By: Susan Boydell | sboydell@barlowmccarthy.com
The world out there is challenging and as everyone starts to get back out in the field, we realize it’s a bit tougher than we remember. This is a good time to stop and pay attention to those things that make us perform better. We know what they are, but perhaps a little reminder can’t hurt.
Here are four must-have essentials that are foundational to our success, but also where we can tend to get sloppy. As you read through each one, do a little self-assessment to help pinpoint where you might want to tighten it up.
Strategic Focus. Best practice tells us to identify those top 3-5 clinical areas of growth that leadership needs us to focus on. If you haven’t revisited this topic with your leaders since before the pandemic, this is a must-do. We also know that within your organizations, there are a lot of others chirping for your support. Look at your visit log and calculate how much time you spent on those key growth areas vs. those areas of demand from “chirpers.” If those chirpers are winning, create a message strategy to set expectations. What is it they need to do, what can you do, and be clear about what you can’t do.
Target Audience. Another best practice is a data-driven target list. Based on those clinical areas of growth, your target list should identify those physicians where you have the greatest opportunity to earn new referrals. The key here is target “physicians.” Are you having conversations with the target physician or just their office staff? The physician is ultimately the decisionmaker in the referral process. The referral coordinator and other office staff are the implementers. If you want your specialists to be considered, you must educate the referring physician. So, if you aren’t having meaningful conversations with referring physicians, you are limiting your opportunity to get results.
Prepping for the Visit. If there is one place we get a little lacking, it’s almost always pre-call planning. Yes, the goal of the visit is to have a conversation with the physicians, but why do you really want to talk with the physician? If it’s to tell them about your new specialist or service, you will have missed the mark. Instead, think about what you need to learn. What questions will you ask to understand better if they even need your new specialist? The tighter you outline this, the better success you will have all around. Test yourself; after each visit ask yourself how much time was spent on telling vs. asking.
Advancing the Relationship. How many of your visits are just that, a visit? We’ve all been there, especially with those offices we’ve been calling on for a while. Just a visit might be okay sometimes for a retention practice. But, if you need to earn more referrals, advancing each visit closer to a referral is a requirement. In your pre-call plan for each visit, document what you want to close, including what you would like your next visit to be. Here’s another place for a good self-assessment. When you finish the visit, ask yourself, did you close to a next step? Was it the next step I anticipated? Document the next step or the results in your PRM or visit log. Over time, as your read back on your visits, you should see a natural progression to additional referrals. If referrals aren’t up to expectations, then you will need to rethink your strategy.
None of this is new, but sometimes we need a reminder. It doesn’t take hours of planning. You just need to remember that if you take enough time upfront, you will see the rewards on the other end. Please share your stories of where you got a little sloppy, what you tightened up, and the difference it made. We can all learn from each other.
Does your team need a boost as we push back into normalcy? Maybe an assessment is in order? Connect with me and we can talk more about what that entails! You can reach me at sboydell@barlowmccarthy.com.