CARE MANGERS AS CHALLENGERS: Adapting to a Changing Economic Landscape

1. CARE MANGERS AS CHALLENGERS: Adapting to a Changing Economic Landscape

2. Expectations What would you like to get out of the training today?

3. “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”—Peter Drucker

4. Changes • What has changed in the last 2 years? • Client’s needs? • Clients/family members waiting longer? • Family’s involvement? • Length of service? and Amount of service? • Level of scrutiny re: engaging in service? • Competition?

5. This is the big recession The recession is not going away – at best it will be a slow and long recovery What makes the difference for GCMs in this recession is for them to have right strategies and skills The Recession

6. The New High Performer

7. The Hard Worker The Challenger The Relationship Builder The Lone Wolf The Problem Solver Five Profiles

8. Always willing to go the extra mile Self motivated and does not give up easily Seeks out feedback and tries to identify opportunities for improvement The Hard Worker

9. The debater on the team Has a deep understanding of the clients needs and isn’t afraid the share his/her views, even if they are different from the client’s views Assertive in dealing with internal and external stakeholders, tending to push people out of their comfort zones The Challenger

10. Focused on serving the client Adept at building and nurturing customer relationships be being highly accessible to customers and responsive to their specific needs Important role is containment and reducing tension The Relationship Builder

11. Self confident Follows own instincts instead of the rules Difficult to control Creative Can be very effective Hard to replicate The Lone Wolf

12. Reliable, and naturally drawn to solving client issues Excels at handling service issues that can harm a client relationship Detail Orientated The Problem Solver

13. Challengers And the Winner is…….

14. Teach Tailor Assert Three Challenger Characteristics

15. Teaching clients something new and valuable Not allowing service to become “pigeon holed” Compelling clients with something unique – a perspective that is different from competition Differentiating service offerings during the initial intake experience in the customers mind Educating clients by demonstrating value Three Challenger CharacteristicsTeach

16. What tools do we have that help us teach? Stories that resonate for our clients Questions we can ask to help clients / families get from implied needs to explicit needs… ready to take action. Demonstration / modeling of how we interact with our client base Three Challenger CharacteristicsTeach

17. Tailor Demonstrating Capability to individual customers implied and explicit needs Can Demonstrate Capability across a more diverse group of people Three Challenger CharacteristicsTailoring

18. What tools do we have that help us tailor? Ability to understand expectations Ability to understand what is important to the client / family Use of language that connects/resonates – tied to what is of importance to the client / family From Values to Features not the other way around! Three Challenger CharacteristicsTailoring

19. Assert and maintain control in initial intake process Setting Expectations Q-A-Q Able to stand firm when customers push back without being aggressive or abusive Creates constructive tension – constructively Challenging the customers ideas in a positive way that is intended to bring the customer a better outcome In face of intense risk aversion by customers can move customers outside of their comfort zones (without alienating them) in order for them to take action… positively affecting their quality of life Three Challenger CharacteristicsAssertiveness

20. What tools do we have that help us with assertiveness? The questions that we ask Comfort with tension Confidence in solutions in mind Setting expectations Three Challenger CharacteristicsAssertiveness

21. SATISFACTION = f (Expectations) When clients/families come to us with expectations of… What should be done How it should be done What is the right course of action GCMs natural response is to forge a trusting relationship and work within the confines of the expectations laid out – is there another way? Three Challenger CharacteristicsASSERTING THE EXPERT VOICE

22. Client/family has very specific idea of what they want, and call in to see if the GCM can help them implement their plan… My mother needs an Assisted Living, can you help me identify a good one for her? GCM as implementer? GCM as expert? GCMs as Challengers

23. GCM as Implementer: Sure… (reducing tension, providing solution, building alliance / relationship with daughter) GCM as Expert: I’d be glad to help, but as someone with (credentials/experience), I want to make sure that AL is the right option for your mother and you. I’ve worked with so many family members who have a specific idea in mind, but due to the specifics of their situation, the plan they initially had in mind “blows up” creating more problems for all involved. Therefore, I’d like to just ask a handful of questions to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you. The last thing I’d want is for you and/or your family to be at risk for a less than positive experience. GCMs as Challengers

