Know Thy Customer

Too often, I have asked salespeople what they know about a particular customer who is a referral source, and the response is, “Not too much, but they call very often, I think.” Others have told me they actually know very little about a referral source except information about what products they usually call about and where they work.

If you have been working with a referral source for several months or even years, it is time to learn more about these customers—if you want to keep them. The relationship you have with a referral source may be what keeps them calling—not your products. The more you know about a referral source the better you will be at maintaining the business relationship.

The health care industry is changing. New networks are on the horizon, new relationships are forming with the insurance industry and referral sources must see more patients and work longer hours. If you know little about your referral sources or where they stand in the industry or your community, they may ultimately take their business elsewhere. It takes little or no stress for a referral source to change home care providers because there is no real business relationship.

I panic when I hear about companies that take all their orders via fax and never talk to their physician referral sources. The fax machine seems to be their only link to this crucial customer. I would like to hope this is not happening frequently, but I’m not so sure.

So where do I begin to help you correct this uncultivated business relationship?  What should we be learning from our referral sources?

• Determine the special needs of a referral source, such as particular reports they would like or special times they are in their office and available.
• Determine what problems they have had with other home-care providers. What business behaviors annoy them? Why did they bring their business to your company?
• Learn about their business network. Who do they work with, or how do they interact with other departments within a hospital or clinic?
• Gain an understanding of their job responsibilities and requirements. There may be some ways you can make their work easier.
• Learn about the associations they join, groups they participate in and professional positions they may hold. These clues can help you meet other professional referral sources doing similar work.

I predict that those who know little about their customers will be the losers as the industry changes. They will be the last to know about new business opportunities, the referral source’s new involvement in an accountable care organization or the addition of new staff. They will fail to know what makes the customer happy, angry and on the verge of taking their business to your competitor.

Account assessments are not completed through a one-time sales call but are a work in progress. Know your customer. If they have a product preference and you do not carry that particular brand, be ready to discuss the features and benefits of the products you do carry.  If you do not provide certain products that the referral source may be asking for, be ready with a plan to handle that request or to refer to another company. If you learn that many of the orders will come to you on a Saturday or Sunday, be ready with a plan to handle those requests.

If a customer knows you are interested in their business, there is a much better chance they will be ready to learn about yours. Know thy customers, as it is all about them, their needs, their requests, their schedules, the diagnoses of their patients and their personalities.

Get the picture? We are not talking about you. You get business based on your ability to meet the needs of customers. The choices for the referral source, even in this age of competitive bidding, seem to be endless. Don’t be the last choice on that long list.