Workbook

Strategies to Consider

T — Planning Your Tactics

At the beginning of this presentation, I stated that one of my objectives was to get your creative juices flowing. As I review the T in S.W.O.T, Tactics, you'll have the opportunity to read about some proven strategies and tactics to accomplish your marketing objectives.

In professional marketing, there are only a few general strategies to grow your practice. Here are the five I most often recommend:

1. You can, of course, increase the number of new clients.
2. You can increase the variety of services being purchased by current clients.
3. You can increase the frequency with which current clients use existing services.
4. You can increase the longevity of your current clients with the practice.
5. And finally, you can increase your total number of clients by regaining your "inactive" clients.

Before you begin planning new concepts, you should:

• Review what you've done in the past.
• Measure your previous results.
• Decide whether to stay with these tactics or create new ones.

You want to avoid continuing any non-productive routines.

As you review your current strategies and tactics, there are 5 accepted criterion which can be utilized. Again, I've tried to make it very simple.

1. No Change. You're happy with the present approach.
2. More. Increase what you're already doing.
3. Better. Improve on what you already have.
4. Different. Try new, more innovative, ways.
5. Divest. Stop what you're currently doing.

Here are some additional concepts I've found are worth reviewing during your tactics planning session.

1. The first is re-invention. Very often, growth can come at no additional cost by reinventing or energizing your existing programs. This is where innovation and testing come in. As an example, you may be advertising in exactly the right medium to reach your desired audience, but your ad is not effective in attracting new patients. A new ad could be the answer. In many cases, an ad can be helped greatly just by the addition of a graphic to make it more magnetic to those interested in having the benefit you are offering. If you don't have access to a photo, line art can also get your point across, especially if the ad is assisted by a good headline. The same re-invention techniques can work on all areas of your marketing mix. If you're using direct mail, you may have a dynamite direct mail piece, but you may be mailing it to all the wrong people.

The same analysis must be done on your internal marketing programs. Is your newsletter achieving the desired results? How effective is your referral program? Do patients even know you have one? What is your receptionist's success rate in converting interested consumers into new patients? And what is your ratio of treatment plan acceptances to treatment plan presentations?

2. Lifetime value is another effective concept to review. A question that I'm often asked, related to developing a marketing plan, is "How much should I be spending to attract new patients?" To answer this, I raise another question. What is the lifetime value of your current patients in your practice? To answer this, try a simple exercise.

   Using your top 100 patients, calculate the dollar amount they have purchased from the practice over their life with you. Let's say, for example, the average amount is $5,000, to be very conservative. Your new patient marketing program costs $20,000 annually, and is projected to attract an average of 30 patients per month or 360 per year. That's a cost of approximately $56 for each new patient entering the practice. With a $5000 potential and a $56 cost, I don't think you're going to be concerned about your return on investment.

3. Value-added is also a valuable concept to review. In this case, job number one is discovering what the consumers you hope to attract consider valuable. The answers will vary from practice to practice. For commuters, it may be early bird, evening, or weekend hours. For fearful patients, it may be some of the newer pain reduction techniques. For seniors, it may be large print books in the reception area, transportation, or assistance with those confusing insurance forms.

Innovation is the key...being creative. If you're searching for new ideas — and you should be — try to be aware of everything going on in the world around you.

Develop funnel vs. tunnel vision. The concept of funnel vision is built upon your ability to absorb creative input from your environment, and customize it for use in your practice.

Your experiences can be drawn from retail sales episodes, vacations, visits to other health care offices, almost anywhere that you interact with people who are trying to attract you to their product or service.

The review sheet below in Figure 2 is an excellent exercise to begin you thinking about stategies and tactics. It is ideal for a staff meeting. Simply have all attendees discuss and assess the questions.

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