The Value of Developing
Relationships in Selling
NextGen National Sales Meeting 2012
By James Muir, VP Southwest Region
NextGen – The best job on the planet?
• Perfect Alignment – Our software helps people
– Help those who help others
– You can affect many lives for good by helping care-givers be the best they can be
• You can make a lot of money
• I want that for all of you
• But you will have to work for it – That’s what this session is about
– To help you know what to work on.
The most important thing this week!
• The most important part of this
program and this week is…
• …what you do afterwards.
More Ideas Than You Can Handle
• Write them down
• Take action immediately
• Review your idea list methodically
• Take action again
• It’s all about execution
• One idea executed is better than 100
ideas that never get implemented
Drink From the Fire Hose
The Selling Sweet Spot
• Satisfaction of knowing
you added real value to
your client
• Pleasure of genuine
relationships with your
clients
• Earning a handsome
income
How to Hit the Sweet Spot
• You need to do more than hoc software
• Be viewed as a Partner & Consultant and have a real relationship with the client
Why develop relationships as part of
my sales efforts?
• Clients will share more information with you
• Clients will ask for advice & accept your recommendations
• Clients will refer you to others & be a reference for you
• Clients will forgive your mistakes
• Clients will protect & warn you
• You will make more and bigger sales
• “Trusted Advisors” are 70% more likely to come away with
the sale. – Susan Mulcahy – “Evaluating the costs of sales calls in business to business
markets: a study of more than 23,000 business” (Washibgtin: Cahners Research,
January 2002), p.8
• Ego stroke…
Dave Kane Email
• Go to Outlook…
How to Develop Valuable Relationships
• But before that how about a quick survey?
Self – Survey!
What do you want from your client?
• A sale?
• You want them to be insanely successful.
• What do you get when they become insanely successful? – Reference
– Case study
– Education
• If you are selling your client and abandoning them you are making a big mistake.
• Referencable clients are probably the best selling shortcut there is – Economics of Selling Sidebar?
– Enduring good business is more important than the value of the current transaction.
– Example: Banner Health Systems, El Rio, IASIS
Not just a sale!
How to Develop Valuable Relationships
Actually Care
• Two word formula:
If you are focused on their success
they will focus on your success
Once they understand that you are
genuinely looking out for them and that
you are a resource – everything
changes.
What Specifically Can We Do to Develop
Better Relationships?
• Thanks for the platitudes James but
specific things can I do to develop better
relationships with prospects & clients?
What Clients Want in a Sales Person
• What are the 4 most important factors when
customers select vendor solutions?
• Write down the top 7 things your clients
want from you.
Quiz!
Discussion
• What did you come up with?
What are the 4 most important factors
when customers select vendor
solutions?
Write down the top 7 things your clients
want from you.
HR Chally Exhaustive Study
• Based on HR Chally’s 14 year study
– Over 80,000 interviews with B2B
customers
– Data collected from over 7,200 sales
forces
What Factors are Most Important When
Customer’s Select Vendors?
The Sales Person (you) are the most influential factor.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Salesperson Competence
Total Solution
Quality of Offering
Price
39%
22%
21%
18%
The top 7 Things Clients Want From
Their Sales Rep (You)
• Are you ready?
The Top 7 Things Clients Want From
Their Sales Rep
Your clients want you to:
1. Personally Manage their Satisfaction
2. Understand their Business
3. Act as a Customer Advocate
4. Expertly Recommend Products & Applications
5. Be Easily Accessible
6. Solve Technical, Implementation & Political Problems
7. Find Innovative Solutions for their Needs
Source: HR Chally annual study 2007
Your Roles
Customer Desires Your Professional Role
Personally Manage their Satisfaction Business Result Agent
Understanding their Business CEO
Act as a Customer Advocate Advocate & Expediter
Expertly Recommend Products & Applications
Trusted Advisor & Consultant
Be Easily Accessible Available Resource
Solve Technical, Training & Political Problems
Troubleshooter
Find Innovative Solutions for their Needs Innovator
QUIZ
• What are our customers buying from us? *
#1 - Personally Manage their Satisfaction
• Customer’s invest in results not products
• Orient yourself toward outcomes – What outcomes does this customer want?
• This means managing post-sales activities – Implementation & results
• Are you a: – Closer?
