American Hospice?

[Anonymous]

Have a job interview with American Hospice. I'm currently in DME sales and a recruiter somehow got my cell phone number and contacted me about the job. I'm fairly happy with my current job, but hearing that the base salary is 65k has me intrigued enough to at least go through the interview process and see what they offer.

Anyone know anything about the company and the position? What is the commission/bonus structure typically like in Hospice sales? How much can I expect to make? Thanks in advance!

 

[Anonymous]

Have a job interview with American Hospice. I'm currently in DME sales and a recruiter somehow got my cell phone number and contacted me about the job. I'm fairly happy with my current job, but hearing that the base salary is 65k has me intrigued enough to at least go through the interview process and see what they offer.

Anyone know anything about the company and the position? What is the commission/bonus structure typically like in Hospice sales? How much can I expect to make? Thanks in advance!

I work for another hospice company and make 67K salary. Don't expect too much in commisions I guess it depends on the territory and how much competition you'd be up against, if your hospice is one of the bigger players, ect. But expect $75-$100 per admission. If I do 10 admissions a month I make goal. You dont get a company car only mileage. Make sure you ask the hiring manager a lot of questions.

Now if I may ask about DME sales, what's that like, how does that pay? What do you like about it, not like about it, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

I work for another hospice company and make 67K salary. Don't expect too much in commisions I guess it depends on the territory and how much competition you'd be up against, if your hospice is one of the bigger players, ect. But expect $75-$100 per admission. If I do 10 admissions a month I make goal. You dont get a company car only mileage. Make sure you ask the hiring manager a lot of questions.

Now if I may ask about DME sales, what's that like, how does that pay? What do you like about it, not like about it, etc.

Is 10 admissions a month pretty typical in a decent sized territory, and is that pretty easy to meet? Seems like if you get 10 a month with your base salary that you're earning a pretty decent living.

DME isn't bad depending on who you work for and the territory you have. 2/3 of my income is commission, however, and that's why I'm considering leaving. I'm one of the higher paid sales reps in my state and I bring in between 60k and 70k a year. There's also quite a bit of pressure and it's mostly "what have you done for me lately" as far as upper management goes. I constantly feel like if I have a couple of bad months in a row that I could lose my job. Is Hospice sales that high pressure?

 

[Anonymous]

Is 10 admissions a month pretty typical in a decent sized territory, and is that pretty easy to meet? Seems like if you get 10 a month with your base salary that you're earning a pretty decent living.

DME isn't bad depending on who you work for and the territory you have. 2/3 of my income is commission, however, and that's why I'm considering leaving. I'm one of the higher paid sales reps in my state and I bring in between 60k and 70k a year. There's also quite a bit of pressure and it's mostly "what have you done for me lately" as far as upper management goes. I constantly feel like if I have a couple of bad months in a row that I could lose my job. Is Hospice sales that high pressure?

Yeah same deal with the pressure, and what have you done for me lately mentality. You could be a superstar one month, then have two bad months in a row and you're a slug. I beleive this is the way it is across the board on all sales jobs. It was once said that no one in sales has three bad months in a row. I can't speak to what is typical for admissions in Hospice I only know my area and it sucks

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah same deal with the pressure, and what have you done for me lately mentality. You could be a superstar one month, then have two bad months in a row and you're a slug. I beleive this is the way it is across the board on all sales jobs. It was once said that no one in sales has three bad months in a row. I can't speak to what is typical for admissions in Hospice I only know my area and it sucks

Yeah, I expect that pressure will typically follow you in every true sales position. Do you feel like you have good job security though? Or is turnover pretty high?

Also, what are the hours like? Are you given quite a bit of freedom, or do you have to show up at an office at 8 and be back by 5?

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I expect that pressure will typically follow you in every true sales position. Do you feel like you have good job security though? Or is turnover pretty high?

Also, what are the hours like? Are you given quite a bit of freedom, or do you have to show up at an office at 8 and be back by 5?

Now that's the good part, tons of freedom. Start from home, end at home. Only have to go to the office for monthly sales meeting. Now sure if all companies operate this way though.

Also job security is well within your control, unlike pharma. There is some turnover b/c sales reps didn't cut it. But if you have decent work ethic and are comfortable with the cold calling and slow relationship building process (can deal with some rejection) you will do fine. If you get the referrals you keep your job. Simple.

The past failures in general were b/c they were putting nurses and social workers in the sales role. They just wanted to hang around the hospital or just call on the few offices they knew. This a recipe for failure, you have to be somewhat proactive. If you've done outside sales and are personable it's not all that hard.

The problems you'll run into is everybody already has a prefered provider they work with, so your challenge is to try to get them to use your service instead. Or to at least try it once, you'll succeed on 3 out of 10 if you're persistant and patient. Slowly build the relationships in the bulidings. Also try to get them in from the other angle (direct doctor referrals).

You only really need a few good sources to build your territory. But once you start to roll, it will be a snowball effect if you keep up the cold calling/prospecting at least part of your time. Reps that don't do that, plataeu then slowly fall as they lose business to hungry competitors.

It is both very rewarding and very frustrating at times. And you see a lot of sad, sick and hurting people. If you can get over the death part, it does really help the patient, the families and staff in the facility that they may be in. That said I do like it a lot, but always keeping my options open and interested in hearing about new things.

Now your turn, tell me more about the DME job.

 

[Anonymous]

Now that's the good part, tons of freedom. Start from home, end at home. Only have to go to the office for monthly sales meeting. Now sure if all companies operate this way though.

