For more information contact: Lyndsay Shipley Community Engagement Manager 636-537-0555 [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
Evolve Sales Group’s Kate Dunn Named RMX Network Vendor of the Year
St. LOUIS, MO— September 13, 2024 – Kate Dunn, President of Evolve Sales Group, was honored as the Vendor of the yeaY at the fall RMX Network conference held in Las Vegas, NV.
From Kate Dunn, “I want to thank RMX Network for recognizing Evolve Sales Group as Vendor of the Year! Continuous learning is a cornerstone for success in any endeavor. I’m fortunate to work with owners, managers, and reps within RMX who are eager to learn, and their enthusiasm pushes me to keep learning, growing, and evolving. Working with the professionals in the RMX Network is truly a privilege.”
Over 100 RMX Network Partners vote for the Vendor of the Year Award to highlight the best in vendor innovation and excellence. Kate was chosen for her unwavering dedication and significant contributions to RMX Partners.
About Kate Dunn
Kate Dunn is President & Founder of Evolve Sales Group, a firm specializing in sales strategy, coaching, and training. Previously, she led sales training at Keypoint Intelligence—InfoTrends and was CEO of Digital Innovations Group. Dunn is a frequent national and international speaker on sales, management, and entrepreneurship.
For more info, visit: evolvesalesgroup.com About the RMX Network
Founded in 1984, The RMX Network is an alliance of independent print providers specializing in wide-format applications. RMX equips its members with educational resources, sales and business training, marketing solutions, cultivation of vendor partnerships, and a global network of trusted print collaborators.
For more information, visit www.rmx-network.com, call (800) 873-7762, or email: [email protected]
Like other sectors, the printing industry is navigating a significant transformation in how B2B buyers interact with sellers. A key hurdle to growth is the resistance often seen among seasoned sales representatives when embracing fresh sales methodologies. This reluctance can be a formidable obstacle to your company’s success. Let’s delve into the factors behind this resistance, its implications for sales growth, and actionable strategies to support your experienced reps in adapting.
The Reluctance to Change
Comfort in Familiarity
For many seasoned sales reps, decades of experience have refined their skills, leading to a strong reliance on tried-and-true methods. These familiar tactics—like cold calling, stop-ins, and fostering deep personal connections—have historically yielded results. Transitioning to new approaches may feel intimidating, requiring stepping beyond the comfort zones they’ve meticulously built over the years.
Fear of the Unknown
Introducing new sales techniques can appear daunting, particularly for those who haven’t grown up in a digital landscape. Tenured reps can be discouraged from engaging with modern sales strategies because they fear struggling to master unfamiliar approaches and tools. Moreover, the worry that their established expertise has become irrelevant adds another layer of resistance.
Perception of Technology
Reps who have been selling for decades may feel uncomfortable with the latest technologies, such as CRM systems, virtual selling methods, or AI tools. This creates a mental barrier to embracing these innovations. Rather than admitting their fears and asking for help, they spend hours trying to highlight minor issues and justify their desire to avoid using them. Changing this mindset is crucial for driving acceptance and integration.
Reduced Need for Cash
Reps whose children are grown or no longer have a mortgage may have a reduced need for income. It may sound crazy to owners, but money is not the motivation that it once was for these reps. They have become complacent with their existing incomes, and growing them may not be enough to force them into learning mode. Setting revenue and new business goals and holding reps accountable for meeting these goals can help, but without consequences, there is no accountability. If your reps know, you aren’t likely to let them go if they don’t meet their goals; the goals themselves will not overcome their reluctance to change.
The Impact on Sales Growth
Missed Opportunities
Today’s B2B buyers are increasingly tech-savvy, expecting seamless and integrated sales processes. By sticking to what reps perceive as “tried and true” methods, your sales team is likely missing opportunities to expand accounts and find new business. Worse yet, their reluctance to use new selling skills could cause leads generated by your marketing to die on the vine. The result is lost potential for your company.
Inefficiency
Traditional sales techniques can often be labor-intensive and less efficient. Without leveraging CRM solutions, sales automation, and data analytics, your team may be caught in a quagmire of manual lead tracking and follow-ups. This inefficiency not only slows down response times but also diminishes overall productivity.
Lagging Behind Competitors
Although many companies in the printing industry struggle with modern sales and marketing approaches, some have cracked the code. And they very well could be your competitors who are using innovative sales techniques to secure a competitive edge. Remaining stagnant in your approach poses a risk of falling behind in the market. In a landscape where innovation drives relevance, a sales team resistant to change can hinder your growth trajectory.
How to Encourage Change?
Always Be Training
Cultivating a culture of continuous learning within your organization is critical. Scheduling regular training sessions and interactive workshops tailored to your experienced reps is a great way to introduce new skills. Make these opportunities engaging and directly related to their roles, emphasizing how new tools can complement rather than replace their existing skills. Assign relevant actions to help reps quickly internalize the training and integrate it into their daily work processes.
Lead by Example
Leadership is instrumental in fostering change. Showcase your commitment to new sales methodologies by actively engaging with your sales team. When your team observes you fully embracing new tactics and techniques, they will be more inclined to try it themselves.
Provide Support and Resources
Equip your reps with the right tools and support to thrive. This includes comprehensive training and continuous encouragement from mentors who can coach them through adopting new skills or ‘tech buddies’ who can assist them in overcoming technology hurdles.
Highlight Success Stories
Sharing real success stories from other reps or companies that have embraced new sales methods can be a powerful motivator. Tangible examples of success can demonstrate the benefits of change and inspire your team to explore new avenues. Peer testimonials are particularly effective in driving this point home.
