What do Marketing Representatives and Business Owners have in common? They both play the role of a “salesperson”. We know it can be intimidating if you’re not prepared for the role. On this week’s episode of A Drink With “The Hurricane we will discuss part 1 of the Art of Closing.
Transcript
Hi folks, Steve the Hurricane, and for today’s topic of A Drink With the Hurricane, we’re gonna talk about The Art of Closing.
The art of closing is yet another featured presentation of the Referral Masters Bootcamp, February 2018. It’s one of my favorite presentations to do. Why? Because it’s about closing clients. And, you may think, well I’m pretty good at closing clients, Steve, but here’s the challenge that a lot of us are faced with. You ever get a phone call for somebody who calls in and says, “I just want a bath visit.” And then you go out and you meet with that patient and they only sign up for two days a week, three days a week for a couple of hours. I’m gonna tell ya right now, when that happens, you did a disservice to that client.
You know why? Because you don’t know how to close. We think we know how to close, but we don’t. Because that is not the kind of client you should sell. If somebody needs help with a bath visit, what else do they need help with? They’re probably not driving anymore, which means they’re missing doctor’s appointments, not getting adequate food, not getting medications, and all the things associated with transportation. They probably can’t keep the house clean and do their laundry anymore. They probably can’t cook meals, so they’re not eating properly. Which means this is somebody who’s probably gonna end up in the hospital.
By sending out a caregiver twice a week to give that person a shower, you are providing a disservice, when that person probably needs five to seven days a week, three to four hours per visit, to help with all of the things that I just mentioned. This is why you need to have a closing process. Of all the things I train my clients on, the unsung hero that puts the most amount of revenue in their pockets is the art of closing. It helps them to convert people who have a big need. Fill the need that fits within their budget to keep them home and out of the hospital, so they can age in place with dignity and grace.
Now this is one of the many slides in the closing process. You may think “I’m not a salesperson” or “I can’t close because I’m not a salesperson.” You shouldn’t be a salesperson. You don’t have to be a salesperson. The process does the selling for you. You be a nurse, you be a therapist, you be a doctor, you be a care coordinator, you be a social worker, you be whatever it is that you are and let the process sell the customer for you.
Now, when it comes to discussing your services and highlighting those items that pertain to their need, this is when you have a binder, and you know include the things that caregivers can do. They can do housekeeping, meal preparation and laundry, bathing assistance, medication reminders, companionship, physical therapy exercises, continence care, transfers, and transportation. The list goes on and on.
You only wanna discuss the ones that pertain to the exact situation. There’s no point in talking about 16 or 17 different things if they’re not asking for it. Pick the two or three that they’re asking and concerned about. They’re calling for a bath visit, but they’re concerned about meals and medications. You talk about each of those three and that’s it. That’s highlighting the ones that pertain to their needs only. As you’re doing so, you wanna paint a picture with words as to what it’s like having that part of the service provided to the patient.
Now, this is gonna save you a lot of restaffing cases. Caring companionship. Whether a person asks for it or not is irrelevant. When you discuss caring companionship, you wanna say,
“I know Mom is not looking for a friend, what it means is the relationship between the caregiver and the patient is one that works. This does not happen overnight. So after the first visit do not call us and say I don’t like the caregiver, I want someone else. Please give it three to four visits before you decide if it’s going to work or not. Now, after that fourth visit, if it doesn’t work, call us. We have hundreds of caregivers and I can always try another person if I have to, but give it that three or four visits first to make sure that it’s a true need of a change.“
Now what ends up happening when you do this, folks, people call ya, and they may say at the end of the first day, “Hey, I’m putting you on notice because Mom doesn’t like the caregiver.” Okay, that’s fine. And we’ll call you again in a couple of days if it doesn’t work out. Let it go a week or two, right? And then two weeks later, you call that family member back and say, how is everything going at the house?
“Oh, Mom loves Jennifer. She’s the nicest person ever. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. “
“Well I’m so glad that it’s working out. By the way, what was the issue that came up when we first got started.”
“Oh Steve, you know, Mom didn’t like the fabric softener the caregiver used.”
Or something ridiculous like that, right? So here, you just saved yourself a tremendous amount of restaffing and rescheduling, because of a one day first impression that clearly wasn’t a lasting one.
So this is just a little tiny bit of the art of closing that’s gonna help you to sell the cases, to give the patients the care that they need, that fits within their budget, so that you can grow your business and help the patient stay at home so they can age in place with dignity and grace.
Let the process do the closing for you. To learn the process you have to come to the Referral Masters Bootcamp. It’s going to be amazing. They are awesome and it’s going to sell out. Commit right now to making 2018 your best year yet. Sign up for the Hurricane Home Care Bootcamp right now, where I’ll give you everything you need to BLOW AWAY THE COMPETITION.
www.homecaremaketing.net/hurricanebootcamp
If you want to listen to “A Drink with The Hurricane” and other content from Steve and the HME Team on the go, check us out on Soundcloud.
