Marketing From The Inside
By Lynn Yoffee
It could happen to anyone—an unexpected accident or life event takes you
away from your practice. For Dr. John Turner of Roswell West Medical Center
(RWMC) a serious accident pulled him away from his thriving practice with a
2,000-plus patient base for six months. On top of that, his partner was out
for a lengthy period of time due to illness. Luckily their practice stayed afloat
during the down time thanks in part to a loyal patient base as well as a strong
staff who kept the wheels turning. Upon his return Turner faced regaining the
momentum.
“I knew I wanted and needed more than an initial boost to get more patients
coming through the door,” says Dr. Turner. “I needed a long-term
game plan that would insure my existing patients were well cared for and that
plenty of new patients would continue to come in consistently via referrals
and other means. I not only wanted to regain ground…I was ready to grow
the practice in a big way.”
| External
Marketing Strategy: Patient Appreciation Day After you’ve conquered the internal marketing beast, what’s next? External marketing, of course. Patient appreciation days (PAD) can be a way to thank your existing patients, generate new business and create brand awareness in your community. Consistent Marketing, Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga.-based medical marketing firm coordinated a PAD for Roswell West Medical Center that resulted in 34 new patients and $25,500 in new patient revenue from the one-day goodwill event. The firm offers these tips when planning a PAD of your own. Show the community you care. At RWMC event, the practice portrayed the image of being caring members of the community by hooking the event to a charitable effort that raised money for a needy child. Everyone who participated in the PAD was asked to give a donation to a fund for the child in lieu of payment for services. Showcase your services. At the event new patients received a free exam and X-rays, cholesterol checks, sports injury evaluations and 10-minute chair massage. “The idea was to expose the patient to as many services as possible on that day in order for them to get a feel of the entire clinic and be introduced to all of the providers,” says Dr. John Turner. Offer fun activities and goodies. In addition to the free services, the clinic provided refreshments, gave away pounds of gourmet coffee, movie passes, local restaurant coupons and other gifts. Activities for the kids included a cotton candy machine, spin art, face painting and a moon walk. Local vendors were asked to donate their services as part of the charitable effort. Get the word out. The PAD was advertised with notices in the practice’s newsletter, a banner outside the office, letters to VIP patients followed up with phone calls and other advertising. |
It’s a struggle in most practices to keep the marketing wheels turning.
For many chiropractors, it usually comes in spurts—an ad here, a patient
referral gift there. And how do you know if those individual efforts really
pay off? Who has time to track the numbers?
Many chiropractors are consumed with the idea of office efficiency. Scheduling,
billing, collections and other administrative functions are all key to a smooth-running
practice. And all too often, they spend money on marketing or advertising schemes
to get more patients only to be discouraged with the results. One opportunity
they’re often overlooking is a potential gold mine of new patient referrals:
internal marketing to their existing patient base.
Seeking Outside Expertise Can Help
In an effort to attain a level of continuity in new patients, Turner hired a
specialized marketing firm to relieve him of the burden of attracting more patients,
and hustling to keep his most valuable resource: his existing patients. It was
a decision that allowed him to focus on caring for patients. It was a decision
that also resulted in a tremendous pay-off with a huge and ongoing boost in
patient referrals every month. His new patients jumped from an average of 27
per month to almost 40 in six months and the figure is still climbing.
Turner had all the makings of a patient-centered clinic: Quality care, efficient
administrative mechanisms, a pleasant, newly renovated office environment and
cutting-edge technology to support both the delivery of care and administrative
functions. So, what would it take to turn his good practice into a more robust,
growth-oriented health care business?
“A healthy practice should be getting at least 50 percent of its new patients
via patient referrals from existing patients, so you’ve got to implement
a program that will tap into that wealth of referrals,” says Judy Munroe,
of Consistent Marketing, Inc., (CMI) an Alpharetta, Ga.-based medical marketing
firm that specializes in delivering turnkey internal and external marketing
services for chiropractors.
“A really effective and impressive office like Dr. Turner’s has
a tremendous impact on patient referrals. But you’ve got to back that
up with a series of ongoing internal marketing efforts as an insurance policy—a
policy that guarantees your patients are not only happy with the care they receive
but are motivated enough by that care and attention to refer their friends and
family,” Munroe says. “It doesn’t happen automatically and
it doesn’t happen with sporadic marketing.”
Internal Marketing Strategies
“To be honest, I’m not sure all of my patients were aware of all
of the services available in our clinic,” Turner says. “Although
I knew my patients were happy with their care, I wasn’t sure I had the
time it would take to stimulate them to refer or to reactivate patients who
hadn’t been in for a while.”
CMI implemented a cadre of internal marketing efforts that not only addressed
Turner’s concerns, but exceeded his expectations. Here are a few of their
strategies:
A quarterly newsletter now keeps Dr. Turner in touch with his patients. But
it’s more than a letter, it’s a tool to prompt referrals with contests
and prizes, reactivations of patients who read about new services offered and
a mechanism for obtaining feedback from patients. Additionally, Turner uses
the letter as an educational tool on topics ranging from nutritional advice
to disease-specific care. Staff members are featured regularly, giving patients
a more personal connection. Simple contests are included, such as crossword
puzzles, which patients fax back to win free services.
Gift bags establish immediate rapport with new patients. Reusable goodies including
water bottles, T-shirts, ice packs and more are all emblazoned with the center’s
logo. The gifts build the practice’s “brand” and “image”
in the community because they are all items that patients will actually use,
essentially making them walking ads for the practice.
New patient letters, referral letters, and reactivation letters are sent every
single month. “It really comes down to database management and CMI now
handles that for us,” Turner says. The agency updates the database regularly
so that all of Turner’s patients feel welcomed and in touch with the clinic.
Patients are usually surprised by the unexpected positive communication. Reactivation
letters are used to determine the reason a patient dropped out of care. It there
was a problem, it’s identified and resolved. Sometimes it just serves
as a simple reminder for busy patients to “come back.”
Referral coupons tucked into the new patient bags lead to referral gifts. It’s
important to provide incentive to patients. They might be happy campers on their
way to better health, but the chance of winning movie tickets or a digital camera
provides even more incentive to refer a new patient. “Referral gifts are
also given to the existing patients to extend thanks for their confidence in
the healthcare provider. How many chiropractors are thanking their patients
on a regular basis?” Munroe points out.
Like many professionals who seek help from other specialists, Turner acknowledged
that he already knew what it would take to build his practice, he was just torn
between spending the time to do it himself or spending the money to have someone
else do it for him. He chose the latter and it’s been an investment in
change and a way to introduce long-term vigorous growth without sacrificing
his time with patients. “After all, I got into this because I wanted to
care for more patients. But I know it’s a business too, and one of the
key principles of being an entrepreneur is knowing when it’s wise to delegate
certain responsibilities.
Lynn Yoffee is a partner with Consistent Marketing, Inc., and can be reached
at lyoffee@mydoctorcaresmore.com.
For more information about CMI, visit www.mydoctorcaresmore.com.
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