If you can't get over the discomfort of being in front of others, and you are not willing to work hard for success, you need to look into another career.
Selling is the highest paid hard work or the lowest paid easy work...
Take your pick.
Which side of the equation do you want to be on? For example, I have a brother-in-law that is quiet and reserved.
He is NOT comfortable being the center of attention or in front of groups, and he's not very self-motivated.
His wife tried for years to get him to go out and sell for a living.
And during those years they struggled financially, because he could never overcome his timidity.
Now he installs heating and air conditioning equipment, and he's happy and comfortable with what he does for a living (and is no longer financially stressed).
Don't make the same mistake he did, be totally honest with yourself! You also need to make a commitment to give your career 100 percent of your efforts.
If you don't, you'll never enjoy your work, nor will you have the success you want to achieve.
It's like when an airplane takes off from the runway; its engines must be at full throttle.
If not, then the plane will never reach the velocity necessary to get off the ground.
In the same way, if you are not willing to give your selling career the energy required, you will never get off the ground...
but you will continue to struggle financially until you either crash at the end of the runway or commit yourself and increase the throttle and take off! 2.
Skip the School of Hard Knocks I've spent over 20 years in selling and relationship management through running a healthcare crm company.
And for much of that time, I learned the good old fashion way, via the school of hard knocks.
Let me tell you, trial and error isn't the most efficient way of learning.
Sure, chemists and microbiologists make great discoveries using this method, but you don't have to learn that way.
There are many great people who have already blazed the trails before us, and if we are willing to learn from their experiences, we are guaranteed a "shortcut" to success.
It's like having all the answers to the final exam right there before you! From my experience, the most powerful tools to teach you the theory and practice of effective selling are readily available at your local library.
Here is my top ten list of must reads:
- The One Minute Sales Person, Spencer Johnson
- The Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino
- See you at the Top, Zig Ziglar
- Secrets to Closing the Sale, Zig Ziglar
- SPIN® Selling, Neil Rackham
- Why Customers Don't do What you Want Them to Do, Ferdinand Fournies
- 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Steven Covey
- First Things First, Steven Covey
- How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie
- Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill
- If Disney Ran Your Hospital, Fred Lee
- Strategic Selling, Miller & Heiman
3.
You must use this New Paradigm for Selling (i.
e.
, Managing Relationships).
To be truly successful we must, as Johnson puts it, "Sell On Purpose.
" Selling On Purpose is a unique way at looking at selling and relationship management.
Contrary to what mainstream sales trainers would suggest; It means to define your purpose in relation to the buyer's needs and wants, i.
e.
, if you satisfy the buyer's wants, you satisfy your true purpose.
This will change your whole perspective to selling.
Instead of "selling" a customer, you focus on helping the customer to buy those products or services that will get the customer what he/she wants.
Or in the case of Physician Relations, help the Doctor get the most out of what your facility provides, and you will get the physician referrals you desire.
"The fastest way to achieve your goals is to stay on purpose.
The fact is, with a product or service you believe in, selling is inherently purposeful.
You do add value.
You help people solve problems, seize opportunities, and help them to feel better about themselves.
" Johnson goes on to say, that "to Sell On Purpose, is to help people get the good feelings they want about what they bought and about themselves.
" And here's the paradox, by helping your customer/physician get what he/she wants, you will invariably find the enjoyment and success you want.
It may seem completely counter-intuitive, but I promise it works! From my own experience, when I changed my focus away from making "sales", to helping my clients satisfy their wants and needs, my sales increased significantly.
And there are also other side benefits: Once your customer understands that you are only interested in solving his problems and meeting his needs and wants, the walls of distrust disappear.
Instead of putting you off and fighting you; you become a team working together to solve mutual problems.
It's incredible how your stress levels will decrease, and your job fulfillment will increase when you switch to this way of thinking.
It really works! 4.
You must really believe in your Product and/or Service.
Selling is a transfer of enthusiasm.
It's the process of transferring your enthusiasm and belief in your product or service to your customer.
As a result, to be successful, you must truly believe your product is better, more efficient, at a better price or that you can provide better service than your competition.
I can't over emphasize that if you do not believe that using your own product/service is in the best interest of your customer, you will not be able to produce the enthusiasm necessary to make the sale or increase your referrals! In fact, unless you are willing to buy and use your own product/service, how can you possibly generate enough enthusiasm to get your customer to buy your product or service? (Assuming you can buy it...
it might be hard to buy a Boeing 747 if that's what you sell.
) I recently observed my niece as she began her selling career selling expensive knives and cutlery.
She told us how these knives were better than any on the market, and I am sure she was sincere.
We bought a few as a duty to the family.
However, I personally would never have bought the knives because of their exorbitant price.