Incentivize Adoption
Consider introducing incentives for reps who successfully incorporate new selling techniques into their daily workflows. Whether through bonuses, recognition programs, or advancement opportunities, positive reinforcement can stimulate motivation and encourage broader acceptance of change.
Conclusion
Embracing change can be challenging, especially for those who have dedicated years to fine-tuning their craft. However, embracing the evolving landscape of B2B sales is not merely advantageous but essential for success today. By understanding the roots of resistance among your seasoned reps and providing tailored support, you can help them become comfortable with what it takes to be a successful B2B seller today. This proactive approach will enhance sales performance and secure your organization’s competitive standing in a dynamic market.
Are you ready to instigate change and empower your team to thrive? Start implementing these strategies today and observe the positive impact on your sales figures. For further assistance, feel free to reach out—Evolve Sales Group is here to support you and your team on this journey to success.
When interviewing candidates for a sales position, one of my questions is: What skills and traits have made you successful as a sales rep? Almost every candidate emphasizes their listening skills during interviews. In my head, I’m often asking myself, “What are you listening to?”
No one claims to have the skill of asking good questions.
I’ve spent years analyzing why some reps ask better questions than others and conclude that good reps ask better questions because they are curious. Genuine curiosity can transform sales, leading to a deeper understanding and stronger relationships with prospects.
Even seasoned candidates are nervous in interviews. So later in the interview, I double-checked the “curiosity gene” by asking the candidates to share something they recently taught themselves how to do. My follow-up questions are: how did they get interested in learning it, and what process did they use to learn what they needed to know?
One candidate shared that they learned how to make a specific type of jewelry because she couldn’t find a gift for her grandmother. She took a class, shopped for the pieces, tried and failed a couple of times, but finally ended up with something her grandmother loved.
Another rep shared that he lived in an apartment without access to a grill, so he Googled how to make a good steak on the stove, learned about cast iron skillets, bought one, studied how to season it, and practiced until he could make the perfect steak.
It doesn’t have to be hands-on learning, either. Another great question to identify the candidate’s level of curiosity is to ask about books they are reading or podcasts they listen to and why they chose those topics.
You Can’t Fake Genuine Curiosity
Why Curiosity Matters in Sales
Curious people ask good questions; good questions make prospects and customers think about the costs of their problems and the value of their opportunities. Great questions give sellers the information they need to craft solutions that help their customers achieve objectives. The questions themselves are differentiating and can help position the rep as a trusted advisor.
The Difference Between Listening and Being Curious
● Listening is passive. It involves absorbing information.
● Curiosity is active. It involves probing deeper, seeking clarity, and uncovering hidden needs.
A curious salesperson goes beyond surface-level responses. They ask follow-up questions that dig into the why and how, not just the what. For example, instead of merely understanding that a prospect needs a solution, a curious salesperson will explore that need’s underlying reasons and potential implications. Because the questions are better, the rep learns more about the situation and better understands how to help and what the value of that help will be for the customer.
Signs You are a Naturally Curious Person
· You ask lots of questions: You’re always seeking to learn more, whether it’s about your industry, your clients, or the world in general.
· You enjoy learning: New information excites you, and you always seek opportunities to expand your knowledge.
· You share what you learn:People who like to learn also like to discuss what they have learned to gain additional perspective and further their learning.
· You’re an active listener: You don’t just wait for your turn to speak; you listen intently and ask clarifying questions.
· You notice details: Small nuances and insights don’t escape your notice; you pay attention to what others might overlook.
· You have a growth mindset: Challenges and new experiences are seen as opportunities to grow and learn.
· You like solving problems: You learn from every customer problem you explore, invest time identifying ways your customers can improve their situations using your products, and understand your time and knowledge have value.
How Not Being Curious Leads to Poor Sales Performance
During coaching sessions with reps, we cover the topic of new opportunities identified. The reps share their new opportunities, and I ask questions like:
● What value are you creating for this customer?
● What will working with you give them something they don’t already have?
● What results is the customer trying to drive with this project?
● What will happen to their organization if they don’t achieve their desired results?
● What have they tried in the past, and what results did those things generate?
● When they researched a change like this, who was involved, and what process did they use to evaluate a new solution or provider?
When I first start a coaching relationship, reps can rarely answer these questions. They will tell me what the prospect is looking for (e.g., they need a direct mail campaign or a sign) but nothing about why or how it is supposed to help them. Reps often reply to my questions with a reply of, “The prospect didn’t give me that information.” I’ll then ask what questions they asked, and bingo—we’re at the root of the problem. They aren’t asking enough questions. The unfortunate truth, in many cases, is the reps just didn’t care enough about the customer’s situation to learn more.
When reps don’t uncover what the prospect needs to be successful (hint: it’s not a print or sign; it’s what the print or sign is supposed to accomplish), they will compete on price. They will leave revenue opportunities on the table for a competitor to claim.
Can Reps Become More Curious?
Being naturally curious is a fantastic trait, but what if it doesn’t come naturally to you or your reps? Here are some strategies to develop and enhance your or your team’s curiosity:
1. Change Your Mindset
Adopt a mindset of continuous learning. Treat every interaction as an opportunity to learn something new. Shift your focus from closing the sale to understanding the prospect. This change in perspective can make your interactions feel more like genuine conversations rather than sales pitches.
2. Ask Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions encourage detailed responses. Instead of asking questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no,” ask questions that require elaboration. For example:
● “Can you tell me more about the challenges you’re facing with your current solution?”
