Sales Strategies, Bed Bugs and Incontinence, oh my...

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Transcript

Erin: 0:35

Y'all, it's an exciting 1 today. I have my friend Deanna Vigliotta, who is the national sales manager of SINI incontinence products. we're going to talk about incontinence products today. Let's go. And she's also an author of a new book titled the traveling sales lady meets live. Bed bugs. Sales tips galore for road warriors. Deanna, you're talking about incontinence and bed bugs today. What is this?

Deana: 1:08

I'm living the dream, Erin. I'm living the dream.

Erin: 1:11

You've got a personal brand that will certainly catch people's eyes. So talk to me about how, what, who, where, why. This is an interesting, fascinating story.

Deana: 1:24

So catch me up. Sure, absolutely. first of all, thank you for having me on your podcast. I really do appreciate that. I think if I shared behind the scenes, I could chat with you for hours. So I appreciate the opportunity to be here. believe it or not, I know, I don't know what has happened to my life, but I'm telling him I'm loving every minute of it. Talking about the stigma with incontinence products, talking about the stigma with bed bugs. But, I was actually. At a sales meeting that I was organizing, gosh, back in 2023. And, my husband and I had been noticing in our bedroom little bugs and we had heard about bed bugs and, Everything we hear about bed bugs is just horrific and they spread like wildfire and they're associated or used to be with a stigma of people that are dirty. And I can attest that my husband and I are very clean people, but we ended up getting bed bugs. And so we had to go through the whole process of. Finding a pest control company, which I was not familiar with and all different things. And then one of my Senny teammates who knows that I like to write, I've written blogs and articles and things. She said, Oh, you should write a book about bed bugs. And I said to her, okay, I'm not really sure about that. But then the idea kept always like a flicker. And then I thought, wait a minute. I have positioned myself from a very comfortable seller my whole career as a salesperson to now I'm a buyer and I'm searching for pest control companies. And we ended up working with one in Florida where the, service, Team member that came out to our house. he was amazing. He had good energy. He was inspirational. He knew his stuff. And that's what led me to think about, wait a minute. I know I've got a lot of sales knowledge that I can share with people. Let's have this be a dual story. So the book actually shares the story start to finish of acquiring and how we were able to get rid of them, the bed bugs, and then also shares, sales tips and strategies and it really is based on, I'm a big advocate, big proponent of relationship based sales, which is ironic because CENI products really is a disposable commodity, a product sale versus relationship. But my teammates and I on the CENI side are big into and establishing and strengthening relationships, so it does all tie. So it just has evolved into something bigger than I never thought that it would. And, people won't know this, but as a young person, back headed out to college, my dream was to be a writer. And yeah, so life happens and pivots happen. And at that time, I got a business degree instead of being the writer, but this really allowed me to go back and grab it. I always say, grab it, go back and grab it. There's timing for everything. That's how it all happens, but it's really geared towards sales professionals, whether people are just starting out in the industry or sales managers or people that are having sales conferences and they're looking for dialogue after every chapter. There are questions that can be discussed. So at a conference, it's a really good fit, I think. And, now I'm learning all about, book promotion and how to get the word out and all of that stuff. So I'm a. I love to learn. So that's been a journey as well.

Erin: 5:05

Yeah, the journey of promotion and self promoting and all those things. That's a whole nother layer of intimidation and growth, personal growth,

Deana: 5:23

completely agree with you. Absolutely. And you

Erin: 5:25

said something that was really key to messages that I put on LinkedIn. But the guy who came in to help you, the professional who came in to help you remove the bed bugs, he was knowledgeable. He was inspirational and he had good energy. A

Deana: 5:47

hundred percent.

Erin: 5:48

And what did that do for you as a customer? Like I talk about mindset, energy and boundaries, right? and how we speak to ourselves, how we speak to others, the energy that we create is created by the knowledge. The preparation or the expertise that we have in the stories that we tell ourselves. So for you to say that this professional bed bug remover, a pest control guy for lack of better words, inspired you he gave you energy and he was knowledgeable. We have to dive into this for a 2nd.

