Hiring the wrong employee is a painful and costly mistake.
This is especially true with the physician liaison role. The wrong liaison can cost valuable physician referrals resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in opportunity cost and annual revenue.
Hiring a physician liaison can be a lot like dating. Those little “quirks” you think are so cute when you’re dating become a much larger source of conflict in a marriage.
Over the years, I’ve made some great hires and some not-so-great hires.
The bad hires were all because I chose to ignore the signs and gloss over what I assumed were just “quirks.”
Every single one…
It was Maya Angelou who stated it so well, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
MAYA ANGELOU
People will tell you who they are in the interview process if you pay attention, and what you see in the interview process will show up in the work environment.
If someone is unresponsive, not returning phone calls or emails, they will do that with customers.
If they don’t have good verbal or written communication skills, they won’t have them when they are interacting with team members or customers either.
I once interviewed a guy that I thought might have some real potential until a couple of days after the interview when…
I received a “thank you” note that had been folded and torn off like it was originally intended for someone else but being recycled for me. It was full of spelling and grammatical mistakes. If that was his presentation during the interview process, what would he present to customers?
There’s another side of this coin I’d like you to be aware of.
While some practices are quick to hire the first likeable candidate, I’ve also seen practices go to the other extreme trying to find the “perfect” candidate. They take so much time looking for the “perfect” candidate that they ether (1) don’t get their program off the ground or (2) end up passing by or losing great candidates because they won’t commit or can’t make a decision.
Perfection doesn’t exist.
But like dating… Don’t ignore, excuse, or gloss over the signs.
Once you get married, those little “quirks” get magnified 1000% to become really big points of contention.
So be aware of what’s coming. Are those little “quirks” the kind of “quirks” you can live with when they are magnified 1000%?
Here are my top tips and tricks for hiring a physician liaison (or to learn more about the most common liaison hiring mistakes, you can check them out here):
Hire for what can’t be taught and teach the rest.
You can teach a product, technology, or disease state. What you can’t teach is drive, positive attitude, ability to bounce back from rejection, or work ethic to name a few.
Of course, everyone is going to say they have these characteristics in an interview. What experience do they have that demonstrates this?
Have the candidate meet with more than one person during the interview process.
It’s easy to get in a hurry, especially when physician referrals are on the line, but in my experience, a vacant territory performs better than a bad rep. Have the liaison meet with several people during the interview process. Each person will identify a different set of the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.
Ask the potential liaison to do a field ride along as part of the interview process.
This allows the liaison to ask pertinent questions and get a feel for the role. Can they see themselves in the role? How do they see themselves performing in the position?
This also gives the practice an opportunity to see how a potential liaison will interact with referring offices and staff. Are they comfortable and at ease meeting with referring doctors? Do they ask good questions?
Are they energetic and excited about the role and sharing it with others? You can’t transfer what you don’t have. If the liaison isn’t passionate about the practice, referring doctors won’t be either.
Don’t skip background and social media checks.
Like it or not, what an employee posts on social media reflects on your practice. Referring doctors will often connect with liaisons via social media. Are their images and content appropriate for your customer base?
Perform Department of Motor Vehicle and credit checks if you plan to offer your liaison a company car or corporate credit card. If someone has a bad driving record, are you comfortable with them driving around in a company vehicle or on company time?
I once hired someone without doing a thorough background or credit check only to learn that they weren’t eligible for the corporate credit card we used for company expenses. Unfortunately, it turns out that credit issues were not the only problem. A more thorough background check would have brought this to light and saved everyone involved a lot of headache and heartache.
Adopt the slow to hire and quick to fire approach.
While this may sound harsh to some people, hanging on to someone who isn’t doing well in the role is prolonging the agony and costing valuable referrals and revenue in the meantime.
Perhaps they are a good employee but just not suited for the physician liaison role. In that case, move them to a place that’s better suited to them and their skill set.
Leverage personality testing to identify if someone is a good candidate for the role.
It can be difficult to discern from a short interview if someone will be a long term fit in a liaison role. For example, someone who doesn’t enjoy interacting with people probably isn’t the best fit for a physician liaison role. Using personality tests can help you identify some of these traits.
Using personality tests such as the Enneagram and Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment have helped me avoid multiple misfit hires.
Use the training programs of other companies to your benefit.
As a growing and busy practice, you may not have the time or resources for a formalized training program. Look for a liaison who is experienced and has been well trained by a previous company. The advantage of prior experience and training will allow a new liaison to ramp up quickly and minimize the training burden on the practice.
Provide adequate and ongoing training.
So often a new liaison gets left to their own devices to figure it all out on their own.
Did you know…
- It takes 10 months or more for a new sales rep to be fully productive*
- 84% of sales training is lost after 90 days*
- Every dollar invested in sales training returns $29 in incremental revenue*
Set your physician liaison up for long term and lasting success. If you want your liaison to confidently deliver the message you want customers to hear, invest in their training.
And the training never ends.
When it comes to your physician referral program, your physician liaison is the face of the practice to your customers and your most valuable asset.
As a practice owner or leader, you want to be sure the (1) right message is getting to the (2) right people at the (3) right times in the (4) right way.
The first step to making that happen is hiring the right liaison.
If you’re a practice looking to recruit, hire, or train a new liaison or a liaison looking for resources and ongoing support, let me help get you set up with the tools you need!
*https://spotio.com/blog/sales-statistics/