In fact, as soon as my Niece ran out of family members to sell to, she could not sell any more knives to anyone else because of the high price.
You see, deep down she did not believe that the knives value was in balance with their price, and as a result, could not convince anyone else (besides family members who felt obligated to buy) to purchase the product.
You must believe and be excited about your product/service, and you must believe it provides value.
You must also be convinced that the product or service will benefit your customer, otherwise, like my niece; you will soon be looking for another product to sell.
5.
Learn the Science of Persuasion.
If you really believe in your product/service, that it provides true value, and its price is in line with that value, then you must be willing to do everything in your power to persuade your prospects to own the product.
Or, in the case of physicians, to use your facilities, equipment or specialists.
There are hundreds of techniques that have been taught over the years to help you do a better job of persuading your customers.
You need to learn how to adapt these techniques to your own situation and be able to use them effortlessly.
From the Puppy Dog close to the Ben Franklin, and dozens of others, effective persuasion techniques are available in hundreds of books.
I highly recommend you read Zig Ziglar's, Secrets to Closing the Sale to become proficient in using these methods of persuasion.
If you can honestly say to yourself that your customer "must" have your product or service, you will be able to create the kind of determination and enthusiasm needed to convince even the most hard-nosed prospect to buy (or refer)! 6.
You must know your Product/Service.
The biggest frustration I experience when I'm investigating some product or service, is talking to a sales person who does not know as much about the product as I do.
The more times you tell a prospective client that "I don't know" or "I'll have to get back with you" the more likely your prospect will look for somewhere else to get the product or service.
You're doctors must have confidence in you in order to feel safe in referring their patients to your facility.
If you don't know your capabilities well enough, you will have a difficult time building the confidence necessary to get the referrals.
Another aspect of knowing your product is your ability to deal effectively with objections that will certainly come up in a typical physician meeting.
If you know your capabilities well, and can anticipate the concerns of your doctors, you will greatly increase your closing ratio.
Do your homework.
Understand what your facilities strengths and weaknesses are, and know your competition.
7.
You need to have a Competitive Advantage.
If you don't know what your competitive advantage is...
find out! You need to give your customers a reason to buy exclusively from you.
That reason may be a new technology that is not available anywhere else...
better support, better pricing or something that gives you an edge over your competition.
Your advantage is your unique selling proposition.
And, as a result of this advantage, your prospects must buy from you to get the benefits desired.
Now I realize that many times you do not have control over your facilities offering and it's pricing.
Nevertheless, you need to work with your marketing/sales management to establish a competitive advantage of some kind or create some sort of specialization that will give you the advantage you need.
Failing the above (no unique selling proposition), you can still create your own personal competitive advantage...
by being someone your doctors prefer to work with.
The reality is that even if you have a technical, price, etc.
advantage, your doctors will usually prefer to refer to someone they like.
Therefore, sometimes your unique selling proposition is you.
8.
Your Integrity will Eliminate Their Fears.
People worry about making a mistake, especially when the stakes are high...
As a result, you must put their fears to rest.
Money back guarantees and personal assurances will help remove your customer's fears.
Before a new doctor will trust your product or service, they must trust you as a person.
Your personal integrity is an absolute necessity in order to gain your doctor's trust.
You must be completely honest in all representations you make to the doctor, and you must never oversell the capabilities of your product or service.
Most of us have a built-in radar that warns us when another is stretching the truth.
You can not afford to have that radar go off as a result of something you say that is untrue.
Frequently, a potential customer will ask for references before they will commit to moving forward.
You must be able to give enough names and phone numbers to satisfy their need to be assured that working with you will be a good decision.
As a result, you must treat all of your customers the best you can, so that they will be willing to give you the ongoing references you will require.
9.
Use Technology to make yourself more Effective.
In today's fast-paced world, you can't afford to be spending time doing things the "old-fashioned way.
" You need to take advantage of the latest tools that will help you be more efficient with your time and more effective in your efforts.
For example, a healthcare CRM tool that helps you create reports and proposals in half the time it takes to do them manually is a tool that will make you more efficient.
A technology that will tell you the right time to execute the next step in your selling process with a given prospect will make you more effective.
And needless to say, the more effective you are, the more sales/referrals you will achieve.
10.
Love your Work.
You've probably heard the saying that if you love your work, you'll never "work" a day in your life.
Success in any field demands a lot of time and effort.
If you hate your work, you'll find it difficult to put in the time necessary for you to achieve the success you want.
I've found that persuading others to act in their own best interest (i.
e.
, "selling on purpose") is the most exciting and challenging work.
And the ability to effectively persuade others makes my work interesting and enjoyable.
And to be honest, I think my product is the best one on the market!
Source...