What we are about

1       Our WHY

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The key driver and vision behind what we do is referred to as our WHY.  This is the element that is the very core of what we are as a business and drives our ethos.  This WHY is then needs to be delivered throughout the customer lifecycle from Product Development, Sales, Marketing, Support, Implementations, Training, Administration and Finance.

To be very clear, our WHY is not our software a features, this is what we do.  A great recall system or Utilisation management is how we do it, but the key point here is WHY we do it.  We need to believe it, buy in to it and deliver it to our customers and the sales process is no exception.

If any aspects of our business do not line up to our WHY then we need to challenge this.  This is what I expect from our team and as a key customer facing element of the business, your feedback is critical.

2       Methodology Purpose

This document describes the Henry Schein One sales methodology that we want to roll out on a consistent basis across our existing and new customer base.  The purpose of this document is to set out clear expectations of our Business Development and Account Management team and to outline how Henry Schein One approaches the market.

This methodology on its own is not a magic bullet, but it will complement the work which is currently being conducted within our Marketing, Product, Support & Customer Onboarding teams.  If we are living up to our WHY of “Turning good practices in to great businesses”, then we need to start with a sale process which ensures that customer is entering the Henry Schein One family with the intent of engaging with our WHY to become a great business and therefore be an advocate for Henry Schein One.

3       Objective

The objective of this methodology is to facilitate sales to exceed our budgeted targets within any given QTR.  Additionally we must ensure our customers are engaged in our WHY and open to further value added product conversions.  The specific products we are focusing on below are in order of value/preference:

• EXACT New System Sales

• Practice Accelerator Packs

• Individual VAPs

  • Online Booking

  • SMS

  • EasyPost

  • ExaminePro

  • Oravisor

4       Expectations

It is expected that the Business Development team are able to:

• Display a detailed understanding of, and ability to successfully apply, the HSO methodology as described in this document.

• Display strong knowledge of the dental practice business models as well as the issues which are facing our customers – these are used to generate the appropriate type of discussion, engage the customer and establish credibility.

• Understand and focus in on the WHY

• Behave in a manner that lines up with our professional services/challenger approach at all times.

• Deeply understand the Henry Schein distribution business and leverage that relationship for mutual benefit.

• Complete all procedural items (hygiene factors) as required.

5       Target Market

We have 4 distinct market segments which are listed below.

Paper Based

Paper based dentists are local dentists who are still using a paper based system.  It is assumed that this segment consists of older dentists who have been practicing for over 15 years.  They are unused to dealing with computerised systems as they would have been trained in paper only.  Computer technology is new to them and there is a perception that the learning curve to transition to a computer system is too steep to warrant implementing at their practice.

Start Ups

Startups are new local dental practices.  It is assumed that this segment is more ‘tech savvy’ and fundamentally understand the benefits of using a computer based system to run their practice.

This segment is reliant on word of mouth alongside what they have been exposed to / have experience with in the past.  It is important here to keep leveraging the Henry Schein relationships to ensure Henry Schein One has access to this group as the Henry Schein sales team are an excellent source of market intelligence.

Competitive/Legacy Conversion

Competitive customers are local dental practices using a competitor’s software system.  Namely D4W, Practice Works or older unsupported products.  It is assumed that this segment is more ‘tech savvy’ and fundamentally understand the benefits of using a computer based system to run their practice.

Corporate

The dental corporates are groups that own multiple dental practices (e.g. Lumino, Dental Corp, etc). They are large entities that typically own 50 or more practices. They are typically focused on acquiring businesses that are innovative, high quality and have shown strength in the market.  In turn they offer admin, marketing, HR, IT and financing support allowing smaller practices to leverage off of their brand and business experience.

This group is predicted to grow in the Australasian market.  Each corporate decision making process is different and varies from a centralised decision making process to practice choice.  While the decision making process is different, the delivery of the key selling messages remain identical to that of a high street practice as a number of the principles are remunerated on commissions as well as earn outs.

