Retaining Top Talent During the Great Resignation

2021’s employment landscape was one of the most tumultuous environments companies have faced in recent years. The high levels of turnover that have characterized the post-pandemic job market so far are expected to continue into 2022, leaving employers to grapple with the Great Resignation for another year. The following five strategies will help your organization prepare for this challenge by increasing retention among top performers in the healthcare industry.  

1. Prioritize Career Progression 

High-achieving employees are highly motivated by career progression. If they do not think they can realize their full potential within your organization, they will look elsewhere instead.

Employees who receive additional training and opportunities to upgrade their skills are more likely to feel like valued members of the team. They will also be better candidates for internal promotions, which further reinforces company loyalty. It is important for companies to keep investing in leadership development and training programs that would enhance the potential of their executives. Quality onboarding programs that give the new hires a clear picture of their potential roadmap within the organization are also helpful in retention.

2. Develop a Policy for Remote Work 

Now that most white-collar workers have had a taste of remote work, few are eager to return to the office. If your top talent cannot work from home at least some of the time, they may decide to leave your team for another position that does allow them this flexibility. 

To keep these employees from moving on, you will need to clarify your organization's stance on remote work. Outline a policy that dictates which roles have the option to work from home and how often they will be permitted to do it. This will give you and your workers a good starting point for discussions around this issue, but be prepared to make additional concessions occasionally.  

3. Take Precautions Against Burnout 

The past few years have been extremely stressful for many people, forcing them to confront social, political, economic, and health-related anxieties all at once.

To keep your workers at the top of their game, prioritize work-life balance within your organization. Keep workloads realistic and be sure to check in regularly with each employee to measure their progress and ask if they need additional supports. Encourage time off and make sure that employees are able to fully disconnect outside of work hours. Showing your workers how much you value their wellness will go a long way toward improving their loyalty to your company. 

4. Re-Evaluate Your Compensation Structure 

In such a competitive market, top-tier workers know that they have the ability to command higher wages – and with record levels of inflation eating away at salaries, they have more reason to than ever before. 

If your organization has the financial leeway to do so, consider offering your best workers a larger raise this year. This will remove a significant incentive for them to consider switching jobs. Increasing compensation may hurt in the short term, but it will secure your organization’s talent pool and help propel future growth.  

5. Consult Your Team Members 

If you really want to retain your best employees as long as possible, ask them what they need. Turn the exit interview on its head and conduct a series of ‘stay interviews with key employees in your organization. 

Ask them not only what it would take to keep them with your company, but also what types of offers might tempt them to leave. Combine this information with additional sources like online employer reviews and anonymized internal surveys to figure out what your top talent wants and find a way to give it to them.  

Retain, Don’t Replace 

Without your strongest team members still on board, your organization's future could be in jeopardy. Investing in retention now is the best way to keep as many top performers in your ranks as possible, and it can also help you prepare these key workers to take on greater responsibilities within the company.

The Brooks Group is here to help you sharpen your employees’ skills and give them the tools they need to feel confident in the work they do. Some of our areas of expertise include instructional design, account management training, and healthcare management consulting. Contact us today to inquire about our training services and how they can make a positive impact on workers’ motivation, company loyalty, and professional ability.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/12/retaining-top-talent-during-the-great-resignation/

Healthcare Branding- 5 Ways to Stand Out

In the past, many healthcare companies were able to survive and even thrive based on the strength of their products and services alone. The market was narrow enough that if a company had an effective treatment available for a particular disease or condition, they were unlikely to have much competition in that niche.

After many years of scientific and medical developments, however, the healthcare industry has grown considerably. Hospitals and other care providers have many options available to meet their patients’ needs. In order to win their business, companies will need to make their solutions stand out above the rest using effective branding. The list below contains five tips to help you get started on this process for your own healthcare organization.

1. Offer Personalized Services

Every customer has unique needs and concerns. Taking the time to understand what your customers are looking for (and why) helps you to present them with options that they are likely to accept, increasing your sales and customer satisfaction at the same time.

Account management skills training can be used to upgrade your staff's skills and allow them to provide exceptional service to your customers. Likewise, market research or patient advocacy research reports can give your staff information on trends to help anticipate customers' needs and offer appropriate products and services before they even think to ask for them.

2. Set Your Organization Apart 

Highlighting the things that make your organization unique is a great way to build your brand. What does your organization have to offer that none of your competitors do? Do you have advantageous partnerships with other organizations, unique industry insights, or exceptionally attentive staff members?

