by Paul Cherry
Today Samantha calls on Greenville Hospital, a medium-size hospital in the suburbs of a large city. Samantha knows that this hospital has been trying to revamp its image and grow its market share, but it has come up against a wall because of the larger-than-life reputations of other nearby hospitals. She hopes that employees of the hospital will view her product as a great opportunity rather than as just another expense.
Samantha first calls on a manager in the accounting department who is listed on the hospital’s website as a contact. Here’s their conversation:
Samantha: Good morning, Richard.
Manager: Yes, how can I help you?
Samantha: I’m calling to talk with you about a product used by state-of-the-art hospitals around the world. The product is MedInfo app. Have you heard of it?
Manager: No, I haven’t. What is it?
Samantha: It’s an app that gives doctors and nurses instant access to a patient’s medical history through their smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Manager: That sounds interesting, but I bet it is expensive.
Now Samantha needs to qualify the situation to find out how interested the manager might be.
Samantha: I know that we all worry about price, but there are times when the benefits outweigh the cost. So that I can better understand your situation, may I ask you just a few questions?
Manager: Yes, please go ahead.
Samantha: When the hospital considers a new IT-related product, what is the typical evaluation process?
Manager: Well, right now the hospital is not evaluating or approving any new purchases. Over the last three or four years we have seen increasingly smaller profits and so the powers that be have proclaimed a moratorium on spending. We just can’t do it.
Samantha: Well, thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
What has Samantha learned? The most important information isn’t that the hospital has declared a moratorium on new purchases. If the value proposition is right, organizations can find the funds. But Samantha realizes from her qualifying question that this accounting manager is taking direction from “the powers that be” and doesn’t have the power to make a purchasing decision at this time. Furthermore, he probably does not have all that much insight into the day-to-day operations at the hospital.
Samantha decides not to spend her time with midlevel administrators like Richard because they have been intimidated into cutting their spending. Instead, she will focus on the doctors and nurses—the people who would actually be using her product—and hope that they will have enough influence to make the hospital executives listen.
Samantha calls the hospital directory and asks for the name and phone number of the head nurse. She calls the number but she gets sent directly to voice mail. Knowing that the head nurse probably sifts through dozens of calls each day, Samantha tries her best to be memorable with her message:
“Hi, Karin. My name is Samantha Fox, with MedInfo, and I am calling about the fact that nurses spend half their time on administrative functions—time they could better spend on patient care. We’ve helped over twenty-five thousand nurses reduce their workload on average 40 percent, and I’d like to discuss with you how our product could make your life a little easier. If you could call me back when you get a chance, we could discuss this further. My number is 555-555-1212. Thanks!”
Although Samantha left only a short message, she piqued Karin’s interest. Karin wondered, “Is there really something out there that could make my life less stressful? I hope so!” Though she’s skeptical of Samantha’s claims, she decides it’s worth at least a phone call. She makes a note to call Samantha back first thing the next morning.
Day 2. Samantha Talks with the Head Nurse
At nine the next morning, Samantha gets a call from Karin. Unlike the accounting manager she spoke with the day before, Samantha thinks that Karin will not be as focused on budgets and cutting spending. Samantha has learned from her past selling experiences that head nurses are concerned about keeping their nurses happy (internal customers) and making sure that the patients are safe (external customers). If she can steer the conversation toward these two areas, Samantha believes she will make an ally in Karin. Here’s their conversation:
Samantha: Karin, thanks so much for returning my call. As I mentioned yesterday on your voice mail, our company, MedInfo, has empowered more than twenty-five thousand nurses to do what they love doing—providing outstanding patient care, rather than pushing mounds of paperwork. I don’t know if what we offer is suitable for your needs but, to find out, may I ask you some questions?
Karin: Yes, go right ahead.
Samantha: Many nursing professionals we work with say they spend more than 50 percent of their time on paperwork and record-keeping, a problem that was recently highlighted in Nursing magazine. Did you happen to see the article? And is this an issue that you face? [That’s a great educational question to get the conversation started.]
Karin: I didn’t see the article. But I’d have to agree that our nurses probably spend half of our time on record-keeping. It’s a ridiculous waste of time! [Samantha can tell she hit a hot button by the way the customer responds to the question. Once that happens, the salesperson immediately begins to build rapport with the customer because the customer wants to open up and vent her frustrations.]
Samantha: With all of this time spent on records, how does that affect the care given to patients? [This is a great question that follows up on the customer’s statements.]
Karin: That’s the issue. I know my nurses are great at their jobs and extremely dedicated to our patients, but it seems that over the past several years we have become stretched too thin. When I first became a nurse, fifteen years ago, it was typical for a nurse to be responsible for six patients at a time. Now my nurses must care for twelve patients each, and we have more paperwork than ever before! The insurance companies and the new privacy laws mean that each patient has a stack of paperwork traveling with him—paperwork that the nurses have to fill out. My nurses are exhausted and frustrated.
