If you answered, "I think so" or "kind of" or "once a year,
we do," you're not alone. Whether you're a physician liaison
or leader responsible for a team - new to the role or not -
you must know that training is critical to your success.
Click
here to view the At a Glance summary
results from Corporate Health Group's 2010 Best
Practice benchmarking survey for more on this and
other topics related to physician sales and service.
In our recent national benchmarking survey, 34% of programs
reported having no sales training in place. What's more, the
66% of respondents who claim to have training in place rely
on a balance between webinars and annual conferences. Admittedly,
individual and field instruction has decreased from 2008.
We want to see this number increase over the next few years.
And we know it's difficult to even think about training when
you're struggling to make your volume and revenue numbers and
uncertain about the effects of impending healthcare reform.
Yet this is exactly why training should be at the forefront
of your mind. Proper onboarding and ongoing training have proven
to elevate a sales team's confidence, effectiveness and outcomes.
Use this issue as a way to drive some new tactics around personal
development for you and/or your team. And the next time we
ask, "Got training?", you'll be the first to say "Yes! And because we do, we're seeing more referrals, too!"
Thank you for
your participation and valuable input on our survey.
You wanted it - we've got it!
Click
here for your electronic copy of the At a Glance
summary results from Corporate Health Group's 2010
Best Practice benchmarking survey. Learn what others
in your shoes have done to build their physician relations
program. Results include:
Structure and Leadership
Staffing
Compensation
Strategy
Infrastructure support (Training & CRM)
Return on Investment
In the 2010 survey, "Physician Sales and Service as
a Strategic Component, Competitive Maneuver 2010," CHG
retained 2008's core survey questions and added select
questions to reflect new trends and topics of interest.
CHG worked with many associations, journals and health
care marketing organizations to ensure a broad distribution
of the online survey which was completed by 323 physician
sales stakeholders from hospitals, health systems and
large practices in 41 states, resulting in a diversity
of participating organizations to provide confirmation
of the best practices while also identifying new models
and trends for consideration.
Looking for more detail on a particular hot
topic? Click
here to access the comprehensive white paper, and
review the comparative data, "Physician Sales and Service
as a Strategic Component, Competitive Maneuver 2010."
No
More Warm Bodies
Recruiting,
Retaining and Training the Right Customer Relations
Staff
It's a dilemma every hiring manager faces: Hire a "warm
body" to have someone in place quickly before the position
is frozen — or worse, eliminated — or take
the time to find, train, and appropriately compensate
the right individual for the job.
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins says
successful companies "first got the right people on
the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then
figured out where to drive it."
Lessons
from the Coffee Shop -
5 Reasons Why Training Must Be a Priority
There are many stories
of companies using training to turn around their company
culture, operations and results. The Starbucks
Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into
Extraordinary, by Joseph A. Michelli, relates
how a company that was off course and having difficulties
used training as a pivotal strategy to help them get
back on track.
Starbucks closed every store for three and a half hours
of training. More than 135,000 employees at 7,100 stores
learned to Perfect the Art of Espresso, as the training
event was called. Company officials considered the
training an investment in their employees that was "designed
to energize partners and transform the customer experience."
In the face of heightened competition, Starbucks knew
it had to provide a better product along with the experience
they've become known for—including store atmosphere,
employee attitudes and customized service.
For
sales to succeed, team members must be armed with the
right focus, messages, tools and motivation. To that
end, Carolyn Merriman, President, Corporate Health
Group, offers the following tips on compensating and
training healthcare sales staff:
Compensation
Align the compensation plan to reflect
the goals.
If growth in key services or for targeted physicians
is the goal, specify that. Make sure you can track
and report on activities and results, and then
reward individuals or the team for achieving desired
results. Variable or incentive compensation plans
that offer bonuses in addition to base pay are
the norm for sales staff in other industries. However,
they're used by less than half of healthcare organizations
with a sales function.
Product
Partner Highlights:
Talent Speaks, Talent Plus Successful Hospital Opening
Through Talent Plus' talent-based interviews and assessments, hiring managers can focus on the talent of an individual for a particular role - from front line to senior leadership. Through careful selection based upon the talent (a person's capacity for near perfect performance) and casting that talent in the right role, provided with coaching and development - health care organizations have found they are able to see a direct impact to the bottom line as well as improving patient satisfaction and employee engagement - resulting in reduced turnover and improved patient care and outcomes.
Talent Plus is an internationally recognized management and consulting firm with over 200 clients in 20 countries delivering interviews in more than 20 languages. Through decades of studying over 4 million successful people at all organizational levels within hundreds of companies and organizations, Talent Plus has developed scientific, talent-based tools to assist organizations in the areas of selection, development, retention, mentoring, evaluation and research to maximize the human resource assets within their organizations.
"Survey says!" Find
out how others in your shoes
have built their Physician Relations program.
TIPS & TECHNIQUES
Use
this checklist to help set up your next
training:
Who to Train
Companies that have included operations/clinical
staff in their sales training have found success
in customer retention. Positions to consider include:
Account Executives
Business Development Representatives
Physician Liaisons
Customer Service Representatives
Program Managers
Sales Managers
Service Line Directors
What to Cover
Sales training should be customized to your
services - focused on understanding the customer's
needs and demonstrating your organization's
ability to meet them. Training should include:
Sales planning
Prospecting
Understanding buyer needs
Positioning your services as a benefit-driven
solution to these needs
Handling buyer objections and closing
the sale
Role-playing and scripting
Building long-term relationships with
your customers
Selecting the Trainer
Your trainer should:
Know how to sell and help your staff
communicate a consistent message about
your organization's benefits
Have an intimate knowledge of your services
To have credibility with your sales team, the
trainer must:
We
want to hear from you. For help with a
sales strategy issue, please submit
your question. Each quarter, we will
draw from all the entries for a prize!
Looking
Forward to Our Next Issue: In June, we
focus on:
ROI Tools
CRM
ROI Models
Case Studies
Looking for a training
session or speaker for your hospital? CHG has a team
of specialists for customer service and experience, sales
and business development and organizational strategic
thinking. Visit www.corporatehealthgroup.com or
call 1-888-334-2500.
Share your feedback with
us. What do you want to know more about? What are some
of the issues you're facing? Your comments will help
us zone in on the physician topics of interest to you
as we prepare our next issue.