Deana: 6:29

yeah. All right. So I will tell you, what is it that I liked about larry? And I'm like, oh my goodness, all these customer service people should be a larry because number one, he came to the house on time. So expectations, give me a time. And I think in sales, how I relate that if you make an appointment for nine o'clock, Be there at 10 of nine will be there at nine, but don't come at 9 15 or, and I understand that life happens, but, but he came through the door. Very nice. I felt that he spoke with me or to me on the same level. I didn't feel this inferior superior role. I felt like mutual respect right out of the gate and he made me feel comfortable that we would solve our problem because he was so knowledgeable. And for me, Not knowing at that time what I know now about bedbugs, it was panic mode, crisis mode, even though it's bedbugs, but it's envisions of they're going to invade the whole house and oh my goodness. And he was just very calming of, I can fix your problem. And it was like, yes. And then. I will tell you a true story. He got me so excited about bed bugs because he was sharing things that universities are studying these colonies and how bed bugs feed on human blood. Maybe that's too much information, but they will only grow their colony. number of people in your house that they can feed. And if you've got a family of two versus four versus seven, those colonies get bigger or stay the same based on what they can feed on. I found that fascinating. Like, how would I know that? So I'm texting this information to my husband. Oh, Larry told me this. have my friends and my husband are like, do we really need to know? But I'm like, he's inspiring me to learn. But when you learn about things, this is goes back to when you learn and you educate yourself or others, and knowledge is power. I've always believed that. And it made me, again, it brought all of that crisis mode down to, we're going to get through this. We're going to solve this. and Larry's the go to. And the funny thing is. I hope I never see Larry or call him again out of all of it, right? So he serviced all my needs. it's I don't ever want to talk to, I'm kidding, but he was just, I feel like I want to get t shirts made, be a Larry. He was really good. And, about nine months later, I had a little bug on our carpet and it was seven in the morning and all panic mode again, texted him. he was that responsive. Nine months later, a year later, I forget what it was, but really good. Good guy. It just knew the industry knew his stuff. And, and I will tell you, since I've written that book, what's amazing to me is several people have said to me quietly. We had him to, or, Oh, my goodness. Kudos, which I didn't think it was a big deal bringing the topic. And maybe because I am with Senny and incontinence, it's let's get it out on the table, everyone and talk about these things to help. I'm thinking in my mind, let's get it out there. This will help people, but other people are now quietly or now come up. Gee, kudos for putting it out there. And I'm thinking kudos for putting it out there. let's help people. But. The stigma that goes along with it. And that's from several people that have said we got them too. And what a nightmare

Erin: 10:02

it just goes to show you if you're confident enough to put something out there in the disguise of empowering other people, much it does empower other people. yeah, shame and bed bugs, especially, my house is clean. I didn't you share these vulnerability things so other people can benefit from what you learn, because it empowered you to do something different. And it's the same way for incontinence products, exactly got to talk about it because we've got a great opportunity to help people. So we got to talk about. What people don't want to talk about,

Deana: 10:41

that's right. That's right. I agree with you. I agree with you. Yeah,

Erin: 10:46

comment that I think is really important that I want to, to talk about, you said, follow up, right? How he followed up with you and I believe that, how quick we follow up. I believe that think in today's world that speed equates to caring. With following up and that responsiveness translates to respect. So when we don't follow up in general We don't respect the client that we're trying to serve and if we follow up too Slow in the process Then we're saying that we don't care about them You know, do you believe I mean based on your experience with larry or even in your own other experiences with sales? Being the salesperson or having a salesperson do that to you, you feel like? You agree disagree with that.

