Rick's Business of Audiology Blog

Throwing New Money at Old Problems?

Sunk Costs can Float Your Boat!

A sunk cost is an accounting term for funds already expended or committed. It may sound like wasted money when they call it sunk, but that is just accountant talk. Sunk costs are probably around your office right now ready to help you. They may now be assets!

How to Measure Advertizing Effectiveness

I am often asked this question, but people who cannot tell me exactly what they wanted their advertizing to do.

Brand awareness? Business awareness? Professional Improvement? Value message penetration? Phone calls to the office? Tests performed?

But that is a question for another day.

Example:

Sheryl Crow Business Lesson?

There is a line in a Sheryl Crow song that I love about success: "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got." I have no idea if this is actually what she meant when she wrote it. But it resonates with me this way.

There is a lesson here for all professionals in business:

Success often isn't about having all the resources, patients, staff, materials, vendor support, that you might have, or that someone else has.

Government Limits Care Options

If the government controls our health care dollars then politicians will control the procedures that we have available to us.  Example: Medicare hasn't been good for hearing aid funding.  

I know Sarah Palin has been criticized for her "Death Squad" comment. It probably won't have that official title. In fact I expect the politicians will manage to make it difficult to determine who is making the decisions.  But the decisions will be being made.

Ethics and “Free” Stuff

ASHA, AAA, and ADA, all have code of ethics that include sections that discourage, or prohibit, depending upon how one reads them participation in activities that constitute a conflict of interest. Most third party payers have items in their contracts prohibiting kickbacks, bribes, or other similar inducements.

Medicare has career limiting penalties for violations.

Free trips, marketing allowances, advertizing placement and mailing services, business services, and other "free" stuff offered by some of the companies selling you hearing aids most likely fall into this prohibited category. If you are caught, the price you may pay for the "free" stuff will be very high for you. They will be onto the next sale.

Are your sales reps really on your side?

This was a section grabbed from a published job opportunity for a hearing aid company sales representative. You know, the people who sell hearing aids to your business.  These are the people that want you to believe they are on your team first.  They want you to think they are really focused on getting you the best deal possible for you and your patients.

Notice the first thing they are responsible to do.

Cost Per New Patient

What does it cost to bring in a new patient? If you want your business to grow this might be the single most important number for you to know.

Why? Because if you want to sell an additional 20 hearing aids per month you will typically need to attract an additional 10-40 new patients depending upon the kind of patients you attract.

Casual…. Mishearing

The man heard the attractive woman on TV offering casual sex in front of a nice couch. He was ready to run right down there until his wife told him the furniture store was advertizing "casual sets" and not "casual sex".

Contributed by Andrew

Perceived Value is What People Buy

Perception of Value is more important than actual value. Because perceived value is what people actually use when making their buying decisions.

You can have the most valuable product on the market. It can do great things and any hearing aid engineer, hearing scientist, or Audiologist knows it. However the customer may not; and miss out on the value.

Value Message: The Basis of Your Marketing Efforts

Your Value Message: Why is your profession valuable? Why does the world need Audiologists?

Your value message answers the question: Why is the world a better place because of what you do?

People have a lot of choices when it comes to spending their time and money.

If they are going to spend money on hearing health care they must believe that not will they get more perceived value from what they buy from an Audiologist than they will get from buying something else. They also must believe spending their money on hearing health care is a better use of the money than saving it for a future need.

Conventions 2010

AAA

April 14-17, 2010 San Diego, CA

http://www.audiology.org/development/meetings/Pages/default.aspx

ADA

November 4-6, 2010 San Antonio, TX

http://www.audiologist.org/events.html

ASHA

November 18-20, 2010 Philadelphia, PA

http://www.asha.org/events/convention/

One Year Anniversary!

This blog is now a year old. I do want to thank the people who have commented and helped me make it better. I also wish to thank those people who have let me know how it has helped them.

This is for Independent Private Practice Audiologists and their teams.

