The Physician Meeting

Physicians need a very good reason to call you. Spend some time thinking about why you would change providers if you were a physician. Physicians are stressed for time, many working in situations where overbooking is an everyday occurrence and lunch is not just a time to eat but to think. They often work on salary, have a certain number of patients to see each day, spend hours documenting their work and continually worry about making a mistake. The newspapers are full of stories about physicians being sued and outrageous liability insurance premiums. They would like to do less paperwork, worry less about patients and feel more confident that they have referred their patient to the right provider.

Your sales call may be seen as an intrusion into the physician's busy workday. You usually arrive having no appointment, are squeezed in between patients and then have to compete for the physician's attention. Your competition includes pharmaceutical representatives, other home care salespeople and a long list of those who want to sell products that they claim will make life easier for the physician and/or his staff.

If you do get the opportunity to make a presentation to the physician, remember that:

• You will have only a very short time to talk with the doctor.

• You must decide before entering the office what you are going to say.

• You must talk about something that will affect patient care, documentation, safety, liability, treatment plan compliance, or the efficiency or productivity of the office.

• You are not making simply a friendly visit but are meeting for an important reason.

• You need to stay focused on your message. Decide how you will present your message and say it effectively in the shortest period of time.

In your meeting, you will want to ask the doctor some questions. Here are some pointers:

• Do not ask questions for which you already know the answer: “Doctor, do you take care of respiratory patients?” or “Doctor, can you tell me about your practice?” The doctor assumes you already know about his practice. These are questions that generate information you should have obtained already.

• Do not ramble on without engaging the physician in the conversation.

• Often it is best simply to ask the doctor what you can do to make the referral process easier.

• Present your information in an objective manner without any derogatory comments about the competition.