How To Dominate Your Market Right Now!

YOUR MESSAGE

Let us assume that you have purchased advertising space in a local publication.  Let us further assert that in said publication there are at least a couple of other physicians (doctor A and doctor B) advertising on various pages.  What do you plan to say that will motivate a patient to contact you rather than them?  We can also assume that some of Dr. A’s and B’s future patients also see their ads.  What do you plan say that will motivate them to switch allegiance to your medical office?

In order to out-strategize your competitors, you must develop marketing and advertising campaigns that create a strategy that plays upon the dissatisfaction level of your competitor’s patients. Your competitors’ best patients and prospective patients will need to be educated by your marketing and advertising campaigns.

You must offer something truly compelling and above all irresistible. You cannot offer your competitors’ patients what they already have. They simply will not switch over with you for identical medical services.

Once you have successfully out maneuvered your competitor for their best patients, it is vital that you establish a multiple sales cycle.

Now that you have acquired your competitors’ best patients and prospective patients, it is extremely important that you don’t give them back, or lose them to someone else.  In order to keep these hard-won patients and prospects you need to implement a basic banking statistic. Successful banks use this strategy: statistically, the banking industry knows that a person who only has one account with them (either savings or checking account, money market, CD, etc.) has a profoundly low loyalty rate.  In fact, the turnover rate for their clients with only one account is a staggering 96%.

However, these same banking statistics also point out that the more accounts their clients have with them (i.e., a saving account along with a loan, or a checking account combined with a CD and a Money Market account, etc.), the longer they stay.  In fact, the critical number for a bank is three, as in three accounts. If a client has at least three accounts with that bank, the retention rate is at least five years.

· The banking illustration provides a great example of this strategy: Banks try to establish successful relationships with their clients by trying to open multiple accounts with that bank; i.e., checking, savings, home loan, auto loan, CD’s, money market accounts, etc. The turn over rate is much less, and the clients who have multiple accounts with a bank are truly gold mines to these banks.

You must create a deep relationship with your current, future, and past patients. One that creates such loyalty that they would never consider going back to your competitors!

When capturing your competitors’ best patients or prospects, you need to show and illustrate solid superiority over where they are leaving (your competitors), to where they’re going (your practice). Do comparisons of your superior product, quality, and service. Prove your claims -- low risk high return. Give them every reason to go with your practice, and then prove all these key points beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Business relationships sometimes take time to develop!  Make yourself available to all image promoting activities. 

Never ignore the emotional buying signals.  Emotional purchases (no dollars have exchanged hands yet!) present themselves in various forms.  For example: A prospect is planning to have an elective procedure.  They collect information for several sources, i.e.: Online sources, perhaps brochures, contact friends, or they contact another medical office and that office sends them a information with sample items to consider, etc.  This prospect is getting deeper, both emotionally and intellectually, into the point of becoming a sale. This is an absolute and definite emotional purchase.

Never overlook the prospective patient that requests a quote or consultation! Other than the sale, the quote is probably the biggest emotional purchase.  

These are emotional investments that a prospect is making in order to justify the “switch-over” from your competitor to you!  You need to look for and focus on these actions. Prospects using or owning your competitors’ medical services, or who have recently asked for a quote or consultation are demonstrating their commitment to some sort of medical services.

By concentrating our efforts on our competitors’ biggest patients, we will be acquiring the very best, repeat buyer – the long-term patient!