I set it up and made a test post on January 20^th, 2009 while sitting in a condo in Florida wondering if the crocodile, or alligator, outside my room would actually move. I decided to use the blog format as a way of making information provided to one person available to more than one person, in this case you.

It is a way of recording some of the most interesting items that come up in client discussions so other clients can benefit, and so people who are not yet clients can benefit.

Information here may not apply to any specific situation, so don't hesitate to contact me if you are interested in how to apply it to your specific situation.

Thank you for being a reader. I do hope this blog will be of help to you.

Rick

rick@thrivingaudiology.com

1-866-737-6243

Hearing Dinner and ?

The gentleman entered the office quickly as if he was on a mission.

"I need to buy those hearing aids right now" he said.

As the Audiologist was fitting them she asked; "You have needed hearing aids for years and not wanted to wear them. Why now?"

"Well", he said sort of sheepishly, "My girlfriend just asked if I wanted dinner."

"That sounds nice," said the Audiologist. "But why the sudden concern about your hearing?"

"Well", he said sort of sheepishily, "She either said dinner at six, or dinner and sex, and I really need to know for sure which it was."

Contributed by Nancy

Phone Call Surprise

***RING****  

"Hello?"

"Hi honey, this is Daddy.  Is Mommy near the phone?"

"No Daddy, She's upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Paul."

After a brief pause; "But honey, you haven't got an Uncle Paul."

"Oh yes I do and he's upstairs in the bedroom with Mommy right now"

Long Pause

"Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door, and shout to Mommy that Daddy's car just pulled into the driveway."

"Okay Daddy, just a minute" *** Clunk ***

A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone. "I did it, Daddy"

"And what happened honey?"

"Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on, and ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser, and now she isn't moving at all!"

"Oh my! What about Uncle Paul?"

"He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I guess he didn't know that you took out the water last week to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and he isn't moving at all!"

******Longer Pause******

Then Daddy says: "Swimming pool?? ... Is this 486-5731??"

Simple Hearing Test

Earl was worried that his wife was getting hard of hearing so he called the doctor to discuss the problem.

The Doctor told him there is a simple test a husband could perform to confirm the hearing loss. Stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone, see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and Earl was in the den. He thinks, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens." Then in a normal tone he asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

No response. So, the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Still no response. Next, he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, "Hun, what's for dinner?"

Again he gets no response so, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away: "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again there is no response. So, he walks right up behind her: "Honey, what's for dinner?"

"Earl, for the FIFTH time, it's CHICKEN!"

Fishing with a Genie

George and his dad were out fishing one day when George pulled out a cigar. Finding he had no matches he asked his dad for a light.

"Sure," said his dad. "I think I have a lighter." Then, reaching into his tackle box he pulled out Bic lighter 10-inches long.

"Jiminy Cricket!" exclaimed George, taking the huge Bic lighter in his hands. "Where did you get that monster?" he asked.

"Well," replied his dad, "I got it from my Genie."

"You have a Genie in your tackle box?" asked George.

"Yep, it's right here in my tackle box," said his dad.

"Could I see him?" asked George.

So his dad opened his tackle box and, sure enough, out pops the Genie.

Addressing the Genie, George says, "I'm the son of your master, will you grant me one wish?"

"Yes, I will," says the Genie.

So George asks for a million bucks.

The Genie disappears back into the tackle box leaving George sitting there, waiting for his million bucks.

Shortly, the sky darkens and is filled with the sound of a million ducks flying overhead.

Over the roar of the million ducks George yells to his dad, "Jump 'in Jiminy! I asked for a million bucks, not a million ducks!"

"I forgot to tell you that the Genie is hard of hearing," yells back George's dad. "You don't think I really asked for a 10-inch Bic, do you?"

Effectively Using Internet Tools to Market Your Business

You can use a combination of these tools:

• Domain Registration: www.verio.com
• E-Mail: www.verio.com
• Web Site: www.verio.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com
• Blog: www.typepad.com
• Twitter: www.twitter.com

I hope this helps some of you.