● “What goals are you hoping to achieve in the next year?”
● “How does this problem impact your organization?”
● “How will addressing this challenge help you, your department, your company, and your customers?”
3. Practice Active Listening
Active listening means fully concentrating on what is being said rather than just passively hearing the message and simply biding your time until you can speak again. Show that you’re engaged by nodding, making eye contact, and summarizing what the prospect has said before moving on to the next question.
4. Research and Prepare
Before meeting with a prospect, do your homework. Understand their industry, company, and role. This preparation will allow you to ask insightful questions and demonstrate genuine interest.
5. Stay Informed
Stay current with industry trends, news, and developments. This knowledge will help you ask better questions and position yourself as a knowledgeable and trusted advisor.
6. Reflect and Adapt
After each sales conversation, take time to reflect on the conversation, what you asked, what you learned and what more you need to learn.
Owners and managers can reinforce this skill by asking their reps questions like:
● “What did you learn from the prospect today?”
● “How did the prospect react when you asked that question?”
● “What questions did the prospect ask you?”
● “How did you show interest in learning about their business, challenges, and the opportunities they want to capture?”
Conclusion
Curiosity is a powerful sales tool that can set you apart from the competition. By fostering genuine curiosity, you can better understand your prospects, build stronger relationships, and drive more successful sales outcomes.
For owners and managers, use interview questions to determine if your sales candidates are curious and crave continuous learning. Those same questions can help you find more employees with a growth mindset for every position. Make sure you foster employees’ curiosity by giving them plenty of opportunities to learn new things and apply that learning.
Curious employees will learn more, sell more, help more, and help you grow more!
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the Rehab Center Medical Director told me that he wanted to release my mom by December 1st, ushering in another mad dash to figure out what to do. Before I left Mom that morning, I started calling the assisted living facilities in the Richmond area. I would have to find a place and move her in just over a week. And that week included the Thanksgiving holiday.
I toured five facilities and decided where she would move the following Monday. Bolstered by the experience at the Rehab center, I came to each tour armed with better questions and a more critical eye. Medicare does not cover Assisted Living so the cost would come from my mom’s savings this time.
I returned from each tour with brochures for Mom and gave her my observations. She wanted to go home and wasn’t asking too many questions. My sister contemplated quitting her job and moving mom into her living room on the first floor, but that was nixed by my mom immediately. My mom lived in a one-bedroom condo, making caring for her in her home difficult and expensive. Even with my sister and I taking as many hours as possible, the cost of in-home care would deplete her savings quickly, and she was adamant that I save as much as possible to give to her children. When I would tell her my job was to take care of her and not my siblings, she would muster up a curt response of “I’m not dead yet!” meaning she wanted me to do what she wanted me to do. My job was to thread the needle between quality of care and affordability.
As I toured the facilities that Thanksgiving week, in addition to cleanliness, I noticed how the staff interacted with the residents. Were they engaged? Did they look people in the eye? Were they kind? Did they look up from what they were doing when I entered their building?
I also looked at their uniform shirts, having learned that it could indicate the level of care. Were they clean? Did they fit? Did the staff seem invested in their jobs and the residents? Was the staff recognizable by residents and guests?
I wanted to know if there was always a manager on duty. From the Rehab Center, I learned that you need access to managers if a problem arises outside of normal business hours.
I tried interacting with the residents in each location to see if they seemed happy. I looked at the menus and the rooms to imagine how comfortable my mom would be in each location.
My sister was off the day of the last visit, and she went with me. The person giving us the tour seemed competent and nice. She knew the residents by name, which we liked. The facility seemed clean, but after learning from the rehab facility experience, we asked about the response time when a resident used the call bell. We were told approximately 30 minutes, which seemed long, but we appreciated the honesty. In the end, we didn’t consider this place, and here’s why: Each facility toured had either an empty room or a model to show us during the tour. Our guide at this place opened the door to a resident’s room and showed us around. We had met the resident earlier in the tour, so she knew he was downstairs, but the resident had not been expecting guests, so various personal items were visible. it felt like an extreme evasion of privacy to open the room to strangers. We crossed them off the list.
This experience made me think of all the businesses I have visited over the years and their level of preparation for my visit. Some had signs to welcome me. One company even made a personalized magnetic sign that covered the visitor parking sign for me. Others had swag, which was a nice touch. One of the travel coffee mugs I use almost daily was gifted during a client visit. Unfortunately, these examples are the exception to the rule. Most of my onsite visits would be classified as “not ready for guests.” Reception areas that rarely have a receptionist these days are usually covered in what can only be classified as “stuff.” Two large trashcans caught dripping water in the lunch room at one business I visited. Lights often flicker in the restroom, carpets often need to be replaced or, at least, professionally cleaned, and there is generally just too much clutter in the office area. Just like with the tour of the Assisted Living business, this is not putting your best foot forward for a customer or prospect visiting your facility. Today, businesses with this level of dishevelment will find it hard to recruit new talent. In addition, cluttered, unorganized spaces negatively impact employee engagement, lowering productivity and profitability.
My sister and I decided on the best place and shared our thoughts with Mom. The facility was about the same distance as the Rehab center for me, but it was just a few minutes from my sister’s home, which seemed helpful. The rehab facility was sapping Mom of her will to live, so when we made our final recommendation, Mom just nodded along. She wasn’t happy with the price, but she realized there weren’t a lot of options.
