SELLING STRATEGIES by Maura Schreier-Fleming
Maura Schreier-Fleming is a professional salesperson, sales trainer, and motivational speaker. An engineer by training, she was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. With over 20 years of sales experience, she teaches the art and science of selling with a unique, hands-on perspective and a great deal of real-life insight. She can be reached at Maura@BestatSelling.com or 972.380.0200.
If you are ever a patient in a hospital, take a look around. You’ll notice some practices that will not only keep you healthy, but they’ll also make you a better salesperson.
customers. They know their customers well enough to ask about their families and actually care about the answers.
I certainly hope your good habits and genetics keep you healthy and away from needing a hospital stay. Now that you know good hospital practices and apply them to your business, you can keep your sales healthy, too.
I recently had to take my daughter to a wonderful hospital, New England Baptist, for ACL reconstruction surgery. Too much tennis will do that to you.
Each sales support person has the same mission to serve customers so they want to continue to do business with you. That’s what keeps customers buying again and again.
Three Plead Guilty in “Arthritis Kit” Scheme
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Keep Everyone On the Same Page There were lots of people involved in the process. The participants were the patient registrar, the physical therapists, the nurse liaison, the pain management team, the nurse anesthetist, the anesthesiologist, the operating room nurses, the surgeon, the post op nurses, and a surgical fellow. Who knew how many more were behind the scenes that we didn’t see?
Get It Right the First Time Patient safety and reducing errors are a big part of medicine today. Each member of the team asked my daughter her name, checked her ID bracelet for a match, asked about drug allergies and checked for the surgeon’s initials on the correct knee. This surgery was going to be done on the right person and the right body part!
medical equipment (DME) company. Kendabie, 27, was an administrative assistant at B.I. Medical; Babanumi, 42, was a patient recruiter. Kendabie and Babnumi each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Idiong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and to five counts of health care fraud.
Each member of the medical team made sure they were working toward the same goal. They were all focused on making this a successful surgery.
Before doing their work, each one asked how my daughter was doing. They asked if she had questions. They patiently waited for her response. They let us stay with her to keep her comforted up until she went into surgery.
How careful are you in your operation about making sure you serve the customer the way he wants to be served? Do you get it right each time? Maybe a customer has special delivery instructions. Who knows to check them before the delivery is made? If your customer forgets to mention them, does the inside salesperson know to recheck when the order is placed?
You’ve got lots of people involved in your sales process. Do you know how they interact with your customers? I’ve seen wonderful delivery people who do more than they need to. They stock shelves for customers who need their help.
Reduced Risk Makes It Easy to Buy Just as the medical staff’s repeated checks reduce risk and ensure patient safety, your job in sales is to reduce risk and make your customers feel comfortable buying. How can you do that? Build credibility with ever interaction.
The defendants admitted that B.I. Medical billed Medicare for expensive, rigid orthotics and braces that were packaged together and referred to as an “arthritis kit,” at a cost of approximately $4,000 per kit, when in fact, they were supplied with different, less expensive products. The defendants also admitted that the equipment supplied was not medically necessary. In one instance, according to the plea agreements, B.I. Medical billed Medicare for an arthritis kit that included two knee braces for a beneficiary who had only one leg. In total, B.I. Medical submitted approximately $846,000 in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
I’ve seen inside salespeople who never
meet their customers face-to-face yet
build strong relationships with their
Every promise must be honored. From
returning phone calls to accurate in-
voicing, all are promises that build
your credibility and make customers
confident that they are making the
right buying decision.
U.S. District Court Judge Vanessa Gilmore of the Southern District of Texas accepted the defendants’ guilty pleas and scheduled sentencing for June 14, 2010. The defendants each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, per count.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Chief John S. (Jay) Darden and trial attorneys Jennifer L. Saulino, John Cunningham, and Katherine Hous-
12 MARCH 11, 2010 • THE INSURANCE RECORD
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