Rick's Business of Audiology Blog

Front Desk Passion

Typically your front desk person answers your office phone and greets people when they arrive in your office.

If they don't do a good job you don't get a chance to do yours. They must make the first sale. Get the person to come in!

If they don't do grand job then you have more work on your end.

If they don't have passion for helping the hearing impaired they won't do a grand job.

If they don't really understand why you do what you do, they will only some of the time do a good job.

When people call your office for the first time they are going to be somewhat uncertain. Whomever answers the phone must be confident, encouraging, supportive, focused, and Passionate!

If they are not, then your first sale is to sell them!

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

Cost Per New Patient

This is a number you really need to know. It is even more critical if your market has a downturn.

It seems you all have some idea of your cost of goods sold. But do you know your cost to acquire a new patient? In good times and in bad advertizing and promotion are a critical part of your professional activities. If you don't brand yourself, someone else will. In good times and in bad some will be more successful than others. If you are spending three times what your competitor is to get a new patient your real cost of doing business is significantly higher than theirs.

You are at a very real competitive disadvantage.

Raising Cash vs Paying

Not that long ago a friend of mine asked me to talk to his son.

His son was about 22 and had just stopped going to school and managed to acquire a job.

His son was about to buy a brand new truck. My friend was hoping his son would keep driving the older car that was available at home.

What to do?

As I visited with his son I realized his son was confusing raising cash for the truck, with paying for the truck.

Audiology Jobs: How to get a good one.

Know how to create real value, and know how to explain how you will do it.

Getting a great job is not nearly as difficult as the popular news people try to make you think.

Most employers in the nation are actually looking to HIRE!

But they want to hire people who create value, not people who are first looking for a paycheck.

If your first thought is "What does it pay?" Then you may find your job search long.

• First: Know how you will create value. (Professional Value Message)
• Second: Know how to explain it. (Communication)
• Third: Build a history of doing what you say you will do. (References)

With this your job search will be very short and very successful.

I know this will help you!

Rick

Support Team: Worth some time.

Adding people to your support team is always a good idea.

The skill to develop is to evaluate if they are really on your support team, you are on each other's team, or if they just want you to support them.

Anyone you can associate with who will be on your team is worth making a little effort to connect with. When the relationship is mutual, they support you and you can also support them, the relationship has the most long term potential. If they want you to support them then it probably won't last beyond the current need for transactions. Think of all the sales people who told you they were on your team, asked you to do things for them, and then when they change jobs you never see them again.

Most sales people are great at trying to get you to think that they are on your team when in fact they are just adding you to their team. Often they care about you only as a means of them meeting their sales quota. They are a little like fair weather friends who love to go to lunch when you are buying and they are waiting for the sale.

Even employees may or may not be on your team. They may identify with your purpose and love to help you achieve it, or they may show up as a way of getting paid.

We all need all the supportive people we can get in our lives.

You will have many patients that will support you longer than most employees or sales people.  You will have friends and family members who will support you for as long as you are in business.  They do this because they identify with you and what you do.  They are often underappreciated. 

Customer Focus: In a down economy it is more important than ever.

In tough times, the strong get stronger. The weak, well it isn't so good for them.

In the natural world when an extra tough winter comes, or a drought, the strong survive, the weak don't. We all learn this when we are young. We know this is a necessary part of making everything better over time. The big cats feed on and sort out the weak allowing the stronger ones to thrive. This also allows the big cats to survive. There is no pleasant way to die in the wild.

Wal-Mart, with a reputation and focus on providing value for its customers, is getting stronger during these lean times. It will emerge from this downturn stronger than ever. Wal-Mart will have a bigger market share than ever as the downturn weeds out its weaker competitors. Wal-Mart has a viable business model and has shown the ability to execute it to the benefit of its customers. Wal-Mart's customers believe it is benefiting and providing value to them.  Wal-Mart will be rewarded.

A couple of years ago when I first posted this topic I indicated General Motors did not have a reputation of customer focus or providing customer value. As I predicted GM did not survive in its old form. GM quickly got weaker during the lean times and now has a smaller market share, smaller workforce, and is much less valuable. GM was insulated and inward looking. It was looking to preserve itself as opposed to providing value to customers. As the unions fought management the company was unable to compete. GM died. Will the government owned GM change? Time will tell. But the old inward ward selfish GM did not. GM was eaten by its competitors.

Consultants, politicians, and news commentators try to make it more complex than it is. It isn't very complex. When the owners and the workers focus more on splitting up the pie than making the pie customers will choose another company.