5.1    Henry Schein

The Henry Schein sales team has been identified as a key lead generation opportunity.  Henry Schein is the largest distributor of consumables and equipment in our markets and their sales team will see/engage with most customers at least monthly.  Due to the nature of some of the exclusive lines, it is likely that almost all potential customers in our market are on the HS books.  Therefore we have a key relationship to develop and maintain which will be achieved via the following methods:

HS Ride Along

This is a key element in building a relationship with the HS rep.  Uninterrupted time in the car is an ideal opportunity to sell the benefits of the HSO to the HS team as well as an educational process as we engage with each practice.  The key focus is around imparting knowledge around practice revenue growth as well as ensuring that there are some key qualification tools that the HS rep can use with their customers to generate a live lead.

Joint sales calls/demo’s are also incredibly valuable.  If we can do joint presentation, we get credibility from the consumable rep and therefore puts Henry Schein One in a highly credible position in the customers eyes.

HS Sales Meetings

To be part of the HS family is critical for Henry Schein One.  Therefore attendance at all of the local HS sales meetings is mandatory.  We need to be seen as another member of their team and someone they trust to deal with their customer base.  It is highly recommended that the opportunity to speak at these meetings is encouraged along with a general thank you and possible prize for the most leads as well as sharing success stories.

Rebate Model

The rebate model is a closing tool that is used to increase the consumables commitment from a practice which then provides a rebate to the customer.  This works as follows:

During our sales process as part of the close we get a commitment from the customer that they will give Henry Schein an increased consumable spend of $15K PA (note average spend is approx. $40k).  We need to liaise with the HS rep to understand what their current spend is and if this is an opportunity for this site.

At the end of year 1, if the site has delivered an incremental $15K spend then HSO will send the customer a $1.5K cheque.

This continues for two more years and is only payable if they get above the $15K incremental spend.  This model will encourage the HS reps to bring us in to more accounts as this will actively grow their customer consumable spend.

Lead Generation & Sale SPIFF

To encourage lead generation, HSO provides a SPIFF to the HS sales team for qualified leads.  These leads must be registered on the HSO lead tracker http://info.softwareofexcellence.com/apacleads.  If a lead is given in any given month, then the lead payment will be made in the following months pay cycle.

Should the lead be converted, the HS rep is eligible for a further $500 payment.

All leads and sales will be reported back to the HS team via the fortnightly newsletter.  Note that the leads are for new business only and will not be paid if it is for an existing customer OR an unqualified lead.

Four ways to benefit Henry Schein

Note that the HS consumable rep has 4 x opportunities to benefit through working with Henry Schein One:

§  Lead SPIFF - $50.00

§  Sales SPIFF - $500.00

§  Rebate Program (Larger share of the wallet) - more commission

§  Increase in practice revenue (larger wallet) - more commission

How do we get their interest?

While the incentives above make sense to us these do not necessarily get traction with the HS team.  They are dealing with 10,000 lines with multiple distractions, so how do we cut through and how do we make their life better?

Keep it really simple.  Let’s not bombard them with multiple facts, figures and questions, in fact let’s just boil it down to 3 questions.  Remember the key rules below.

Rule1: Don’t talk about the features, Rule 2: Don’t talk about the features

§  In the Software Market, half the time features can easily mean nothing to the customer and the rest of the time there is a 50% chance the feature you’re talking about won’t benefit them

§  Therefore talking about features is probably 25% effective

§  Instead there are 3 simple questions you can ask….

§  These questions have been designed to start a conversation about a current and specific problem the practice may have

So with the above in mind, how to get their interest? Well again let’s keep it simple……

• The more Dentistry they do the more money they get

• Therefore it’s all about keeping the chair(s) full

• Keeping the chair full involves gaining New Patients and making sure they turn up

Questions we suggest they ask and note that we suggest that these are made directly to the dentist. All of these question = more $$$$$$$

1: Are you actively looking for New Patients?

§  Patients looking for a new Dentist….where do they look for them now?, When will they look?

§  Average New Patient is worth minimum of $3000

§  Online Booking gains Practices on average 5-10 New Patients more per month than they were getting before

2: Ever have trouble with Short Notice Cancellations?

§  The average hourly rate per chair across the country is $300

§  Allow Short Notice patients to reply the word ‘book’

§  SMS Replies fills minimum of 1 hour per week if used

3: Do you know what your recall rates is?

