O CC U PAT I O N A L M E D I C I N E Fear as a Factor in Occupational Health Sales ■ FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH A voidance, sometimes even more than appeal, appears to be a very real part of decision making at every level. Given sufficient probing, most sales prospects harbor inner fears that can be successfully addressed. Buyers of occupational health services have two basic mo- tivations: helping their parent company save money, and making their own life easier. Most occupational health sales presentations emphasize the former: reduce injury/illness incidence and associated lost work time, save the employer money, and everyone is happy. The second motivating factor is often ignored. Sales pro- fessionals often minimize the “me first” factor or ignore it altogether, even though many people are inherently parochial. They are deeply concerned about their own finite time, daily burdens, and professional success. Understanding a few simple principles, and breaking down those principles into distinct professional and personal factors, may help link the two “basic motivations” identified above. Principle 1: Assess the potential importance of a prospect’s parochial interests during a sales encounter. Prospects run the gamut of personality types, from those who genuinely place the welfare of their company above all else to those who are card-carrying members of the “me, myself, and I” crowd. Each of these types has its particular priorities: Ⅲ Professional Factors: Save the company money. Enhance worker health status. Frank Leone is president and CEO of RYAN Associates and executive director of the National Association of Occupational Health Professionals. Mr. Leone is the author of numerous sales and marketing texts and periodicals, and has considerable experience training medical profes- sionals on sales and marketing techniques. E-mail him at fleone@naohp.com. 40 Ⅲ Personal Factors Save the prospect time. Save the prospect “hassle.” Make the prospect look better. You should be able to assess just where each prospect seems to fall on this continuum, and position your sales ap- proach accordingly. Principle 2: Use questions to determine where the prospect sits on the “care about my company/care about myself” continuum. Questions should be crafted to readily identify a pressing problem that can be placed on the table. Typically, the incli- nation when trying to make a sale may be to ask about purely professional problems (i.e., what is your company’s most significant health and safety problem?). As part of this process, however, it may be helpful to also investigate the personal ramifications of a prospect’s profes- sional challenges. Classic questions might include: Ⅲ “What activity causes you to lose the most amount of valuable time?” Ⅲ “When it comes to workers’ compensation costs (or workplace health and safety) what must you personal- ly need to achieve to really be successful?” Ⅲ “When it comes to the health and safety of your work- force, what is your worst nightmare? That is, what keeps you up at night?” Responses to questions such as these serve two purposes. First, you can usually place the prospect on a pretty reli- able place on the “care about my company/care about my- self” continuum. If the prospect offers little in response to the preceding questions, they are likely to be on the “best for my company” side of the continuum. Conversely, a prospect that confesses to significant personal challenges is JUCM T h e J o u r n a l o f U r g e n t C a r e M e d i c i n e | S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 Continued on page 42 w w w. j u c m . c o m