Leading National Long-Term Healthcare Company Licenses the IMPACT Selling System to Build a Sales Culture

Summary

In 2004, this long-term healthcare organization had over 300 facilities nationwide and was enjoying strong sales with revenue of over $3 billion annually. But the executive management team wanted to achieve a more profitable mix of managed care, private pay, and Medicare in its patient base.

This organization was struggling with other sales problems including:

• Relying on an ineffective “homegrown” sell­ing system few sales reps were using
  
  
• No sales culture – many employees thought “care giving” was incompatible selling and took a negative view of selling as a profession
  
  
• High turnover among salespeople

This long-term care facility network chose to license the IMPACT System so their internal trainers could teach IMPACT whenever and wherever training was needed.  They also began using the TriMetrix assessment system to screen out prospective employees who were not well-suited to their sales positions.

Results

• From 2003 to 2007 Medicare census grew by 31%
  
  
• Managed care has grown by 97%
  
  
• After one year, sales turnover in the largest division of the company was down to single digits

Situation

This long-term healthcare company is consistently at the cutting edge in its industry, and works hard to stay ahead of the curve. In early 2004, recent sales reports had been good, but the executive management team wanted to see a more profitable mix of managed care, private pay, and Medicare in its patient base.

The organization had been using what some executives described as a “homegrown” sell­ing system developed by their internal training department. The selling system was only being used by a handful of dedicated salespeople and was not integrated into the culture organization-wide.

Like many healthcare-oriented businesses, this company lacked a strong internal sales culture. In fact, many of the people who were responsible for selling the organization’s services were more focused on the care-giving aspect of the industry and actually had a negative opinion of selling as a career.Most were embarrassed by having to go out and dig up new business.

Another symptom of the lack of a sales culture was high turnover among the sales personnel.Many were uncomfortable with the idea of selling or not very success­ful at selling. As a result, there was a constant “churn” of sales personnel throughout the orga­nization.

When key executives of this organization gath­ered for a sales conference in 2004, Bill Brooks delivered a keynote speech that helped pinpoint the challenges that the company faced. Bill hammered home the message that the organization would have to undertake a major cultural shift in order to transform the company into a sales-driven business.

Solution

Company executives immediately began to look into different options for training and develop­ing their sales personnel. They ultimately chose The Brooks Group based on its comprehensive methodology for achieving the transforma­tive results they desired.  The executive management team also liked the idea of being able to license the IMPACT System to their internal trainers so they could deliver training on demand without paying per-head fees each time.

Here’s how the process took shape:

Step 1 – Screening & Assessment
The Brooks Group introduced the TriMetrix™ Assessment System to define the fundamen­tal qualities required for success in each position within the organization.

Current employees took the assessment to learn which areas they needed to develop for better performance. Prospective employ­ees took the assessment so the organization could identify and hire the right people for each position.

Step 2 – Customized Design
The organization chose to license The Brooks Group’s proven IMPACT Selling® System, but also wanted to modify the curriculum to target specific corporate missions, sales role requirements, and the culture in the organi­zation and industry.

They introduced IM­PACT Selling training through a pilot program that included key executives and managers as well as sales personnel who were strongly committed to the organization’s previous internal selling system.

Step 3 – Program Delivery
The organization’s internal trainers partici­pated in multiple Train-the-Trainer sessions to master delivering the IMPACT program.  They began a rollout of the sales train­ing program with top-level Market Develop­ment Directors nationwide.  Decision-makers were so thrilled with the success of the training program in one division; it quickly became an organiza­tion-wide endeavor. To date, over 700 people from this Long-Term Care Facility Network have participated in the IMPACT Selling training program.

Step 4 – Reinforcement & Team Coaching
After their initial training program, the trainees began the 12-week IMPACT Sales Coaching to help drive adoption of the IMPACT System out on the field.  The Brooks Group trained top-level marketing directors to serve as coach­es for their teams. The program included weekly homework assignments and teleconferences specifically related to the challenges and opportunities that the company’s market di­rectors and admissions directors face in their day-to-day jobs.  At least 300 individuals linked in to the In­ternet-based program at some time during the year.

Step 5 – Measurable Accountability
Sales managers began using specific accountability tools to track progress and continue reinforcing IMPACT Selling in the field.  TriMetrix assessments have established an organization-wide standard for making sound hiring decisions.

The Bottom Line For This Long-Term Care Facility Network

This Long-Term Care Facility Network is thrilled with the success of IMPACT Selling. People at every level of the organization believe that IM­PACT has become a positive part of the organi­zation’s culture. Sales personnel throughout the organization are committed to using this selling system to get better, more consistent results.

Medicare census grew by 20% in the year following IMPACT training; managed care has grown by 20% year over year.  The TriMetrix Assessment System has drasti­cally reduced turnover and increased job satisfaction. In just one year, the largest division of the company saw turnover plummet into the single digits.

The IMPACT Selling System gets rave reviews from trainees as well. Take a look at what participants had to say about their ongoing training:

• I learned how to increase and diversify my pool of prospects so that I don’t become dependent on one sales source. I now understand the importance of ASKING customers what they need and want instead of just telling them what our facility has to offer (as they may not have a need for everything I’m ex­plaining). And I’m getting better results because I’ve learned how to prepare questions in advance instead of just ‘winging it’.”
• I’m thrilled to finally have the validation so that I can truly believe that selling is a noble career. I’m now looking forward to finding more ways to stay self-motivated and maximize my selling time.”
• I’ve been very successful in meeting the objectives that I set for myself at the beginning of the program. I was able to break into a major health system; I got to know the discharge team and generated many new referrals.”
• I’ve learned to properly position, prospect and pre-call plan in order to be in front of the right people at the right time with the right message. I’ve realized how important it is to build trust and rapport with each prospect and learned better ways to do that. I can now uncover – and build my sales presentations around – the conditions, terms and parameters under which my prospect will buy.”

 

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