R,
O and I. We can’t get away from those three
letters these days. What’s your return on investment?
If asked today, could you truly quantify your or your team’s
efforts?
Measurement is easy to do in the Finance department and in
our sister service lines. Why then is it so difficult to do
in our own departments? Measurement is a long-standing issue
for sales and marketing folks. We’re very good at counting “number
of” initiatives—“number of physicians visited,” “number
of events held,” “number of calls to the call center.” But
we fail to truly capture how our daily inputs and effort causes
an effect of increased revenue.
In the book A Marketer’s Guide to Measuring ROI,
author David Marlowe says, "'Hard' ROI simply
means that results are measured by the actual collected revenues
after taking into account the actual cost of the effort…ROI
means there is a financial return. If no revenue was generated
as a result of the marketing effort, there is no ROI." |
We must be cognizant of this definition
and apply it to our worlds. If we create a program or
launch an initiative, and we haven’t designed it
with the end in mind to guide our measurement of achievement,
then we will have failed. It takes a detailed plan and
combined efforts to drive effective measures.
Consider these tips as we begin the ROI conversation
in this issue:
- Remember to factor out a percentage of patients
who would have used the service anyway.
- Prioritize those services you’re able to
measure with accuracy.
- Identify a realistic time period when you expect
to see the “effect” of your efforts play
out.
- Learn to measure service line volumes and supporting
revenue.
- Build a team of individuals to help create the
collective measures.
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You
can and will achieve return when you collectively work
to drive the outcomes. Use some of our helpful
links to drive an effective strategy: |
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| How
to Gain Return on Your Investment |
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When we ask sales leaders, “What keeps you
awake at night?” the most frequent answers
we hear relate to integrating referral and
volume data to drive results and prove return on
investment (ROI).
Achieving desired results is crucial during this
economic climate. Despite organizations best efforts
to capture referral data, ROI measures aren’t
consistently defined and/or used to drive sales activity
and, simultaneously, prove the team’s value
and contribution to the bottom-line.
More generally, return on investment is defined as
the result that an investment provides
in a year. If no financial return is generated, there
is no ROI.
Let’s face it: We’ve all invested time
and money to build a physician relations team—however,
it’s what we do with it that matters most.
We know there’s a concern to have results-driven
sales. We know there’s a concern to realize
ROI. So, what’s next?
Read
the complete article >>
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| You
Need a CRM Sales Strategy |
 |
Authored by Lance Kyle, Consultant, Healthforce
Online and Laurie Slater, Consultant, Corporate
Health Group
A recent national survey specific to physician sales
and service conducted by Corporate Health Group,
finds that sixty-five percent of respondents revealed
that they used their CRM only for activity tracking.
This fact is supported by numerous surveys conducted
over the years that highlight the majority of CRM
implementation fail to achieve the desired results.
Such findings are both disappointing and very telling.
They show that CRM rollouts to sales teams still
overlook a few very significant implementation points:
- Physician relations managers view CRMs as a
tool, not a strategy.
- Many healthcare organizations lack a true sales
process.
- Too often, CRM implementations are attempted
on too large a scale.
Yet, by paying attention to these lessons, you
can avoid mistakes that are common in CRM sales rollouts
and, perhaps, buck the trends.
Read
the complete article >>
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| Making
Return a Reality |
 |
Marketing and sales have come under heavy scrutiny
as healthcare organizations have been forced to cut
costs and justify their expenditures. The result
is that leaders are challenging departments to show
their impact on the hospital’s bottom line.
Find Tools to Demonstrate Return-On-Investment
In the ranks, reactions to these
ROI mandates are varied. Some abandon activities
that are tough to quantify, others scramble to find
creative ways to measure the impact, and a few are
still saying, “Trust me.” For most, they’re
a reminder that the support entities are seen as
nice, but not always critical.
Because the need to demonstrate results isn’t
going away, the key is to develop an outcomes-oriented
approach.
Assess what’s measurable, how it can be measured,
what the measurement tells you and what it takes
to get the job done.
- Match what you’re able to measure with
the hospital /
health system’s strategic goals.
- Begin to educate internal and external audiences
on
quantitative and qualitative outcomes.
- Start small: Consider strategies for growing
service line
numbers in the short term.
- Articulate what and how customers buy and
how they
make decisions.
- Stay committed to the process.
Read
the complete article >> |
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| ANNOUNCEMENTS |
"Survey
says!"
 | CHG's 3rd national benchmarking survey is complete. |
Click here to download your free copy of the 2010 Executive Summary At a Glance, or buy the full report today.
Results include:
- Structure and Leadership
- Staffing
- Compensation
- Strategy
- Infrastructure Support (Training & CRM)
- Return on Investment
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In conjunction with the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, CHG presents the following two, 90 minute webinar series:
Make No Mistake:
You Need a CRM Strategy
- October 11th
1:30pm - 3:00pm CT
- October 13th
1:30pm - 3:00pm CT
If you are a SHSMD member, please click here to register. |
| TIPS & TECHNIQUES |
Quick
Simple Rule to Return on Investment (ROI)
It’s important to position how your sales
plan forecast will generate an agreed-upon
return on investment (ROI) for the sales and
service effort. It must be built internally
with the following in mind:
1. Leadership’s
and key service areas’ ability
to agree what they believe is
ROI for your effort.
2. Detailed
goals and measurable objectives written
for the service lines and the sales team
members.
3. Specific
data sets and a means to track,
measure and report on ROI using hospital,
outpatient and CRM data.
4. Territory
plans that target the right physicians (growth
or retention) and are consistent with
the written goals and objectives.
5. Performance
standards for team members with
built-in accountability measures.
6. Training
and reinforcement for a consultative
relationship sales process and approach.
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QUESTION & ANSWER FORUM |
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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! |
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