The move date was December 1st. The night before, a group of her children and grandchildren moved a few things from her condo to her new rehab studio apartment. We brought her favorite chair, a bedside table, and a lamp from her room at home. We also brought a few small touches to make her new room feel like home. The word “joy” was important to my mom’s faith and approach to life. We found a banner with the word “joy” that she used as a Christmas decoration and hung on the door to her new room. We also transported a little Christmas tree, a replica of their larger tree, which her husband made for her before he passed away years before.
On Friday, Dec 1st, I finished my day at noon and headed to pick her up and move her in. I couldn’t wait to get her out of the rehab facility. When I arrived, she told me that she had left a message for the facility director because she wanted to share some things before her departure. She said she wanted to make it better for future patients. In my head, I rolled my eyes. One of the aides told her that the director would be down “shortly.” My Mom waited in her wheelchair for almost an hour, but the nursing director never showed up. I knew she wouldn’t. When your culture is that bad, it’s broken at the top.
I finally convinced my mom that we should go. As I wheeled Mom out, we rolled past the nursing director, who could see that my mom was moving out. It would have been the perfect time to say, “I was on my way to your room.” She didn’t. She kept her head down, mumbled “hi,” and kept walking. For a second, I almost stopped so my mom would have the chance to “leave the place better than she found it.” I didn’t stop; I just wanted to leave because being there was just that bad. When your customers want to share something about their experience, even if you suspect it will be bad, you have to take the feedback. If you don’t, your culture will stay right where it is – bad. PS, today I received a bill for a haircut my mom got in November of 2023. They can even bill correctly.
Our arrival at assisted living was promising. A staff member was outside hanging holiday decorations. The center director came out to help me get my mom out of the car. I asked him to go up to her room and grab the wheelchair hospice had already delivered, so I could stay with mom. As he left I asked in a whisper if he could turn on the little Christmas tree so it would be on when she rolled in. When we opened the door to her room, the little Christmas tree was shining to welcome her. Things were happening like clockwork!
Hospice had delivered a hospital bed, so I quickly made the bed with the new linens I had purchased earlier and unpacked her suitcase. The room was clean and neat, and I was starting to feel like she would be comfortable there. The hospital bed had side rails, but these are not legal for assisted living, so the director was personally figuring out a solution that would give my mom some leverage to get in and out of bed. The director spent hours with us that day. My sister was there by this point, and we were very hopeful.
And then the bottom fell out.
The Hospice nurse showed up to confirm medications and ensure their equipment was set up properly. Several days before, I had sent the forms, including the medication list, to ensure it would be on hand, called to check and been told everything was on order. The med techs didn’t have them. Nobody seemed to know why they weren’t delivered or what to do about it. The hospice nurse stayed for several hours to help them figure it out. The nursing director showed up and got involved, and she couldn’t even determine why the medication order hadn’t originally gone through and wouldn’t go through now. My Mom needed Tylenol for pain in addition to her other medications, but it had not been delivered. I wanted to go to the drugstore and buy some. The Center director offered to go to the drugstore and get it, which he did. Hospice had the morphine so my mom wouldn’t be in pain, but all of the other medications were not there.
In the middle of all this, we tried the call bell. No one came. I worked on that problem while the others worked the phones to figure out the medication. Ultimately, it turned out that because my mom had arrived after 1:00 PM on a Friday, the new medication order had to be sent to the weekend pharmacy, not the regular pharmacy. The facility was part of the chain and used a common pharmacy two hours away. The mistake meant that the medicine would be delayed until the following day. The computer system did not alert the user that their order through the regular pharmacy would not be delivered and that they should use the weekend pharmacy. The people were trying, but the processes and systems let them down.
A similar situation occurred with the call bell. There was an amazing gal at the front desk whose job was to watch the call bell board and use a walkie-talkie to alert a person on the floor of the room number of the person needing assistance. This seemed like an ok plan until I realized each bell had to be reset after the resident activated it. If the staff member forgot to reset the bell, it would not work the next time it was pushed. This is nuts, but I fixed this by insisting that my mom be issued multiple call bells.
This seemed to solve the problem during the day but we were still having problems at night. Hospice wasn’t happy and wanted my mom to move to another facility. My mom liked the people, and she didn’t want to move. I had to get to the bottom of the call button debacle.
The next day, I went through the process with a fine-tooth comb and figured out what was happening. During the day, the receptionist monitored the call board and would page the staff to the appropriate room. After 8:00 PM, the calls were supposed to ring the pager of the floor lead, who would then use a walkie-talkie to alert the staff of the room needing assistance. It’s not the most technical solution I’ve ever heard, but it should work. But it wasn’t so that night; whenever I passed a staff member on the floor, I asked, “Do you have a pager.?” Do you have a walkie-talkie? Not a single staff member I talked to did.
The next morning, I marched into the Director’s office. He had only been working there for a month, and most of his focus had been on trying to fill staff vacancies, so he was learning a lot about his processes through our experiences. I shared that no one seemed to have a pager or a walkie-talkie at night. He told me that one of the first things he did when he arrived was buy a bunch of pagers and walkie-talkies. There were so many that the staff got careless about bringing them back in and would simply take another from inventory. It was news to him that the staff didn’t have them. I gave him a little free consulting and suggested that one set of pagers and walkie-talkies be turned over from one staff member to another at shift change so they never left the building. He could use the rest for backup when one malfunctioned. The next big problem would be to account for all of his inventory. But he was going to have to get them back or buy more because his process wouldn’t work at night if the staff didn’t have pagers and walkie-talkies.