24. GCMs as Challengers Low Competency to High Competency Coolness to Warmth

25. Strong relationships do matter – but they are not enough! Relationship Builders “overdose” on relationship strength, working around the customer, agreeing with the customer and seeking to remove tension From the customers perspective, Relationship Builders might make interactions feel good, but hardly memorable or valuable Challengers would rather be respected than liked Important Points

26. High-performer Challengers are above average on all of the “relationship building” attributes Challengers just don’t hang their hat on those attributes like a Relationship Builder would Put another way, it’s not their major Challenger uses relationships as a starting point to achieve a specific end   Important Points

27. Challenger wins by creating and maintaining a certain amount of constructive tension within the context of the relationship Challenger offers the customer unique perspectives – and communicates those perspectives with passion and precision in a way that draws the customer into a conversation It’s customer value (Challenger approach) versus customer convenience (Relationship Builder). Important Points

28. Teach for Differentiation: Offer unique perspective that reframe how clients can receive unique value from your services Tailor for Resonance: Be able to Demonstrate Capability to a variety of diverse individuals Assert Control: As an expert, deliberately guide service engagements to ensure your message sticks and that your pricing holds steady in the face of rising customer risk aversion – with a focus on Safety Increase comfort with “push back” Developing Challengers

29. Challengers love to debate and use their deep understanding of a customer’s needs to provide that customer with a different way of thinking about their service offerings Challengers

30. FOCUS ON: Safety Selling safety Projecting safety Value Creating value vs. talking value Beyond commodity… cheaper, faster, better Values tied to needs: Implied / Explicit Opportunities New opportunities in new niches Re evaluate how we deliver services – efficiencies Specialization Alliances and Partnerships Health Care Reform We’re all Working Harder!

31. Have to sell safety We have to project we are a safe company We have to project safety We are safe and this is a safe company Safety

32. Selling safety is much more important than selling price Selling Safety

33. Value • The only thing your client cares about is value • To achieve radically different results, you must become radically more valuable to your clients than all competitors • By adding value to the clients, you’ll leave all competitors in the dust

34. If you create value, you have an advantage The real treasure lies in previously unmined places of value When you create value, you no longer compete—you create All People Care about Is Value

35. It’s not the cheapest price that people see as the greatest value, it’s creating new forms of value Key question: Are you helping and do they know how much? No relationship is without challenges We need to personally reinvent ourselves into something that clients find significantly more valuable Creating Value

36. Clients are more demanding than ever. Big change in the last ten years: They don’t want people who waste their time They want people who have something useful to say They want people who can create client value If the client doesn’t think they have a problem, they don’t have a problem It’s not what we think – it’s what they think Purchasers

37. Value • If the client doesn’t think they have a problem, they don’t have a problem • It’s not what we think – it’s what they think

38. Two Types of Needs • Implied Needs • Explicit Needs

39. How Customer Needs Develop • An ideal situation becomes less than ideal • Needs usually begin with small issues, needs or concerns • Over time, needs tend to grow and become more urgent (shifting from implied to explicit)

40. Implied Needs • Issues, needs, concerns or dissatisfactions with current situation • The situation is somehow less than ideal • Speak in the past or present tense • Not “hot” enough to take action

41. Explicit Needs • Needs which have grown in strength and severity • Strong statements of desire and/or intention to act • Speak in the future tense, talk about action

42. The Golden Rule It’s not what you say to someone that persuades them to act. What drives action is the size of a person’s need.

43. One of the greatest changes the Internet has created for the consumer is transparency in two ways: Makes our product transparent, whereas before we had all the information on their product and service It generates for consumers hundreds of lower-priced competitors Competition into the Future

44. Competition drives prices down, lowers margins and effectively commoditizes offerings that were once atypical If client see your value as equal to your competitors, then they want: Cheaper Better Faster Competition says they do what you do… but do they really? Competition into the Future

45. Assuming the Challenger Role Focus on Safety and Security Creating Value vs. Talking about it New opportunities in new niches Re evaluate how we deliver services – efficiencies Telephonic Use of technology Specialization Alliances and Partnerships Health Care Reform Opportunities for your Consideration

46. Implementing New Skills • Which of my behaviors will I stop/start or change? • What, specifically, am I willing to do? • How will others know? • How might I sabotage myself? • What’s the payoff for me?