3 Tactics to Successfully Sell Your Best Saving Ideas
I know it can be frustrating when you have thought of a great saving idea and your clinicians or your upper management don’t see it the way you do. They tell you they need more information, proof and testimonials, or that their priorities are elsewhere, so they tell you to come back another day or they don’t want to risk spending just a little bit of money even though you are promising them big results.
These reactions are enough to drive you nuts, but this is the plight or dilemma that supply chain professionals face everyday. Let me say to you that it doesn’t need to be that way if you follow these three tactics to successfully sell your best savings ideas:
1. Prepare the Path for Change
With few exceptions, people need to be prepared for any change. This change can be realized most effectively through education. By teaching, coaching and training your upper management or clinicians this raises their awareness that maybe there is a better way to do things around here. You can do this by sending articles to them on the idea you are selling, giving them a formal presentation on the topic or writing a White Paper and circulating it around to all interested parties. What ever you decide to do to educate your bosses and peers you can’t ever approach them with a new saving idea without pre-selling your idea before you can actually close the sale – down the road.
2. Swamp them With Data
Data in all of its many forms, statistics, graphs, testimonials, studies, etc., has a huge affect on changing people’s minds. This is because people want to be members of the current in group. They want to follow the trends in healthcare, not be out of step with them. So if you can show your upper management and clinicians that they are out of step with their peers you can easily change minds and hearts around to your thinking. In some situations — almost over-night!
3. Give Them More Choices
No one really likes to have just one choice when they are asked to make a little or big decision, so to ease the road for quicker decisions give your upper management or clinicians more than one option when you ask them to make a decision in your favor. I always like to give my clients three options (A, B, or C,) that are tied to my big saving idea, so they can have a few alternatives to select from — not just one. This way your and my probability of obtaining a positive decision on our savings ideas are much, much greater than if we tried to force my client or your boss or peers to base their reputation and credibility on just one uncertain and untried option.
These three tactics are easy to understand and just as simple to put into practice if you are looking for better ways to successfully sell your best savings ideas. These tactics are tried, true and tested, so don’t be anxious about using them when your next big saving idea pops into your mind.
Filed Under: Best Practices • savingsblog
