The role of sales in the healthcare industry

The health industry in the world has been highly questioned in recent times, especially since the outbreak of the pandemic, since it began to reveal various flaws in the health system that ended up harming thousands of people who found obstacles to when receiving personalized medical attention.

La en el mundo ha sido muy cuestionada en los últimos tiempos, sobre todo a partir de la irrupción de la pandemia, puesto que comenzó a revelar diversas fallas en el sistema sanitario que terminó perjudicando a miles de personas que encontraban obstáculos a la hora de recibir una atención médica personalizada.

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Although the health industry is supposed to be a priority in people's lives, and we should be guaranteed an efficient service that provides peace of mind, the truth is that it is proving the opposite. The eternal confrontation between public and private health is an obvious manifestation of what we are talking about.

However, although the differences are huge in infrastructure and clinical care, the private health sector is lately not focusing on offering a better experience to people when they get sick or need laboratory tests.

The most notable evidence can be seen in the eternal queues to swab or perform some analysis, the high cost of PCR and antigen tests, without the speed with which the results are received standing out from the rest. It is assumed that these people are paying for a differential service that provides greater security for their comprehensive health and that of their families.

But that is not happening as it should, and customers of private medical services are becoming disenchanted. Consequently, they are moving to public health for almost the same service and without paying for it. This is where the role of sales in the health industry can play a decisive role in the search to optimize service delivery to patients.

What does the patient expect to receive from the health industry?

Health care is a customer service industry. Kind gestures and daily positive interactions between staff and patients result in healthcare companies known for their quality of care. These details are what mark the border between an efficient and inefficient service. Patients will consume medical services that will ensure a better quality of life in the long term.

The first key to providing excellent customer service in the healthcare industry is to stop treating patients as customers whose sole purpose is to generate revenue, while that is one of the goals, it should not become the only goal. Great customer service starts with a patient-centric perspective – seeing them as people a company should help.

Adaptation to this patient-centric approach is rapidly evolving, especially after the COVID-19 crisis transformed consumer behavior towards healthcare and healthcare facilities. Considering patient safety and overloaded health care facilities, virtual consultations and telemedicine practices have increased rapidly.

A PwC report on global health care trends highlights that 91% of consumers have used virtual clinical video care in the past and will do so in the future. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also noted a 154% increase in telehealth utilization 1 during March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

In addition to moving to digital experiences in health care, every employee of a health care company must also remember that they are potentially a customer service representative, someone whose daily activities must focus on improving the quality of care provided to patients.

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Sales role in the healthcare industry

To evaluate an effective service experience, the health industry must first know how to sell the medical service effectively, so that patients who consult for any medical benefit feel supported and cared for. The last thing a patient should feel is that they are being sold the service since health should not be a transactional value.

In this sense, the sales role is oriented towards accompanying patients from the first consultation, whether they decide to buy the service or not. Representatives must offer a solution to people who are interested in medical services.

Even when the service is out of reach for the people requesting it, the representative who interacts with them should offer another alternative, and recommend a more basic service, although no less efficient and reliable.

In short, the sales team must be able to provide a solution or positive response to the patient who asks for one of the services. Let's remember that we are talking about lives and not about tangible products that can be replaced.

People must be the priority for any company that provides a type of service, so it is important to seek to know their needs, interests, and goals and not just their credit limit to check if they can foist the service on you by force. It is the patient who will have the last word and power of decision on the purchase or not purchase of the service.

In any case, the sales representatives of the medical service should focus on adequately accompanying patients on their journey for a better quality of medical service, being above all empathetic and supportive, since health problems harm the people who suffer from them. Therefore, they must instill tranquility at all times because the life and health of every human being are worth it.

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In conclusion, the role of sales in the health industry is aimed at assisting and guiding patients to choose the most appropriate service according to their needs, expectations, and, finally, their standard of living. You must advocate for their well-being and remember that before customers they are people with feelings and challenges to overcome.