Case Study:

Healthcare

Leading Long-Term Care Provider Implements The IMPACT Selling® Methodology and Brooks Talent Index Hiring Assessments to Generate an Additional $1,240,650 in Revenue

This long-term healthcare organization has over 300 facilities nationwide and enjoys strong sales with revenue of over $3 billion annually. But the executive management team wanted to achieve a more profitable mix of managed care, private pay and Medicare in its patient base.

This organization was struggling with other sales problems including:

Relying on an ineffective “homegrown” selling system few sales reps were using
No sales culture – many employees thought “care giving” was incompatible selling and took a negative view of selling as a profession
High turnover among salespeople

This long-term care facility network chose to license the IMPACT Selling System so their internal trainers could teach IMPACT whenever and wherever training was needed. They also began using the Brooks Talent Index assessment system to screen out prospective employees who were not well-suited to their sales positions.

Results

In four years Medicare census grew by 31%
Managed care has grown by 97%
After one year, sales turnover in the largest division of the company was down to single digits

Situation

This long-term healthcare company is consistently at the cutting edge in its industry, and works hard to stay ahead of the curve. Prior to The Brooks Group’s intervention, recent sales reports had been good, but the executive management team wanted to see a more profitable mix of managed care, private pay and Medicare in its patient base.

The organization had been using what some executives described as a “homegrown” selling system developed by their internal training department. The selling system was only being used by a handful of dedicated salespeople and was not integrated into the culture organization-wide.

Like many healthcare-oriented businesses, this company lacked a strong internal sales culture. In fact, many of the people who were responsible for selling the organization’s services were more focused on the care-giving aspect of the industry and actually had a negative opinion of selling as a career. Most were embarrassed by having to go out and dig up new business.

Another symptom of the lack of a sales culture was high-turnover among the sales personnel. Many were uncomfortable with the idea of selling or not very successful at selling. As a result, there was a constant “churn” of sales personnel throughout the organization.

When key executives of this organization gathered for their sales conference, a representative from The Brooks Group delivered a keynote speech that helped pinpoint the challenges that the company faced. They hammered home the message that the organization would have to undertake a major cultural shift in order to transform the company into a sales-driven business.

Solution

Company executives immediately began to look into different options for training and developing their sales personnel. They ultimately chose The Brooks Group based on its comprehensive methodology for achieving the transformative results they desired. The executive management team also liked the idea of being able to license the IMPACT Selling System to their internal trainers so they could deliver training on demand without paying per-head fees each time.

Here’s how the process took shape:

Step 1 – Screening & Assessment

The Brooks Group introduced the Brooks Talent Index assessment system to define the fundamental qualities required for success in each position within the organization. Current employees took the assessment to learn which areas they needed to develop for better performance. Prospective employees took the assessment so the organization could identify and hire the right people for each position.

Step 2 – Customized Design

The organization chose to license The Brooks Group’s proven IMPACT Selling System, but also wanted to modify the curriculum to target specific corporate missions, sales role requirements, and the culture in the organization and industry. They introduced IMPACT Selling training through a pilot program that included key executives and managers as well as sales personnel who were strongly committed to the organization’s previous internal selling system.

Step 3 – Program Delivery

The organization’s internal trainers participated in multiple Train-the-Trainer sessions to master delivering the IMPACT program. They began a rollout of the sales training program with top-level Market Development Directors nationwide. Decision-makers were so thrilled with the success of the training program in one division; it quickly became an organization-wide endeavor. To date, over 700 people from this Long-Term Care Facility Network have participated in the IMPACT Selling training program.

Step 4 – Reinforcement & Team Coaching

After their initial training program, the trainees began the 9-week IMPACT Sales Coaching™ to help drive adoption of the IMPACT Selling System out on the field. The Brooks Group trained top-level marketing directors to serve as coaches for their teams. The program included weekly homework assignments and teleconferences specifically related to the challenges and opportunities that the company’s market directors and admissions directors face in their day-to-day jobs. At least 300 individuals linked in to the Internet-based program at some time during the year.

Step 5 – Measurable Accountability

Sales managers began using specific accountability tools to track progress and continue reinforcing IMPACT Selling in the field. Brooks Talent Index assessments have established an organization-wide standard for making sound hiring decisions.

The Bottom Line For This Long-Term Care Facility Network

This Long-Term Care Facility Network is thrilled with the success of IMPACT Selling. People at every level of the organization believe that IMPACT has become a positive part of the organization’s culture. Sales personnel throughout the organization are committed to using this selling system to get better, more consistent results.

Medicare census grew by 20% in the year following IMPACT Selling training; managed care has grown by 20% year over year. The Brooks Talent Index assessment system has drastically reduced turnover and increased job satisfaction. In just one year, the largest division of the company saw turnover plummet into the single digits.

Testimonials

“I’ve been very successful in meeting the objectives that I set for myself at the beginning of the program. I was able to break into a major health system; I got to know the discharge team and generated many new referrals.”

“I’m thrilled to finally have the validation so that I can truly believe that selling is a noble career. I’m now looking forward to finding more ways to stay self-motivated and maximize my selling time.”

“I learned how to increase and diversify my pool of prospects so that I don’t become dependent on one sales source. I now understand the importance of ASKING customers what they need and want instead of just telling them what our facility has to offer (as they may not have a need for everything I’m explaining). And, I’m getting better results because I’ve learned how to prepare questions in advance instead of just ‘winging it’.”

“I’ve learned to properly position, prospect and pre-call plan in order to be in front of the right people at the right time with the right message. I’ve realized how important it is to build trust and rapport with each prospect and learned better ways to do that. I can now uncover – and build my sales presentations around – the conditions, terms and parameters under which my prospect will buy.”