Just as Southwest Airlines focuses on its customers, and is regularly profitable. United hasn't focused on its customers, and hasn't been profitable. Nordstrom is doing well, K-Mart went bankrupt.

As you look to your office, and your profession, your future, keep your focus on providing good value to your customers. Keep your focus on a viable business model. Your customers, over time, will reward you.

Is your office inward focused like GM and United? Or customer focused like Wal-Mart, Nordstrom, and Southwest?

Know your destination, plot your trail, and then take action to move down that trail evaluating and adjusting appropriately.

I hope this helps you,

Rick

The Power of Presentation

The value is in the presentation:

I can give my daughter a new dress by just hanging it in her closet.  She will eventually find it, more than likely, and she may or may not be very interested in it.  She may not say thank you, or even realize it was me who bought it for her and left it there.

Or, we can create an event; a holiday, Christmas for example.  Decorate for the occasion, including a tree.   Create a tradition of having gifts under the tree that are only opened on Christmas morning.

Now I can take that same dress she asked for and put it in a box, wrap it in pretty paper with a bow, and apply a nice tag with her name on it. I can take that box and put it under the tree a few days before Christmas. My daughter will see her name on the tag. That is her box. She knows it, but what is inside?  

She can imagine what is in the box.  Imagining what she might find.  I call this seasoning; the packages are seasoning as they ripen in the recipients mind prior to unwrapping them to expose the contents.

After some days Christmas morning happens.  We are all there.  She opens her box.   Yes, it is the dress she wanted. She holds it up and says thank you in front of everyone.  She then rushes off to try it on displaying it for everyone.

It is the same dress, for the same girl, but the presentation makes all the difference.

The presentation can pay big dividends for your patients.

When someone makes an appointment they are putting their name on a box under the tree.  This gift is only to be opened at a given day and time.

To the extent you help them enjoy the anticipation you are doing them a big favor.  Then when you help them reveal the value of their appointment you are giving them a priceless gift.

Thanks for reading.

I know this will help some of you, and your patients.

Rick

Practice makes Perfect Assumption

We have all heard the saying practice makes perfect.

The important thing is to remember is the critical underlying assumption that what is practiced is perfect.

Practicing ineffective or suboptimal behavior only makes the poorly done more comfortable and more habitual.

If you are going to take the time to practice, and we all ought to do so, then be sure what you are practicing is what you really want to do.

Rick

Motto

Be able, be amicable, and be available.

I think this nicely sums up what patients want from Doctors. If someone else is paying I don't think they care about cost; they want competent services provided nicely when they want to receive them. If the patient is paying then I think cost is a factor to consider.

When the patients are paying:

Be able, be amicable, be availiable, and be affordable.

Coach or Teacher?

Good Coaches are always good teachers. Good teachers may or may not be good coaches. To have a great career you will need both.

Teachers typically teach specific predetermined information to a group in a standardized way. Yes there is some individual focus, but in a typical teaching situation the teacher doesn't really have the time to know, understand, and appreciate, the specific situations of the individuals. The focus is on one way information flow, from teacher to student. Think of school, one teacher with a group of students with the hope they will all learn some specific information that may or may not be immediately useful to them. Most vendor training sessions have a relatively standard package of information to present.

Coaches not only teach specific information, but focus on application to the specific person and their unique situation. Coaches must get to know those they coach because every person is different. A good teacher may have a very narrow field of interest, because that is what she or he is teaching. A coach must have a wide variety of knowledge because the coach is teaching application in a specific situation.

Exceptional Coaches will tend to specialize. A great basketball coach could also be a great golf coach, because the teaching and coaching concepts are pretty much the same. However at a high level coaches will specialize because of the application focus required. The specifics of basketball and the specifics of golf are very different. A personal service business, like Audiology, is very different from a manufacturing product delivery business, or a manufacturing plant. Health care is very different than real estate.

Any good business coach can teach you general business concepts. Because I focus on Independent Private Practice Audiology I bring industry specific application to you.

 

Coach or Consultant?

Coach:

A coach is someone who helps you learn how to do what you want to do yourself with the focus on applying specific skills to your specific situation; increasing your skill set, capabilities, understanding, and confidence.  A coach is a teacher and mentor. 

Think of actors.  An acting coach helps them learn how to act.  Once that knowledge is acquired the actor can continue to act over and over again. 

