Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • June 17, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Opinion & Commentary EDITOR'S TAKE In healthcare debate, all sides must talk to each other O n the last day of the legislative session, Comptroller Kevin Lembo found himself in what could be described as an awkward situation. While lawmakers were busy debating and passing last-minute bills, Lembo graciously agreed to keynote Hartford Business Journal's C-suite Awards event, which recognizes top business leaders from around the region. Two of this year's honorees — Mark Boxer, executive vice president and global chief information officer of Cigna and Roberta (Bert) Wachtelhausen, ConnectiCare's chief sales and marketing officer — happen to be from the health insurance industry, while Harvard Pilgrim Health Care was an event sponsor. It's fair to say a quarter of the 200 or so people in the room were health insurance executives or employees. In the weeks leading up to the event, Lembo caught the ire of the health insurance industry, having been a major backer of legislation that proposed to create a state-run public health insurance option for small businesses and in- dividuals, likely with some amount of state subsidy to keep premiums lower. That, unsurprisingly, was viewed as a threat to insurers. Then, Lembo stirred up further controversy when he told the Hartford Courant that Cigna helped kill the public-option bill after threatening to reconsider where it's domiciled if it were passed. Cigna disputed that characterization of the matter. Before he went on stage, Lembo joked that he thought we might pull his invi- tation. We didn't, nor did we ever think about doing so. In fact, Lembo's presence in front of insurance-industry officials represented what we need more of in terms of figuring out how to create a more affordable healthcare system: to hear opposing viewpoints and be willing to listen. Lembo's talk actually wasn't about healthcare issues. He mainly discussed the state's current fiscal condition and outlook, though he did mention a few facts about the high cost of health care, mainly that a quarter of Americans skipped medical care in 2018 because they couldn't afford it. "Something is not working here," Lembo told the audience. I think we can agree the U.S. healthcare system lacks efficiency and costs too much. Nationally, the average American spent $10,739 on health care in 2017, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a number that is projected to grow by 5.5 percent annually over the next decade, higher than the rate of inflation. It's safe to assume the average American's wages won't keep up. Businesses and individuals alike are suffering under the increasing costs. Who's to blame? There's enough of it to go around. Many people like to point the finger solely at insurance companies, but healthcare providers, pharmaceu- tical companies, government policy and even Americans' own health habits play a role in the high costs of health care. So, we can keep bickering about who's to blame or who's blocking progress, or get various stakeholders to sit in a room to figure out ways to make health care more efficient. Connecticut has an absolute advantage in this respect. Not only is the state home to many of the nation's health insurers, it has some of the best hospitals and care providers in the country. Their combined wisdom should be able to come up with a better way of doing things. Is a public option the answer in Connecticut? I'm skeptical of the state expanding its role as a health insurance provider, especially given its fiscal instability, but sometimes political pressure can spark change. That may be the state's most powerful lever. The reality is, a public option in Connecticut would have little impact on Cigna's business. The perception of its home state adopting a public option was likely the main concern, because the real threat to Cigna and other insurers is a single-payer healthcare system at the federal level. That should motivate insurers to work with other healthcare stakeholders in Connecticut to develop new, innovative ways to control costs and improve care. If that doesn't happen, Congress may turn the system on its head. A public option bill will likely come up again next year in the General As- sembly. We can have the same old private-sector vs. public-sector fight, or try a different, more collaborative route. It won't be easy, but we need to at least get all sides listening to each other. Greg Bordonaro Editor EXPERTS CORNER Think like a customer or lose the sale By John Graham "D on't fall into the trap of thinking like a customer. If you do, you're done!" This warning has been pounded into the heads of salespeople — and it will follow them until their last day on the job. Why is thinking like a customer dangerous? It's the noxious notion that leads down the dark and dismal path to serious trouble — lost sales. If you dare to let yourself think like customers, you may be distracted from your mission and become over- ly understanding and sympathetic, even finding yourself walking in a customer's shoes. Yet, success- ful salespeople work hard at sharpening their understanding of what pros- pects and customers are thinking. It takes effort and skill to get inside someone's head and it starts with asking questions: What's important to them? What are they looking for? How motivated are they? Are they focused or not sure of themselves? What are they trying to tell me? Do they expect too much? Will they be fair? Accurate answers to these ques- tions help to get an exact picture of what's going on — and that changes the sales narrative. Instead of fo- cusing on how you're going to get customers to do what you want, you move to letting them know you're on their side and your mission is to help them achieve their goal or dream. In fact, it takes doing the opposite of what salespeople have been told to avoid — thinking like customers. It applies to all sales, whether you're selling burritos from a food truck, diamond rings, engineering systems, real estate, insurance, medical equip- ment, or anything else. What is the customer trying to say? Some people have trouble ex- pressing themselves clearly, either unwittingly or on purpose. People want others to think well of them, so they answer questions in ways that will impress the salesperson. We all use shortcuts for coming up with answers so we can get the job done as quickly as possible. In sales this leads to believing we know more about how customers think than we do. Without even realizing it, opinions become facts and certainty supersedes questioning, doubt and curiosity — the essential tools for understanding customers' thoughts and behavior. And at what cost? Lost sales. Here are four basic rules to help zero in on gaining a better under- standing of how customers think. Rule 1: Never assume you know what a customer is thinking. This is the place to start. Believ- ing we can know what someone is thinking gives us the feeling of being in control, even though the deck is stacked against such a notion. The neurologist Dr. Robert A. Burton writes, "We make up stories about our spouses, our kids, our leaders, and our enemies. Inspiring narratives get us through dark nights and tough times, but we'll always make better predic- tions guided by the impersonal analysis of big data than by the erroneous belief that we can read another's mind." Rule 2: Avoid thinking about what you want to say or do next. In other words, the human mind isn't up to speed on multitasking. When we're with a client and our mind is on our proposal or what we want to say next, we're distracted and unable to concentrate on what a customer is saying. There is nothing more important than what a customer is saying. If we don't get it at that moment, it's gone. Rule 3: Make keyword notes. It's a similar problem when concen- trating on what a client is saying so you don't miss anything, while taking notes disrupts listening. As it turns out, we're not wired to do two things at the same time, while using a smartphone to re- cord the meeting can be questionable. So, how can you keep your atten- tion on what you're hearing and recall it at the same time? Keyword notetaking helps. Instead of trying to jot down even four or five words at a time, let alone sentences, just one or two keywords aid recall later. Rule 4: Use "rewind reviews." Missing essential information or getting it wrong undermines a mar- keter or salesperson's credibility. An effective way to avoid such unnec- essary mishaps is the "rewind review." You might say, "I want to be sure I un- derstand what you're telling me, so let me put it in my own words. Correct me if I get it wrong." This not only will help get it right, but it sends the message that you're a serious listener. John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales strategy consultant and business writer. John Graham

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