Samantha: It sounds like hiring and retention could be an issue. I know that the national rate for turnover in nursing is pretty high. How is it for Greenville? [Once again our salesperson just follows the flow of the conversation and asks questions related to topics brought up by the customer.]
Karin: Well, the national average is 15 percent, but for the last two years we’ve had a 20 percent turnover rate. It is really unfortunate because we have lost some great nurses owing to these long hours and hectic schedules. [Our salesperson has uncovered one motivation for the customer: keeping internal customers—in this case nurses—happy.]
Samantha: When you lose good nurses, is it hard to find replacements?
Karin: Sure it is. There is a nationwide nursing shortage right now, and even when we find new nurses we have to spend several weeks training them. This means that another nurse must take time out from caring for her patients and train this new person.
Samantha: How much of that training involves paperwork and record-keeping?
Karin: Good question. I’d have to say at least 20 percent. Our systems are hard to work with.
Samantha: And how does this training affect patients? [Here our salesperson is broaching the topic of external customers.]
Karin: My nurses are extremely good at what they do and they give the patients the best care possible. When they’re stretched this thin, however, the best is not always good enough. It’s hard not to feel responsible. As head nurse, I am supposed to be the manager and the motivator, but lately I have found it difficult to stay positive. [It’s evident that this customer needs something to turn her situation around. It is now finally time for our salesperson to talk about her product.]
Samantha: Well, Karin, you know there are no magic bullets. I do have something, however, that I think could help. My product is MedInfo. It’s an app that gives doctors and nurses instant access to a patient’s medical history through their smart
phones, tablets, and computers. It’s highly intuitive and really streamlines record-keeping.
Karin: Sounds interesting, but how would it help me?
Samantha: The app has been shown to reduce the time nurses spend on paperwork by 40 percent on average. When a nurse administers medication, for example, instead of having to write down the date, time, type of medication, and amount on a patient’s chart, she simply presses a few buttons and it is automatically recorded in the patient’s record. Within each hospital, the MedInfo app uses a secure network and server so that all charts are automatically up to date. This eliminates the risk of a patient getting a double dose of medication, the wrong dose, or not getting his medication at all. The app also offers instant up-to-date reference material about drug interactions and correct dosage for specific heights and weights. And there’s a program that allows you to enter a patient’s symptoms and view a list of possible medical and nursing diagnoses. Somerville Hospital has been using this technology for the past year and has witnessed dramatic improvements in patient care.
Karin: Wow! You are working with Somerville? They have a great reputation in our region. I’m not sure I totally understand the app, but it sounds like it could save my nurses a lot of time and improve patient safety. You know what? I’d really like for you to talk to the doctor’s committee about this. They will be meeting tomorrow at noon. Sorry for the short notice, but if I could set it up, would you be able to come in?
Samantha: I’d love to. What do you think they would be most interested in hearing about? [Samantha wants to make sure that she can tailor her information to the specific group with which she is meeting. She also wants to make sure she gets as much inside information as possible about these other decisionmakers.]
Karin: I think that the doctors would be especially interested in the special functions you talked about—specifically getting the latest information on drug interactions and treatments. Also, most doctors would embrace a system that would help them reduce their paperwork burden. And another thing, doctors in our hospital also worry about malpractice lawsuits because insurance premiums have gotten so high. Anything that would better insulate them from lawsuits would be a definite plus. [Our salesperson has discovered that these customers focus on external customers as well as personal career goals.]
Samantha: Well, thanks so much, Karin. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Day 3. Samantha Meets with the Doctor’s Committee
Samantha arrives early for the noon doctor’s meeting in the hospital lounge. Although Karin couldn’t be at the meeting because of a prior commitment, she gave Samantha permission to share any of the comments and concerns she voiced the day before.
After a few pleasantries are exchanged and a brief introduction and overview of her company, Samantha begins.
Samantha: I want to thank all of you for agreeing to meet with me. So that I can be respectful of your time and address what’s important to you, could you share with me your level of satisfaction with the current patient chart system at Greenville?
Doctor #1: I would say we’re not all that satisfied. Currently we use a combination of computer and paper files, and information from one system often doesn’t seem to make it to the other system. And personally, I hate filling out all of this paperwork because it seems to be redundant and a waste of time. As doctors I think we would all rather be spending more time with the patients, rather than filling out paperwork in triplicate.
There are murmurs of agreement from the other doctors.
Doctor #2: Plus, I’m afraid that a fatal mistake is going to be made one day. You have so many different people—doctors and nurses, not to mention orderlies—who interact with the patient and I worry that communication breaks down. If I prescribe a medication and tell one nurse, she might be busy and hand it off to another nurse. That is fine and it happens all the time, but what if the second nurse didn’t hear the instructions correctly and gives the wrong medication or the wrong dosage? I don’t want to be liable for that.
The doctors all nod their heads.