Also job security is well within your control, unlike pharma. There is some turnover b/c sales reps didn't cut it. But if you have decent work ethic and are comfortable with the cold calling and slow relationship building process (can deal with some rejection) you will do fine. If you get the referrals you keep your job. Simple.

The past failures in general were b/c they were putting nurses and social workers in the sales role. They just wanted to hang around the hospital or just call on the few offices they knew. This a recipe for failure, you have to be somewhat proactive. If you've done outside sales and are personable it's not all that hard.

The problems you'll run into is everybody already has a prefered provider they work with, so your challenge is to try to get them to use your service instead. Or to at least try it once, you'll succeed on 3 out of 10 if you're persistant and patient. Slowly build the relationships in the bulidings. Also try to get them in from the other angle (direct doctor referrals).

You only really need a few good sources to build your territory. But once you start to roll, it will be a snowball effect if you keep up the cold calling/prospecting at least part of your time. Reps that don't do that, plataeu then slowly fall as they lose business to hungry competitors.

It is both very rewarding and very frustrating at times. And you see a lot of sad, sick and hurting people. If you can get over the death part, it does really help the patient, the families and staff in the facility that they may be in. That said I do like it a lot, but always keeping my options open and interested in hearing about new things.

Now your turn, tell me more about the DME job.

Thanks, lots of good info. DME is very similar to what you described, it's all about relationship building. I work for a respiratory company (one of the big ones) and I do pretty well because when I started, the company had a good reputation in my area and most of my accounts already used us, I just needed to smooth things over and strengthen those relationships. Like Hospice, there's a lot of competition, but most of it comes from smaller companies who are pretty easy to beat out for referrals. I worked really hard my first 6 months, and since then I mostly just maintain the business I have while putting a little time each week into getting new business.

What I don't like, is that I have to market lots of products/services to make enough commission to make the job worthwhile, you can't focus on just one thing. Base salary stinks, but once you have good relationships with your referral sources commission tends to come pretty steadily. It's definitely a "true sales job" in that if you can't close, you're toast. I've seen plenty of pharma reps wash out after just a few months. Oxygen numbers is really all your managers will care about, and it's not just about how many referrals you get, but making sure you have a positive net growth. Like Hospice, you have patients that die pretty frequently, but as a sales rep you don't have a lot of patient interaction so most the time to me it's just a name.

One of my biggest gripes about my job is having to be in an office at 8, and back by 5, and having to rely on other people to keep patients happy. Once I build a good relationship with a referral, it seems like I'm constantly doing damage control because someone else in the company did something to piss a patient off.

Another tough part is that when a doctor/case manager sends you business, they always want hand outs in return (i.e. setting up an ininsured patient with a $1k oxygen concentrator for free). Mom and Pop's do that stuff all the time trying to earn referrals, but working for a corporation that's not a call I can make, and your referral sources get pissed. Thankfully with all the Medicare cutbacks, most companies have slowed down on the freebies.

Are you interested in making the switch from Hospice to DME or something?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, lots of good info. DME is very similar to what you described, it's all about relationship building. I work for a respiratory company (one of the big ones) and I do pretty well because when I started, the company had a good reputation in my area and most of my accounts already used us, I just needed to smooth things over and strengthen those relationships. Like Hospice, there's a lot of competition, but most of it comes from smaller companies who are pretty easy to beat out for referrals. I worked really hard my first 6 months, and since then I mostly just maintain the business I have while putting a little time each week into getting new business.

What I don't like, is that I have to market lots of products/services to make enough commission to make the job worthwhile, you can't focus on just one thing. Base salary stinks, but once you have good relationships with your referral sources commission tends to come pretty steadily. It's definitely a "true sales job" in that if you can't close, you're toast. I've seen plenty of pharma reps wash out after just a few months. Oxygen numbers is really all your managers will care about, and it's not just about how many referrals you get, but making sure you have a positive net growth. Like Hospice, you have patients that die pretty frequently, but as a sales rep you don't have a lot of patient interaction so most the time to me it's just a name.

One of my biggest gripes about my job is having to be in an office at 8, and back by 5, and having to rely on other people to keep patients happy. Once I build a good relationship with a referral, it seems like I'm constantly doing damage control because someone else in the company did something to piss a patient off.

Another tough part is that when a doctor/case manager sends you business, they always want hand outs in return (i.e. setting up an ininsured patient with a $1k oxygen concentrator for free). Mom and Pop's do that stuff all the time trying to earn referrals, but working for a corporation that's not a call I can make, and your referral sources get pissed. Thankfully with all the Medicare cutbacks, most companies have slowed down on the freebies.

Are you interested in making the switch from Hospice to DME or something?

No I'm going to stick it out here, as I was saying I really do like my job, but I like to hear about other possibilites. You never know what tomorrow brings, jobs aren't forever anymore.

I'm sure my job will turn into the "putting out fires" type thing you do when I get a good base of business. Right now I'm developing a new territory, so it's basically 90% cold calling and trying to get new accounts, which I actually like.

That said I couldn't do the go to the office at 8am and be back there at 5 thing. I feel that's a little insulting to you as a professional. Unless you are picking up and dropping off thier vehicle, there is no need for that except micro-management babysitting BS.

You may want to pursue the Hospice opportunity, the base should be better, hopefully. At least call the recruiter to find more about it. I guess it depends on where you want to go. They say you're suppossed to think two jobs ahead. What do you want that job to be? Which avenue will be a better path to get you there? Either way good luck to you.