Whatever high points you settle on, be sure to highlight these things in your promotional materials. Let your prospective customers know why they should choose your company to help them serve their patients.

3. Focus on Your Strengths and Improve Your Weaknesses

Every pharmaceutical organization has its strengths and weaknesses. For instance, your company might be excellent at bringing cutting-edge products to customers but struggle with pairing those newer items with older mainstays that would provide customers with a more well-rounded package of solutions.

Emphasizing the things you do best (such as innovative treatments or a patient-centric, personalized approach, for example) will ensure that your brand develops a strong positive reputation and a unique identity. It will also give you the opportunity to quietly work on the aspects of your organization that need further development until you are just as proud of them as you are of its strong points.

4. Maintain a Strong Brand Presence Across All Channels

Healthcare organizations have access to many advertising channels that they can use to reaffirm their brand. In addition to traditional channels like billboards and television ads, organizations can multiply their branding efforts by investing in online channels like social media.

Each healthcare company should have a solid marketing strategy that spans as many channels as is feasible with their resources and budget. Digital marketing through platforms like Facebook and YouTube is relatively affordable and makes a big difference in your company’s visibility.

5. Embrace Branding as a New Necessity

Whether you are eager to see what good branding can do or are reluctant to try it out, it is important to recognize its indispensability in modern contexts.

With so much competition to contend with, companies that do not invest time and resources into their brand will never be able to reach the same level of prominence as those that do. Working out your branding strategy now will help you capture more market share during this critical transition period.

Build Your Brand with Help from The Brooks Group 

Don’t wait to begin working toward a distinct brand for your healthcare organization – the sooner you act, the more effective your strategy will be.

The Brooks Group is a leading healthcare consulting company offering employee onboarding training, instructional design services, market research, and much more. Our assistance can help you devise and implement a branding strategy that will make your healthcare organization undeniably unique. Contact us to learn more about our services, their impact, and the next steps you can take to building a stronger corporate identity.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/12/healthcare-branding-5-ways-to-stand-out/

Bridging Knowledge Gaps with Learning Experience

Corporate training has gained a bad reputation for being boring, slow, and ineffective. The Brooks Group Learning eXperience (LX) team has the power to change this paradigm.

This type of instructional design aims to develop applicable learning solutions that deliver content to learners in a format that engages them. Organizations can use it to disseminate many different types of information to their workforce in an appealing and memorable way while also achieving greater visibility into individual and group comprehension.  

Creating a Multimedia Learning Experience 

The Brooks Group LX team is focused on driving engagement among learners. In contrast to typical instruction methods that rely on long paragraphs of dry text to deliver information, programs founded in instructional design employ a multimedia approach to foster organic interest in the subject matter. Some common forms of content that can be used to do this include: 

• Videos 

• E-zines 

• Quizzes and tests 

• Podcasts 

• Infographics 

• Games 

• Interactive activities 

All of these mediums can be incorporated into customized courses that address company-specific learning objectives. They can also be used to build blended learning experiences that bring digital elements into traditional on-site instructional settings. Organizations can even create self-paced microlearning modules that give learners a few minutes of compressed instruction whenever they have the time to spare – an increasingly popular educational model in today’s busy world. 

Quantifying Learning Through Analytics 

Good instructional design offers more than a superior learning experience - it also provides full transparency into learners' comprehension and achievements.  

Companies can access detailed statistical reports that reveal how many employees completed their assigned tasks, as well as how well they performed both on their own and compared to their peers. These figures can help managers identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual team members and their crew as a whole.

With this information, leadership can build teams with a diverse array of competencies for optimal performance. They can also assign additional review and training exercises to help shore up specific employees’ weakest knowledge areas.  

Instruction for All Stages of Professional Life 

Learning experiences can be used to create e-learning initiatives to meet a number of organizational goals, including: 

• Onboarding. New employees need significant learning to properly orient themselves in their new role. Learning experience allows you to design courses that deliver the necessary information in an expedient and easily digestible manner, creating a smoother onboarding experience that can easily be deployed in onboarding training programs even for virtual hires. 

• Role-based training. Learning experience can be utilized for creating training programs to help hone both hard and soft skills. With fast-paced dynamic courses available to teach sales skills, customer service strategies, market knowledge, and more, your team will always have access to the latest information needed to drive better performance.  

