Laying a Foundation

Prospecting is a key activity in the life of any salesperson. It is not about selling anything or closing any deals. It should not be a long process and is not about the numbers.

Prospecting is about doing some simple and focused research. It is about determining who might need the products and services you offer and setting the stage for developing a sales and marketing plan. While this may not always be fun, every sales plan needs a good foundation.

• Where to begin? Before you begin, you should understand the costs not only of making a call but also of handling a delivery 75 or 150 miles from your location. What will you do in an emergency when someone from your office needs to go to the customer’s home? Take a look at the market territory. Where are you willing to go to make a delivery, not just a sales call? Many of your referral sources care for patients living a great distance from their office, clinic or hospital practice. You do not want to spend hours and hours seeking business from a potential customer only to find out that you cannot safely — and cost effectively — care for their patient. Get out the map and determine what areas of the community you are presently covering. Take a look at the zip codes of all the patients you are caring for. Are there some zip codes where you have no patients, make no deliveries or have no business?
• Visit the phone book The phone book should become your best ally. Start researching all of the physician groups and practices in areas where you are presently not calling. Good prospecting means looking at each physician practice carefully. You cannot afford to be driving and making calls to physician groups where no one would be interested in what you offer. You may need to call the office to determine the types of patients they care for before you attempt to get the door open. The more time you spend qualifying a potential account, the better your chance of reaching someone who has an interest in what you offer. The object is not to have a long list of names to pursue but to have a list that holds potential for business.
• Senior resource g uides Most communities in the country have some type of, or even several, senior living or senior resource guides. You can usually locate copies at local senior centers, food stores or social service agencies. Take time to review the advertisers in these books. Many will not only show potential referral sources or customers but will also provide a list of facilities where many seniors make their home. There also may be organizations in your community that have developed their own senior resource guides, such as the United Way or Jewish Family Services. Again, check the location of these corporate prospects and their own customers. Too often, home care companies find themselves being asked to make long trips to set up oxygen and then asking a respiratory therapist to drive several hours on the weekend to work with the patient. Know what you can do well; never sacrifice your reputation for accepting a patient outside of the area where you do your best work.
• Go gently into the day If you have noticed a health care conference listed in an upcoming community calendar, that does not mean you must be there. Good prospecting requires you to ask about who is attending the conference before you plan to exhibit. Make sure your time and money is well spent. That’s the same reason you do not want appointments on your calendar that are not going to expand your business reach in some way.
• Keep adding to your prospect list The prospect list needs continual feeding and nurturing. You never want it to be empty. Much of the excitement in sales is in having new customers see the value in the services and products you offer. Everyone in the company — as well as your present customers — should be contributing to your prospect or lead list.
• Work the list one name at a time You don’t need to work all the prospects at once. Each week, call on several new leads.

And remember my oft-given advice: Do not call on anyone new on Monday morning. Just in case they don’t greet you with open arms, you don’t want to deal with rejection the first thing on Monday morning.

Louis Feuer is president of Dynamic Seminars & Consulting Inc. and the founder and director of the DSC Teleconference Series, a teleconference training program. He can be reached at www.DynamicSeminars.com or by phone at 954/435-8182.