Ok ! You've done your homework. Your office looks like a page from Architectural Digest. Your staff has recently posed for Glamour Magazine and your doctors are the stand-ins for McDreamy and McSteamy.
You are definitely ready to take your show on the road. The question now is - Who will be your representative to the medical and patient community surrounding your practice?
Your first lesson is to assume that no one in your immediate area has even heard of your facility and act accordingly. You want to flood your market with name recognition and a strong understanding of the services that your practice offers. That means that you will have to develop strong bonds with physicians and residents of your areas and continue to market over and over again until you are sure that your target audience is aware of who and where you are.
Recent college graduates in the field of marketing and a select group of undergrad marketing students will be delighted to have the opportunity to hone their skills by marketing for your group. In the past, and especially in the current economic condition, these young people will often be willing to work for a small base salary and a commission based on the number of new patients and referring physicians that they bring to the practice. These newcomers to the field have unique skills and can provide a valuable asset to physicians looking to carry their message outside the office.
Marketing majors often have a good grasp on the computer software that will allow you to create most of your marketing materials in house and they know that pounding the pavement is a necessary part of their daily routine.
Before setting these employees loose, make sure you have them observe testing and procedures performed by your practice. They will need to understand the practice mission statement and the background of each physician. They should be able to answer any questions from prospective physician referrals or at least make provisions to get these answers to them as soon as possible.
Essential items that they should carry with them at all times will include:
Business cards for the practice.
A brochure outlining practice specialties.
Referral pads to leave with physicians.
Some small token items to leave with the front office - pens, note pads, magnets, mugs etc. ( It's all about name recognition)
For their first few visits, I would encourage that a member of your ancillary professional staff accompany them and judge their people skills and ability to convey your message. I have often used my echo or nuclear techs in this capacity on off schedule days and found it highly successful.
So many physicians have stopped marketing with all pharmaceutical and sales reps, so it won't be easy for your marketing staff to see them personally. In this case, they should be making strong contacts with the office managers or practice administrators and should follow up with them to make sure the physicians have seen any material provided during their visit. If you have the budget, you may want to provide a staff breakfast, luncheon, or desert tray for the prospective referring doctor or invite the office manager to lunch. Nothing gets to the heart of the matter better than a great tray of food !
In order to assess the efficiency of your marketing staff and to make sure they are not just parking at Dunkin Donuts or sleeping in their cars, they need to provide you with a list of physicians that they plan to market every day. They must bring back the business cards of each physician they met with or each office they visited, noting results. Each afternoon, they should return to the office and spend a few minutes with you, outlining their success or lack thereof and new strategies should be discussed. An additional responsibility is the tracking of referrals resulting from their efforts. A majority of their time must be spent in the field, rather than in the office and this should be made clear from their hire date. Require that they provide a business plan week to week and conduct scheduled marketing business meetings each month to discuss impressions and future plans.
Commercial insurers are placing a number of restrictions on testing that can be done by internists or family practitioners. These procedures are now authorized only for specialists. For example, if you are a cardiologist, you may want to send your echo tech to family practices and make them familiar with the services you provide and to assure them that appointments for echocardiograms are available to their patients either at your office or as part of a lease agreement where you would provide these services at their location and provide them with a monthly fee for leasing part of their space. In times like these where reimbursements are not what they once were, many practices welcome this influx of additional cash and the opportunity to keep their patients in house. Make sure you instill confidence in the family practitioner that you will not solicit the care of their patients and will see them only for services referred.
Your local hospital will usually offer monthly meetings to discuss administrative needs facing medical practices. Invitations to these meetings are made directly to the physician or office manager and attendance should be encouraged. Important contacts often result from these group sessions so take advantage of them whenever possible.
Tomorrow : Community Services
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