Deana: 11:43

Oh, I definitely agree. I believe I'm a big believer and I'm going to backtrack it and go forward. 1 of the chapters truthfully in my book is called pick up the phone. I'm a very simple writer. That book is meant to be a simple, easy read, but with basics of foundation. So the pick up the phone 1st on the front end. And is it as it relates to senior living? I'm just going to go on a little tangent here. I will tell you. A story recently where we had a transition, my mom from hospital into independent living. And out of three places that I called, one picked up the phone. That's where she has landed. And it was based on a trust factor with that phone conversation. But to your point, also the follow up, in senior living, but in life and any type of thing, the follow up, yeah, to me, is Crucial. And I almost think where people are so busy these days that if you can be proactive with how that person wants the follow up to come, right? So if you and I were talking and we had some to-dos, of us could say to the other, Hey Erin, let's get a date on the calendar for the follow up. Do you prefer that we do a virtual call? Would you like me to email you? how are we going to best communicate? Because I think sometimes too, people forget that some people prefer phone versus email versus text versus in person versus so much has come into play. that I think follow up is critical and, and being prepared to what are we following up on? and do we need to bring anything to the table on both sides? I'm a big, I'm a big both side person to have mutual to your point mutual. Respect and a solid relationship to me comes from a place of working together. I almost, I tell my team, they laugh sometimes, but I always say, I'm done dating. I want to marry people. I want partnerships and, where it's two people that say, let's really go in at whatever we're going in together, on both sides. versus You go on a date with someone if they don't follow up, it leaves the other. what has happened here?

Erin: 14:01

You don't follow up on a date. it's true.

Deana: 14:04

It's true. It's all the same. and figuratively speaking, right? I don't know if you remember back, younger years, I've been married for gosh, 30 years now, but back, you discuss if they didn't follow up. Is he gonna call you? He said he'd call. Will he call? He might call. You think he'll call it's Tuesday. Maybe he'll call on when you spend more time. Oh, they got,

Erin: 14:26

I know. I still go through that right now. even through the sales process, is it too soon to call? Is it too soon to this? how long, what is the rhythm of following up sometimes? So that's so true.

Deana: 14:39

Yeah. Yeah.

Erin: 14:40

so tell me about, let's incontinence. Educating me on incontinence. we talked about bed bugs a little bit.

Deana: 14:49

Yeah.

Erin: 14:50

So, what made you get into this particular area? And what roadblocks have you seen trying to talk to professional people about incontinence or are there roadblocks?

