You’re Being Watched!

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Before we go off on a conspiracy tangent, let me clarify! While we certainly could have an interesting and compelling discussion about surveillance technology, drones, and Internet monitoring, that’s not the point of this blog. Instead, I wanted to remind you that our actions speak much louder than our words, and people are watching. (If you’re a parent, you probably have a few stories from your child-rearing days where this was embarrassingly obvious.)

How does this apply to a healthcare practice? It’s simple. Every action or inaction on your part is observed and judged by someone. Just as children watch their parent’s actions and learn…patients also watch YOUR actions and learn! Perhaps it’s the server at the local restaurant who notices the cardiologist ordered the fried fish platter. Maybe it’s the cashier at your grocery store who sees the processed junk food in your cart and remembers when you came in to talk to his class about nutrition. Could be the gym owner who realizes you never come in to work out anymore… Or maybe it’s the patient you’ve lectured about living a healthy lifestyle who sees the soft drink or fast food on your desk.

While leadership and making community connections can help provide a solid foundation and growth for your practice, it comes at a price. And that price is that when you’re part of a community…the community is watching. Although people won’t call the exercise or nutrition police on you, they DO take notice when your actions aren’t congruent. The good news is that the community also notices when you sponsor a 5K run, participate in the local PTA, or host an awareness event for a health issue plaguing your community.

Your community is trusting you with their health. Make sure you’re worthy. Lead by example. Strive to make your actions congruent with the messages you send out. No one’s perfect, but we all have areas where we can improve. Do you have an experience to share where someone called you out because your actions didn’t match your words? (Or maybe you called someone else out!) How did you turn it around?

Please share your comments, suggestions, and stories at dr-kelley.com and help me create a larger community of successful healthcare professionals!

For more information on building community connections, I encourage you to read my new book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals. If you want more valuable information about how to Connect with YOUR Community, you can find FREE healthcare practice marketing content, PowerPoint Presentation Jumpstart Kits, workbooks, blog articles, and my FREE “Practice Marketing Planner” Now!

Slow Summer Season

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Summer is upon us, and that can mean a slow down in business for some. Let’s look at some ways to give your practice a boost during the slow summer season.

Step Up Your Projects

Now that things are quieter, you have time to devote to all those projects you neglected when things were hopping. And if you focus on the right ones, they can help drive business to your practice during the slow summer season.

Write some posts for your blog and social media sites, in fact, write a batch of them to drip out during your busy season when you’re short on time. Is there a class you could take to help improve some aspect of your practice? Public speaking, writing, nutrition? Sign up, just don’t think of it as summer school!

Have you wanted to write a book? With the many options available for self-publishing, it’s easier than ever to write a book or an e-book that can help get your name out there and help to establish you as an authority in your field.

Think of the Children

Summer means that school is out, and kids are home driving their parents nuts! Even if you don’t see children as patients, there are still some things you could do that would be fun for them and introduce their parents to your practice. Mint

If you’re a nutritionist or dietician, hold a gardening class to introduce kids and parents to growing their own herbs or vegetables. Chiropractors can hold a class to show parents and kids how to protect their spines while enjoying their favorite summer vacation activities.

If you’re a PCP, you could hold a summer first aid class. These are all ways to get kids out of the house (and their parent’s hair) for a few hours and drive new business to your practice. At worst, you’ll build some goodwill in your community.

Recall

Are you keeping a recall list? If not, you should be and now is a great time to use it. If you use scheduling software, you should be able to pull a report for patients that have not been in since X number of days, weeks, etc. Contact these disappearing patients and try to schedule them for an appointment.

Depending on how big the list is, you can send out postcards, automated e-mails, or make good old fashioned phone calls. It’s a low cost, low effort way to round up some AWOL patients.

Start a Referral Program

Let your current patients find new patients for you! Offer something for each new patient an existing patient refers. But make it worth their while. Don’t just give out things like pens with your name and logo printed on them. Give away things of value. (Be sure to check with your state rules and regulations regarding “gifts” to make sure you’re not inadvertently providing “kickbacks” to patients.) Something like a free supplement of their choice, an ice pack, or an add-on service such as a free 15-minutete chair massage or an aromatherapy treatment are great ways to thank patients for their referrals.

