Author: Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA
The author updated this article in 2009, to reflect the most current market and trends in physician relations/sales strategy. The article discusses different attitudes that slow the sales process, whether the audience is a physician or an employer. Article content details the type of attitude, where it occurs in the selling cycle, and techniques for management and progression of the relationship.
Wouldn’t life be grand if everyone you targeted in your physician relations sales effort was willing to refer to your service or use your products? Magically, you use your sales skills and they say, “Yes! I’m interested.”
But, alas, there is no fairy godmother and in service based sales it seldom works that way. More often than not, you find yourself in the midst of a situation like one of these:
“I spoke with Dr. Johnson this morning and he said he’d be happy to send us all his cardiology referrals if we would get rid of Dr. Brown, our Chief.”
OR
“Mary Anderson is willing to consider our outpatient radiology because of the new scheduling service. But, she’s not convinced we’re going to deliver the service in the way we promise—and she needs proof.”
OR, in the employer world:
“Bill Smith, the HR director at Company X Manufacturing has 300 employees. He has no onsite health options offered at present. I know we could help him, but he doesn’t seem to have any interest.”
The list could go on and on. The ability to deal with the objections and attitudes—to listen, respond and manage their issues—is a key to gaining referrals. It’s important to clearly identify the customer attitude you’re dealing with and implement a process for management of that attitude.
The process does presume the representative uses good relationship sales approaches. With good attitude management, there’s a built-in assumption that the sales methodology is dialogue-based and that is focuses on understanding the physician or employer’s needs.
The method also requires that the representative offer advantages targeted to the physician’s expressed needs. The representative needs to be an active listener, allowing for a healthy exchange of ideas and buy-in from the physician or employer. The best attitude management in the world will not make up for a poorly developed sales strategy or a dump-the-bucket, tell and sell approach!
Indifference
Indifference is likely the most challenging customer attitude of all. And it appears very early on in the selling cycle. The indifferent physician has no perceived need for what you offer: In general, they demonstrate no need to spend time with you, listen to what you have to offer—actually, even to be nice to you.
This is the doctor who sits across the desk from you (assuming you even got the appointment) and just nods or mutters one-word answers to your questions on that first sales call. Yep, selling to the indifferent customer can be a painful experience. In our industry, the prospects usually act indifferent because of three reasons:
1. They already have what you provide and are satisfied with their current provider.
2. They provide the service in-house and feel this adequately meets their needs.
3. They believe they don’t have a need for any service—not just yours.
In employer sales, the rep often encounters companies who have services in-house and those companies who feel no obligation to offer outside services to their employees. An employer with an on-site nurse, for example, may not believe it’s necessary to have a relationship /affiliation with your occupational health program.
Once you’ve uncovered indifference in a prospective physician, the first step is to determine why. Is it because they’re satisfied with a competitor, because they’re offering the service in-house or because they have no perceived need?
At this juncture, the representative needs to decide whether the physician or employer is truly worth the effort. In some situations, it’s appropriate to provide the prospect with a broad overview, thank them for their time and move that contact to the back of the list. But that’s not always the best course of action for every indifferent physician you run up against. Many times, it’s the representative’s job to identify the best way to manage the indifference.
Do the Due Diligence
Preparing background information is valuable in working with the indifferent individual. Since they have no need to disclose information about their current situation or their current provider, the representative needs to be very prepared with good questions and insights. In working with the indifferent prospect, the representative’s goal may be as simple as planting some “seeds of doubt,” providing a couple of key thoughts that leave the prospect thinking, “I wonder if my provider is doing all they could in that area?”
Doing your homework assumes you have solid background information about their current provider so you can drop bits of information that differentiates your organization in a positive way. For example, “Dr. Smith, It sounds as though you’re very satisfied with your current referral situation. In the event you have a patient with XYZ insurance, which is accepted at my hospital, I just want to make sure you’re comfortable with our process and the knowledge that we have one of the nation’s premier cardiac surgeons on our staff.”
Converting an indifferent prospect is a longer-than-average proposition. The most effective Approach is to do your homework and recognize vulnerabilities in their current situation. From there, the representative can use dialogue and provide insights to demonstrate where the prospect’s current process may have gaps. Move slowly and look and listen for potential problems with their current provider. If you feel some interest, test their level of readiness for fixing those problems. That’s converting an opportunity into a need—and that can set the tone for your relationship from here out.
The Skeptical Client
Skepticism is another attitude often presented in the relationship sales call. This is demonstrated when the physician is interested and has a need for something you offer. But, when you begin to talk about your product and service, they become skeptical that you’re truly able to provide all that you have described. This attitude appears right after you introduce the benefits of your product.
The doctor might say, “I heard that same promise when I signed up to work with the other group.” Or, “I just can’t believe that your surgery department truly runs on schedule.” This prospective physician wants what you offer; he just doesn’t trust that you can deliver it.
Managing skepticism starts with isolating the concern. The representative might say, “So you’re asking me to demonstrate our surgery department’s ability to run on schedule.” When the doctor clarifies her need to hear proof, the representative has to be prepared to select a source that demonstrates the organization does deliver (based on the insights the representative has gathered about the prospect) and then offer it as proof.
Proof sources may include: clinical/statistical outcomes, research articles and statements/testimonials from valued peers. In our surgery example, the proof source may be a tracking log of scheduled versus actual start times in the operating rooms for the last 90 days. It’s the representative’s job to determine the type of proof source that will be accepted by the client and then provide it. Most of the articles, publications and outcomes that are a part of our material packet are designed to manage skepticism. Use it when the time is right.
