Senior Care Marketing Must Do #17

Tuesday 8am: Read this newsletter

Tuesday 8:30am: Start Moving On Up! (to the east side?)

In almost every sales rep interview I've done for my clients over the past 6 months, I've been asked the same question by every hiring manager.

"Can this person sell to the C suite?"

Is senior care changing so rapidly that it's a must that EVERY new rep have the skills and confidence to sell to the a C level executive?

Yes. Case closed.

While it would be an overstatement to say the days of the "transactional" sales rep (getting 1 referral at a time) are over, they are going to become less and less valuable if that is their only skill.

Why?

Simple, we've become a Private Equity owned, ACO, bundled payment, preferred provider driven industry. Add in the Medicare Advantage inclusion of private duty services and the newly signed Long Term Care Trust Act in Washington State, and you can see that we're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. We're now in an environment of selling value, savings, and partnerships. These don't get sold to your local social worker or case manager, they get sold to the CEO, CNO, CFO, Executive Director and the like.

So...do you (or your sales reps) have the skills? Let's find out.

This week I want you to seek out a "next level" opportunity at one of your facilities. Probably the easiest to go after is a preferred provider agreement whereby you are the "preferred" agency for certain services if a patient doesn't choose otherwise. Go out, ask questions, see what opportunities might be out there and start the process of meetings and discussions about them. Find just ONE of these opportunities and follow it to its logical conclusion. Via this exercise you'll begin to find out what your referral partners are interested in, and the things that hold real value to them. Start today, because truly, in our current industry climate, tomorrow is too late.

The outcome of this pursuit is not as important as learning who to talk to, and how to talk to them. Since these types of partnerships often have to go through more levels of approval, it will likely take longer to finalize, but stay with it. These are the skills you need for success today, and survival tomorrow.

If you're in the hiring process for new sales team members now, check out our hiring assistance services so you can make sure the answer to that common question of "Can they sell to the C level?" is a resound yes!

Good Selling!

Michael Giudicissi