§  The typical recall rate is 50%

§  Send 3 forms of recalls using 3 mediums and this can increase to 85%

§  This can be done automatically with best practice

§  Recall at $180, what does 85% look like to you?

The above questions we want to ensure that the HS team can articulate.  Once they start the conversation that is when we want them to pass us the lead and say “let me get xxx to give you a call”.

The Henry Schein One Way |Challenger

We have spoken about how we need to prepare, behave and interact on a daily basis.  What we have not covered is the actual sales methodology that Henry Schein One has established as the most effective way to articulate our strong value proposition to our customer s and give us the winning edge.  If executed correctly, we should be able to maintain our price/margins and increase our strike rate and conversion from those valuable leads.  This section provides some useful tips and thought processes which we will be utilising for a training program to drive the “HSO Way”  The model we are using is called “The Challenger Sale”  you are expected to have read the book and get some belief behind this approach.  The organisation has developed a product offering and our marketing dove tails in to this methodology, so we have business alignment.  Below are specific highlights and examples that relate to how we do things…..

Note this is a live document in so much as we can continue to add to the role play elements and modify as we move through and learn the process.  We will have bumps in the road, but we need to identify them, work through what we could have done better and then execute them as a business.

6       What do we do?

What is your type now…..I think after reading the descriptions below and reading the book, you will be able to place yourself in a category?  Where we want you is in the Challenger mode.  The good news is that this can be taught and learnt.  What we are covering below is what a Challenger will do instinctively, so we need to identify these, understand what it is and then replicate and execute.

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6.1    Teach, Tailor & Take Control | The Challenger Core

§  Teach the customer during the sales interaction. They share new ideas for making money or saving money that customers themselves hadn't even realised existed. This is a very different type of sales conversation than what most of us have previously attempted.  Does getting to the customer, quickly opening the laptop and extoling the virtues of our software sound familiar?  Well that stops today!

§  Tailor those insights to the different types of customer stakeholders they're engaging. This is obviously a skill for a world where complex sales demand more and more consensus in order to get done.  Imagine a Dentist ordering a new practice management solution without buy in from his long term practice manager…..

§  Take control of the sale. This isn't about being pushy or aggressive, rather it's about being assertive-around everything from the insights they share to the way they negotiate on pricing. This is absolutely critical when dealing with highly risk-averse customers who are content with the status quo.  We have a lot of insight to deliver that is valuable to the customer, have confidence and back yourself!

If you are going to sell "solutions" the thinking goes, you‘ve got to first "discover" your customers most pressing points of pain and then build a tight connection between what’s keeping them up at night and what you are seeking to sell.  However the issue is that customers don't actually know what is going to solve their problem – or they would have already done it.  They know the problem but not the solution that will solve the problem.

In our sales environment there is a good chance of outperforming our competition if the sales/buying experience provides the following:

§  Offer unique perspective in the market-We have this well covered

§  Help clients navigate alternatives-Open and honest about what is out there

§  Provide ongoing advice / consultation-We want to deliver our WHY

§  Helping the client avoid potential land mines / bad decisions-We all know these stories

§  Educate clients on new issues and outcomes-Detailed research that is hard to replicate

§  Make it easy to buy from-We will continue to work on this

§  Obtain widespread support across buyer’s whole business-Understand the issues for each of the influencers

Are you comfortable that Henry Schein One as a business has these well covered?

7       The Power of Insight | Background Information

§  Our Customer decision making process is much less about what we sell and much more about how we sell it.

§  While we have a great product, this is not how we are going to win (our product quality is a given), we will win through the quality of the insight we deliver as part of the sales process.

§  Our customers purchase decision is won or lost long before we get to the proposal/price stage.

§  We will not be battling to "discovering" what customers already know they need, but be teaching them a new way of thinking altogether.

7.1    Not just teaching – Henry Schein One teaching

A bad place to be is that you have just given our customer exactly what they want, but in that process you've actually given our competitor exactly what they want too!  It's one thing to challenge customers with new ideas, and another thing altogether to ensure we get paid for it.  In order for this to happen we need to ensure that our teaching efforts meet very specific criteria.