Once proof is offered, the representative must measure whether it’s been accepted. A critical mistake often made by those new to the process is to keep proving and proving. Instead, offer the proof and then ask, “Does that answer your concerns?” If “yes,” then move on with the dialogue. If “no,” query the prospect to determine what other type of proof would work. For example, “Would talking with another surgeon about the changes and new time management system might be helpful in addressing your concerns?”
Pay attention to timing and you will be easily able to identify this attitude. Skepticism generally appears right after benefits are introduced. The prepared representative with the proof and sources to demonstrate the product/service capabilities and who is able to test for effectiveness and then move on will be seen as professional and become a great resource for the doctor. That prospect is on the way to becoming a valued referral source!
Management of Objections
Sometimes, prospective employers or physicians object to something you’ve said or some aspect of your product or service. There are some who may object to something that they’ve misunderstood as fact. Others will challenge something that’s indeed a fact about your product or how you do business—something you can’t change. While both types of objections will appear at the same point in the selling cycle, they need to be managed differently.
Objections generally show up toward the end of the cycle, either when you’re about to close or when you’ve offered your closing statement. The confident representative is thinking they’ve “done the deal” and the client counters with a “not so fast” sort of statement.
I truly believe this is why the groups we interview point to closing as one of the skills they most want to improve in our sales training sessions. Often, when salespeople have tried to close and have been confronted with objections, they believe it’s because their closing skills went awry.
But, in most cases, if the representative uses a good sales process, objections serve to clarify and allay the prospect’s last-minute concerns or unknowns. The representative has to be prepared for this and to assume that there may be objections. It’s just part of the process.
Because the selling cycle is often long and complex—and in reality, there may be other providers in there, working to get the business as well—prospects may misunderstand what you provide. They may have you confused with someone else, have only heard pieces and parts, or have mistaken what was discussed.
For example, the prospect may say, “Well, I’d like to do business with you, but I need a clinic with 24-hour coverage.” Because you offer this, your natural tendency is to leap up and say, “We have that!” There’s a better approach, however. Start by ensuring that this is the only issue keeping the client from a purchase. Then, once you’ve gotten them to agree that if you could provide this, provide the fact and move toward closure.
The dialogue might go something like this: The representative says, “So, you’re interested in shifting to our clinic, but only if we provide 24-hour coverage, is that right?” When the client agrees that this is the only thing keeping them from moving forward, and then you let them know that you understand why this point is so valuable and that you do indeed have that in place.
CLAMP Down on Objections
When dealing with these objections or skepticism, here is an acronym to assist the representative in remembering how to be proactive and professional through the CLAMP process:
C=Clarify Ask a question to ensure you have clearly identified the objection.
L=Listen When the prospect responds, listen to their words, priorities and expectations.
A=Answer Give a clean, positive response.
M=Monitor See if the reply/reason offered was able to overcome their concern.
P=Proceed Move on to closure or the next phase in the selling process.
In summary, misunderstandings should be carefully assessed and isolated as the only issue between preventing the process from moving forward, then clarified with actual policy or fact. Many organizations may see the same kinds of misunderstandings arise. That’s good news, because it allows you to pre-plan and prepare for their management.
There are employers who would like to do business with you, but may have one objection—something you can’t fix or change—that’s keeping them from becoming a client. In occupational health, the most common objections are price and location. In physician relations sales, this may include managed care plans offered, location or a specific personality issue.
Let’s admit it; the representative is just not given the power to offer services at the price they want, to build a new clinic or to negotiate a contract. The reality is that there will always be things we cannot change. But, all is not lost, there is still good opportunity to manage this attitude and make a sale.
Objections due to fact really can only be managed when there is a preponderance of good reasons for buying that is more compelling than the one unavoidable fact that cannot be changed. The representative’s role is to remind the prospect of all the needs that can be met with your service and position how this can outweigh the one negative.
For example, “I know you and your team were excited about our worker injury triage program and 24-hour access to an occupational medical physician. I’m assuming that will make the extra 5 minutes in the car to reach our clinic a worthwhile investment, am I right?” If they’re not yet convinced, the representative will need to uncover more needs and benefits and continue to work to put more attributes to tip the balance.
OR
Dr. Smith, I know that your preference is an 8:00 a.m. block on Tuesday for surgery, but recognizing that we could do 10:00 a.m. the same day, and that we have aligned our OR preferences for staff and technology according to your needs, we are hoping that block can work.
Lastly, remember that price is always a function of value. For some clients, the world seems to start and stop on a dime, but surveys and personal history demonstrate these people are the exception. The vast majority of clients want value and are willing to pay a bit more if you can create a compelling case for doing so. Being able to do so truly separates the good representative from the pack.
Effective management of objections based to fact requires that the representative have a good accounting of the needs that were matched to benefits and agreed upon earlier in the sales cycle. The representative needs to be focused and proactive—using limited words and strong sentences to remind the prospect what they’re interesting in achieving as a result of working with you.
Closing Thoughts
Many outside of sales believe a good representative is a good talker. While many do bring that attribute to the table, it’s the ability to listen, evaluate and offer value that really makes an effective representative. This is never truer than when the sales process uncovers customer attitudes. Salespeople who really want to excel in the profession must take on the responsibility of learning to recognize the attitudes and manage each and every one with a defined process.