As seen in Maryland MGMA MediNews
IT’S TIME FOR your practice to receive its annual physical examination. At least once each year, each practice administrator needs to answer “The Four Questions of Marketing.” The answers will identify the current state of your practice. At the same time they will also indicate the direction you should take your practice in order to achieve your objectives. However, before you begin answering these four questions, you need to answer a more global question and that is: How is your practice different from all other practices and why would someone want to become a patient or refer a patient to your practice?
Give it some thought. It’s not a short answer and there are no wrong answers. In addition, you might want to answer it from your patient’s perspective. You might even want to ask a few current patients and/or referring doctors how they would answer it. This will help you to arrive at what is called your USP…Unique Selling Proposition. It’s what sets you apart from others in your industry and focuses on your strengths.
Once you have the answer to these questions firmly entrenched in your mind…and in your business plan, you are now ready to address the “The Four Questions.”
Question 1: Describe your current patients or categories of patients who you are currently seeing in your practice. For example, if a patient or patients walked through your door, how much do you know about them? What are their likes/dislikes? What are their ages? Are they married? Do they have children? What are they coming in for? What is their occupation? How much do you know about their lifestyle? What is their income and/or education? Where do they live?
Question 2: How did these patients hear about you and your practice? Was it from social media, the internet or referred by a friend or colleague? What media source do they utilize for their news, information and entertainment? How do you currently stay in touch with these patients?
Question 3: Describe the type of patient you would like to cultivate. It could very well be the same type of patient that you currently have in your practice. Or do you want to broaden or narrow your base by targeting a different type of patient. If this is the case, can you describe that person or group of people?
You are now ready for the final and probably toughest question…
Question 4: What do these potential patients, who you want to be treating, need to hear from you in order for them to become actual patients?
In other words, what about your practice appeals to these prospects? What benefits will they derive from becoming a patient or referring a patient? If you want to cultivate them as a patient or referral source, you will need to focus on what they are thinking and how they make decisions? They are looking at you, your practice and asking themselves…what’s in it for me…
and why should I become a patient or refer a patient to this practice?
If you communicate to your prospects the message they want to hear and deliver that message in the medium that they utilize. It will attract them to you, draw them in and grow your practice.
Randy Gartner is with Integrated Marketing Services, LLC in Ellicott City, specializing in generating new patients and referrals so that practices can focus on treating patients. He can be reached at 410-707-5063 or rgart@
verizon.net.
Randy Gartner
Integrated Marketing Services, LLC