• Hit & Run (most)
– Verifier? • Make sure it gets installed & services when necessary (fewer)
– Outcome Manager? • Takes responsibility for the ultimate benefit that customer hope
to receive (world-class – smallest percentage)
• Strategic Accounts
– It takes 1/10 the time to do business with an existing customer
than it does to acquire a new one. • McKinsey & Co. 2005 study, “Customer Acquisition Makes a Comeback”, Don Peppers
– The 3 Greatest Skills for Accountability
• Make yourself a major point of contact
• Manage a team of experts
• Being a ROI Expert
• Sample statements to convey accountability:
– “I am personally accountable to make sure we get these
results.”
– “I will help you do that.”
– “Because I’m your rep we are married. I will be with you
throughout your whole project.”
#1 - Personally Manage their Satisfaction
QUIZ
• What is the 1# Complaint about sales reps
by B2B customers according to the extensive
study by The HR Chally Group?
• Answer:
“The sales rep didn’t understand my business.”
Ask Yourself:
• What are key performance indicators for
this client?
• A client has asked you to run their practice
for the next 8 weeks. Are you in trouble?
Are they in trouble?
#2 - Understanding their Business
• The second most important thing to your customer is
that you understand their business.
• What do you need to know? You need: 1. Vertical Knowledge
• Ambulatory Healthcare
• Clinical Workflow
• Clinic Administration
• Hospital Dynamics
2. Horizontal Knowledge • Software
• Computer Systems
• Networking
3. Specialized Knowledge • Specialties (Community Health, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, OBGYN, Derm, etc.)
• NextGen Reports
• Worklog
• Etc.
• 84% of sales people do not adequately understand the
business of their customers. – Intellexis Report, 2006
• How to convey you understand your client’s business – Learn, so you actually DO understand their business
– Use inside jargon *they* understand in their business
– Ask about possible outcomes when you hear issues
• Example: “Oh, so does that mean you are experiencing X?”
– Suggest solutions that reveal you understand their business
– Tell them about, or send them an article you read in a industry journal
– Etc.
• Where can I go to learn my client’s business? – Attend Go-lives
– Internet articles
– Trade Show Sessions
– Trade Journals (MGMA Journal, HFM, Physicians Practice, etc.)
– PodCasts
– Books (Greebach Publishing, MGMA, Physicians Practice)
– FASTPractice
– Workshops
– James – Just ask me and I will help you. (Today’s Session)
• What do I do until I have learned about their business? – LISTEN very carefully
– Don’t assume anything
#2 - Understanding their Business
#3 Act as a Customer Advocate
• 50-60% of salesperson time is spent addressing unresolved client
issues
• Facilitate & Delegate
• Three Skills for Advocates
1. Know our company & who to go to.
2. Create a support network. • Company resources
• Our team
• Outside resources
3. Communicate the Customer’s Needs & Expectations. • Know their needs and expectations
• Communicate that in correspondence
• Communicate that in the STR
• How to convey you are an advocate – Tell them you will “report back” and the do.
– Add “for you” to you emails.
– Provide unsolicited, beneficial information
– Get them what they want (if it’s right)
– Coach them on how to get what they want with NextGen & others
– Etc.
QUIZ (check for time)
• Solving Business Problem With NextGen
• DOC: NextGen – Name that tool
#4 Expertly Recommend Products & Applications
• Know how our application creates outcomes &
know how to demo it.
• Four levels of application competence:
1. Specification • Is our solution the best solution to the customer’s problem?
– Know how to apply our product to create a solution
– Understand the problem & the results the client is seeking
2. Installation • Know how our application is implemented for successful results.
3. Integration • Know how our application integrates with other systems & the
customer’s business.
4. Usage • Know how customers actually use our application to produce outcomes.
• Evaluate “fit” with the client
– If the fit is poor, say so & move on.
• Recommend solutions whether that solution
includes NextGen or not. – Suggest 3rd party solutions
– Introduce your client to 3rd parties
• How to convey expertise in applying solutions
– Describe exactly how to produce the outcome or solve
the problem
– Explain how others have solved the problem
– Help them evaluate non-NextGen options
– Much more…
#4 Expertly Recommend Products & Applications
QUIZ
• How likely are clients to be referencable
when they know their rep vs. ones who
don’t?
• What kind of interaction creates the
highest loyalty and satisfaction?
Do Your Clients Really Know You?
