Emphasizing the Positive Gets Results in Occ Med Sales
A successful occupational health sales professional should develop a mechanism to monitor his or her choice of words and commit to using the English language to the mutual advantage of both the provider and the sales prospects. However, sales professionals often make poor word choices at critical moments. Negative words abound in our daily vocabulary. Frequently used negative words include bad, poor, problem, complication, unacceptable, and difficult. When calling on an occupational medicine prospect, these …
Read MoreEffective Occupational Medicine Sales Through Effective Questioning
A productive occupational medicine sales effort is predicated on your ability to identify a prospect’s need and then to match that need with your services. Both require knowing when and how to ask the right questions. Why is Questioning So Important? Invariably, you begin your association with a prospect as“just another salesperson.” You must set yourself apart from the start. Breaking the ice to pique interest is one area in which well-constructed questions can secure …
Read MoreOctober 2007
Top Communicators Apply These Principles
Who among your network of colleagues and friends do you consider to be “great communicators?” What characteristics do they have in common that make them great? Consider the following principles underlying one’s ability to communicate effectively: Keep it simple. Break every message down to a simple, easy-to-digest concept. Avoid too much detail or trying to jam too many concepts into a single interchange. Use basic, short words. Assume your subject has a minimal attention span. …
Read MoreSeptember 2007
Occupational Medicine- August, 2007
The art of using the “right” words and avoiding words that tend to harm one’s sales effort is undervalued. Consider these recommendations: Use strong, descriptive, positive words. Your choice of words should reflect the image you wish to portray of your urgent care clinic, and the attributes that go along with such an image (e.g., energy, confidence, focus, and warmth). How about asking your staff to list the 10 words that reflect the most positive …
Read MoreJuly/August 2007
Using Education as an Occupational Health Marketing Tool
As marketing initiatives become increasingly self-serving, it behooves an urgent care clinic to differentiate itself by “playing the education card.” Why Education? Many employer decision-makers are still strikingly naïve about the value of a well-integrated, proactive approach to their company’s health and safety activities. Educational information does not come off as self-serving and is perceived as a “kinder and gentler” form of marketing. In our information-saturated world, it is imperative to find a way to …
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