Over the course of my career, I have seen big problems absorb owners’ attention, so much so that they don’t notice process errors that are costing them money and causing them to lose customers. In this case, the Director was fixated on filling the staff vacancies first before tackling the process issues under the surface. Staffing is critical, but his process issues might have been causing the staffing issues. Hiring good people and giving them a bad process will mean more turnover and more hiring and on and on. There will always be some major problems to draw an owner’s attention, but if owners don’t prioritize the systems and processes, they will always be swimming upstream.
One of the highlights of the experience was the dining and kitchen staff. The food was much better than the rehab facility. The servers knew each resident by name and served them like it was a restaurant. My mom liked all of them, especially the chef who made her a perfect over, easy egg every day. My husband was the only other person who got that high of marks on the egg front.
One day, I arrived to find that the entire dining and kitchen staff had gone on strike. None of them showed up for work. The nursing director and med techs made and served food when my mom arrived for breakfast. From the process side, that meant they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do, like ordering medication, for instance. This was another big problem for the facility Director to solve before dealing with his process issues. I don’t know the resolution, but everyone was back on duty by the lunch service.
One night before I left, my mom asked me for some paper. I ripped a few pages out of my notebook and gave it to her. When I came in the next day, she handed me a four-page plan to improve the facility. She documented everything she thought they could do better and the steps necessary to “right the ship,” as she liked to say. She told me she had called both the nursing and facility director and asked to meet to present her plan. She wasn’t going to wait until it was too late this time.
Her plan was pretty elaborate and even included advice for the director to take his wardrobe up a notch. Her plan said, “I’m not saying you have to wear a three-piece suit; I’m saying you have to look like you are in charge.”
Her plan called for the dining staff, which largely stayed the same day-to-day, unlike the med techs, to notice changes in each resident’s health. They were to alert the nursing staff if they noticed someone was failing. She had been noticing changes in the residents herself, especially a new friend who shared her table. She felt he was going downhill and asked him daily if he had been seen by the facility doctor. He had not she went to the staff herself to get him seen.
She had a whole section on unexplained noises that upset the residents needlessly. The noises were dragging trash cans and repeatedly opening and closing the doors on the medicine cart to pull medications. She recommended organizing the medicine by patient first so the cart only had to be opened once per patient. I wondered about this myself. It seemed like that cart was open and shut 15 times for each patient’s meds. Ultimately, she felt that everyone was working hard and cared, but their duties and processes weren’t organized well, resulting in frustrated employees and less than optimal care for residents.
My mom celebrated her 87th birthday on January 6th. We ate pizza and toasted with champagne in her room by the light of her little Christmas tree. Six days later, she was gone.
My mom was an amazing woman – way ahead of her time in many ways. In addition to being a wife and mother, she was a nurse, a realtor, a medical device sales rep, a small business owner, a funeral planning consultant, and a caregiver. She taught Sunday school, a lector at church, was on the parish council, and organized the prison ministry all in her eighties. Her church just notified me that they are presenting her with their Impact Award posthumously for helping to improve the parish.
My mom never met a problem she didn’t think she could fix and never failed to try. Making things better brought her joy. She wanted to leave every situation she found herself in better than the way she found it. She didn’t get the chance at the rehab center, so she made it a priority in her final days at the assisted living facility.
When she died, I got this email from the director of the assisted living facility:
“I enjoyed getting to know your mom. I am sorry things got off to a rocky start, and I appreciate everyone’s patience with us. She was a considerable help, and I learned quite a bit from her. I appreciate all the feedback she provided and will not soon forget her. We will keep working to address the issues she brought to light.
Once my mom’s sodium levels returned to normal, the hospital discharged her to a Rehabilitation facility to hopefully get some strength back.
One of the many drive-by visits we received in the hospital was from the patient advocate. She gave me a list of rehab facilities and asked me to check off the ones I wanted her to try. They all had ratings, so I picked the ones with the highest ratings closest to where my sister and I lived.
After three days, the hospitalist showed up at 1:00 PM for approximately 90 seconds to say he was discharging my mom. I mentioned in an earlier post that my mom attempted to ask him about a side effect she had experienced due to the morphine she was now being prescribed. He told her he didn’t have time to discuss it but would send a nurse in to speak to her. I think a nurse did come by, but she didn’t offer answers, and the staff seemed to be in full “get her out of here” mode.
The rehab facilities I had checked on the list and researched online didn’t have rooms available. The Patient Advocate suggested another location close to my sister’s home, so I agreed. This was my worst decision as my mom’s advocate and possibly my entire life. My mom wanted to get out of the hospital; I knew she couldn’t go home, and the hospital wouldn’t send us to a bad place, right? WRONG.
This place was a disaster from the moment we arrived until my mom left for assisted living. I am not exaggerating to say this facility was seriously deficient in management practices, culture, medical knowledge, and all processes used to run the place, and most of the employees were incompetent.
If you are in Richmond, please email me, and I will be happy to share the name of this facility so you can steer clear should you need a rehabilitation facility in the future.
Things went wrong immediately. The hospital arranged for a medical transport from the hospital to the facility. They arrived at approximately 4:30 PM. My mom was buddled, moved to a gurney, and then to the ambulance as I followed behind in my car. I wish I remembered the name of this group because the three-person team explained things clearly, was courteous to my mom, and transported her comfortably to the rehab facility.
I was a minute or so behind the ambulance. I saw it parked in front of one of the buildings, pulled into a parking spot, and joined the two of the drivers inside. One stayed behind with my mom in the ambulance. When I walked in, the two drivers were talking to a woman, and I knew something was wrong just by looking at the body language.