Rick

Own Your Practice

Own Your Practice & Own Your Profession

As the end of the year approaches we often think about our life and assess how we are doing. Are we being successful personally, professionally, financially?

If you are working in an organization where the leadership has priorities other than Audiology, their first priority is something other than serving the needs of the hearing or balance impaired; you will want to think of making a change.

Not only for your personal health and wealth, but for the profession you represent.

Pick up, borrow, or check out, a copy of the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and spend a couple of hours with it. You don't need to read the entire book to understand how the rich people want you working for them; they want you building their family wealth. The wealthy want to keep you in debt so you are dependent upon a job working for them.

Remember the time your peers have made decisions based not upon patient care, as in your ethical guidelines, but upon keeping a job, or with the direction of a non-audiologist. Only by becoming an Independent Practitioner can you remain true to your values.

Think about it.

Rick

Opportunity Knocks with Friends and Family

As a business owner you have not only the opportunity to serve your patients, but to help others.

Missing from today's formal educational system, public schools, is the importance of serving and providing value. When you hire a young person and allow them to experience, see, understand, how a business must create real perceived value and how it feels good to serve customers, patients, or clients, is a priceless gift.

Not only are you providing them with a living, or perhaps just some spending money, but you are giving them a lifelong understanding of what makes the world a better place for all of us to live.

Rick

Books to Own

I was asked what are the three books everyone should own, and presumably actually read. I offered these three, and I think I made good choices.

First would be the Bible. The Bible is bestselling book of all time and for good reason. Often non-Christians seem afraid to read it. Perhaps afraid it will change their lives. Don't worry. You still get to make up your own mind. However the Bible is stuffed full of timeless stories about sex, relationships, business, ethical decisions, depression, attitude, food, and I think all the issues we deal with today. It is also the only book I know that integrates the feelings, thoughts, and attitudes about these issues together. Pick a recognized version in a language you understand. If you live in old England than the King James Version may be perfect, but if you live today the New American Standard will be much easier to read and understand.

Second would be Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. He takes the B.S. out of finances and describes them in a way even a high school dropout can understand. The rich want you to get a job and some debt so you are forever tied to working for them and making them richer. He also describes how you can change this without an additional degree (more debt) or anything but the tools you have right now.

Third is The Smartest Guys in The Room: a wonderfully researched and written book about the rise and fall of one of the largest companies in the world; Enron, and along with it the accounting firm Arthur Anderson. This book written by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind it clearly shows that behind all the numbers and talk are people. If the people think accounting profits and stock price are the measure of success disaster often follows.

All are available from any good bookstore or easily online from www.amazon.com and can be delivered to your door for just a few dollars in just a few days.

Rick

Guerilla Marketing

There is the world of big advertisements, fancy brochures, and huge bulk mail bills. Be as public as you can be. This is big company marketing and there is always a salesperson doing their best to sell this to you. You spend big dollars so there is money for big sales commissions. Big companies have an advantage in this type of advertizing.

There is also guerilla marketing. This is targeted marketing. As a sniper picks off one opponent at a time guerilla marketing picks up one customer at a time. Guerilla marketing often occurs out of sight of competitors. Your challenge, few guerilla marketing sales reps exist. You must take the initiative as it won't be sold to you.

Small local businesses have an advantage when it comes to guerilla marketing.

This is where you need to be focused.

Play to your strengths. Become a guerilla marketer, become a sniper!

This cannot help but help all of you.

Rick

Facebook: Become a Fan!

Your business ought to have it's palace on Facebook. Let people be your fans.

I have just set up a Thriving Audiology professional service site. I hope you will visit and become a fan. It is free to you, and my only expense is taking the time to update it.

You can find it by searching on the upper right, in the search box, for Thriving Audiology.

Why should you be there also?

It is a very cost effective way to communicate with those who care about you and what you are doing. This is GREAT gorilla marketing for the small local business. You can do this better than the big companies

You want to make your page. In reality anyone can create a page and it can be about you. If you create your page first you remove the possibility of someone else complicating your life. You want to be able to message and edit the site about you.