Deana: 15:05

Yeah, there are lots of roadblocks. but when you get through them, it's amazing. So just a little bit of background. I've been with Sunny for five years. I am in love with this company. I'm in love with the products, which sounds so crazy, but I really think of the products as the conduits to better outcomes. So I had, my background's actually in radiology and I was looking for a new role. And I spent a lot of time, PowerPoints, interviews, 30, 60, 90 day plans, all of it, thinking I want my next role to be a really good, right fit. And, and I got a call from our wonderful, chief operating officer now, who I just adore, and I was on my way to sign with another company and we had a cup of coffee and I took this role based on kindness, And I came out from that interview and I called my husband and I said, something in the gut feels good here. Something in the gut feels really good. And I'm going to take this role and I've never looked back. And what I love, I'm just going to put a plug in for the company. Our products are made in Poland. And they come over to our USA headquarters, which are out of Atlanta. And then we're manufacturers. We work with lots of distributor partners, and we work in the channels of senior living and home medical stores and pharmacies and so forth. But the products, the features of the products, the way that they're made, the way that they're constructed, they help improve outcomes. We spend systemically a lot of time discussing falls and most falls happen at night when older adults get up. And if you ripple that back, some of those falls can be attributed to If I have incontinence and I don't have a good product on and now I've soiled myself and the sheets and I'm damp and I don't feel good, I might get up. And if I get up in the middle of the night, I might be groggy and now I fall and then it's all hands on deck. And most of us will understand in senior living that can get into very ugly outcomes. But if you are incontinent and you wear a product that's fully breathable. If skin vapors, a product that's fully breathable will allow your skin vapors to breathe. Therefore, we should not be fixing wounds related to urinary incontinence in this country in 2024. And yet we are. We're on a quest to change that. UTIs, Women have shorter urethras and if you pull up the core of a brief, ours have what they call a soft non woven, others have a plastic backing on that, they call it an acquisition distribution layer. If you pull it up and you've got plastic, think about it, a woman that has a shorter urethra can have bacteria microscopically pooling back into the urethra, UTI, you go to the doctor, no ill will, just lack of education, and They write a script, person comes back, you sit in the same product, you T. I. back to the doctor. Then the doctor might say, you're prone. Say, no, not prone. Plastic acquisition distribution layer. but who's pulling those up, right? My team and I, but when you really start to look at that and even social outcomes, I think of, you can have a beautiful apartment. In a beautiful community and lots of amenities and lots of friends and life can be very good, but if you feel, yeah, I don't know if I'm going to go to the dining room because what if I have an accident? What if everybody sees me? Now I'm going to stay in my apartment. Ripple that out. Now we've got social isolation, but if you have a product that has leap guards, that's comfortable, that doesn't squeak, how I can go to that dining room, I feel confident my life can go very positively the way that it, the way that it should. So our team is really on this quest to say, Let's breathe. Let's stop looking at price per brief price per pull up. Let's look at overall value. When you wear a good product, that's the right size fit. Absorbency level three to four product changes in a 24 hour period is all that's needed. So that makes a whole lot of difference. Someone who's looking at a spreadsheet can say, 40 cents, 50 cents. That's a lot cheaper than this one. Transcribed yeah, but if you're using 10 of those and only three or four of these, and then if you're fixing wounds, let's look at what your wound care costs are. all those things ripple out. So we are, as a team and I work, knock on wood, I work with really passionate people. and we have a lot of fun along the way, but, but we're just trying to get out there and educate more about the importance of size, absorbency, the features, all of All for people to lead a more improved life because it's not often talked about, but I tell you, it's growing at an alarming rate as is. dementia and Alzheimer's and all of those things. It grows with it. But there's also, people with disabilities, people that have had, strokes and, people that, go a lot of males, And they could be in their forties, fifties, sixties, believe it or not, that have a prostate cancer and they go and they have prostate cancer surgery. And sometimes again, no ill will, lack of education, they may leave. And tiny print in their discharge papers say you might be incontinent, go to the store and get something. If you're not reading tiny print, you come home, get up the next day and you're thinking, Oh my, what has just happened here? Now I don't know what to do. I'll get online. I don't know what I'm ordering, but I'm going to order something. Cause this incontinence is now happening and I've got to go back to work. Whereas we're trying to share with people, let's get samples out of man fit guards and have the males put it on their dining room or kitchen table. If they wake up, they're incontinent. Now that feels more normal, right? Oh, okay. They said this might happen. It did. Now I've got a product that I can try. That feels okay. So it's, it's amazing that it's a physical thing. It's a chronic condition. It's not a disease, but it's a chronic condition, but it can, yeah. Reek havoc emotionally for people that have their faculties. It can wreak havoc. yeah. so that's the sunny story. I just, we've got a great team. We're making changes. We're starting to work with a lot of more communities now across the country that are understanding. Okay. Yeah, we got to pay attention to this versus just having when residents bring their own products in. I if I'm an executive director, if I'm a resident wellness director, I put all that weight on my shoulders of unintentional, inferior products coming into the community that it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm held accountable if that's my license. So if you can guide residents to a product that will deliver a more favorable outcome, that to me makes more sense. Take the worry off and take the stress off of your caregivers because I think most will agree we still have a staffing crisis. And I think that caregiver changing sheets every day, you don't know what sheet's going to be the last sheet of. I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. And, and if we can reduce that, we can keep the caregiver staff in a better state of mind as well, and all kind of rock and roll and work together.

Erin: 23:00

Yeah, it's true, especially from the night shift to the day shift, like changing sheets and being frustrated during that transition in my experience. What, so it only, CINI's only sold through distributions channels.

Deana: 23:18

Yeah. So we work with a number of them. McKesson Medline. We work with Cardinal. We work with the Doro Healthcare Supply. There's a great group in South Florida, Special Needs Group. Our products are available on cruises, onto the stateroom cabins. And then we work in the, independent pharmacies and home medical. And, we're working with home care now. We've got several, Visiting angels and right at home and senior helpers and comfort care to name a few were preferred partners. Now we're there, understanding. Wait a minute. People want to age longer in place at home. Let's offer a Senecontin's care program and they can hopefully keep their clients in place aging longer at home. And, so just, yeah, different channels, but we do, we are manufacturers that work through distributor partners.

Erin: 24:12

good to know. Have you seen, have you so you've heard, some of the communities and the powerful outcomes that they've had. Yeah.