I approached the group, which included a woman in professional clothes (not scrubs) who appeared to be with the facility. She told them she didn’t know anything about a new patient and kept repeating, “Nobody told me,” and “I don’t know anything about this.” Within seconds, these thoughts went through my head:
· Mom in the back of the ambulance
· It’s now after 5, so the chances of the patient advocate still being at the hospital will not be good.
· The drivers weren’t getting anywhere.
· I was going to have to figure this out fast.
I approached the group, explained that I was the daughter of their new patient, and gave her my mom’s name and the names of the hospital and patient advocate who arranged for the admission. This gal (a huge jerk) turned her back on me, threw her hands into the air, and said, “I don’t know anything about this,” and walked away.
I asked if we could try to figure out what was going on as my mom was in an ambulance in front of her building. She briefly looked over her shoulder, repeated she “wasn’t aware of any new patient” and didn’t know what I expected her to do and she threw in a “nobody ever tells me anything” for good measure.
My mind is still going a mile a minute now with these thoughts:
1) Do the drivers have any recommendations?
2) Should I have them drive my mom to my house and figure it out from there?
3) That would be a lot for my mom, who was already exhausted.
4) I need to call the hospital immediately if there is any hope of catching someone who can help sort the situation out.
5) Mom is going to get concerned if she stays out in the ambulance for longer than expected, so I had better go tell her what’s going on.
I took out my phone and started dialing the hospital. As expected, it went to voice mail, so I was trying to zero out and get to the switchboard when two people wearing scrubs noticed the situation and walked up. The administrator was about 30 feet from me, still exclaiming that she didn’t know what people expected her to do when no one told her anything.
The two gals in scrubs told us we were at the wrong building and needed to go back out to the entrance and make a right instead of a left to reach the rehab part of the facility. We were at the independent living building. Problem solved.
Why hadn’t the first gal figured this out? She was more invested in what she felt was a slight against her by some unknown administrator who didn’t tell her something than she was in patient care. Also, she might just be a bitch. She should be fired for one or both reasons.
The drivers returned to the ambulance and moved my mom to the other building. They were ready for her, and we moved her into her room. It was dinner time, and the nurse who had admitted her suggested we go to the dining room for dinner.
The word dinner is a stretch. It was a bologna sandwich and pasta salad. My mom ate half of the sandwich and some of the salad. I introduced my mom to the others at the table, hoping she could make friends while there. That, too, would prove to be a stretch.
I introduced myself to the team on duty, ensured they had my contact information, helped my mom get ready for bed, and tucked her in before leaving. I was planning to supplement the food if the bologna sandwich indicated what she would be served, but otherwise, I was hopeful that now we were in the right location, things would be ok. I was very, very wrong.
My sister and I split the days so that someone was with Mom most of the time she was awake. We often needed to ask questions or inquire about medicine or procedures like showers. It was extremely difficult to know who was in charge, and no one volunteered to tell us. It was like they had been told not to escalate anything to anybody.
There appeared to be one RN who was in charge of the certified nursing assistants and med techs. She only worked during the day, which meant anything that happened during the night or on weekends had to be communicated via voicemails that were rarely returned.
The staff wore various scrubs and crocks, stained ill-fitting t-shirts, and various head attire. None of the uniforms were “uniform,” which made me worry that it was indicative of their patient care, which was a correct assumption. Like the gal the first day, no one seemed to know anything except that they weren’t being given the information needed to do their jobs.
They also weren’t trained. My mom called me in the middle of the first night, saying that the staff didn’t know how to help her get to the bathroom. They did not know the proper lift procedure. My mom had been a nurse and a caregiver in her last few years of work, so she knew the proper lift procedures. The staff didn’t.
My mom started getting out of bed and into a wheelchair and wheeling herself to the bathroom. We were terrified she would fall again, but when she rang the bell for assistance, it could take anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple of hours before someone came. When they got to the room, the main focus was ensuring the call light was turned off before they did anything else. I would think to myself, it’s been on since I got here two hours ago, so why are you in such a hurry to turn it off now?
One night, I was with my mom in the dining room. We were waiting at a table with three other residents, and a couple of workers were on their break just a few feet away. They were complaining loudly about their manager and using foul language. They either didn’t notice the residents sitting there or didn’t care what they heard. Both are unacceptable.
On multiple occasions, I watched the staff prepare meal trays to take to the rooms of people who couldn’t get to the dining room. The food would come out and go on the trays, and then they would spend 15 minutes pouring drinks and placing silverware. The food had to be ice cold by the time they delivered it to the rooms. Why not do the silverware and cups first, then add the food when it’s hot and head to the rooms?
Watching them, it felt like they were trained specifically on how to do something and not given the leeway to make changes based on the timing of the food’s arrival. I thought to myself, would they really get in trouble if they reordered the procedure? I doubted that, as no one seemed to pay attention. So, either they didn’t care enough to notice they should reorder their procedure to ensure the food stayed hot, or they didn’t realize it. Are they being told to do something in a specific order or to deliver the food to the patients with the right utensils as quickly as possible? It’s the difference between doing the right things and doing things right.
They often ran out of coffee in the mornings. My mom looked forward to her coffee, and when they ran out, she was disappointed. It was brought over from the main dining room in another building in one carafe. I asked if they could get more. The person serving said “no”. I suggested they ask for two carafes; she looked at me like I spoke Dutch. That seemed like a very easy fix to me. Were they not fixing it because no one told the main kitchen staff they were running out, or was only one carafe available? Either way, no one cared about the patients having their coffee. I left a message for the director, but it was never returned. I started bringing coffee when I came in the mornings.