You can include links to your web site or other information of interest to you and your fans.

You can post events, seminars, open houses, and anniversaries, whatever!

You can message all of your fans almost instantly and inexpensively.

When someone becomes a fan it is posted on their news feed, unless they choose not to, so other people with similar interests will likely see it.

Now is a good time:

You can make your page here in just a few minutes!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

I cannot wait to see what you can do!

Rick

Employees Quitting is Often Good

You find the letter on your desk. Someone you care about has quit. You were hoping it would work out. Now they have rejected you and your efforts.

It feels bad; perhaps really bad. You want to regain control, you want to try again, and you want to make things better, perhaps ….

Your business is going to be disrupted; your time will be absorbed in replacing and retraining.

Bummer!

Now, take a deep breath. What if they are right?

What if their leaving is for the best, for both of you?

Not everyone works out at every job. This doesn't make you a bad employer or them a bad employee.

The employee who quit may know something about themselves you don't know.

The employee who quit may realize they don't "get" your purpose; and aren't going to.

The employee who quit may realize they don't really like the demographics of your customers, the work, their co-workers, etc.

The employee who quit may have personal issues they don't want to share.

The employee who quit may have decided they really want to do something else.

There are many reasons, completely out of your control, why an employee may be best leaving, and you are best not to have them.

    All of these will make them at best mediocre employees for you in the future; when you want excellence!

So when they quit don't overdo feeling bad, but accept it is a choice they must make.

I have always felt if someone didn't really want to work for me, and I couldn't make changes to make them really want to work for me, it was best to make a transition plan. Unfortunately we are often hindered by labor laws and legal fear that makes this harder than I would like, but it is important to do.

When the time comes, and we all lose people, let them go with grace and professionalism.

I have tucked a letter of reference into a quitter's last pay envelope. Saves me trying to respond in a timely manner to a future request and I am sure is a pleasant surprise for the departed.

We always wish everyone we hire will excel. But remember in baseball the best home run hitters also often strike out.

You may also be surprised that they may come back when their life changes; so always keep in contact with those you really want.

Rick

December Workshops Finalized

We will be at the New Las Vegas South Courtyard a few blocks from the Mandalay Bay.

Day 1 - Relationship Marketing and Integrating Internet tools into your customer journey.

Day 2 – Identification of long term personal, professional, and people, purposes into your personal, professional, and business planning.

Additional Information is available on the web: http://www.thrivingaudiology.com/events.htm

Rick

Who needs a phone or computer?

Once upon a time long ago in a land that surely seems far away; people lived without telephones. In fact most people had never even heard of a telephone and could not imagine why they would want to talk to anyone not in their presence. Times have changed.

Once upon a time the entire worldwide market for computers was estimated to be less than 100. Not 100 per building but 100 worldwide. Times have changed.

Once upon a time it required a big company and high paid graphics people to put an advertisement in front of local people. Times have changed.

I spent 5 years as an Internet Product / Marketing manager prior to Thriving Audiology and

I am going to have a special focus in 2010 on helping Audiologists use online tools to improve their personal image, their professional image, and most importantly to enhance their customer journey.

Starting with the workshop on December 10 (http://www.thrivingaudiology.com/events.htm) and continuing throughout the year.

There are lots of people trying to sell you things you certainly don't need, and no one helping you integrate this into your practice.

Just as you don't always answer you own phone, you need to understand how to get other people to keep your online presence functional!

I am really looking forward to helping you!

Rick

Remember the FUN!

As we approach the Holiday season we also approach one of the most stressful months for many people.

Helping people hear for the Holidays is a huge opportunity.

Yet you and your staff are also dealing with an unprecedented number of interruptions. Everything from yearend tax and business planning to relatives appearing to extra shopping is in your team's future.

Embrace it!

Have fun!

Don't become stressed out.

How? Prioritize!

