Transcript of Selling in Healthcare: Prospecting, Pitching and Closing Strategies
AHealthcareZ - Healthcare Finance Explained
0:00hello this is dr eric bricker and thank0:02you for watching a healthcare z today0:04we're going to be discussing0:05selling in healthcare now the irony is0:09not lost on me that as a physician0:12it is odd that i'm talking about selling0:15but i will tell you as the chief medical0:18officer of columbus professional health0:19services0:20and as one of its co-founders one of my0:22primary jobs at compass0:24was like as the sales guy and so at0:26compass we had0:28over 2000 employer clients with0:31many major national accounts like0:34t-mobile and southwest airlines0:36the majority of our groups like we're0:38between like 200 and 2000 employees so0:40kind of like0:41mid-market fully insured and self-funded0:43employers was kind of like our bread and0:45butter0:45and i would sit down with the broker0:47benefit consultant with hr and the head0:49of benefits from the cfo and the ceo0:51and i literally had thousands of0:52meetings over the0:5410 plus years that compass was in0:56existence and guess what when i started0:58out as a salesperson0:59i was horrible like it was awful if you1:02actually saw yourself1:03but over time i learned and i learned it1:06i learned and i learned and i learned a1:07few things1:08so i wanted to share those with you1:09today specifically as they pertain1:12to health care okay first off there's1:14this thing called a sales funnel of1:15course all of you probably know that1:17right1:17it can be divided up into many ways but1:19i will just divide it up into1:20prospecting1:21pitching and closing and there's some1:24very specific ways to think about1:26each one of these three segments okay1:27first up in regards to prospecting1:30i follow a guy named aaron ross and he1:33wrote a book called1:34predictable revenue and he wrote another1:37book called from impossible to1:39inevitable1:40and he is fantastic he basically created1:42the entire1:43um lead generation and sales process1:47for salesforce.com i mean this guy is1:49genius1:50now he says in prospecting which is1:52getting leads that there's three ways to1:54do it there's1:55nets seeds and spears okay so nets1:59just like it sounds is when you're2:01gathering2:02large numbers of leads it's typically2:04through2:05inbound marketing so it's typically2:07through you're putting out blog posts2:09you're putting out videos you're putting2:11out advertisements2:12you're doing conferences etc and people2:14come to you expressing interest maybe2:16even they come to the website and say2:17hey i'm interested in xyz2:19okay so nets is one of the three ways to2:22get leads2:23now the conversion rate of nets is2:25typically very low2:27so the number of nets that go from2:29prospecting down to pitching2:30just know that's going to be the lowest2:31of these different categories okay2:33now seeds are relationships2:36that you or people on your sales team2:39have planted in the past2:40think of them as your linkedin contacts2:43that you actually have a relationship2:44with2:45and i will say that fostering those2:48seeds and just constantly meeting people2:49so i would go to conferences not to try2:51to like pitch compass at all i would go2:53to conferences just to like2:54meet people and play you know planting2:56seeds i'm like hey who are you what do2:57you do2:58because people at conferences always3:00want to talk about what they're doing3:01they really don't want to listen to what3:02you're doing and so i would just give3:04them an opportunity3:05to tell me about what it is that they're3:06doing and i would like sincerely have3:08interested in it and it would come to3:09like all sorts of like various things3:11down the road so the important thing3:12about seeds is that seeds while they3:14tend to have higher conversion rates3:16they tend to take a long time as you can3:18imagine a long time to grow and actually3:19turn into something that goes on to3:21pitching3:21okay and lastly we have spears that's3:23what you're like directly hunting for3:25a specific lead i've you know you as a3:27salesperson have identified3:29xyz person at abc company and you're3:32going to contact them now i will tell3:33you in form of spears3:35one of the most important things to do3:36is to actually call them to use this3:38thing called the telephone3:40now it will tell you in this day and age3:41almost nobody answers the phone3:43so just know that the vast majority of3:44time this will be an exercise in3:46leaving voicemails but that's okay3:48because what you're going to do is3:49you're going to email them as well and3:50you're going to do an email and a phone3:52call on the same day3:53and that phone call is going to3:55reference your3:56email now i won't get into the details3:58about how you write the email blah blah3:59blah but the fact that so4:00few people call these days the fact that4:02you actually call and do leave a voice4:04will4:04will make you unique now the key here4:06with spears is that their initial4:08like reply rate is just super low so4:11this is just an exercise in failure4:13right and so4:14this is where listen if you can connect4:16with three out of ten people then you're4:17gonna make it to the hall of fame right4:18so4:19just know that you're gonna get the door4:20slam in your face a gazillion times and4:23that's okay that's part of the deal4:24okay so then we move on to the next part4:26of the funnel where your leads have4:27moved their way into actually wanting to4:28have a conversation of hey i want to4:30learn about whatever service or product4:31it is that you have4:33okay now there are different buyers