They delivered the beverages to the rooms in Styrofoam cups that easily tipped over and held only about 8 oz of water. On the second day, I noticed that George, another patient in a motorized wheelchair, couldn’t get close enough to the water machine to fill his giant cup with water, so I asked if he wanted a refill. He was super grateful. I started filling it every day when I arrived to see my mom. The staff saw me doing it, but they didn’t ask why or thank me for doing it. Did they see that he couldn’t get close to the machine?
My mom was getting morphine for her pain. In the beginning, it was one dose at 9 PM that would help her go to sleep. After four days, she was addicted to that dose of morphine at 9 PM, so when they didn’t come, she would get agitated, and her breathing would become more labored. It is difficult to give medicine to a bunch of patients at exactly 9 PM, so we wouldn’t get worried until they were behind by 45 minutes to an hour. When it got close to being an hour late, I would go down to the nurse’s desk to remind them to get it. On one of those trips, I walked by the med tech at the medicine cart, who was watching videos on her phone, propped up on the cart, and eating her dinner. This was a problem on so many levels. Was she late with the medications because she was distracted by her videos and dinner? Why was she eating over the medicine cart at all? Why not go sit in the now-empty dining room to eat? Didn’t anyone else who worked there notice the potential for a mistake from the med tech watching videos and dispensing medication simultaneously? Was this individual so stupid that she didn’t understand the ramifications of someone reporting this procedure, or did she not care?
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I had the early shift, and my sister was doing the bedtime routine. About 9:30 PM, my sister called to say that the staff was saying there was no order for morphine. My sister tried to explain that there was an order but wasn’t getting anywhere, so she called me.
I’m going to give you this exchange in dialog form:
Kate: My sister tells me you won’t give my mom her morphine. Can you tell me why?
Med Tech: I don’t have an order for it.
Kate: She has had a dose at 9:00 PM every night since arriving.
Med Tech: No, she hasn’t.
Kate: (trying to problem solve) Is it listed by its generic name on the chart?
Med Tech: Starts reading a list of medications that she can’t pronounce, which, three weeks into this, I knew how to pronounce.
Kate: I’ve been there when a med tech gave it to her.
Med Tech: Then they were giving it to her without an order.
Kate: You realize that morphine is a controlled substance, and if a member of the staff were giving it to her without an order, which I have witnessed, they would be breaking the law, right?
Med Tech: I don’t know what you want me to do. There isn’t an order for it.
Kate: Can you call the doctor on call?
Med Tech: No, I’m not allowed.
Kate: This isn’t the only situation in your facility’s history where a patient has needed a new or changed prescription at night. There has to be a way to get the doctor.
MedTech: I can write a note in the doctor’s book.
Kate: When will the doctor see the book?
Med Tech: The Monday after Thanksgiving when he returns from the holiday.
Kate: That’s absurd. That would be five days, and there must be a procedure for notifying the doctor before five days.
Med Tech: I’m not allowed to call the doctor.
Kate: What can you do?
Med Tech: I can call the head nurse and tell her.
Kate: Let’s do that then.
I get off the phone and call the Palliative Care team who prescribed the morphine in hopes that they can help. The doctor on call returned my message within 3 minutes. As I was explaining the situation, my sister texted that they were giving Mom the morphine now, and Mom thought I was a wizard.
So many things are wrong here. A med tech who cannot pronounce the medications? Shouldn’t you be able to read and say the medication you are dispensing? Do you know what you are giving your patients? Do you not realize the absurdity of telling someone who is in pain that nothing can be done for five days? You had an escalation process to call the nurse but didn’t offer it until I asked you repeatedly for a solution. What was the goal, to fix the problem or to wait until I gave up? What the heck happens to patients who don’t have an advocate 24 x 7?
Lesson 1: Uniforms
If you provide uniforms to your team, you do so because you want people to know who your employees are. You also want your employees to be proud of their company. Dirty, stained, ill-fitting, and ragged uniforms do the exact opposite. They make your customers wonder about your attention to detail and if your brand will deliver on its promise. Stains happen, but if you don’t care, your employees won’t care. Employees who don’t notice their uniforms aren’t living up to your brand probably don’t care about the experience they deliver to your customers. If you are an owner who thinks uniforms are important for your brand, then be prepared to replace uniforms when they are stained, tattered, or don’t fit anymore. It’s a small investment, but it will demonstrate to your customers that you care about the way your company is perceived and to your employees that you want them to be proud of where they work. If you are a manager, dress the part. Your customers will feel like they are talking to someone in authority, setting the stage for problem resolution.
If you have a dress code, enforce it. If you don’t, what is the point?
Lesson 2: Stop Quacking
When a customer is upset, they don’t want to hear what you can’t do. They want you to fix their problem. If the words, “that’s not our process”, or “I’m not allowed” come out of your team’s mouth, it will exacerbate the situation.
Train your employees on how to respond to issues. Train them to demonstrate empathy, ask the right questions, get the facts of the situation, and share what they will do next to resolve the issue. Teach them to know when a situation has exceeded their ability to fix it so they know when to engage you or your senior management team. Never just quack policy back to a customer; it will make them crazy.
Lesson 3: Hire Perceptive People
You want employees to notice things. They should notice when your processes don’t work for a customer and try to tailor one that can. You want them to notice when a customer is unhappy and intercede.
You don’t want employees who don’t notice when a wheelchair can’t get close enough to an ice and water dispenser to use it. You want them to notice when you only have half a cup of coffee left to give to a patient and look for alternatives. You want them to notice that when you keep delivering cold food, patients don’t eat it and seek a solution.