§  Lead with unique strengths

§  Challenge customer assumptions

§  Call to action

§  Scale across customers

So let’s have a look at what this really means.

Lead with unique strengths

Our teaching must tie directly back to our capabilities where we outperform our competitors (we will cover this off in the next section).  If what we are teaching inevitably leads back to what we do better than anyone else, then we are in a much better position when it comes to winning the business.  We have only really succeeded when:

§  The customer asks, “How can I make that happen?" and you're able to say, "Well, let me show you how we're better able to help you make that happen than anyone else."

§  If you leave the clients troubled by a new problem they never knew they had and with no real way of doing anything about it.

Yes, our customers want insight on how they could operate more productively, but if we give them insight they can't do anything about it actually makes things worse, not better.  Then we really have given them something to keep them up at night, so we always need to circle around and show them a solution to that insight.

Challenge customer assumptions

When you teach your customers something it has to challenge THEIR assumptions and speaks to their world in ways THEY haven't thought of before.

We are looking for a different customer reactions, not “Yes, I totally agree" BUT "I never thought of it that way before", trying to get the “ah huh” moment.

The best indicator of a successful re-frame isn't excited agreement but thoughtful reflection.  We have just shown our customer a different way to think about their business - perhaps something they‘ve overlooked, a trend they were not aware of, or an alternative they previously dismissed - and now we have got them curious.

They're wondering, “What exactly does this mean for my business?" or even better, “What else don't I know?".  Remember just because we've helped them see things differently doesn't mean we've necessarily persuaded them to do things differently, that's next and it's just important.

Call to action

If we do this right then the teaching conversation isn't about our solution at all - at least not initially- it's about the customer's business, laying out an alternative means either save money or make money they'd previously overlooked.  In a conversation like this, traditional ROI calculations prove useless because they're focused on the wrong things.

Before we convince customers to take that action, we first have to show them why the insight we just shared with them merits any action at all, especially when that insight competes directly with conventional wisdom.

As we build our ROI calculator / Business case we are focused on making sure it calculates the return on pursuing the reframe - not purchasing our product.

Before our customer buy anything, they will first need to understand what's in it for them to fix their problem….the WHY.

Scale to Customers

We have a small set of well-scripted insights along with two or three easy-to-remember diagnostic questions which we then map to the insight we have delivered to the customer.  It is important to note that one size does not always fit all - eg: Fail to attend’s may not really matter in the mind of the practice and it must always relate to THEIR pain point & THEIR Story.

8       The Henry Schein One 6 Step Process

Our conversation involving teaching for differentiation is not about delivering a formal presentation, but about telling a compelling story.  Along the way, we need to add in some real drama, perhaps a bit of suspense, and maybe even a surprise or two.  Ultimately, the goal is to take customers on a roller coaster ride, leading first to a rather dark place before showing them the light at the end of the tunnel.  The light, of course, is the Henry Schein One solution.  Below shows the stages and likely customers emotional feeling during the process.

8.1    Planning & Preparation

Before any sales call the Planning & Preparation element is key to ensure that we are able to drive straight in the discovery and warmer phase.  We need to understand what our objectives are for the call and what the positive outcomes that we are looking for.

Objectives Primary & secondary.  These need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Realistic, Attainable & Time bound) and most importantly they need to be positive outcomes focused using “towards” language, not “away from” language.

Below is a Du-Pont model which is effective in pre-sales call planning.  However to complete this to ensure that you have the best opprotu7ntity for success, you need to run through a number of preplanning steps.

Items that we want to do some pre work on are:

§  Check the website

o    Quality, news tab

o    Learning about the principle

o    Number of clinicians

o    Focus on Hygienists

o    Plans used

o    Position of the “Book Online Now” button

§  Ring the practice – how easy is it to get through?

§  Check CRM/Pardot for additional information

§  Location of other dentists – competition

§  Discuss with HS rep to understand any issues with customer and if there is a rebate opportunity.

From this we can then work on planning the questions and if unsure utilize your industry knowledge to develop relevant questions.  Below are some worked examples for different market segments.