Deana: 24:20

Absolutely. Absolutely. yeah, we will hear that the caregiver staff is happier. we've heard stories where, a resident may have been getting routine U. T. I. S. U. T. I. S. U. T. I. S. With semi products. They start using them and that goes away. We've heard those types of stories. Right now, we're working. We're implementing. Many people will be familiar with Civitas Senior Living. They've got 40 communities across the country, a lot of them being in Texas, and we are rolling out a continence care program for their residents. And then we're coupling it with a resident. Education, family night as well. So we're educating with product training for the caregivers, but then we're going back at night for residents and their families. And, we're already getting good feedback and that we just started maybe a month or so ago. I tell the story and this is kudos to Senny on the product, but really kudos to this person. And, there's a community. In Florida, Westminster community skilled health. We work with all 10 of their communities. And, there was a resident there several years ago where one of their caregivers said to me, would you mind talking with Mrs And she underpads, a different brand and she will not get out of bed. She's afraid that she's going to have leakage. And, I know the semi products will work for her, but she thinks nothing will work because nothing has. And so I went in and I spoke with that resident and I said, gee, this is a little out of my Comfort zone, but I'll be human and be the best I can do. We just go in and do the best we can do. But I talked with this person and she said, no, nothing's gonna work for me type of thing. This caregiver spent the time to say, try this. And then she would call me and say, okay, she didn't like that. Can we get this? Let's try. And we give free product samples. try this and try. And we went round robin a little bit to get her in the right product size, style, fit. Do you know, I kid you not, that caregiver told me that she, the caregiver, got a big hug from the daughter of that resident because that daughter came to her and said, Mom got out of bed. You, you caregiver changed her life. honestly, Aaron, I tell that story years later. I get chills every time. So much so that I sent a letter to her manager saying, please recognize because it sometimes does take time. It just does to get that right style fit. But when you get it on the, on, when you get it right, if that's my mom. And I think we could say that logically to everybody, if that's your mom, Isn't that worth a little bit of time for mom to have years of life, hopefully that are improved versus being in a bed. So that's 1 time. there's a, my team comes to me with another 1 and another 1 and, It's just fun to listen to my colleague, and I started a cotton is chat, right? Podcast that you just recorded with us recently. And, we use that as a platform to share, again, to reduce some of the stigma related around incontinence, but also to share some of those stories, because people that are deep in the weeds with it, whether it's deep in the weeds in a community, or deep in the weeds at home with mom or dad, Understanding continents real quickly and want to find solutions. those are my people with to help and. Educate and make positive change in this country for a better, hopefully a better tomorrow for everybody because we're all aging.

Erin: 28:19

We are, we're all going to get there. I told this story the other day to somebody, I was close to, but heck, why not? We're talking about incontinence, right? my grandmother used to complain to me, she had to go to the bathroom so many times in the morning. And I'm like, what? Good grief, and what do you think I she was and now I have to go to the bathroom like every 15 or 20 minutes when I wake up and I'm like, 43. this mean that I'm going to have this problem forever? You know what I mean? it's. all getting there. Yeah,

Deana: 28:55

yeah. I have a story, I won't say her name, but this is before I started working with Sunny, and I tell this story a lot, is, this was several years ago, but one of my dear friends called me and she said to me, have you ever had, no I was not with Sunny, have you ever had this happen to you? And I said, what? And she said, I, she said, I joined a team. Her company had a softball team. So camaraderie, right? So I joined a softball team and I get up to bat and I was all nervous and I got a hit. I hit the ball. I was so excited. And she said, I'm running down to first base and I can feel that I've got a little bit of leakage happening. And I said, Oh my goodness. No, I didn't even work and say, Oh my goodness. I said, what did you do? And she said, I quit the team. And now being with Senny, looking at that scenario, it really hits home from, a moment with sharing with a girlfriend type of thing of Oh my goodness to, wow, how many other stories are out there and why should someone have to quit the team? That's not really the right answer. We can help with all right. So it's. It's just amazing of, it's an often overlooked topic. People don't want to talk about it. but when we do, when we find a solution, nothing to be shameful about and, and to me, we can help one another, as we do all age.