• Refresher training. Quick interactive course modules allow learners to easily review information they already know. Completing this training refreshes their knowledge, delivers updated information to keep them abreast of changes in the field, and provides documented proof of their competency. 

Learning experience design can also be employed to complement new product launches by giving users an easy interactive way to learn what the product can do and how to use it.  

Imagining A Better Future for Corporate Training

Learning experience design is revolutionizing the process of knowledge acquisition and retention in corporate settings. With more engaging courses tailored to busy modern learners, account managers and other professionals have a fun and easy way to fill in the gaps in their knowledge base and improve their performance on the job.

The Brooks Group is a leading healthcare consulting firm offering custom instructional design services through our Learning eXperience division. Contact us today to have our design experts design fun and engaging learning experiences for your workforce.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/bridging-knowledge-gaps-with-learning-experience/

Using Voice of the Customer Research to Evaluate Your Account Managers

With all the tasks on a typical account manager's plate, it is easy to forget that account management is a customer service position at its core.

Voice of the Customer (VOC) market research by The Brooks Group is a customer-driven feedback process that enables account managers to be evaluated on a customized set of metrics approved by the Organization’s leadership team relative to their competitors. The Brooks Group routinely conducts this research as part of our healthcare management consulting offerings. Our findings have revealed healthcare organizations’ priorities with regards to the account managers who serve them and underscored the importance of giving weight to the customer feedback during the AM evaluation process.  

Why Consult the Customer? 

Every account manager has room for improvement in some areas. However, many struggle to identify their weaknesses without additional insight from external observers. Feedback is essential for this purpose, and customer feedback is especially useful. 

Account Managers' ultimate responsibility is to their customers. To maintain and grow their accounts, they must first satisfy those customers' needs. A customer's evaluation of an AM not only reflects how well that AM is doing now, but also outlines some ways they could secure more business from that account or improve their services when targeting similar accounts in the future. Consistent feedback can even prompt changes on an organizational level by shedding light on what customers really want from their account managers.  

Top Customer Priorities 

Our 2021 VOC surveys revealed some of the most valued measures of account manager success according to representatives of real healthcare organizations. Respondents are typically asked to rank AMs or other field-facing employees on a custom set of metrics approved by leadership. Some of these measures can include:

1. Acts with the highest standards of ethics and integrity (you trust him/her to do the right thing). 

2. Responds quickly to your requests or concerns. 

3. Demonstrates that he/she is a true advocate for your patients' needs. 

All of these measures were cited as areas that deserved significant investment to help AMs improve.  

Some other general areas of focus in the rest of the listed measures included: 

• Knowledge of new developments and trends within the industry. 

• Proactive services that anticipate customers' needs before they are brought up. 

• The ability to provide targeted suggestions based on customers' goals and patients' needs. 

How to Learn from Your Customers 

Your customers likely have a lot to say about your account managers’ services, but they may not be ready or willing to divulge their feedback face-to-face. Many people find it difficult to give a meaningful answer while on the spot, especially if what they want to say is not entirely positive.  

Instead, it is often more useful to have an independent third party distribute a survey that allows them to provide that feedback in written form. This allows your customers to take their time crafting a thorough response. It also gives them the added benefit of anonymity due to response aggregation. In short, it is the best way to ensure that the feedback you get is detailed, truthful, and applicable to your organization's goals. 

Get the Ultimate Customer Insight with the Brooks Group 

VOC research adds an invaluable dimension to your account manager evaluation process. By finding out what your customers really think about each of your account managers' services, you can evaluate their performance from a new perspective and discover new pathways to improving customer satisfaction.  It also helps companies in planning the right account management training for AM's that will help close the identified skill gap.

The Brooks Group is a leading provider of healthcare executive services including healthcare market research, onboarding training for new employees, and healthcare executive leadership training. Our VOC surveys have given many healthcare firms unparalleled insight into their account management teams' performance using custom metrics approved by the highest-ranking executives.

Contact us today to learn more about our VOC research and how we can help you better align your organization’s account management programs with the needs of real-world customers.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/using-voice-of-the-customer-research-to-evaluate-your-account-managers/

Effective Employee Onboarding Process for New Hires in the Post-Pandemic World

The dawn of remote work was just one of the many key workforce changes prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that hybrid work arrangements seem destined to become the norm, it is time for companies to adapt their new hire onboarding training to suit this new reality. The five tips below will help you to better welcome and integrate new hires working primarily in virtual spaces.