I’ve often thought part of an in-person interview should be a staged situation in the lobby. The candidate arrives and announces they are there for the interview. The front desk person leaves to find the interviewing manager and doesn’t come back purposefully. A fake customer walks in to find no one at the front desk. Does the candidate get up and try to find someone to help, or do they sit there and watch as the decoy customer waits and becomes impatient? If they get up and try to find a human to help; they are probably a keeper.
The hospital was a little better than the emergency room, but not much. My mom saw a steady stream of doctors, starting with the kidney specialist who was working on her sodium levels.
Because she had gotten an MRI and CT scan through the ER, she had visits from the doctors associated with all of the places the cancer had spread. By this time, Mom had perfected her death with dignity speech, so these visits were like stops at a drive-in fast-food window. No more than 3 minutes for each one. She would try to tell her story of how healthy she had always been and her decline since the cough started, but they were all in a hurry. Especially the hospitalist who was in charge of her case. His visits could be measured in seconds. When Mom asked a question, the look on his face was annoyance. The last time we saw him, she asked him a question, and he said, I don’t have time; I’ll get the nurse. Mom was trying to explain what she thought was an adverse reaction to one of the drugs they prescribed. I know these doctors are busy, but at least pretend to be interested.
The Oncologist reiterated that she had three to six months to live. He stayed the longest. He seemed like a nice guy who couldn’t bring himself to cut her off. The others didn’t have that problem. She would say that she elected not to treat anything and they would say ok and leave. My mom was sure she didn’t want to be sick from chemo, but what was dying with cancer going to be like? No one talked about what would happen without treatment of any kind.
She had cancer spots on her brain, and I literally chased the Neurologist out into the hall after one of the drive-bys to find out what to expect. She said the spots were small, and she didn’t expect them to have any cognitive impairment in the time she had left. A bit of good news.
We also faced specialization and staffing issues on the floor. She never had the same nurse or nursing assistant across the three days. I’m sure there is a good reason for scheduling this way, but it doesn’t make a good patient experience. Nurses couldn’t help with the restroom, and nursing assistants couldn’t help with the pain. It wasn’t the right person to ask for anything she asked for. They all left to “let someone know.” I’m pretty sure they don’t tell anyone; they figure the right person will eventually end up in the room.
My mom was a fall risk, so she was supposed to wait for help to the restroom, but my sister and I started to take her because of the wait times. No one seemed to care. One less thing for them to do. I wondered about the liability briefly, but seeing my mom uncomfortable wasn’t an option for us.
There was always a crowd at the nurse’s station looking at computer screens or joking with each other. You could see them visibly sigh when you interrupted them to ask for something. Some, and that may be an exaggeration, would respond to you. Others barely looked up from their computer screens and said, “They would get someone.”
The entire staff seemed disengaged, and no one cared about how this appeared to the patients. To add to the irony, the hospital was in the middle of an engagement-themed campaign, something to do with being a HERO. I knew about it because the computer screen in the room timed out the campaign messaging. The last thing that would come to mind from this experience was the word hero. It was just blah.
The one highlight was the palliative care and hospice teams. They were the opposite. They were very engaged and caring. They provided good information, answered their phones, and returned calls quickly. Since my mom didn’t want to treat her cancer, Palliative care took over her case and was focused on keeping her comfortable.
Lesson: Culture matters.
A few years back, one of my daughters was sick, and we went to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. EVERYONE was engaged, from the security guard to the cafeteria checkout person. We were scared, but we knew we were in good hands. When you have confidence in the people caring for you, it trumps everything else. I don’t remember that much about the facilities at Sloan Kettering. It must have looked like every other hospital I’ve been in, but I remember the doctors, the nurses, the lab technicians, the security guard, and the cafeteria check-out person. They all seemed to know they had an important role to play in caring for patients and families during a very terrifying time in their lives.
If you or anyone you love has cancer, find out how to be seen by the teams at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
My Mom’s experience was not like the one we had at Sloan Kettering’s. Almost everyone—save Calvin and the Palliative and Hospice teams—appeared to me more focused on their workload than patient care.
Your teams have jobs, but do they understand their role in helping their customers accomplish their objectives? Would they say they run a press or help small businesses find customers? Would they say they are in customer service, or do they help nonprofits find and keep donors? Do you sell e-discovery services to law firms or help law firms successfully defend their clients? Do you pack up paychecks or help businesses ensure their employees have money to buy milk and diapers for their families?
Culture develops from a shared mission, processes that support the mission, and employees that honor the mission. Culture continues because you constantly inspect how your culture makes your customers and employees feel. If your culture doesn’t deliver to customers or employees what you promised them, it’s broken.
Understanding what your customer’s world looks like and feels like is how you build a culture that delivers on a promise to improve their situations. People at the hospital took vitals, gave medication, charted, and cleaned, but did any of them think about how those things were part of a bigger picture of my mom preparing to die? Maybe they did once, but they didn’t seem to now.
No one at the hospital was going to make my mom well, but their mission statement says they want to improve the health and well-being of their communities and bring good help to those in need. I think they should define “good help.” If they define it as performing duties, then they accomplished their objective. If they meant providing compassionate care, they fell short.
What’s your mission? How do your customers feel when they interact with your business? Is it transactional, as in they wanted to buy something and they did – or do they feel you are invested in their success?
Doing things right is about following rules, policies, procedures, and norms. Doing the right things is about aligning your objectives and values with those of your customers while you do your jobs. When the two philosophies align, there’s no issue. But when they don’t, your customers are probably getting the short end of the stick.
