|
By Peter Francis
President, Clinical Laboratory Sales Training
07/18/08
The Dos and Don’ts of Selling a Lab Service: The Case of Sarah
“I have had the pleasure of working with some skilled sales representatives and also with those who found selling clinical lab services a bit challenging,” says Peter Francis , president of Clinical Laboratory Sales Training, LLC “I learned from both situations. This case study exemplifies a rep who initially felt challenged but with some coaching was able to turn the account around. Sarah (not her real name) had been the rep with a local hospital outreach program for about seven years. We were focusing on a three-person internal medicine group practice that used Sarah’s lab for a minimal amount of testing, for which they billed the client on select patients. Because of this client billing scenario, pricing had always appeared to be their main interest. The office manager, Mary, was Sarah’s primary contact person. They had been using their current laboratory for about 10 years, giving Sarah the impression they would never switch everything to her lab. Every couple of years, Sarah presented proposals, which consisted of a price list. The proposals were subsequently rejected because ‘there was no appreciable difference.’
“There were several problems with her approach. First, although Sarah described her relationship with Mary as friendly, she had only sporadic contact because this was not a big account for Sarah. She did not cultivate the relationship, and she rarely had anything to talk about when she stopped in—it was nothing more than just a ‘How are things going with our lab service?’ She had no relationship with the three physicians, nurse practitioner, or other nurses. Sarah did not know who made the ultimate decision in this group or how they were made. All of these things constitute the don’ts,” Francis says.
Build a Relationship Ladder
“As far as the dos, I explained to Sarah that the key is to ensure you are the winner before the proposal is even presented. It should really be the solidifying factor. It is essential to build relationships with the physicians and the nursing staff and to develop credibility so you are viewed as a resource to the office. It is important to explain and demonstrate the differences between your lab and their current one, because it is a common misconception that all labs are pretty much the same. Price is not, nor should it ever be, the only distinguishing factor,” Francis explains.
One strong strategy is to try to advance the sale by getting a series of small commitments from the client. “Every visit should have an objective to advance the sale. For instance, request a copy of a test mix or the insurances that the competitor offers. Request an appointment with the lead doctor or ask for a demonstration of the lab’s connectivity product. Get an agreement to come in for a lab tour. This creates a joint-venture type of mentality, not a one-sided relationship.”
“It’s also important to have a legitimate business reason for every visit—something that the client feels is important. For instance, talk about a new test, discuss a white paper from one of the test-supply vendors, review important points from a recent lab newsletter, or talk about a panel for diagnosing a disease or possibly a new transport supply item. In addition, always review problems that the lab is having with the customer. In fact, Sarah’s laboratory wasn’t telling her that there was an internal problem with this particular client. It’s a two-way street, and the client has to know what they can do to create a smooth-flowing process for the lab,” he relates.
“Using the concept of a relationship ladder, it’s clear that at the bottom are the people who don’t know your name. On the next step up are people who know your name, followed by people who like you and are friendly to you, and then people who respect you. All of this results from constant visibility and meaningful dialogue with the customer. Finally, at the top, are people who value a relationship with you.”
He suggested that Sarah needed to follow up with the nursing staff as well as the physicians to try to reach the top of the ladder.
What Makes Your Lab Unique?
“Learn your lab’s unique strengths—not only how your lab is different from the competition, but how it’s different in a way that’s important to the customer. It takes time and energy to find out these disparities. It happens by talking to people in operations, in billing, logistics, even the supply department and client services. It is also crucial that you understand the competitor’s operations, their test menu, and their logistics. Developing a list of basic differences is central to establishing part of your strategy,” he says.
“As an example, one laboratory has a unique basic difference in their cytology department. If they received a Pap smear where there were no endocervical cells observed, they would pass that slide to another cytotechnician to make sure their initial assessment was accurate—a quality control step to avoid physician frustration. Another laboratory held a weekly team meeting of managers and supervisors to discuss client issues. The purpose was to identify the problems, take corrective action, and relay that back to the customer. There is a very strong competitive advantage to this type of meeting and feedback.”
“Another example is picking up specimens from clients during the day and returning to the lab by midafternoon, so, for example, the microbiology department can start plating their cultures immediately. Physicians can receive preliminary reports sooner, which impacts positively on patient care. Also, when there’s something that’s abnormally out of range on a chemistry or hematology specimen, early testing means they can call the physician at a convenient hour instead of at two or three in the morning as some other labs do.”
Helping clients help their patients is another differentiator and one that is typically welcomed. For example, providing tear-off sheets for patients with test explanations in layman’s terms is a value-add for the practice. Another differentiator can be rapid processing of supply orders. “One lab was able to get supply orders out the same day as the incoming request. That’s the kind of service that ‘wows’ the client,” he points out.
“Sarah scoured her laboratory for unique strengths and basic differences. She also investigated her competition’s turnaround time, pickup times, patient service center ( PSC) hours, billing procedures, supplies, and what the customer liked and disliked about their current laboratory. She was able to compare what her lab offered versus what the competition was doing. Sarah memorized a list of these basic differences so she could talk about these key points with customers by asking insightful questions. She asked Mary to help get her an appointment with the key decisionmaker. She also asked for a copy of the accepted insurances from their current lab so she could make a comparison. Sarah also asked to see how their connectivity product worked.
“At the same time, she started to build this rapport with the physicians and the nursing staff by asking about their needs and reviewing test information from white papers that had been supplied by her lab’s vendors. In essence, she really became more of a resource to the office. She explained how her laboratory was different in those situations where it really mattered to the customer. She heeded the point about trying to always have a valid business reason for talking to Mary or to whomever else was available. She created a very positive, ‘I’m here to help you’ type of atmosphere with the customer.
“At the end of six or seven months, Sarah presented a proposal that summarized what she had previously discussed—in short, it included much more than just a price list. It contained everything about her lab’s quality control programs, accreditations, PCS locations and hours, contact people and phone extensions, connectivity information, and a price list. Eventually, she was told by the office manager that they would be using her as their primary lab.”
A Success Story
“Sarah succeeded by building up her credibility with all of the key players by laying out her strategy and by applying good tactics. She asked good questions in order to understand what each person expected, needed, and wanted in a lab service. Critically important was that she also investigated the decisionmaking process—who played what role in it. She used the office manager as an internal mentor to help guide her strategy. Sarah was always trying to get the sale to advance—to get the client to do something that exhibited a win-win, joint-venture approach. She learned about her competition and how to parlay her unique strengths. Sarah knew that she had to be regarded as a resource to various people within the office and part of this was accomplished by providing helpful and educational information. In fact, despite some favorable pricing from her competition, Sarah was able to build enough value to overcome the price objections that had been disabling in the past. Sarah won the sale the hard way—through sheer power of developing and strengthening her reputation and rapport with the entire office. Everyone in the practice valued their relationship with her (the pinnacle of the relationship ladder). In essence, Sarah simply outsold her competition—something not commonly accomplished,” Francis concludes.
|