1. Foster Relationships Within Your Team

Relationship building is a key part of forming a cohesive team, but it can be difficult for people to bond organically when they are not in the same physical space. 

Start by scheduling a quick team meeting on your new hire’s first day and ask everyone present to introduce themselves. Then, follow it up with a series of one-on-one meetings between each of those people and the new hire. Breaking the ice in this way helps your new hire become better integrated into the group. 

2. Use a Mentor System

One of the most challenging things for new hires is understanding team processes and hierarchies. Some new hires hold back on asking questions they desperately want answers to because they do not want to bother a superior with trivial matters.

Knowing who to approach with a question like this can help new recruits feel significantly more comfortable in their new working environment. Help your new hire out by assigning them a patient and more experienced team member to answer the questions that will inevitably crop up.

3. Provide Regular Feedback

New employees also sometimes struggle with understanding what is expected of them in their new role, creating significant performance-based anxiety.

To combat this problem, schedule regular opportunities to give your new hire feedback on their performance. At first, you might do this every week or so. After the employee becomes more confident in their role, you can begin to scale this schedule back.

4. Offer Information on Your Company Culture

In a typical office environment, everything from daily schedules to team dynamics is often learned through osmosis. When a new hire is not exposed to this environment, these contextual elements do not reach them either.

To help remote hires adjust, prepare a written document that explicitly outlines these aspects of the job. Include information such as dress codes for video conferencing, the best times to contact others for meetings or collaboration, and how people on your team generally prefer to communicate. 

5. Highlight the Importance of the New Hire’s Role

Ultimately, new recruits are brought on board to fulfill a function within your team. You know how important that function is, but does your new hire?

This is a common problem for in-person hires as well, but it is even more difficult for those who work remotely. Limited contact with the rest of the team can make it seem like their work has no relation to the bigger picture, making it difficult for them to remain engaged.

Make sure your remote hire knows that what they are doing matters and how it contributes to your organization’s larger goals. Underline the fact that you and their colleagues value their input and expertise. These efforts will instill a sense of pride and confidence in your new employee that will drive them to perform even more effectively at work.

Break Down Barriers for Better Teams

Remote work is not going away anytime soon, and neither are your remote team members. It is worth your time and money to invest in creating new strategies to help these workers find their place in your organization. 

Healthcare consulting firms like The Brooks Group offer educational services such as account management training, healthcare management consulting, biotech market research, and even new hire onboarding training. Contact us today to learn how we can help you refine your onboarding processes to better match the demands of today's workforce.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/10/effective-employee-onboarding-process-for-new-hires-in-the-post-pandemic-world/

4 Keys to Driving Sales with Existing Accounts

Effective account management requires a careful balance of maintenance and growth. You must not only do everything in your power to retain the accounts you already have but also seek out new revenue opportunities to help your company expand. 

Both of these tasks require a significant amount of energy and focus from an AM, and the two priorities often compete with each other to the detriment of both. But what if you could serve both functions at the same time? The following four key concepts outline how you can shift your focus away from lead acquisition to make better use of the revenue potential of your existing accounts.

1. Shift Away from the ‘Anti-Shrinkage’ Model

For many years, the main goal of account management has been to avoid losing the customers with whom the firm is already doing business.

While it is always better to keep a customer than lose one, simply maintaining your existing accounts will never produce the growth you need. To do that, you need to add new business to your portfolio.

The most obvious way to do this is to secure brand-new clients you have never served before. However, it might be a better idea to look for new opportunities to upsell to the customers you already have. 

2. Customer Service is for Retention, not Growth

Many account managers assume that providing good customer service will automatically lead to growth opportunities. This is not always an accurate assessment. 

While customer service is extremely important in account management, it does not help AMs secure new business. Instead, its role is to keep existing customers happy with the services they are currently receiving.

A happy customer might be more inclined to purchase services from you instead of a competitor. The trouble is that if your company had something to offer that customer that they knew they wanted, they would already have purchased it. Unless something changes, that customer is unlikely to decide to become a greater source of revenue. Therefore, deliberate and effective upselling is important in order to generate more revenue from happy customers.

3. Leverage the Power of Customer Improvement

Instead of focusing on customer service, it is more useful to shift your attention to a different target: customer improvement. 

This model turns the idea of customer retention on its head by turning existing customers into new sources of revenue. Under a customer improvement strategy, your task is to suggest ways that the customer might grow or improve their business and let them know how your company can help them do it. As an example, for healthcare accounts, this might involve promoting a new and promising drug or therapy. 

