I can’t say if it is the economy, the size of our practice, or the location of our building, but something is attracting cold calls by telephone, email and in person in numbers never seen in my career. I realize that sales people have a job to do, and please do not take any of my comments directed toward them personally – I basically like all people, I just get very annoyed by some of their techniques.
I could probably spend 30 hours a day lately dealing with cold sales calls. I think part of the problem is that my contact information is being gleaned from MGMA, FLMGMA and the local MGMA chapter websites. I am active in these organizations and it is very easy for a less than assertive salesperson to obtain my contact info from any of those organizations. These cold calls, visits and emails would not be so unwelcome and abrupt if a little common sense and courtesy was applied by the salesperson. I doubt many salespeople would want me calling or visiting a place where they were closing a sale unannounced, interrupting what they were doing. I am sure if they were on their cell phone in their car in our parking lot trying to clench a deal that they would not like me knocking on their car window until they acknowledged me. The same logic applies here. I don’t know what perception there is of a medical administrator’s day or workload, but we usually are not hard pressed to be busy every minute of every day just trying to keep ahead of running the office or being run by our office. (Couple that amount of work with blog writing and list serve participation….well….)
There are three infringement sales techniques that I’ll address in this blog, but if you are a sales person, don’t be afraid, I will also give you some tips and hints on how to convert your abrupt art of cold calling and interruptions into a workable business relationship that will help both of us.
First, we can talk about the pants on fire salesperson. They are the one who calls or shows up at your office stating they have an appointment, or talked to Dr. X who told them it would be good for them to come by. I keep my appointment calendar and due to the pace of our office, it stays full with blocked slots. I also will normally call my front desk and let them know 15-30 minutes ahead of time if I am expecting someone. The pants on fire salesperson could save themselves a bunch of gas and time by never coming to my office if they cannot be honest. If they come in untruthful to start off with, any business relationship that develops after that will surely not be a trustworthy one. If you want to get your product or service reviewed/considered, be up front and truthful. Don’t think that you will win extra clever points sliding in a side door being deceptive.
The second type of salesperson is the “I’ll beat anybody’s price” salesperson. This technique is not something that is appreciated either. Again, it all goes back to time available to negotiate and evaluate current services or products and the potential of changing them. I DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY OF MY VENDOR’S PRICES TO THEIR COMPETITORS! I expect my current vendors to be giving me their best price, and as a result, I do not share their pricing with those in competition with them. Also, if you are coming to me to sell me your product/service, I expect you to be giving me your best price when you quote it. And a little side note, if I am currently doing business with you and decide to change, that is not the time to let me know that you can lower my prices. You have just done two things then. You have let me know that you have been overcharging me for the entire time we have been doing business and you have ensured that I most likely will not be doing any business with you in the future.
I’d like to entitle the next salesperson type the woodpecker. No matter if it is by telephone, email or in person, this type of salesperson keeps showing up pecking and pecking at you and your staff with their information weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever frequency over and over and over. All the while, they email, call and show back up stating that they never heard from us and that they would stop emailing, calling, coming by if we could just meet with them and tell them why we aren’t interested in their service/product. These are really appreciated all the more when you get a message that “I haven’t heard back from you, so I’ll just drop in next week when I am by your place.” I had one lady show up without an appointment last week from New Jersey! Traveled all the way here to see our practice from New Jersey! I do hope her company does a better job of tracking her expense account than how she made it appear! Here’s probably the best tip for cold call salespeople using the woodpecker technique– If I don’t email or call you back, especially after 3 or 4 contacts from you – I am not interested at all. I know it may seem rude to people that I actually ignore sales calls, but with the amount I receive, spending just ten minutes per call could eat up a very large portion of my day.
I know all the above sounds like the ranting of an unappreciative grouchy old man, but I do have some advice as to how to “get to us” with your sales pitches. If you glean our contact info from organizations, join the organization, come to functions they sponsor, or go as a visitor of a client to a meeting or such. Sales calls do not seem near as cold when people can attach a name to a face, or at least know who you are with or who you are prior to calling or dropping by our places of work. Also, be truthful and up front when you call or visit and office, and pay as much respect to the receptionists and phone people as you do the owners/managers/physicians. This may be a novel idea, but when you email or call our office, ask if you can come by, do not tell us when your will be by. And finally, especially during these tough and changing economic times, realize that your best price is what will so many times make or break your offer. Keep in mind I did not say lowest, because cheapest is not always best. Show the value for your service/product related to your price and then give us your best price, and you will be amazed at how many sales can be made.