now4:36this is the miller hyman4:37approach to sales and i think it is very4:41apropos4:42to um to the complex business to4:45business sale that is oftentimes found4:47in healthcare and here you have the4:48three different buyers you have the4:49economic buyer you've got the user buyer4:51and you've got the technical buyer4:52the economic buyer is typically in the4:55c-suite so the ceo or the cfo and4:57they're the ones who are literally going4:58to be writing4:59the check and they're looking at what is5:00the dollar value of what you're5:02providing5:03vis-a-vis the cost these are the other5:06budgetary priorities5:07that i have okay so it's important when5:09you're talking to these people that you5:10talk in terms of5:12numbers and value and budget okay next5:14up5:15is the uh is the user buyer now the user5:17buyer5:18is actually getting like the use or the5:21value5:21out of the product or service so if5:24you're selling an insurance5:25carrier service or a point solution or5:28you know what have you the user here is5:30actually not the end employee5:32because the person who's buying your5:33service is actually not the user buyer5:35who's the user buyer is5:37it's hr and the people who work in5:38benefits at that company depending upon5:40the size of the company it could be one5:41on the same5:42okay so that's the user buyer and so5:44it's very important for them5:46to talk about outcomes what will be the5:48benefits that come from this particular5:50health care solution whether it be5:51better health fewer days5:53of absenteeism decreased musculoskeletal5:55claims5:56uh improvement in hemoglobin inland5:58ceiling levels of your of the employees5:59so there's a zillion6:00but that's what they're gonna be6:01interested in and lastly you have the6:03technical buyer6:04and the technical buyer is the one who's6:05literally going to be interacting6:07with you whether it be on a daily or a6:09weekly basis they're the ones who are6:10going to have to do like6:11implementation of the program they're6:12the ones who have to go and do like on6:14ongoing like6:15servicing of the program so oftentimes6:17employers will6:18outsource a lot of this technical buyer6:20service and that's where the broker6:21benefit consultant6:22uh comes in so oftentimes the broker6:24benefit consultant or like maybe a6:26medium or a lower level benefits manager6:28will actually be the technical buyer6:30they want to know the nitty gritty of6:31listen how easy or difficult6:33is this to actually do or use so it's6:36very important to think about this6:37framework6:38and here's where it gets really6:39interesting you can be in one meeting6:40where you will have6:41all three of these different buyers in6:43the same meeting so you literally need6:45to6:45tailor your pitch in the same meeting in6:49different ways6:50depending upon who you're talking to at6:52various points in the meeting and guess6:53what that is called6:54hard that is a very difficult thing to6:56do like i would come out of these6:57meetings and i would be dripping with6:59sweat6:59like i feel like i would have lost like7:01five pounds7:02like my stomach would be churning i mean7:04it is hard7:06okay then lastly we come to closing and7:09this is a model from7:10a book called hope is not a strategy7:12about complex business to business sales7:14it's a rather old book yeah this thing7:16this thing is awesome you got to read7:17this thing it's very thin paperback i7:18love this book okay7:19and basically here you have what is7:21important to7:23a buyer over time so t is time and we7:26have a little graph here so what's most7:27important at the beginning is fit7:28is the service that you're offering does7:30it fit their particular problem what7:32they need7:32and you got to get that i don't even say7:34out of the way first you have to sort of7:35win that7:36fit battle first and the next comes up7:38is risk okay7:39what could go wrong and they're going to7:41punch a million holes through7:43what could possibly go wrong okay where7:45do you host your data7:46do you use amazon web services do you7:48use a data center what kind you know7:49do you have a uh you know disaster plan7:53you know what are you gonna do you know7:54all these different things that could7:55possibly happen you have to go through7:57those risk7:58issues okay and then lastly you get the7:59results then finally you get to price8:02okay what are you compared to the8:03competition what do you compare to other8:05similar things that i8:06buy in this particular area what do i8:08what is the price vis-a-vis8:10our budgeting season okay maybe this8:12makes sense but we just don't spend8:13stuff on this stuff right now because we8:14budget in july8:16and we don't start spending on it until8:18january so really we can't spend any8:20money on you until8:21six months from now so just know that8:24as you're talking about fit if they8:26start asking you risk questions8:28that's actually a positive buy sign and8:30if you're talking about fit and risk and8:31they actually start asking you8:32price questions that's actually a8:34positive buy sign those are8:35good things those are showing you that8:36you're progressing along this timeline8:39now everyone who's watching this video8:42wants to make8:43change for good and we all need to sell8:46we need to sell good ideas we need to8:48sell new ways of doing things8:50sometimes we need to actually sell8:52products or services or even old8:54companies8:55so we all need to sell in some way shape8:58or form8:59and here are several frameworks that i9:01have found helpful9:02in doing so and thank you for watching a9:05healthcare z
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