This marketing strategy may not seem like a marketing strategy to you, but I can assure you, if you do what I’m going to suggest you do, the positive word-of-mouth will spread like wildfire about you and your practice.

My advice is to do 3 things:
1. Listen
2. Listen
3. Listen

I know, you probably think I’ve lost my mind. Did you know that when patients/clients are surveyed about their doctors/professionals, the number one complaint they list about their doctors/professionals is that they don’t listen?

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One of the most important parts of any marketing initiative is the creation of a marketing plan. Let’s begin by discussing a general marketing plan. Although I admit that specificity rules, we are going to start with the basic guidelines.

There are some important details and “things” YOU have to decide. Where are you in your business? Where do you want to go? What do your product(s) and/or service(s) look like as compared to your competition? What do they sell that competes with you? You should look at your competitors’ prices – for reference only and not necessarily to change what you charge – to gauge where your business is in the general scheme of things. And, I want you to take that knowledge to create your strategic marketing plan.

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How many times per year do you throw a party for your patients, clients or customers? If you don’t celebrate “your customers”, you’re missing an unbelievable opportunity to generate/stimulate a lot of referrals.

For example; if you’re a doctor, you can have a patient appreciation day. If you’re a financial advisor, attorney, insurance agent, etc., you can have a client appreciation day. And, if you’re a business owner you can have a customer appreciation day. There are so many different ways you can throw this party and it doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money.

If you’re a doctor, you can have a patient appreciation day that also doubles as a “Health Day” and invite some of the other doctors that you’re friends with (or have referral relationships with), so they too can offer their patient base an opportunity to come to your special health day. You’ll have a lot of people there and everyone wins! Or, you can just simply throw a patient appreciation day where you have food, drinks, music, clowns for the kids, information and free services, etc.

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So I take my son to get his hair cut yesterday. About 12 minutes after the first snip, it’s over. A nice pile of his ridiculously thick hair (yes, I’m jealous) lies on the floor.

From the time the stylist said, “Hello”, I could tell that she really didn’t have any interest in us.

She didn’t even fake it! She didn’t care about our business…my son’s head was just another head of hair she HAD to cut.

Admittedly, she was not the owner (I bet you could have guessed that)…and it wasn’t a great experience.

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Some of you know that I go to private offices or financial groups/agencies, etc for 1-2 days to overhaul and/or streamline their SYSTEMS, procedures, processes, marketing, etc…
so they can eliminate their “resistance” and enjoy quantum leap growth (i.e. double or triple their practice in 6 – 12 months) in the fastest time possible.

I just returned from a full 1-day visit with a group of professionals and wanted to share something with you that you can implement right now…

I see this EVERY time I visit with Advisors, Doctors, Attorneys, etc. and almost all of you are failing to DO THIS!

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It is likely that you are unaware of how many potential clients/patients/customers call your office/business and ask typical “shopper” questions in order to decide whether they should use your products/services.

Most business owners assume that their staff knows exactly how to answer those questions and that they routinely convert those shoppers into active patients, clients or customers.

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This marketing tip is going to dramatically improve your positive word-of-mouth.  If a new prospect comes to your business, store, practice or office but hasn’t decided if they’re going to “use” you yet, be careful not to scare them off.  Let me explain.

Your ultimate goal is to generate new business. BUT, I think many professionals chase prospective patients/clients/customers so hard and fast that they scare them away.  What’s worse is that not only do you lose business, but that person will tell their friends how pushy you were – how much you chased them – how many calls you made and e-mails you sent. For the record, I am not saying that you shouldn’t follow up…I am simply suggesting that you be smart and strategic about it.

For example, you can send them a monthly newsletter. Or, you can follow-up with a quality-control-ish phone call where you ask, “Hey Mary, I know you haven’t come back to the office yet, but I wanted to follow up and see if you had any other questions I could answer?”  That’s it! Do not call 5 times, do not send 17 e-mails or newsletters in 1 month. 

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I’ve got an incredibly effective marketing idea for you. It’s called handing out business cards. I know – it’s new, it’s different, it’s unique. Well, it’s actually none of those things, but, I have a strategy for you that I know will greatly enhance the results that you want as a result of handing out a business card to a prospective patient, client or customer.

There are TWO parts to the strategic process of handing out a business card.

Let me explain:

When you meet a prospect, it is likely that you are so focused on “selling” them on your products or services, that you simply hand out your business card with the instruction to call you. This is really the 2nd half of the process.

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How many times per year do you throw a party for your patients, clients or customers? If you don’t celebrate “your people”, you’re missing an unbelievable opportunity to generate/stimulate a lot of referrals.

For example; if you’re a doctor, you can have a patient appreciation day. If you’re a financial advisor, attorney, insurance agent, etc., you can have a client appreciation day. And, if you’re a business owner you can have a customer appreciation day. There are so many different ways you can throw this party and it doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money.

Read more →