Cheryl Baumgartner   Medical...
This is not to brag but to show the power of knowing your strengths, using them and finding others who can compliment your strengths.  Okay so I don't really like it, but I'm good on the phone.  That is my strength.  I'm passable at sitting down with someone and doing a one on one appointment. When it comes to actually doing an enrollment presentation, I suck.

So how do you use your strength and compensate for your weaknesses?  I think I've mentioned this before, partner with others.

That is exactly what I have done in a new way.  It has become a team effort.  If you sell a service or product you might want to read this.  First of all you cannot sell anything without exposure, that is the first step.  In this case we are talking about an employee benefit.  That means that you need to expose the business owner or decision maker to the benefit, you need to sit down with them and show them what you are offering.  Once they see it they will either turn it down or give you the go ahead to offer it to their employees.  Each step is critical so each person involved needs to be able to successfully play their part, but no one can play their part if you can't get to the decision maker.  So the first part is managing to get the time with the decision maker, that is what I do.

I am the appointment setter.  I am just as knowledgeable as anyone else involved but my skill set is in getting the appointment.  As the appointment setter it's not my place to answer questions (Tempting as it may be), sSo I have developed "Sgt Schultz Syndrome".  If you ever watched the old Hogan's Heroes television show you get that reference "I know Noting!" The purpose of that is to stick to my own strengths and not try to be the "consultant"

The second part is the actual appointment which is the turf of the consultant. They are the one who will present the information and answer questions.  They are also the one who does the follow up with the decision maker and schedules enrollments and that is their ultimate goal.  My goal is to get them in front of the decision maker, their goal is to get the decision maker to put the presenter in front of the employees.

The Presenter's only goal is to get applications signed, since this is where you get paid.  A good presenter can nail 80% participation consistently. 

I spent a total of not even 5 minutes on the phone getting the initial appointment.  I didn't even leave the house to do it.  The consultant spent 30 minutes in the appointment and the presenter spent 5 hours (Five 1 hour enrollments).  Now think about it.  Not only do I have others doing what I'm not really good at for me, how much of my time have I freed up to make more calls?  Since all I have to do is make the calls and do a little front end research, I have 5 and a half hours to do that instead of driving to an appointment and then an enrollment.

So who do you know that you can partner with to increase your bottom line?
Apr 18th 2010 10:22