Episode 21: Critical Sales Skills for Functional Medicine Providers
Functional Medicine Practice: What You Will Learn:
- Bryan’s journey to sales mastery and coaching
- What it means to be an “accidental” salesperson
- Why we need to be able to sell regardless of our profession or position in an organization
- Conveying functionality vs. conveying value
- The four steps of growth in sales
- How to be successful at sales, even if you aren’t a natural
- How to peel back the layers so you can get to the core of what your patient is trying to achieve
- What steps you can take to start building out your sales and communication process
- How to put your talent ahead of your passion
- Good questions to ask prospective patients in a functional medicine practice to build trust
Selling in the Functional Medicine Field
A good sales strategy is just as important as the services you provide. It is the key to building a seven-figure functional medicine practice where you can help tens of thousands of chronically ill patients return to health. We didn’t have a solid strategy at first, but we sought out expert advice from people who had mastery in areas we did not—that has been critical to our success since day one. We brought Bryan Flanagan on the show to give us a deeper look into the sales tactics and techniques that generate tons of revenue for FM practitioners across the globe. In this episode, Bryan teaches us how to excel at sales, even if it doesn’t come naturally. He walks us through different tactics that will bring more value to prospects and patients so we can grow our practices.
Everyone Has to Sell
Bryan Flanagan is one of the top sales trainers in the United States, and he has helped professionals level up their game for nearly fifty years. He understands that sales is not intuitive for many people, especially in a functional medicine practice. But whether you want to be a professional salesperson or not, you still have to be a professional who can sell! Sales teams are not entire organizations, but entire organizations are sales teams because there is not one person who can’t cost that company a sale. In the professional services industry, we often devalue that, ignoring the dire necessity to market ourselves and influence people.
Functionality vs. Value
It takes great skill to run a functional medicine practice, but different patients have completely different needs. Just because you are conveying the skill and functionality of what you do does not mean you are conveying the value of what you do—that is where many FM providers miss the mark. We don’t have to like everything about selling to be outrageously successful at it, and we don’t even have to be naturally good at it. As long as you are willing and able to learn the right techniques, you can bring more value to your clients and teach others in your organization how to do the same. It will help you align what your functional medicine practice offers with what your patients want, and that is a foolproof recipe for growth.
Photo by Headway on Unsplash
About Bryan Flanagan
Bryan Flanagan has lived a great life. It continues to be an unbelievable journey.
He was lucky to have been born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. What a great environment to be raised. Loving parents. Solid family with an older brother and sister who supported him in all endeavors. Playing basketball at LSU. Went on to work with IBM. Invested 32 years with Zig Ziglar.
And best of all, Bryan married his bucket list. They were actually married on Friday, 13. Luckiest guy in the world. Cyndi is everything to him and his two children. Bryan’s family is all that he ever imagined and certainly more than he deserves.
And, he was lucky enough to become a salesman. How that happened, well, you’ll have to attend his training programs to find out. But, it was a great journey. Bryan, like many of you, is an ‘accidental salesperson.’ He had a tough time learning to sell. That didn’t mean he didn’t sell a lot: he did sell a lot. He sold his furniture, he sold his car…However, he’s glad he went through that challenging journey. Why? Because he has a better understanding of how to help salespeople who really want to succeed in sales but have yet to get it all together. That is the value Bryan’s clients find beneficial. He understands the tactical side of effective selling.
The same is true about learning to become an effective speaker. Prior to investing in improving my presentation skills, Bryan couldn’t lead a group in silent prayer! He had to learn to master the skills so that he now actually enjoys delivering his presentations. He is confident he can help you do the same.
Join them in their workshops and seminars. You’ll learn a few things, meet great people, and (this he guarantees) you’ll enjoy yourself.