An Audiologist coaches people how to understand their hearing and how to use their hearing aid or other devices. The person then uses their newfound knowledge and devices over and over again on their own.

A football coach helps players learn how to play the game.  The players go on the field to play, and then take their improved capability to the next team.

Or

Consultant:

A consultant is someone who you hire to do something you don't want to do yourself.  A consultant creates a finished product for you, not with you.  If you need to do it again you hire the consultant again.

In the consultant model the actor would hire the consultant to play the part. The next time the part was needed the actor still wouldn't be able to do it, but would hire another consultant to play the part.

In the consultant model the Audiologist would work the device all the time and the user would never know how to do it themselves.

In the consultant model the football coach would go out on the field and actually try to play.  This would be really funny in the NFL, or even in high school!

Different:

There are times when you want a coach, and times you want a consultant. 

It is always good to know when to use each.

You want a coach when you want to do something yourself and want to utilize someone else's experience and knowledge. You want to be the best you can be quickly without making excessive mistakes.  Coaches are also best when you have a lot of personal interest in the outcome.  How do you want your life to work out?  How do you want your business to be?  Someone cannot just do your life for you, you want to do it for yourself.

You want a consultant when you want to have someone else do something you don't want to or cannot do yourself.  Most of us have a consultant for our taxes.  A CPA, they do them, and we get them back completed!  Tasks that are best for consultants are items that are somewhat separate from our day to day activities, not a central part of our activity, and can be separated.  Or are items that require a specific technical skill we don't have time to learn, an interest in learning, or time to actually do.

 

Vendor Sales People May be Selling Marketing Materials

A recent discussion with a client reminded me Audiologists often don't realize the person selling them marketing products, mailers, fliers, inserts, whatever, often makes a commission on the sale.

If your vendor seems to be pushing mailers it is a good idea to confirm the vendor's sales rep has no financial interest in selling the mailers.

No Commission :  No Quota  :  No Expectations from the company.

I don't pretend to know how it works at every company. But at some companies the sales rep that is selling you hearing aids, also has a financial interest in selling you mailers, inserts, and other promotional material. If the company produces the material, assists in paying for it, the rep may believe he or she is expected to keep the mailing people busy.

Not that this is unethical, but when the Audiologist assumes differently it can be uncomfortable.

Give a little.

If you value your services, give some away. Not only is this a great public service elevating the image of your profession, but it can be good marketing. This isn't the same as a vendor asking you to give away your services to sell their product!

I have recently seen Audiologists giving away iPads, trips, and other items that seem unrelated to hearing loss. I wonder if this is more a reflection on what the Audiologist would like as opposed to their patients; people with hearing loss. Lots of people would like an iPad that aren't in the market for hearing services or products. So if one is valuing their marketing activity based upon the number of calls received then these may appear to work. I talked to one person who was giving away a trip as part of a vendor sponsored promotion. Yes there were some calls, but not many sales.  I don't think she was elevating her profession in the eyes of the public.

Would you rather have your name in the paper giving away a free trip; or giving away hearing aids?

In colonial times if you wanted to sell liquor and lodging, you needed to provide a space for people to sleep; free. At least so we were told in Williamsburg, VA.

Attorneys even have a name for it, pro bono, professional services provided voluntarily without payment as a public service. I am told the ABA (American Bar Association) in their ethical rules expects at least 50 hours a year.

In a dispensing practice this might equate to a free hearing aid for every 50 sold.

Rick

 

 

 

 

Time and information are valuable resources; free often isn’t.

When you hear "free" immediately think how much time it will take, what your office / professional time is worth, and realize the real cost to you.

Free isn't really free if it takes up your time or requires you to provide non-public information.

A free hearing test is not really free if it requires the patient to take their time and to provide non-public information; the results of their hearing test.

It is a no-charge item; not free as the patient pays for the hearing test with their time and information.

The same is true for business advice.

Free isn't really free if it takes up your time or requires you to provide non-public information.

Free business advice or analysis or marketing plan review that requires you to explain to the other person what you do isn't free. You pay for it with your time and by providing your information to them.

So if the offer is Free, be wary. It may or may not be worth the cost.

Example:

Would you recommend someone receive their hearing evaluation from an Audiologist on a fee for service basis and then make a hearing aid determination?

Or

Would you recommend they go get a free hearing test from someone who only does the test for the purpose of selling them a hearing aid?

On the other hand if you want a "free" business analysis give me a call. I would be glad to do so. 1-907-229-3480.

Rick