Sales and marketingAs a regional manager, do you know how to determine if sales and marketing are on track? Do you know the most important questions you should be asking? (Hint: One of them is NOT, "What is your census today?") As an administrator, what questions should you be asking your marketing director? Do you know the 10 areas to review if a facility has a number of open beds? Do your marketing people know how to generate referrals or are they well-paid "tourists" as they make sales calls - merely visiting? What are the differences between a sales call, networking call and a marketing call? Are your people equipped with the skills and tools needed to do pre-call planning and make an effective sales call? Can they handle the five (5) concerns most often expressed by referral sources? Everyone is a potential referral source. That might be true. But do your administrators and marketing staff understand how to prioritize referral sources into "A, B, and C" priorities? Are they calling on the same people with the same results? Is there a weekly process to broaden the base for referrals? Does the pattern for the facility's inquiries project any of the four (4) warning signs? Is the facility at the mercy of one referral source and when the hospital census declines, the facility's census declines? What is the primary reason for lost inquires? Is there a systematic approach to collecting and analyzing this inquiry data to answer these questions? Most managers believe that new admissions are generated by "word of mouth." Has the facility implemented specific programs and techniques to market your facility using word of mouth? If you aren't using them, you are missing opportunities to fill your beds. Does the facility use precious time on community events or do they understand the difference between community events and "lead-generating events?" Do they know how repair a reputation problem in a community? If you don't have the answers, we do! Contact Ron Retzke at Retzke & Associates, Inc.
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