Samantha: So, if I am hearing you correctly, you want less paperwork to fill out and a better system of communication with other hospital personnel. That’s what our app is designed to do.
Samantha goes on to tell the doctors about the MedInfo app and reiterates the benefits she’d explained to Karin. The doctors are excited about the possibilities of this new system. The doctor in charge contacts the hospital president’s secretary, who schedules an appointment for Samantha in two days.
Day 4. Samantha Gathers Information and Researches Issues Relevant to Greenville Hospital
The day before her big meeting with the president of Greenville Hospital, Samantha is convinced that her product could really help this hospital, its staff, and its patients. She knows that the MedInfo app could help put Greenville on a par with the other major hospitals in the area, such as Somerville.
In order to be fully prepared to meet the president, Samantha organizes all of the information she learned from the nurses, doctors, and even the manager of accounting. She catalogs some of the facts and figures she has discovered:
•The nursing staff at the hospital has a 20 percent turnover rate—5 percent higher than the national average.
•There are five hundred nurses on staff at the hospital, which means that each year Greenville is losing one hundred nurses. According to Karin, this is due in large part to the extreme stress and high level of frustration because of disorganization and miscommunication.
•It costs at least $10,000 to recruit and hire a new nurse.
•The doctors fear that miscommunication and poor documentation might lead to more malpractice suits. The hospital is already involved in three lengthy and costly suits and cannot afford any more.
•The medical error rate at Greenville Hospital, according to public records, is 4 percent, which translates to 20,000 errors per year. (The hospital sees 500,000 patients per year.)
•Greenville Hospital has one of the lowest insurance reimbursement percentages of any hospital in the country. The Insurance Institute, which keeps records on insurance reimbursement, tells Samantha that Greenville receives payment for only 73 percent of its bills because of poor record-keeping. Most hospitals nationwide average at least 85 percent reimbursement, and some get as high as 90 percent.
After Samantha talks with Karin and the doctors, she goes back to her friend in accounting. She asks him to estimate how much money each year has to be written off because of improper record-keeping. He estimates the loss to be close to $5 million each year.
Day 5. Samantha Sits Down with the President of the Hospital
Samantha knows that she cannot hold back when talking with Diane, the president of the hospital. The MedInfo app could save Greenville Hospital millions of dollars each year and improve patient care. All Samantha has to do now is convince Diane that an initial investment of $400,000 is well worth it.
Samantha knows that at the CEO level, most prospects are chiefly concerned with taking the organization to the next level, beating the competition, and reducing costs.
After several minutes of small talk, Samantha gets down to business. She shares with Diane all of the information she has learned over the last week, including the worries of doctors and nurses about patients and the large amount of money lost every year owing to poor record-keeping. Diane is impressed with Samantha’s ability to gather information and lay it all out on the table.
After hearing Samantha’s assessment of the hospital’s condition, Diane shares her own frustrations. She wants to make changes but fears that others in the hospital (such as the doctors and nurses) will resist change. Samantha’s information tells her that she and her staff actually share many of the same concerns, and that the hospital is ripe for an overhaul.
Samantha then gives Diane a chance to envision what the future could bring for her and the hospital if all of these problems were solved.
Samantha: If we could eliminate these probl
ems of mis communication and disorganized record-keeping—problems that are costing you at least $4 million each year—what effects do you think that would have on Greenville? [This vision question can help the customer focus her attention on the benefits of the product to the organization as a whole.]
Diane: If we could do that, the hospital would have the cash to acquire new medical technologies and recruit superstar doctors rather than trying to simply make payroll each month.
Samantha: If you could go to the hospital’s board of directors and tell them that you have saved the hospital $4 million each year and increased the hospital’s standing in the community, what would that mean to you? [This second vision question emphasizes the effects of this change on the customer, rather than the organization.]
Diane: I’d be less worried about being replaced by some cutthroat businessperson who was concerned only about money. I am a physician, and practiced medicine for twenty years before taking an administrative position. I know that a hospital can’t excel without great physicians and nurses, but the board of directors has been pressuring me to get rid of some of our best staff because of their high salaries. If I can go to them and show them that we will be saving millions of dollars, I think we’ll all feel a little more secure in our jobs. [This answer reveals the customer’s fear of losing her job and her fear of failure because she is also at risk of losing her staff.]
Samantha: Diane, that is great to hear. In your role, it’s important to keep your eye on the big picture. Let’s say three years from now, what professional goals would you want to have achieved by then?
Diane: Well, I want to worry less about the hospital’s budget, and concentrate more on attracting the most innovative doctors and purchasing the best medical technology that money can buy. In fact, I want Greenville to be the leader that Somerville is now.
Also, it would be nice to finally take a vacation after three years without one. Now, let’s look at your contract . . . . [By asking this question, our salesperson has helped the customer move beyond her fears and onto her desires. The customer now sees a link between the salesperson and the future success of the company, as well as future success for the customer herself.]