Let your staff have a few extra hours off; perhaps with some flex time or short staffing. Make and extra effort to personally connect as the stresses of December often are different than the rest of the year. Don't have obligatory after hour parties or functions. Keep extra work stress away.

Don't be afraid to be creative!

Make an extra effort to smile at your employees and give them positives, as your Holiday stress may also be present.

Embrace the season, enjoy it, have fun!

Rick

Leverage Points

A leverage point is where your relationship with a customer, or potential customer, changes. They move along your customer journey. Just like crossing intersections on a cross country drive. You were on hwy 395, then to 185, then to 85, then to 178, etc.

Examples:

They don't know you exist to they know you exist.

They don't know what you do to they know what you do.

They don't believe they need your services to they know they need your services.

They have never called your office to they have called your office.

They have ….. etc.

Each of your marketing efforts should be designed to move a segment, your target audience, of people across a leverage point.

If not your time, effort, and money is wasted.

This is why most of your marketing money is wasted, and also why most of you don't know which was wasted so you will just waste more in the future.

Rick

6 to 10 Times to Make an Impression

There are messages that we hear once and remember forever. As a child the message that fire is hot; after we burn our fingers. "Will you marry me?" I suspect we all can remember each time we have given or received a marriage proposal.

These are very unusual; most of the time it takes more than once to make an impression. This is why we often see the same ads over and over again.

So when you are attempting to get your message across to your target audience you probably will need to present it in a manner that they will hear / see / feel it more than once.

Research has shown that on average it takes 6-10 times for people to remember an advertisement in a useful manner. Lower for ads that are more memorable or interesting, more for ads that are less so.

So I encourage you to plan to reach your target audience 6-10 times before expecting results.

Which is less expensive to you? $1,000 off, or reaching the same person enough times they remember.

I know this will help some of you.

Rick

Impact vs. Number

When marketing for results it is easy to get carried away with numbers contacted as opposed to people influenced.

You may be better off contacting 5 likely referral sources regularly, than 500 once every year or two. In particular if you can identify good candidates.

You may be better off with a small target market area reached regularly in a variety of ways than trying to reach everyone in your state.

The law of large numbers doesn't apply to marketing in a small business.

I know this will cause some of you to think differently.

Rick

What is a good referral source?

If you want to get more quality physician referrals then read on.

When I ask Audiologists if they would like more physician referrals they always say yes!

When I then ask the Audiologist how they define a good referring physician they always say ………………..

Normally the answers are very vague.

If you are not sure it is very unlikely you are having a lot of success. Most likely you are spreading your energy and money to thin. Trying to reach more referral sources than you actually can, not devoting enough time to any to get results. This ends in frustration.

So for the dispensing practice here is what I suggest.

An idea referring physician:

1. In your market area. It is often great fun to focus our effort on physicians we know will be receptive and who we enjoy personally, but if they are out of your market area they won't be sending patients to you. They aren't a place to focus.
2. See patients who are in your target market. The physician may have a passion for helping the hearing impaired and be sincere and honest in planning to send you all likely candidates. But if the physician doesn't see patients in your target market then this isn't a place for useful focus.
3. Be willing to refer. Unfortunately some physicians just don't refer as it would seem they should. If a physician isn't going to refer for hearing loss then they aren't a place for useful focus. (They may be a place for some value message attention.)
4. Be willing to refer to you, or to have you at the top of their list of referral locations.
5. Promotes Audiologists as the place for patients to receive hearing evaluations and an understanding of their hearing and hearing loss.

You also want to rank your physicians so you won't waste time on those who weight you down:

Perhaps:

Diamond: One quality referral a day on average.

Platinum: One quality referral a week on average.

Gold: One Quality referral a month on average.

Silver: One Quality referral every now and then.

Copper: Has sent referrals, and may again.

Raw Ore: Just doesn't get it yet, but seems willing to learn.

Lead: Promises referrals, takes your gifts, and never delivers any.

I know this will help most of you.

Rick