The S.W.O.T. Planning System

You’ve heard the saying: “Failing to plan is…really planning to fail”. 
From what I’ve encountered with doctors - here are the problems with planning:
  • Many practices don’t have written plans.
  • Those that do have written plans, often don’t follow them.
  • And those that do follow them, don’t routinely update them.  Things change, assumptions change, plans should change.
So why plan at all? Because the value of planning in not in the plan…but in the planning.
 
Planning teaches you:
  • About the practice team
  • About the practice - your work environment
  • About your target markets
  • And about your current and potential patientss.

Plus…as you implement your plan clients and potential clients will react. Their reactions will teach you more about what they want.

To make planning easier and faster I use my own K.I.S.S. theory: Keep implementing simple systems.
 
Here’s my simple planning system. I use the acronym S.W.O.T.
  • The “S” is for Situation analysis
  • The “W” is for Weapons or resources review
  • The “O” is for Objectives…your plans for the future…what do you want to achieve?
  • And the “T” is for Tactics and related strategies. How are you going to achieve your objectives?
I first learned of this system during R.O.T.C. at St. Peter’s college. It was a military planning system…like so many of our current management tools. Then it was S.W.A.T. the “A” was for action plans. I updated it to an “O” in the eighties due to growing popularity of M.B.O., Managing by Objectives.
 
Let’s start with the “S” analyzing your situation. This is the investigation stage of your marketing.
Things are not always what they seem – you have to know what’s going on in, and around, your practice. What’s the best way to find out?  Ask.
 
There are many marketing research methods for finding out. The most accepted are:
  • Focus groups – you can learn a great deal by inviting 8 – 12 individuals to participate in a discussion, led by a skilled moderator, on a focused topic.
  • Patient panels – they are similar to focus groups but use your own patients.
  • Surveys / questionnaires– by mail, or in-person, often enable you to obtain more specific, individualized information.
  • Mystery patients – currently popularized by Susanne Boswell.  In this research technique, a professional is hired to approach your practice as a potential new client. Everything from the initial phone call, through the first visit is documented, critiqued and later reviewed with the doctor and staff.
As you are analyzing your practice…here are some fundamental questions you can brainstorm:
  • If I owned a competing practice, how would I attract new clients away from us?
  • If I were starting this practice from scratch tomorrow, what would I do differently?
Remember the movie “City Slickers.”? In it a few friends from the city go on vacation to a dude ranch. Curley, played by Jack Palance, is a crusty old cowboy full of wisdom.  He gives some great advice to Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, who is having a mid-life crisis. Curley tells Mitch what the secret of life is.
 
Do you remember what it was? That’ right. One thing. You stick to it and everything else doesn’t matter. Of course Mitch’s question…what’s the one thing? Curley’s answer…that’s what you’ve got to find out.
 
Doctor, as the leader, the pacesetter, for the practice, you have to answer this question. What is that “one thing” you could do to clearly define, to differentiate, your practice?  Start by asking:
  • If I could change “one thing” in the operation of the practice to better serve our patients, what would it be?
Ask, and continue to ask:
  •  “What do our current patients “love” about our practice?”
  •  “Why should new patients join our practice?”
Here is an important fact: when it comes to professional marketing most of you can’t do it alone! In most practices, the doctors have all they can do to manage the clinical aspects of the business. Taking on the marketing responsibility is usually too much to ask.  Often, they try to pass along the responsibility to other team members – who already are working too capacity in their own job.  The result: minimal or… no execution. 
 
The answer I recommend: Hire a marketing coordinator. Usually a full-time candidate is not necessary. One or two days per week is more than adequate to manage the tools in a professional marketing mix.
 
You can read more about this in the Marketing Update, "You Can't Do it Alone". 
 
Let’s discuss the “W” - Weapons & resources. Here we take a closer look at the entire team & the practice in general. In this section we have another S.W.O.T., a sub-S.W.O.T., if you will. In this process, you look internally at your strengths & weaknesses and externally at your opportunities and threats.
 
In The MME Professional Marketing Workbook you will a S.W.O.T. form and exercises relating to the topic.
 
Here are some ideas of what you might fill in:
 
Internally:
What are your Strengths?
Superior clinical skills
Ability to stay on schedule
Excellent health
Loyal dedicated staff
How about your Weaknesses?
Office shows it’s age
Too much time away from the practice
Trouble collecting fees
Team falls behind schedule
Doctor tires easily
 
Externally:
What are your Opportunities?
Practice is in a growth community
Few competitors
Excellent location, easy access
How about the Threats? (What you should be aware of and plan for)
Older, deteriorating area
Aggressive, new competitors
Clinical techniques no longer match the needs and wants of our clients
 
Ok, let’s move on to the “O” for your marketing Objectives. 
 
At this point in the S.W.O.T planning system:
  • You’ve completed your situation analysis
  • You’ve reviewed your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats.
 
Now it is time to decide what Objectives you need to set:
  • To build on your Strengths
  • To overcome any Weaknesses or deficiencies that you discovered
  • To activate your Opportunities
  • To neutralize, or eliminate, any Threats
 
In the article "The Importance of Execution in Dental marketing" I reviewed developing S.M.A.R.T. objectives.  These were the five points discussed:
  • Be Specific. What will be accomplished? With whom?
  • Make sure they are Measurable. How will we know when the objective is achieved? How will it be measured: by quality; cost; quantity; or timeliness?
  • Is it Attainable? Can it be accomplished? Do we have the necessary resources?
  • Is it Realistic to achieve?
  • Is it Timely? When does it need to be completed? When are the established checkpoints?
Of the five, one of the most important may be that you are sure your objectives are Realistic. If they are unrealistic and people work hard without success, they will become disheartened, and it will be difficult to get their active participation in the future.
 
You should be aware that there are three basic types of objectives:
  • Routine objectives
  • Innovative objectives
  • Improvement objectives
Most often, when a team is developing objectives they tend to focus on what is new and different…the innovative and improvement type objectives.
 
The problem this creates is that they lose sight of the on going responsibilities and their obligation to continue performing them satisfactorily.  The entire team must take a moment to review the risks involved if the team does not continue to develop these routine objectives. They insure that the practice maintains its current level of service, while it is moving on to the innovation and improvement objectives.
 
Let’s move on to the “T” Tactics & strategies.  In my professional marketing program there are five general strategies I use to grow your practice:
  • You can increase the number of new patients
  • You can increase the variety of services being purchased by current patients
  • You can increase the frequency with which current Patients use existing services
  • You can increase the longevity of your current Patients with the practice
  • And finally, you can increase the number of active Patients - by regaining inactive clients
If we consider raising your fees as a marketing strategy then that would be the sixth.
 
Your focus for professional marketing success then - is on 3 groups:
New clients; Current clients; and Inactive clients.
 
In the MME Explore Marketing How-To-Center you can learn about specific forms of publicity and types of promotions to attract and motivate these patients.
 
The key is still combining all that you have learned into a written marketing plan.  In the A+ Download "Writing a Concise Marketing Plan" and in the MME Professional Marketing Workbook you will find the instruction and the forms needed to overcome the obstacle of finding the time to create a detailed written marketing plan. You will find this Concise Marketing Plan:
  • Will be a road map for your team.
  • The destination, and roads to travel, will be clearly marked out in advance.
  • Then the trip will be more efficient, less apprehensive, and more enjoyable for everyone involved.

The End.

 

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