|
It’s
a tough economic environment for employers today—and for
those who sell to those employers. Current financial
realities, particularly as they relate to employees,
have severely tested most occupational health programs.
But just because selling is more of a
challenge doesn’t mean that there’s no prospective
business out there. And there are ways to get it
and keep it without taxing your resources. By powering
up your most important resource—your people—you can tap
a new source of sales potential, and instill a sense of
motivation and pride in your organization.
Everyone Plays a Role in Sales
Selling, no matter how good the
salesperson, was never intended to be a solo effort. In
selling intangible services, as we do in healthcare,
it’s important that you and your entire team work in a
coordinated, seamless effort that’s focused on the
customer.
It’s also important that everyone,
from leadership to operations, work toward the
agreed-upon goal: gaining and keeping customers. In
today’s complicated and hectic environment, it’s far too
easy to forget the customer experience and instead focus
on your department, clinical productivity, or processes.
Difficulties arise when you and your
employees become too focused on individual
responsibilities; everyone loses sight of the bigger
picture. Sure, any healthcare organization would say its
main goal is to gain and retain customers, but it’s
especially difficult to do, given the pressures in the
industry today.
By evaluating how you sell your
services and who’s involved in that process you can have
a new sales force without spending a dime. Consider the
cause-and-effect of such a change.
• Everyone is responsible for selling in an
organization, whether directly or indirectly. All of
your employees are the foundation for the work you do;
their day-to-day work is the backbone, and the
product, of your organization. And their actions drive
the way your organization is perceived in the
marketplace.
• Giving people the information and tools to sell
can elevate your brand to a new level and extend your
message via a powerful sales force.
• Showing your team how to sell gives them the
opportunity to demonstrate their depth and credibility
to internal and external audiences.
• Having the team understand your sales and
marketing strategies can help them become better
attuned to what they’re delivering and
representing—and can alert them when the product may
fall short of customer expectations.
• Once you bring customers into your organization,
the rest of the team is responsible for their
experience (and making sure they come back and remain
loyal). You can help your team create positive
customer experiences by providing training and
expecting accountability from each person.
[top]
Assessing Your People and Products
It’s an enticing prospect, but before
you rush to embrace your new team, evaluate your people
resources. This goes for every area, from receptionist,
medical technician and physician to the accounting and
medical records departments. Take a close look at your
people and how they represent your product and
organization.
• Do their words and actions positively represent
the image you want for what you offer and for your
organization as a whole?
• What motivates your team? Remember that what
pushes one person’s buttons doesn’t do anything for
another. A salesperson might be motivated by
incentives, while your clinical team might prefer a
pizza day or a new piece of equipment for their
clinic.
• Force yourself to ask the tough questions—of
yourself. Do you see breakdowns in communication? A
failure to provide adequate training or recognition
for a job done well?
• Does the team seem to understand their
accountability for their actions as representatives of
your organization, in addition to their day-to-day
responsibilities?
Creating a Sales Culture Through Self-Awareness
Sales may be an uncomfortable
term—the "s" word to many on your team. Realize that
many team members only think of sales in the traditional
sense, or may not deem themselves "good at selling."
Others may hesitate to embrace a
strategy that, at first, may not feel natural. Here’s
how to address some of the issues you may face.
• Break down barriers and preconceived notions.
Talk about what sales is, and isn’t. At Corporate
Health Group, we define sales as "the process of
matching the needs of the customer with the benefits
your organization or product has to offer." Focus on
the positive and on the value: that you’re selling a
quality service and one that helps customers solve a
business problem, such as helping customers manage
workers’ compensation or lost workdays.
• Ignite a passion in each employee for what they
can do for the customer. Help them recognize that they
should take pride in being part of a positive
solution.
• Stress how each person makes a difference in
selling the organization. It happens every time
someone answers the phone, makes an appointment, and
has contact with the customer.
• Encourage leadership to embrace their roles in
the sales effort and demonstrate an organizational
commitment to the process. Like you, they need to
communicate the message to customers and among your
team.
• Realize and share the message that employees need
to define sales for themselves. Help employees get
comfortable with this definition, and then show how
they can tactically support the sales and service
mission within their own comfort zone.
[top]
Providing and Customizing Tools for Education
Spreading a sales-focused mentality
requires education. One of your biggest responsibilities
in the process is to give the team the building blocks
to make them comfortable and confident in their role.
• Provide training and scripting tools that help
people feel comfortable. These may include working one
on one with a team member, or gathering a team off
site for an informal discussion.
• Use existing meeting time as an opportunity to
insert training, scripting, and practice sessions.
Spend 15 minutes focused on a key topic or scenario.
Repetition and ongoing training have lasting results
and encourage team building.
• Customize the process to the person’s position.
Tom in Radiology needs different tools to make his
role work than does Carol in Administration.
• Take team members out to meet and interact with
your customers. It puts depth and credibility on the
table. It also gives the team a better understanding
of what the customer needs and what happens during the
selling process.
• Schedule regular "check-ups" and gatherings to
motivate and stimulate the team.
• Use the people who "get it" as ambassadors for
enthusiasm and excitement.
Share the Results, Share the Success
No part of this strategy can work
unless you provide the payoff. How are the team’s
efforts impacting the organization? Present the results,
positive and not so positive, to demonstrate your faith
in their efforts and your respect for what they have
done.
• Show that everyone’s efforts are having an
impact: Collect data and share it with the team—it
will reinforce their actions in the future. Share the
information with leadership, too, so your team has
respect and value upstream in the organization.
• Hold regular team meetings to share information,
give pats on the back, and address challenges.
• Involve your team in the planning process for
next quarter and next year.
• Ask a department team to build one customer
service initiative they think is important. Have them
implement it and report the results.
• Give people an incentive to embrace the strategy.
Create a recognition program that rewards team
performance. It doesn’t have to be monetary; solicit
ideas from your team on what they consider a perk.
Getting Your Team to Think "Sales"
• Make it personal, in terms and by
job tasks your team members can understand.
• Give individual examples. "Barb,
the nursing assistant, sells when she listens to her
patients, when she follows through on orders," etc.
• Share scenarios they can practice
and script with each other at department meetings. It
will increase their comfort when they do it in the
real world. If there are ongoing scenarios for a
department, build a script, practice it, and encourage
its consistent use. Comfort comes with making and
practicing a process until it becomes familiar.
• Acknowledge positive sales and service
experiences when you see them or hear about them.
Conclusion
When you recognize the power of your
team and put it to work, you truly differentiate your
organization from the competition. There’s a wealth of
benefits to creating a common goal of acquiring and
keeping customers. You’ll cultivate long-term loyalty,
team ownership and morale among your team—plus a steady
revenue stream from your customer base. What’s more,
leadership will have a heightened sense of value for
your team and its overall success. And you will have
done it all by realizing the value of your most
important resources, without having to spend a dime.
Recommended Reading
Looking for more ways to strengthen
your organization through team building? Corporate
Health Group recommends the following books:
The
Invisible Touch: The Four Keys to Modern Marketing,
Warner Books, 2000
Selling the
Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing,
Warner Books, 1997
The Four
Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive,
Jossey-Bass, 2000
The Five
Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable,
Jossey-Bass, 2002
For more information, visit our web
site at www.corporatehealthgroup.com.
[top]
[Return to Spring
2003 main page]
Articles in the Tracker may be printed and/or
photocopied for personal use. To reprint an article in
print or on-line media, include the following in the
reproduced copy: "This article originally appeared in
the Occupational Health Tracker, Vol.6, No.1.
Reprinted with permission of Occupational Health
Research, www.systoc.com."
|