Erin: 30:29

and in our line of business inside senior living incontinence is daily impact. it just is it is a problem. We have to provide a solution for it's a problem that we have to work with our customers through and the more we talk about. accepting it, acknowledging it and protecting it, right from affecting our social life, which is why we move into senior living to begin with. At least it's 1 of the big 3, right? we need to talk about it.

Deana: 31:03

Yeah,

Erin: 31:04

and most people don't move into memory care or senior living until incontinence happens to begin with. So you might as well be an expert on it and you might as well have the top of the top. Or the products for it,

Deana: 31:15

yeah, no, I absolutely agree. and I think too, there's such pressure on senior living operators and owners to maintain their census and in a lot of the conference and speaking engagements that we do, or just training in general. One of the ways to maintain your census is to offer a program to your residents or have that. That's something that's included because if you can keep your residents from not getting up at night, or not having skin breakdown where they may have to leave a community based on the stage. Those are easy. Fixes just by a simple change in product, but it's understanding the product. What makes up a good product versus what's a product that I always think you could have, Unintentional again, never ill will, but I always tell the story you could have an adult son or an adult daughter that on the way to visit mom or dad in a memory care or senior living community, they go into a big box store. They don't know what to buy. Not a lot of education. They may stand in the aisle. I think mom's a medium. maybe. that large is on sale. I see it over there. Maybe she is a large. Maybe big is better. I'll get her the large. the daughter or the son unintentionally brings in a large for mom. Mom wears the large because it's too big and not the right size. Mom leaks. Mom gets up. Mom falls. Now, that ED, the resident wellness director, memory care director, administrator, whoever the person is, all hands on deck. Number one, to help that resident that could break a hip, have an ugly outcome. For But then they have to call the family. Now they're calling the family and it's actually the culprit that they're talking to, unintentional culprit. But that person now could be very upset with that commu what do you mean mom or dad, Phil? Gee, you're supposed to be watching mom or dad. Gee, what has happened here? And you could get into scenarios. just from lack of education. That's all it is. Most people love their parents. Most people in senior living want to take good care of their residents. It's lack of education. And that's you would ask me earlier, what is some of the barriers And that's a barrier of finding the time on both sides to educate and then get the right people in the room to educate because the bigger the community, you could have someone who's in a corporate office. They haven't been in a community and they're trained. Rightfully so to look at a spreadsheet, but that's not telling the entire story. so those can be barriers of just trying to get the education out there.

Erin: 34:10

The spreadsheet never tells the entire

Deana: 34:14

story. Never tells the story. That's so true, right? In any industry and,

Erin: 34:19

so many nuances. So it's a story in the day. Yeah.

Deana: 34:23

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Erin: 34:26

what an interesting conversation about layering in the bed bugs and then how you turned it into a sales book and then how you're using it to help with your real job, which is the national director of sales for. For sending, which is exciting. what a cool story. I'm telling you, she needs to go and be a keynote speaker and the termite. And like the termite part, but in the pest control arena, talking about sales and bed bugs and how to be a Larry. The big deal as well as not leaving senior living because we need her here and educating people on the best products for incontinence. she will be at Georgia senior living. So if you are listening, and you are going to be at Georgia senior living, check out her presentation, which would be the Tuesday, right? That Tuesday morning.

Deana: 35:22

Correct. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you, Erin. I, I do enjoy our friendship and I just think you are a wealth of information and I'm just very grateful. So thank you.

Erin: 35:34

Thank you. So the Traveling Sales Lady Meets Live Bed Bugs. Sales tips galore for road warriors. You can get this on Amazon. Is that correct? Correct.

Deana: 35:43

Amazon.

Erin: 35:44

Yes, and you can find Deanna on LinkedIn,

Deana: 35:48

LinkedIn. Absolutely.

Erin: 35:51

And she can help educate you on removal of bedbugs. But more importantly, incontinence products for your loved 1 and your communities caring for senior living leaders. Thank you so much for being here. And if you found this episode fascinating, and other people need to hear it, just refer it to 1 person or anybody who. Thank you so Would benefit from our conversation. So thank you again, Deanna. And always for my listeners aspire for more for you.