• HR Chally Study
– Physician offices who are familiar with & know their rep by name were 90% likely to be loyal & referencable.
• The greater degree of “live” interaction (personal meetings & phone calls) the higher the satisfaction & loyalty levels.
• Consistency of Response is Key
– Consistency of response is the primary way clients measure quality.
• (Parasuraman & Schlesinger 1990, Harvard Business Review, HR Chally )
• Product quality was found to be significantly less important than the consistency & quality of response.
#5 Be Easily Accessible
• The 5th most important thing to your
customer is that you be easily
accessible.
• Clients Measure Response Quality in 4
Ways:
1. How quickly initial contact is established
2. How soon the response is delivered
3. How appropriate the response is
4. The quality & follow-through of the response
Salespeople Suck at Calling Clients Back
• 72% of inquiries are never
contacted at all
• 43% receive requested
information too late
• 18% never receive the info they
request at all
• When we don’t respond or respond late
we send a message that the client is not
important – now as a prospect and later
as a client.
Customers Demand Instant Acknowledgement
• Customers Demand Instant
Acknowledgement
• Acknowledge client’s
messages immediately – Phone, email, in person, etc.
• It changes their perception
of the wait time – See Principles of Waiting – David Maister 1985
– You don’t have to have the answer/solution/etc.
How to Respond
• Creating a Quick Response Plan
• What Client’s Want
1. Tell them what you plan do
2. How long it should take
3. The type of resolution the can expect
4. Do you have a contingency plan?
How to be Accessible
• Use Technology – If you don’t use the technology to respond it backfires on you.
– Email in your in-box (NextGen Phone System, GoogleVoice)
– Cell Phone (Text)
• Offer alternative people they can contact
• Regular contact improves the perception of
accessibility – Schedule time to contact existing customers
• Manage your time better – 17% of salesperson time is completely wasted – salespeople think it’s 4%
• Proudfoot Consulting study –
• Already have answers to the questions you know they
will have – Will I have to do this again? Then build it.
#6 Solve Technical, Training & Political Problems
• Get used to (& good) at troubleshooting – On average salespeople spend 60% of their time
resolving product & service issues
– Facilitate & Delegate
• Problems are Inevitable – Every vendor makes 3-5 mistakes per account per year
on average
• Problem-solving is an opportunity – Studies show good service recovery is better than
avoiding an issue altogether
• Blame is counterproductive – Studies show clients don’t care anyway – they just want
results
• You are personally accountable for problem
resolution.
– At least that is what the customer wants & expects
• Problem-solving steps
1. Identify the Problem
2. Investigate the Problem
3. Report the investigation results
4. Develop the response to the problem
5. Manage the plan to ensure resolution
• You are playing the Advocate role here
#6 Solve Technical, Training & Political Problems
#7 Find Innovative Solutions for their Needs
• 38% of decision makers look to you for innovative ideas. – Global CEO Study, 2006
• Providing innovative ideas gives you a direct channel to executives
• Knowledge you need to provide innovative responses & solutions 1. Technical Expertise
• Knowing how to use the product
2. Industry Expertise
3. Cross-Functional Expertise • Applying knowledge from one area to another
The Magnificent Seven
1. Personally Manage their Satisfaction
2. Understanding their Business
3. Act as a Customer Advocate
4. Expertly Recommend Products & Applications
5. Be Easily Accessible
6. Solve Technical, Implementation & Political
Problems
7. Find Innovative Solutions for their Needs
Check for Time
The Rest of the Story
• Dave Kane & HCA
Conclusion
To be successful developing your client relationships:
1. Actually Care
2. Intent counts more than technique
3. Magnify your 7 roles with the customer
• This week – Take Immediate Action on Your
Ideas!
Speaker
• 25+ Years in Revenue Cycle Management & Billing Service
Administration
• BA, Brigham Young University
• Author, 2 books, hundreds of articles including articles for the MGMA
Connexion and Advance For Health Information Executives
• Educator for many organizations including various MGMA chapters and
Metro managers groups.
• Certifications from IBM, 3Com, Miller-Heiman, Franklin Covey and JES.
• Longstanding active participant with MGMA & HFMA
James M Muir VP Sales NextGen Healthcare – Southwest Region NextGen Healthcare Speaker, Author, Educator www.linkedin.com/in/puremuir/ [email protected]
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