I Love Sales

October is National Physical Therapy Month and National Women in Sales Month.

I’ve got a tough pill for you to swallow so buckle up: to be an effective PT you have to be a good salesperson.

PTs and Salespeople have more in common than they may realize.

99% of PTs became PTs because they “want to help people.”

How can you help people if they aren’t showing up for therapy?

How do you get them to show up?

You sell them.

Think about some of your most rewarding moments as a physical therapist.

I generally think of patients who were in an incredibly tough spot and needed my help.

Showing up for therapy was really hard.

I used my skills as a therapist to guide them to show up and get it done despite the many obstacles they were facing.

Guess what?

Guidance is simply a more palatable word for “selling.”

I get it - being a salesperson can have a negative connotation.

And that’s the problem we need to overcome.

As a profession, we need to get more comfortable with the idea of helping and selling at the same time.

The more you sell, the more you can help.

I’m really looking forward to diving into this a little deeper at the APTA Private Practice Conference in November where I will teach you How to Teach Your Staff One of the Most Useful and Lucrative Skills: Sales.

Not a PT?

Can’t make it to PPS? (PS- if you can't they're doing a live replay of this lecture on Saturday!)

One of the best things PTs and Salespeople have in common is how much they want to help each other.

I didn’t become a highly specialized therapist in the ICU without mentorship.?

I had tons of help along the way.

Same with Sales.?

Sales is a very tight-knit community of people who are there to celebrate your wins and commiserate in your losses.

There is a lot of information out there and it can quickly become overwhelming.

Here are the top 5 resources I leveraged on my journey, beyond the support I got internally from my team at Prompt Therapy Solutions , from an entry-level salesperson to a leadership role in just over a year

1. Josh Braun : Find a salesperson whose methodology you identify with the most and stick with that. Otherwise, it’s too confusing. Josh is that for me. He's got plenty of free resources, Badass B2B Growth Guide & Poke the Bear courses, and Tongue Tied Flash cards.
2. The Sales Rebellion : Back to my point about salespeople helping each other. Josh introduced me to The Sales Rebellion which is an awesome community. Their methodology aligns with Josh’s with an extra fun flair. Be sure to follow The Leader of The Rebellion, Dale Dupree , and his Ginger Viking Warrior (aka Head of Sales) Jeremiah Griffin . You can find a bunch of other Rebels in the Sales Rebellion Slack.
3. Women in Sales : WIS is an incredible community created to support, you guessed it, Wome in Sales! It’s super welcoming if you are looking to break into sales or are already a pro. It can be intimidating at first - don’t be shy! Everyone has to start somewhere. It's spearheaded by Alexine Mudawar . Be sure to join the Slack group and go to in-person events when you can!
4. Sales Feed : You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll celebrate being a salesperson and wonder why the heck you became one in the first place all at the same time. They’ll also pepper in modern sales techniques in between the shenanigans. Will Aitken leads the charge over there with the support of Vidyard , another tool I have used a ton in my sales career.
5. Lavender ???? www.ora.im : Written communication is just as important as verbal. Lavender is an awesome tool to help you write emails. They will give a free account to job seekers! ?? ?? Will Allred , their Co-founder, is always giving away great, actionable advice on Linkedin if you’re not ready to sign up for Lavender.

Is this interesting to you? Feel free to give me a ping!

Door's always open.