8.2    The Warmer/Discovery

One of the key elements is to understand what type of decision maker type the customer is.  By knowing this we can tailor the warmer and discovery questions to meet their specific needs/hotpoints.  Once we have this then we can start the discovery process.

Once we have an understanding of the type of customer we can then start to work through a process which we must follow every single time we see a customer.  If we don’t have rapport, we don’t understand the pain and we don’t have agreement, then the rest if the sales discussion is going to get out of our control.  These are the building blocks for success with the challenger model.

A key factor that cannot be overlooked is how we generate Rapport.  Rapport=Influence, Connection, trust, respect and if we can’t get it then the balance of the conversation is going to be difficult.  Rapport generation sits around the 3x12’s which is 12 x Steps, 12 x Words and 12 seconds of feeling.  To get a better feeling for this lets break it down:

§  12 Steps

• Presence, Body language, professionalism & dress

§  12 Words

• We need to choose these carefully! We need to open with impact, something new, done last time (confirmed information) genuine complement.  Remember you have 12 words so make them count and ensure we have earned the right to continue the discussion.

§  12 Seconds of feeling

• Not about what but how and this is delivered through 55% Body language, 38% tone & pitch with 7% words, so that means that 93% of the message is non-verbal i.e. body language grooming etc

Once the Rapport is built we can start the process.  What we are doing at this stage is building credibility by reading their mind, demonstrating empathy with the objective being to get the following:

Customer State:                  Intrigued

Customer Excitement:       Neutral/negative

§  Confirm the reason for your visit

§  Confirm how much time you have

§  Confirm it is OK to ask questions about the business.  Explain this is important so that you can understand where you can best help.

§  Validate all information previously acquired (EG: Competition, client objectives, current pain points, etc)

§  Give a very brief description high level description of what we are doing so that the customer understands “where you are going”

§  Importantly, use low detail at this point

The warmer is all about discovery - what is the compelling event driving change. eg. if new patients is one of the issues, in addition to Online Booking, can they track where new patients came from? Can they track & reward existing patients for referrals?  If there is no recognised need to change by the practice then this is where we kick in.

Our pitch starts off with this assessment of our customer's issues.  Remember we must never underestimate the value in being able to demonstrate to our customer that they're not alone when it comes to their most pressing challenges.  

Then conclude the discovery by asking for their reactions. When you put all together, it should look something like…

Tip: Use of tie downs i.e. question where a yes is required i.e. you would agree that increasing your utilisation would increase your revenue…. Yes.  During a sales conversation we are looking for at least 6 yes’s

 “We've worked with a number of practices similar to yours, and we've found that these challenges come up again and again as by far the most troubling. Is that what you're seeing too, or would you add something else to the list?"

The whole point, of course, is to build credibility and essentially, what you're saying to your customer is “I understand your world & I'm not here to waste your time asking you to teach me about your business.”

The diagram to the right is a possible example of how the call could go.

8.3    Re-Frame

First reframe of the un-recognised problem, need or assumption.  We need to follow the theory of shocking the customer with the unknown:

Customer State:                 Drowning

Customer Excitement:       Positive

At this stage we now introduce a new perspective that connects those challenges to either a bigger problem or a bigger opportunity than they ever realised they had.

The Reframe is simply about the insight itself. It's just the headline. And like any good headline, your goal is to catch your customer off guard with an unexpected viewpoint - to surprise them, make them curious, and get them wanting to hear more.  

As we reframe, we need to be sure we really reframe.  This is not the place to be timid, as the entire approach rests on your ability to surprise your customer and make them curious for more information.

…Our data shows that if you do x then you get y output …

If you get in their head, it is about taking all of that pain and gain you have dragged out during the discovery phase and ensure that you get them on the hook.  Remember they don’t know what they don’t know so let’s ensure they want to know what that is.

Refer to the Appendix for examples.  

8.4    Rational & Impact

Rational

Now we move to a gradual intensification of their problem, both in degrees and closeness to the customer

Customer State:                  Drowning

Customer Excitement:       Neutral/negative

In this phase it's time for the data, graphs, tables and charts you need to quantify for the customer the true, often hidden, cost of the problem or size of the opportunity they'd completely overlooked.

