Steal Your Competitors Best Clients Now

If a “Going out of Business” sign had to be placed on your door, or that of your competitors, which would you choose?  Sadly most business owners never act as if this scenario could really happen. 

“There is no new client factory.  Your best prospects already belong to your competitors. It’s up to you to convince them to do business with you!” --- Steve Von Loren, author of numerous marketing publications.

This report is designed to teach you exactly how to “How To Strategically Get Your Competitors’ Best Patients For Only Pennies on the Dollar” and do so in a dignified, consistent, and professional manner.  The strategies presented here will refresh and reveal to you concepts to enhance your practice. 

While beating the snot out of your competitors is not normally socially acceptable, you’ll find some tremendous advantages in using the strategies in this guide. These are not strategies for “sissies”.  The toughest and savviest entrepreneurs who were willing to go out and do whatever they had to do to take over the market built all the big companies -- Microsoft, GE, Dell, and Proctor & Gamble.

Before we can seek to gain an advantage, we first need to understand what constitutes a competitive advantage?  Further, where and how does someone begin said quest? 

Physicians that we have interviewed have had a legitimate desire to excel in their chosen field of practice!  We have spoken with a great many doctors who were exceptional in their field.  We have met some impressively intelligent, talented and creative individuals. 

We spoke with a wide range of frustrated physicians, ranging from individuals who had a couple of years in practice, to individuals who had invested many years into the development and growth of their practices (and by all appearance were very successful).  However, they shared a common trait; they all wanted to take their practices to the “next” level --- to be the dominant player in their field.

Ultimately our conversations always came back to the manner in which they sought out business.  We were very interested in exactly how they were getting their message out to their prospective patients.  What sales systems did they have in place to attract, capture and endear new patients to them?  What were they doing, or saying, that identified them as being different than every other physician in their community?

In the end (as it relates specifically to business growth), the question must be pondered:  Where do the lines intersect between the great physician and the prolific rainmaker? 

In the time that we have been assisting professionals with their practices, we have found that one of the most common advertising campaigns strategies selected is to be all things to all people.  There appears to be a school of thought that states that the shotgun approach to patient development is the key to success.  For the record, we could not disagree more strongly with this strategy!

If you have multiple disciplines within your practice you must select specific items to discuss in your advertising.  Once you have chosen your specific topic, target that particular market through the varied specialty group forums.

POWER POSITIONING

In a crowded marketplace, where your potential patients have lots of choices, you can standout by being the leading expert.  This is the exact opposite of mass marketing.  It’s not about being all things to all people, but being a mini-celebrity to the right people.  It’s about targeting your market and developing a reputation as a great resource – trustworthy, knowledgeable, and close at hand.  Your goal is to become the lord of a small, profitable domain of your choosing.  Within that domain, you will attract more patients, including those you want most.

Naturally, such results require thoughtful and consistent efforts.  These efforts will take many different forms, but underlying and guiding them are just six basic principles:

· Targeting the best prospects
· Developing a unique market niche
· Positioning your practice as the best solution
· Maintaining your visibility
· Enhancing your credibility
· Establishing your brand and reputation

Distinguish yourself as a pre-eminent source of solutions by refining your expertise and conveying it to your target audience. 

The key to distinguishing/positioning yourself as the pre-eminent source in your marketplace is to know your market!

Market research can provide relevant information for establishing a solid foundation under any business.  Even if you have been in business for years, it’s a good idea to stay up-to-date with market research that might help you understand where your market niche is going.

Market research can, among other things, help you understand your potential patients, the likelihood that they’ll buy your services, why they’ll buy them, and how much they are willing to pay for said service, etc.  Market research can also help you evaluate your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, thereby providing one of the keys to dominating your niche.

Approach market research with an open mind and a willingness to change direction if necessary.  It can show you that a seemingly great niche is not predisposed to buy your services, or is already served by a number of competitors.  The hardest thing about market research isn’t finding or understanding the data, it’s that market research can burst bubbles.

As you study and fine-tune your research you will begin to see a very real pattern. Although many discover their niches by accident, the most rewarding market niches are usually identified through deliberate effort.  Choosing a market niche is a strategic process that matches your desires and resources to opportunities in the outside world.  You can define your niche to include all existing patients, just a subset of them, or a wholly new population.  First identify those prospective patients you most want to serve within market niches large enough to sustain you, but not dominated by competitors.  Then, steer your research in that direction.

Marketplace domination begins with market research: analyze your best potential patients, your competitor’s, your market’s predisposition toward your products and services, and your ability to serve these people so well as to make you their medical provider of choice.

From a practical prospective, occupying a niche means you won’t be competing with a lot of similar businesses solely on price.  And because you will be selling services that are customized to the specific needs and predispositions of a select group of people, you can often charge more.  Your services serve a market that can’t easily find alternatives.

The more you specialize, the more your market will see the value of your services because you speak directly to their unique situation.  Assuming your niche is large enough, you can do quite well by becoming a provider of services that can’t be found anywhere else.