I’ve also had great success with a handwritten, heartfelt note thanking the patient for trusting me with their family member or friend. Always remember that a referral is a gift from a patient to a practitioner, so make sure they feel appreciated!

Hold a Fair

Not the kind that sells fried stuff on a stick…a health and wellness fair! Partner with a handful of other healthcare practitioners, rent an event space and put the word out. Are there any sports tournaments in your community? This is a great place to set up a health fair. Fair

Cut Back

This won’t drive business, but it will cut down expenses if a slow summer season is impacting you more than you’re comfortable with. Go back through your schedules for the summer months for the past few years and see when the slow times were. Mondays, Fridays, the first few days before and after holiday weekends?

It makes more sense to close during those slow times and see more patients on fewer days or for shorter hours. Consider how this will affect your staff before making any decisions. (Alternatively, beef up your marketing calendar to increase your office visits.)

Take a Break

If you’re not seriously impacted financially from a slow summer season, do what everyone else is doing; take a vacation! Most Americans don’t get or take enough. Taking a break from work is good for you, your practice, and your patients. There’s a reason the flight attendant tells you to put your oxygen mask on first. You can’t help others if you don’t take care of yourself. School’s out, enjoy the lazy days of Summer!

Who Are Your Healthcare Patients?

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Who Are Your Healthcare Patients?

As Seth Godin, marketing genius, once commented, “Everyone is not your customer.” In the solo healthcare practice realm, this can be re-stated to say that everyone is not your patient. What?!? A healthcare marketing consultant and published author is telling you not everyone is your patient? It’s true. On a superficial level, of course every single one of the billions of people on this planet aren’t your patients. Let’s look closer and use a specific example.

Imagine you’re a dentist in private dental practice in a town of 40,000. Of that population, perhaps 500 people have seen you professionally. What about the other 39,500? Do they all need a dentist? Yes. But do they all need to see you as their dentist? The answer is no. You can’t be the “right” dentist for all people.

So how can you help increase the chance that those who find themselves in your dental practice are your “right” patients? By being crystal clear on who your ideal patients are. What characteristics do they have? What are their demographics? Et cetera. If you’re passionate about instilling proper dental habits at an early age, your ideal patients are likely to be moms with young children. You’d build your branding and private dental practice identity around this concept. You wouldn’t necessarily turn away patients who didn’t match your ideal, but you wouldn’t spend time and money marketing to them.

When you develop a clear picture of who your ideal healthcare patient is, you’ll be able to identify those for whom you’d be a good match. You can spend your time and resources marketing directly to them instead of trying to be all things to all people.

What does your “ideal healthcare patient” look like? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment box below!

Be Your Local Healthcare Authority

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

If we polled 100 people in your community and asked them who the best [fill in your healthcare specialty here] is, would your name come up? Are you considered to “Be Your Local Healthcare Authority” in your field? If not, here are five things you can do to begin the process of being recognized as the local healthcare authority in your field.

1. Get involved in your community. The more your community gets to know you as a person, the more they will get to know and trust you in your professional capacity.

2. Write a book or e-book. Select a topic that’s important to your community and allows you to highlight your healthcare expertise.

3. Be a contributing healthcare author for local magazines and websites.

4. Engage the press. Contact the local media and let them know of your expertise and willingness to answer questions they may have. When you obtain continuing education, receive additional certifications/expertise, host a public lecture, sponsor a charity event, et cetera, send a press release to TV, radio, and magazine companies. They may run your press release as-is, or they may ask you for a personal interview. Here is a link to my press release for my first book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals:

5. Constantly educate the public on topics relevant to your field. You can offer health talks, sponsor panel discussions, host awareness events, or even host your own radio show. When people consistently see or hear your name and healthcare expertise, they’ll begin to rely on you for information.

No matter how you choose to promote yourself as a local healthcare authority, make sure you’re worthy! If you put yourself out there as an expert on something, keep up on the latest research and information. Constantly educate yourself so you can bring the best and most accurate information to your community. If your community trusts you enough to make you their “local authority,” then exceed their expectations!
How have you built your reputation as a local authority in your field? Please share your experiences and ideas in the comments section below!