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Need a sounding-board? Want to bounce an idea off someone objective
who knows what's going on in health and wellness?
If
you take the time to ask, we take the time to answer.
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us your question.
Here's the latest round of questions we've tackled, some edited to fit or to
preserve confidentiality:
1) Marketing senior programs to retirement communities
We
develop programs to keep seniors active. How should we name and market
our programs so that retirement communities will buy them? We're
thinking we need a fun and catchy name.
Developing
programs and training the staff in communities for older adults is a rapidly
growing area. The goal of these programs is usually to extend the period
during which older adults still enjoy a high quality of life, and to
compress the period during which they experience end-of-life
disability..."health span" vs "life span."
Choose a short, clear name that reinforces your focus on healthy and active aging - but remember that the name you choose is going to be much less important than demonstrating
your expertise and know-how in working with this special population.
Fun and catchy might be important if you were selling directly to consumers.
However, since your real customer is the management team of the retirement
community, we actually think you should avoid fun and catchy and go for a
name that reinforces your competence and expertise in working with older
adults.
You'll also want to focus on your relationship-building skills, because
you'll be selling your services to community directors and it's going to
take multiple conversations over several months to close each deal. Choose your sales
and marketing strategy carefully, because this is a sector where finding
communities who value this expertise AND have the budget to pay for it can
be quite challenging.
2) Improving public perception of small hospital
How can
we change the perception of our small hospital system so that people don't
think "bigger is better"? We've grown by acquiring other health
systems, but people still don't seem to appreciate that we're just as good
as a well-known hospital in our region.
Forgive our bluntness, but virtually everyone in a community comes into
contact with the local hospital. If they don't experience it directly,
they're only one or two steps removed from it.
If they don't perceive quality of care, that's not a marketing problem. That
means that they're hearing bad stories - not positive experiences - from their
neighbors, coworkers, friends and family members.
It's virtually impossible to market yourself out of a bad perception.
British Petroleum (BP) runs appealingly pro-environment ads. But a BP
plant explosion in Texas that killed people - and the subsequent
investigation that revealed company-wide substandard maintenance practices -
are what people remember. Bad
perceptions only change if people begin to accumulate pleasantly surprising,
positive experiences over time.
That said, the most effective marketing focuses on your clients and
customers - AKA patients.
Focus your marketing on wonderful
patient human interest stories - ideally stories that showcase the underappreciated
aspects of your health system. For example, a story about a preemie who made it
because of a top-notch neonatal unit would be a great way to illustrate your
expanded capabilities.
That's much more effective than talking about the latest new brain
imaging device acquired by your hospital or bragging about square feet and
upcoming construction projects.
3) Reducing dependence on certain referral
sources
Our
wellness practice specializes in referrals from local agencies. How
can we expand our client base? We're worried about being too dependent
on these organizations because they're seeing budget cutbacks.
First, you've got to decide whether you
want to expand your list of referring agencies, or switch your focus
altogether to consumers or businesses.
Once you're clear on your target customer, practice growth usually occurs
as a result of relationship marketing strategies based on word-of-mouth, referral and
credibility-enhancing visibility.
Depending on your type of practice,
it may not be ethically permissible to proactively market your services or ask patients or clients for referrals.
However, you can almost always seek referrals from non-patients.
Marketing strategies focused on networking and enhancing the visibility
and credibility of your practice will also be effective.
4) Health club wants to keep customers longer
I
just took a job as sales manager of a health club that's been open about six
months. We really need more customers to stay with us longer.
Right now people are leaving within about 30 - 60 days. What should we do?
The most loyal
member base for health clubs, fitness centers and wellness centers is one
created through relationship marketing and an approach to post-sale customer
service and relationship management that builds strong ties with your
members - not one strictly based on price. If you do it right, you'll
actually have members who stay in touch - for example, sending you referrals
even after they move away. You can't beat that kind of goodwill.
You can certainly run promotions and offer special deals, which is the
traditional health club sales approach (think Bally's, Gold's, 24Hour,
etc.). Avoid discounting your monthly fee under all circumstances. If you
must discount (and we strongly advise against it), discount only the initial
sign-up fee.
Even better, hold the line on price but offer extra value in the form of a complimentary personal
training session or something else that gives them a "taste" of other
appealing products and services you'd be pleased to sell them more of
(energy bar, smoothie, massage, etc.)
If you discount your price or start out with a very low introductory price,
unfortunately that means that you'll have attracted primarily extremely
price-sensitive members who leave when they see a better deal down the
street. And among health clubs, a better deal is always coming down the pike
from somebody.
As a result, you're constantly on a desperate search for new members and
never have the opportunity to build strong and lasting relationships that
enable you to keep selling products and services to a member base whose
needs you truly understand.
5) Marketing medical equipment to docs with
integrity
What's the best way to
market with integrity to physicians? I represent a great product with good
science behind it, but I hate cold calling and I refuse to manipulate
people with typical sales pitches.
Several ideas to get you started:
-
Get clear on who your buyer really is. Depending on your equipment, is it docs
(and in what specialty and with what kind of patient panel?), physical
therapists, specialty nurses, practice managers, business managers,
facilities managers, or someone else?
Then, identify folks who are gatekeepers or key influencers of these
individuals - for example,
professional associations are often key influencers. Make sure your
marketing efforts address these gatekeepers/influencers, not just the
ultimate buyers.
- Look for
creative ways to increase your firm's/product's visibility to your
target customers outside a traditional sales relationship.
For example, we're working with a wellness firm right now that is partnering
with someone else in their field to conduct a study. They reach out to
docs (their prospects) to invite them to nominate patients for
participation in the study. It's a very effective and non-threatening
way to initiate the relationship. And it offers genuine patient
benefits, which the docs respect.
- When you're in a sales discussion, use consultative and
question-based selling techniques that focus on uncovering the real
needs of the potential customer. Avoid "leading questions" and
other traditional hard sales pitches - they don't work well anyway, and
they often feel sleazy to both the salesperson and the prospective
buyer.
- Conference and convention participation can work. The key is to pick appropriate
venues and
create a crystal-clear, highly detailed plan for follow-up and staying
top of mind after the initial contact at the conference.. Hint:
follow-up should NOT be a one-time telephone or email sales pitch,
which is ineffective and insufficient. A well-thought-out plan can often even avoid the expense of renting a
trade show booth.
