“Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence, only in constant improvement and constant change.”
– Tom Peters, a renowned management consultant -
Business always has been and always will be about “What have you done for me lately?” From the way you respond to your employees to the way your referral sources respond to your company, a success this quarter always overshadows a success from a year or two ago. Constant improvement and change ultimately increases referrals, but only under certain circumstances.
If a provider wants referral sources to base new referrals on anything other than personal relationships or corporate allegiance, that provider must differentiate itself in its community. Sometimes, differentiation can be as simple as being the one that does the most physician education or the most physician courting. However, in today’s highly competitive home health market, further differentiation is usually required to gain the competitive advantage.
Providers sometimes attempt to differentiate themselves with exciting descriptions such as, “pioneering,” “more caring,” “heroes,” “premier,” etc. Administrators should bear in mind that unfounded claims will have a greater effect on the general public than they will on referral sources. Doctors will be looking for proof of marketing claims. In physician oriented literature, if one states that the company is a pioneer, one should also explain what new ground that company broke. For the best effect with referral sources, blend exciting descriptions with factual support.
The question becomes for each owner and administrator, “What factual truth makes me a better choice than my competitor?” Common ways to differentiate one healthcare provider from the next include:
- Associating your company with a highly respected brand or institution
- New programs
- New equipment
- Clinical outcome measures
- Specialized training
- Awards
- Satisfaction surveys
- Improved methods for interacting with referral sources
A scheduled effort to make tangible improvements to services on a regular basis will help protect a provider from the occasional successes of competitors. Brazzell Marketing Agency clients have ongoing access to advice about changes that are working in other markets.
For healthcare providers, the constant improvement and constant change can help garner new referrals only under one condition. Providers must make referral sources aware of their services and advantages. Retail has the fantastic, inexpensive tool of in-store promotion. Grand Home Furnishings, for instance, never clearly advertised that they now carry less expensive furniture, but droves of buyers walk in the store and see that Grand has expanded its product lines. Referral-based healthcare providers, on the other hand, must reach out to referral sources in a deliberate and repetitive manner.
Marketing statements on fax cover sheets and promotional inserts with mailed correspondence can help improve lines of communication with current referral sources. Providers must open and maintain lines of communication to effectively reach and motivate the occasional or inactive referral sources. The communications strategy should seek to make as many impressions as possible short of becoming annoying. Marketing efforts occasionally have perfect timing. The rep walks in an office on the very day that the competitor irritated the referral source. More often, however, the referral source needs to be able to remember your marketing message at a later date. This requires ongoing repetition.
Brazzell Marketing Agency specializes in the communications needs of referral-based healthcare providers. Communications ideas are scattered throughout the Popular Services Page of the Brazzell Marketing Agency website [click here]. Paid consultation services to evaluate and brainstorm about communications plans are also available.
