Hospital Marketing - Referral Sales

Venturing into referral sales, I would like to ask a simple question “What is SALES…???”

A simple question deserves a simple answer and I would answer this as ‘Sales is about who you are on the street; It’s how we present ourselves’

A healthcare marketing professional should never forget that he is not the service provider – the healthcare facility is the service provider and the service is delivered by the qualified medical personnel at the facility. So a healthcare marketing professional’s job is very clearly cut out as to enable seamless delivery of healthcare services to the referred customers (patients).

Every healthcare marketing professional should always keep the following points in mind:

•Referring a patient is often an emotional decision, just as it is in any other buying behavior.

•It’s not necessarily rational; it’s based on the relationship the physician has with the service provider.

•Building relationships is the job of the salesperson

So how to build relationships with our referral groups??

This would again elicit a simple response from me – ‘by adding value in each sales call’. The marketing professional should be able to understand that each and every sales call be directed towards the physician and maximum information in the form of case studies, graphs and charts, image samples, and similar items should be shared with the physician. It should be made explicit that the marketing professional is actually helping the physician serve his customers (patients) better.

To achieve this in a sales call, needs elaborate planning.

An effective sales call has three essential elements:

Precall planning - focussing on who, what, and why the call is being made

Call execution - focussing on the frequency and types of sales calls

Postcall planning - means following up on problems or comments that arose during the call

Precall planning should focus on who, what, and why the call is being made.

Salespeople should ask the following:

• Where is this office in our call cycle?

• What is the status (resolved/unresolved) of previous issues?

• What information do I need to gather today?

• What’s the competitive situation here?

• What objections am I likely to encounter?

• Who am I looking to speak with?

• How will I deal with resistance?

• What resources do I need for this call? Do I have them available?

Call execution focuses on the frequency and types of sales calls.

The keys are the following:

• What will I leave behind today?

• Have I closed by asking for or confirming the business?

• What documentation do I need from this visit?

Postcall planning means:

following up on problems or comments that arose during the call.

Be sure sales people can answer the following:

•What is my key take-away from this call?

•What did I learn that I need to communicate with others?

•What’s my next follow-up step?

•Do the customer and I agree on the next steps?

•What’s the objective of my next call in the cycle?

Every sales person should remember that if you sell a product or service, you have the obligation to ask the customer for a commitment, particularly if you have invested time assessing their needs and know that your product or service will solve a problem

Remember that a person doesn't care if you have all the answers,all they want to know is that you would do whatever you could do to help them out.