Rick's Business of Audiology Blog

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

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

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

Who is in your target market?

If you want to get more bang for your marketing dollar then read on.

When I ask Audiologists what is their target market they often don't know. "Old People" is not an answer that makes for cost effective marketing.

If you have ever sat and wondered what to buy with your marketing and promotional dollars then the first question I would ask is do you know who you want to talk to? Whom do you want to influence to do or know what?

So for the dispensing practice here is what I suggest you start with:

1. In your market area. Dispensing is a personal service business. If they aren't able to come see you, or you to go see them, they aren't in your target market.
2. Have a hearing loss. Seems obvious, but often when I ask this is missed. If the person doesn't have a hearing loss then they aren't in your target market.
3. The hearing loss must be able to be helped with hearing aids. There are people with hearing loss that cannot be helped by the goods or services you provide as a dispenser. (If your practice emphasizes diagnostic testing or cochlear support then you may want to test people who cannot be helped with hearing aids, but normally you are not marketing to those people directly.)
4. The person must be willing to do something. There are people with hearing loss that just want to live with it. If they don't want to hear better then they aren't in your target market.
5. The person must have some financial resources. A person who has no ability to pay for services isn't in your target audience for marketing purposes. Sure, you all serve some people who cannot pay, but that isn't why you spend marketing money.

So I propose you consider this definition:

My target market consists of people in my area, with a hearing loss that can be helped with hearing aids, who are willing and able to do something about it.

I know this will help most of you.

Rick