In Selling Healthcare: 5 Strategies to Create High-Return Relationships in Healthcare Sales, ($19.99, Que Publishing/Pearson Education) authors Gary Polsky and Andrea Rowland offer a plan for developing the sorts of relationships that lead to professional growth. With relationship-building tips, this book, while geared to healthcare sales professionals, is a good resource for anyone interested in professional relationship building. Polsky talked to Healthcare Finance News about how to build high-return relationships.
Q: Please give us a brief description of your book, and share with us what you think is its most important take away for readers.
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A: I needed to share my firsthand knowledge of the importance of strategically building and leveraging high-return relationships to achieve success in business and beyond. Moreover, my work with terminally ill patients and their loved ones has convinced me that, at the end of the day, nothing is more important than the people around you and the experiences you create together.
The most important "take away" or personal epiphany to be received is how to plan and act successfully to build professional, long-term high-return relationships with people who share your vision and can help you achieve it.
Q: You explain this in detail in your book, but for our readers, would you summarize what high-return relationships are and what are the most important tactics you suggest for developing them?
A: A high-return relationship is a mutually beneficial connection that is fueled by your sense of urgency and a shared purpose, and maintained through short- and long-term goals that you establish together. Throughout this book, we refer to a number of core strategies that will strengthen your ability to connect with prospects and deepen existing high-return relationships. These core tactics include the following:
[See also: Reading List: "Getting Unstuck"]
learn to laser-focus adopt a sense of urgency do your research project an "agenda-less" presence specialize in nonverbal communication write and write some moreQ: You note that a career in hospice sales has a lot of potential, but you also cite the salaries associated with this market as being much lower than for, for instance, medical sales representatives. Why would - or should - sales professionals consider the hospice market given the difference in salaries?
A: To become successful in hospice sales, an individual must be very passionate about hospice. They must be money motivated yet willing to see the larger picture of their long-term career. Some starting hospice sales salaries may be a little lower than other industry positions, however, a hospice professional liaison with some sales experience can start at $65,000 to $75,000 a year depending on how deep and true their actual referral source circle of influence is. Bonuses for successful "connectors" can give a liaison up to an additional $25,000 a year or over $5,000 to $6,000 a quarter. With phenomenal growth expected in the next 10 years with the aging population and the Affordable Care Act, there is so much more potential for upward movement to hospice leadership positions (CEOs, admissions managers, senior liaisons) with much higher salaries.
Q: What advice would you give sales representatives regarding developing a sales career while aligning with the Sunshine Act requirements?
A: While valuable information might be shared over meals and during outings with healthcare providers, many providers will end or limit these types of interactions with sales reps, due to fear of negative public perception and other possible ramifications. Healthcare sales professionals with the strongest customer relationships, in addition to the most compelling value propositions, will best weather the changes brought about by the Sunshine Act. The passage of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act … drives home the need for sales reps in the pharmaceutical and medical industries to build higher level, long-term focused, meaningful relationships with healthcare providers – relationships that don't hinge on catered lunches and box seats.
Q: Is there anything else you would like readers to know about your book?
A: The following is a summary of my five strategies to create high-return relationships or what I call "professional intimate relationships" for sales professionals to live by:
Strategy No. 1: Project a magnetic presence by making a memorable first impression, embracing an optimistic outlook, reducing stress, serving with humility and surrounding yourself with a knowledgeable entourage.
Strategy No. 2: Light the spark of rapport by leveraging your Likeability Factor, communicating with compassion, heeding nonverbal cues, expressing sincere interest, finding common ground and infusing client interactions with a sense of fun.
Strategy No. 3: Listen to understand by putting aside your selfish agenda to focus on your customers' needs. Use responsive listening techniques to discover useful information, including underlying emotions, and to resolve conflict.
Strategy No. 4: Show appreciation, admiration and respect through the use of positive language, appropriate touch and the expression of heartfelt gratitude.
Strategy No. 5: Write relationship development plans, driven by mutually-fulfilling goals, to guide the growth of each high-return relationship.