John King, Executive Vice President of Sales and Operations for Vital Care Infusion Services, recently shared how his organization builds a strategic sales process for his sales team using market insights. View the full webinar here.
At Vital Care, Market Insights from Trella Health are used to create territory plans, find the best opportunities for referrals, and validate that those strategies in place are generating the best results possible. John shared his process for guiding his sales team to success in growing the business and building a strategic sales process, including:
- Recruiting and Training Your Sales Team
- Identifying and Prioritizing Targets
- Provider Specific Targeting Strategies
- Monthly Reviews and Evaluations
Recruiting and Training Your Sales Team
When recruiting the right sales professionals, the Vital Care Team starts by identifying the top therapies, specialists, and territories they prioritize as targets. From there, they can hire reps that are the best fit for that territory, based on their experience. For example, a rep with experience in antibiotics or anti-infectives can be placed in a territory where those therapy groups would be their focus.
Once the right team members have been recruited, a training plan is created around specific modules such as therapies, payer claims, and specialists that are the top priorities. Specific accounts, providers, or medical offices are flagged to be built into the routing plan. They also utilize referral pattern historical data and seek guidance from seasoned account executives on their past experiences with these accounts. Market insights are used to draw up the entire territory, but field knowledge formalizes the targeting plan.
Identifying Therapies and Specialties to Target
The next step is identifying the therapies and specialties to target that will be the most beneficial to the organization. There is a strategic sales process with building the routing plan, and provider targets are divided into four buckets: A accounts, B accounts, C accounts, and D accounts. The A accounts are the top 25% ranking physicians or medical offices where the most time should be dedicated, such as a weekly visit. These accounts have the most referral potential. The next 25% will be B accounts, which should involve a bi-weekly visit, then so on. The goal is to move your Ds to a C, your Cs to a B, your Bs to an A, and keep your As sending as many referrals as possible. Your visits must be consistent to avoid losing those referrals to your competition.
Provider Specific Targeting Strategies
Once the targets have been prioritized, a strategy is created for each specific doctor or medical office. The individual plans are based on market insights that include competitive pharmacies used, payer information, and the number of referrals that a specific provider has written in the last 12 months.
If you’re visiting a provider that consistently refers to your competition, you need to find ways to differentiate your organization. Market data shapes your approach when you’re aware of the pharmacy a physician is partnering with. With this knowledge, you can ask questions as to why this is their preferred partner, show how your organization ranks in comparison, and provide them with insight on why your organization is a better option for their patients.
Market insights equip sales teams with the tools they need to ask referral partners the right questions and the preparation allows them to feel more confident in their conversations. The first or second call may not relay into a referral, but with additional planning and validation, you very well can win over their business.
Monthly Reviews and Evaluations
Vital Care consistently evaluates its sales process with a monthly review and reflection. They compare how many referrals a provider has been sending to the organization and what percentage of the market share is being received by reviewing referral patterns. This reflects any referral increases from the sales team efforts and validates if time is being invested appropriately.
Additionally, in these reviews, the team is asking “What went well in these calls? How can we improve? What is our patient and provider feedback? Are there any accounts that we want to add into our call?” It’s a strategic process that is very divisive and diversified in each specific territory.
Continually review your strategy to stay on top of referral patterns, identify potential new referring physicians, and market share going to your competition. There may be opportunities in your market you aren’t currently aware of.
As an organization, your goal should be both referral and referral source growth. New patient referral growth is the lifeblood of any Infusion organization, and your strategy should evolve to also include new referral sources. With market insights, you can analyze trends with payers and competitive pharmacies to narrow down focus and strategy. Market growth occurs when you have the right steps in place to build upon identified areas of opportunity.
Watch the full webinar, or to learn more about how Trella Health can help your organization grow, request a demo now.