Rational Drowning is the numbers-driven rational for why our customer should think differently about their business, but presented specifically in a way designed about THEIR business, but presented specifically in a way designed to make them squirm a little but - to feel like they're drowning.  This is often referred to this as the "FUD factor" = Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.  Before you demonstrate how your solution can economically solve a key customer challenge, you've got to convince the customer that the challenge is worth solving in the first place. 

This is not the monetisation yet, let’s just get the problem on the table.

Impact

Psychological features of the problem, or presence in the individual's workflow, humanizing the problem:

Customer State:                  Involved

Customer Excitement:       Negative

Emotional impact is all about making absolutely sure that the customer sees themselves in the story you're telling.  It is not about the numbers; it's now about the narrative.  We need to paint a picture of how other practices just like the customer's went down a similarly painful path by engaging in behaviour that the customer will immediately recognize as typical of their own company.

We start by asking very open questions about the customers’ business and the key objective is to understand the “emotive need”. 

For example, a customer may tell you they want to grow the business but with digging you may find out that their children have just started university and they have high tuition costs to pay.  This can then form the basis of your proposal.

Or

The principle wants to do less dentistry and sail around the world! Okay how can we help them achieve that.  No longer buying a system but we are helping them achieve their dream. This is very important if the practice does not recognise a need in initially as the practice needs to change for the principle to get what they want.

A good methodology here is the pain chain where we taken down the path we all know happens….again make it personal! Example here is the current flow: Pain chain for a front desk / Practice Manager

§  Recall patient, book an appointment-No

§  2nd Recall patient, book an appointment-No

§  3rd Recall patient, book an appointment-No

§  4th Recall patient, book an appointment-They finally say yes!, I am relieved they are coming into practice!  They confirm the booking over the phone 1 week before!  Patient fails to show L

This is based on real customer behaviour – the practice must see themselves in the picture you are painting for them – “Wow you know us well / that sounds like us”

Critically we must montitise the cost of inaction, this starts to get the customer thinking about the quantum of the issue at hand. (More in the Appendix)

"I understand your need to think about this decision but we have established that EXACT can increase your earnings by $$$ by reducing you FTA's per week. For every week you delay the cost to your practice is the potential loss of $$$ in revenue.

We have found that my doing "x" we can reduce FTA’s to <1% with SMS replies. The average practice has "x" amount of FTA's in a week. The hourly rate is worth "y" therefore if we save you "z" time in the reduction of FTA's its worth $$$. 

By bringing in "x" number of new patients (average new patient in NSW worth "y") we can increase your practice revenue per week by $$$.

I know that you want to set off around the world by "M" so for you to benefit from all the additional revenue that the system will bring ($$$ amount - inc. SNC, increase in chair time etc.) we need to get this installed and your staff trained now for you to get away on schedule"

Points to think about

“In fact it is probably worse than you think”

“Each one of these requires additional time, money people & effort to make it better”

“What is the impact if things stay this way / over time etc..?”

Example: Each new patient delivers $200 but it actually costs x$ to generate IE: 2 hours on the phone – one person x $20 per hour = $40 + all costs of the marketing, the treatment, the product margins, lease, phone, electricity, etc.

 “Each appointment in today’s world really costs me x$ and really only makes me x$ profit”

8.5    Solution

This is a point-by-point review of the specific capabilities the clients would need to have in order to make good on whatever opportunity to make money, save money or mitigate risk that you've just convinced them they're facing.

As tempting as it might be at this point to launch into a review of how you can help this step is still about the solution, not about Henry Schein One.

This is commercial teaching – no products, no capability, history, etc. – This is because it’s the client’s story NOT ours.  If we get them agreeing on the way to get to success then we are laying the foundation for the next elements of the discussion.

Point to think about

This is a map of what is required in order to deliver all of the points that we have highlighted during the initial parts of the pitch.

8.6    New Way / Proposal

Customer State:                  Relieved

Customer Excitement:       Positive

The goal of this step is to demonstrate how our solution is able to equip them to act differently.  We have taught the customer something new and valuable about their business (which is what they were looking from the conversation), in a way that specifically leads them to value our capabilities.  We also need to generate a consensus sale across the various functions in the practice – identifying, nurturing and encouraging the key customer stake holders within the practice.