If it is done tactfully and founded on solid evidence, customer improvement can benefit both you and your customers. You will secure the additional business you need, and they will gain access to a new tool that they can use to propel their organization's growth as well.

4. Improve Your Account Management Skills and Supports

To successfully implement customer improvement strategies, you will need in-depth knowledge of both your customers’ needs and the latest developments in the field. Pharmaceutical market research companies or other healthcare research groups can help you acquire the information you need to identify the products and services that are most likely to interest your accounts.

Further, it never hurts to have additional sales or customer service training during a significant undertaking like this. An extra round of strategic account management training can sharpen your skills and give you the confidence you need to make the most of this new approach. 

Bringing Effective Customer Improvement Strategies to Life

Customer improvement and similar upselling strategies are the cornerstones of predictable sales growth. Capitalize on your existing sales relationships first and you will quickly see how powerful established trust can be.

Healthcare consulting firms like The Brooks Group work with organizations to provide employee onboarding training, refresher training, and more. Contact us today to hear more about our account management training options and how we can help you better serve your existing clientele in the healthcare industry.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/10/4-keys-to-driving-sales-with-existing-accounts/

A Step by Step Guide to Succeeding at Account Management

Effective account management is a demanding practice that requires a combination of sales skills, interpersonal ability, and industry expertise. To succeed in this role, they need to adopt practices that allow supporting the customers using both technical and relational knowledge. Organizations need to ensure that their AMs onboarding training addresses this important aspect and helps them adopt a methodical approach to account management. The following five tips will help you establish those practices one step at a time. 

1. Take a Proactive Approach  

Proactive account management behaviors not only reduce the number of future problems you must deal with, but also fosters trust and respect between you and your customers. 

• Check-in with each key customer contact on a regular basis. You never know what they might need. 

• Provide regular updates to your organization to keep both them and yourself in the know

• Implement a customer onboarding process to create a better experience for all parties.

2. Balance Sales and Consulting

The consulting aspects of an account manager’s role distinguish this position from a salesperson. An exemplary account manager makes purchasing effortless by bringing solutions to their customers before those customers ever think to ask for them.  

To do this: 

• Keep up to date on current market trends and new innovations in healthcare. Information provided by pharmaceutical market research companies is invaluable for this purpose.  

• Cultivate a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs. Research how both they and their competitors are currently serving patients, then offer them solutions that either enhance their existing strategies or introduce new ones that are in line with their competition. 

3. Upsell Strategically 

As an account manager, your customers trust you to do what is in their best interest as well as your company's. 

• Never attempt to upsell a customer on a treatment that does not align with their organizational goals. For instance, a mental health treatment facility aiming to specialize in teaching patients to manage anxiety using coping strategies might not be interested in a new, stronger anti-anxiety drug.  

• Do not attempt to upsell a customer until you have had time to build trust. Without that trust, your customer will interpret the action as an attempt to take advantage of them. 

• If you are unsure of how to upsell appropriately, consider investing in some account management training to help you learn new techniques to approach this as delicately as possible. 

4. Implement Key Account Management (KAM) Strategies 

Key account management dictates that account managers should devote most of their time and resources to select accounts that generate the most revenue. This can be an excellent way to maximize the impact of the work you put into your accounts. To make KAM work for you: 

• Choose your key accounts carefully.

• Secure buy-in from your entire company. For KAM to work, key accounts must receive special attention from all parties within your organization. 

• Ensure that you understand the level of service and dedication you will be expected to give to these key clients. Key account management training can help you prepare for this role and hone the skills you need to succeed. 

5. Use CRM Software 

Account management is a demanding field that often requires AMs to juggle many high-value accounts and tasks at once. Using tools like CRM software to automate some of the administrative work allows you to deliver better service in little time. Specifically, you can use a CRM to: 

• Store information on each customer's interests and preferences, past orders, returns or complaints, order dates, which representatives they have worked with in the past, and more. 

• Segment accounts into different categories based on criteria such as location, account age, and account value. 

• Track each customer's current position in the customer life cycle and determine the appropriate strategy to win more of their business. 

A Good Account Manager Never Stops Growing 

Account managers must never become complacent if they are to deliver the level of performance that their customers and their organization expect. With diligence and support from top healthcare consulting firms like The Brooks Group, they can simultaneously increase customer satisfaction, close more sales, and cultivate an exceptional professional reputation.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2021/09/a-step-by-step-guide-to-succeeding-at-account-management/