Every sales pro has their own unique take on the sales process and has their own way of attracting new business. Working in health care, the sales process is a uniquely laser-focused experience, which means developing new leads requires more care. The difference between selling a product and patient experience is that it is a continued process and not a one time sales relationship, making the consultative process exponentially more important and valuable.
It is imperative to consider that the focus should always be on your potential lead’s needs, rather than your own. In most cases of health care marketing, your lead is a staff member at a referring office. By conducting a needs-analysis and sorting out those individuals’ “haves” “wants” and “needs” you will be in a better place to provide guidance and earn their trust as a leader in the market. Your goal must always be to get your lead to explain their needs because if they are talking about their goals and what they need to accomplish them, you’re not wasting their time, rather you are being of value to them.
Your consultative process does not have to be an exact science, as each of your referring physician offices will have different needs, but it is important to consider the following steps:
- research
- asking
- listening
- teaching
- closing/continuing
Research:
This stage of your sales process is one of the most important, as it is vital that you do the appropriate research to gain lead intelligence on their situation. Once you’ve gathered data on your potential client or in our world, referral source, you’ll be in a better place to help them in the future.
Asking:
It’s important to conduct a needs-analysis, asking questions that require open-ended answers. This gets them talking about their goals, plans and challenges. When you understand the issues they face, you can propose solutions to mend their problems and you won’t be selling them on services that they do not need.
Listening:
Do not just ask your referring offices consultative questions and not take into account what their responses were. It is important to be an active listener and use a CRM program, like Salesforce to keep track of your conversations and their needs.
Teaching
Your goal should be to help your referring offices no matter what. You want to prove to them that you will do everything you can to help them find success, which begins before they even send one patient to you.
Closing/Continuing
In a regular sales process, the close is the last step, however when what you are selling is personalized patient care and the opportunity to serve as an extension of a referring physician’s practice, the sales path is more of a cycle in that it does not end. This process becomes a relationship, which should feel natural and mutually beneficial.