If we have done the process correctly then this should be a straight forward exercise.

At this time you call pull out that demo you have been waiting to show!

Remember as we talk through this we want to ensure that we relate everything we show back to the key education point that we have delivered.  We often talk about Features, Advantages and Benefits, however what we want to do here is reverse this and talk about our Benefits, the Advantages they have delivered and then the actual Feature that delivers it.  This perfectly overlays with our “Why”, “What” “How’ so let’s see this in action:

Benefits should relate to Security, Convenience, Performance, Appearance, Economical or Reliability.

Points to think about

Don’t be afraid to close the deal out.  Often it is a matter of getting agreement and put ink on paper.  The focus of this now is to get to point where you can state “If I….will you”

The key about trying to close early is to ensure you don’t over sell a product. If the customer sees value then the more you talk, the more you risk talking them out of the order or adding in more complexity. The key thing is to keep your eyes open for non-verbal cues which will give you good insight to what is happening in the customers head.  A good sales technique is to work to gain 6 Yes/or Nods Gain Agreement-Engagement.  You can use tie down questions to get those and there will be questions they have to agree with ie if you could generate 30% more recalls that would increase your utilization?

The Proposal

§  Explain the process again and walk through the proposal

§  Explain that you need technical enablers – OLB, Automated Recalls, Utilisation Manager, Workflow Manager etc

§  We need to be able to explain that the enablers will help standalone but that in order to get the result they are looking for they will need all of the elements.

§  We need to be able to give a couple of examples (recalls and utilisation manager work best) of how the technology has worked at other practices to meet their needs.

9       Tailoring for resonance

We need to understand what the specific drivers are for different role/stakeholders in the practice.  If we can tailor the pitch to better meet their requirements, then we are more likely to get to the outcome we are working towards.  In general we need to tailor the message to different stakeholders.  Below is a matrix which will assist in understanding the key drivers for each of the roles in the business.

10         Taking Control of the Sale

10.1   The Close

We need to assert control, summarises and agree next steps.  You bring the call to an end making sure that everyone is clear about what is going to happen next. The customer’s expectations are clear, who is going to be involved, why and when.

There is the requirement to identify and manages potential conflicts between functions and/or individuals that could derail the sale EG: Dentist / Practice Manager, Reception, business owners, etc

During the process we have gained an understanding of what further information is required for formal / informal stake holders to confirm opportunity and decision making process

We have ensured that we have confirmed the next steps to lead the customer toward a buying decision and clearly articulate the loss / cost of not moving forward.  It is important that we have made it clear that we have a willingness to walk away from the deal if we don’t get terms both parties agree to.

Finally we need to ensure that we have summarised the key points of the meeting IE: Restatement and have probed for additional opportunities.

10.2   Objection Handling

Acknowledge & Defer

“I understand price is something we need to address, but before we do, I’d like to take a moment to make sure completely understand your needs – so we can make sure we are doing everything we can to make this deal as valuable as possible for you – Is that alright?”

Deepen and broaden

“What else apart from price matters?”  or start to repeating the elements the customer already likes about the program.  Idea is to get all of the elements back on the table and then monetise and then compare them and bring focus back.  Trying to move away from price being the primary driver.

Explore and compare

Points to think about

Why do people object-because we have not meet their needs!  We need to keep dialling up the pain/gain to lift up the wow and reduce the associated cost and perceived pain from dealing with us.

Remember that 9/10 objections are false, so let’s recognise them for what they are and keep pushing forward.

10.3   Process AASR

1. Acknowledge & Ask-I hear what you are saying |pause|Ask a question to clarify

1. Summarise- Summarise to check nothing else

1. Resolve- Reefer back to insights and pain

Remember that objection is a sign post to a sale

10.4   Concede according to plan

§  Get everything on the table so price is not the only focus of the discussion.

§  Concede small items only if you have to – never larger ones.

§  Create clarity of direction vs. quick closure

§  Do not give into customer demands to early

10.5   The Figures

Importantly, these move over time.  You need to commit these to memory!  This is what you can use to monetize calculations on the back of an envelope or utilize in the ROI calculator