2009...A Year of Going Back to the Basics

Marketing Your Practice
By Michelle Hentzell and Jennifer Thompson, Insight Marketing Group

As you enter this New Year, you may be looking for ways to sustain your practice and help it grow…inexpensively. Go back to the basics and leverage the relationships you currently have as well as build new relationships to grow your practice. Here are some strategies to do this:

Networking with Referring Physicians
You can probably think of a few physicians that are referring to you. But, are they sending you most of their referrals? Are there other physicians that you would like to get their referrals? By nurturing relationships with your top 5% of referral partners, how much impact could you have on the bottom line? What if you made 2009 the year to establish relationships with your bottom 5% of referral partners?

Here are three things you could start doing today to increase referrals:

1. Make a point to thank your peers for their referral business. Do you have a system in place for saying thank you? It isn’t enough to simply have software to track referrals and revenue, you need to use every referral as an opportunity to build a better relationship and increase revenue.

2. Take notice to when your peers are recognized in the community or implement a new service or even hire new staff…. Tell them that you noticed what they are doing and congratulate them. Remember, relationships increase revenue.

3. Ask for their business.

The Power of Your Patient’s Recommendation
Word-of-Mouth marketing is very powerful – both negative and positive. If a patient has a really good experience during his/her visit, they will likely tell their referring physician as well as other friends when they are in need of a physician in your specialty.

Here are three ideas for cultivating relationships with your patients:

1. Make them feel like they are the only patient you have. Try to not have distractions during the visit with your patient and they will feel like they have your undivided attention.

2. Make sure that your patient has a complete understanding of what you want them to do. Patients will become frustrated if they get home and did not completely understand your instruction.

3. Let your patient have the last word. Ask them if they have any questions before you end the visit. This will help you ascertain their level of understanding as well as make the patient feel like they are getting all of the information they need.

Educating New Services and Procedures
Be seen as the expert for particular procedures or demonstrate how you are a leader in the specialty. Here are a few ways to do this:
· Press releases – Write a short article in press release format on new procedures or changes in medical treatment and send to newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.
· Newsletters – See if you can put articles in newsletters for neighborhood associations, hospital newsletters, etc.
· Educational seminars – Have a seminar to promote a screening or on a particular health issue. Potential patients will attend and you can even take it a step further. By scheduling free consultations or some other promotion, you have the opportunity to communicate with that patient a second time so they may choose you to be their physician.

When you started your practice, you probably employed these strategies. So, get back to the basics, and you will reap the results.