“I send referrals to the last person who brought me lunch.” Even if a doctor has not been this forthright with you, most of you probably have wondered if this is not true. The referral-based provider might think this doctor is just being selfish. In truth, this doctor is really saying that he does not perceive any difference between your services and those of your competitors. Doctors sometimes indicate a lack of perceived difference more diplomatically: “I have the nurse call whoever the patient picks from a list,” or “I don’t like to steer a patient.”
Providers hear statements like this when they have failed to differentiate themselves from everyone else with the same license to practice. Physicians resort to irrational reasons for making healthcare decisions (i.e., forcing patients to pick from a list of unfamiliar names or sending referrals to the provider that employs a fellow golfer). Successful marketing differentiation generates referrals from both familiar and new sources. Differentiation gives the doctor a rational reason to name one provider before the next.
Furthermore, when a provider gives the doctor a way to articulate how it differs from the competitor, the doctor actually feels more inclined to share the information and make more referrals. Imagine that you bought a new convertible. You are satisfied with it, but, in your perception, it does not do anything differently from any other convertible. You probably would not go out of your way to tell people about the vehicle. However, suppose your convertible had a safety feature that automatically launches titanium roll bars out of the back when the car tilts more than 45%, and experts showed your convertible was safer in a roll over than most hard tops. You would be much more likely to point this feature out when the topic of cars comes up. (By the way, this is the Volvo C70 – I just couldn’t resist telling you.) Take advantage of this natural human reaction. People who think they know a secret or news want to share the secret or news.
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Four Steps to Effective Marketing Differentiation:
1. Choose from whom to be different: In general, businesses should try to differentiate themselves from their largest competitor or the largest group of competitors that could be defined in one way. Effective differentiation will garner for your practice a percentage of the competitor’s referrals. In general, the larger the competitor, the more you can take from them.
New home care agencies in hyper-competitive markets like to say that what differentiates them is that they are caring, compassionate, and that they show-up. Some agencies say they will provide services but do not show up as scheduled. However, saying your difference is that you actually show up for the visits does not follow rule one above. The agencies that do not show up for scheduled visits are not the largest competitors. These agencies do not have the loyalty of doctors or patients. Therefore, comparing your agency to them gains you nothing. You have to describe why a doctor would use your agency instead of the one he or she already likes.
2. Choose and Prove Your Difference: You may decide to position yourself as the only independently owned practice in the region or as the provider most likely to achieve good and efficient outcomes. Today’s consumer is rightly skeptical. It is no longer enough simply to say something, you must offer evidence. If you are the most caring, tout your satisfaction surveys. If you get great outcomes, tell them that you can resolve diagnosis X in only Y visits. Yesterday, if one were to tell you, “Volvo means performance and safety,” your initial reaction might be, “that’s just hype.” Now that you have read some evidence toward that assertion, you are more likely to give the assertion some credibility.
3. Connect Your Difference to a Benefit: It is not enough to say that your agency is two decades old or that you have 361 offices in 12 states, because you leave the doctor to draw her own conclusions from the facts. Draw the conclusions for them. Tell them that you have grown and prospered for two decades and this proves both your experience and your quality of care. Draw conclusions that are larger than the evidence provided. Do not just say that your nurses have training in Wound Vac®. Say that your nurses’ specific training in Wound Vac® serves as just one example of the agency’s experience with advanced wound care techniques.
4. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition: After choosing a difference and a benefit, providers must repeatedly communicate these ideas to referral sources. The more a person hears the same message, the more likely the person is to remember and use that information. Establish and maintain methods for repetitively putting your message in front of referral sources.
