Doctors Need To Market, Too

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Right now I’m helping a doctor build marketing and business systems into his business, and remembered a post I wrote a while back on my personal “fun” blog — about an experience I had in a doctor’s office.

A big part of marketing is thinking through “the client experience,” so they’ll keep coming back to you, and referring friends and family.

So here’s the post.  Yes, doctors need to think through “the client experience,” too.

… Like I Need A Hole In My Head

I’m lying on the operating table, procedure finished.  Had a cyst removed from the side of my face.  The doctor had said it was about a centimeter in size.  He and the nurse slowly lift me to a sitting position.

I look around.  There’s a tray filled with white and bright red gauze.  I’m wired for marketing, and my first thought is, “Man, if I was this guy’s marketing consultant, I’d suggest he have the bloody gauze disposed of before the patient gets up and looks around.  Lends itself to a neater, cleaner patient experience.”

I’m wounded.  It was a good cut, but a wound nonetheless.  It took something from me.  My spirit is up, but my body is slow.

The nurse or doctor—I can’t tell who’s doing what—is putting a bandage over the stitches.  It was a rather quick outpatient procedure, right there in the doctor’s office.  I could feel some tugging, but the local anesthetic shielded me from pain.  We were able to carry on a conversation the entire time.  I told the doctor about my son in his second year of medical school in Israel, who is pretty excited about finally getting to work on cadavers.

“Oh, yes.  That’s exciting,” said the doctor.

We talked a little more about the medical school experience … why Israel … and how it’s such a shame that generation after generation are fighting the same battle over there.

And now I’m sitting up, thinking about the blood I’ve lost … over on that tray covered with white and red gauze.

“So, do I need to change this bandage every day?” I ask.

“No,” says the doctor, “you can keep it on all week, until you come in to see us again.”

“And it can get wet in the shower?”

“Yep.”

“Kind of like medical duck tape?”

He chuckles.  “I never heard that one before.”

“Anything else I need to know, like after the anesthetic wears off?”

“It shouldn’t hurt much.”

Key word being “much.”

“But you’ll probably have a black eye in the morning.”

A black eye?!  I need that like I need a hole in my head.  Oh…I’ve already got one of those.  Let’s see…how many “hole in the head” jokes can I come up with?

I’m tired, but I drive home.  I call the hubby.

“How’d it go?”

“OK, but I’m not up to cooking dinner.”

“I’ll cook.”

I get home, and the house is filled with the smell of dinner.  Before we partake, my daughter greets me, and notices the bandage.

“Did you have brain surgery?”

“Yeah, they took out part of my brain.  Actually, I had a cyst removed.”

“Is it malignant?”

Not too much drama, eh?  I need this like I need a …

“The doctor said it was probably just from a blocked pore.  But they have to test it anyway.  I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Oh.”

We begin dinner.

“Did you use jalapeños?” I ask my husband.

“Yeah.  I got two from the garden.”

“Did you remove the seeds?”

“No.”

Not to brag, but my garden-fresh jalapeños are hell in your mouth … in a good way … if you like jalapeños, that is.  But with the seeds, they’re too hot for human consumption, even for my fiery palate.

I’ve already eaten several bites … the ensuing “Montezuma’s Revenge” is inevitable.

I need that like I need a … you guessed it.  Already got me one of those.

I wake up the next morning with a dull headache.  I look in the mirror.  No black eye.

Thank you, Lord.

The medical duck tape is holding.  The headache worsens, and I’ve got an appointment with a client.

I need this headache like I need a … fill in the blank.  Yep, already got me one of those.

So here I am, walking around with a hole in my head.  A one-centimeter hole.  I can’t see it, because the doctor neatly stitched it up and covered it with that fancy tape.  But I know it’s there … or isn’t there.

Is a hole something that’s there … or isn’t there?

I hope the tape is as good as they say it is.  I can see myself walking around with a dirty white tape flapping, revealing glimpses of stitches…bloody ones at that.

I need that like I need a … !

Home Depot Moved The Cheese

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I’ve had such nice experiences at The Home Depot lately, I thought I’d tell you about it.

Sure, there are plenty of small business owners who are rather disgruntled over big box stores like The Home Depot.  But all I can say to that is somebody moved the cheese!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about … and you’re a business owner … you simply must read (or listen to) Who Moved My Cheese?  It’s the story of four characters living in a “maze” who face unexpected change when they discover their “cheese” is gone.

When the big super stores went up, the cheese certainly moved.  You can grumble about it and stay right where you are, expecting to wake up one day with the cheese suddenly in front of you again.  Or, you can move with the cheese.  The choice is yours!

Back to The Home Depot … they definitely “get” marketing, creating a pleasant buying experience for the customer, and building relationships.  At least the store in Panama City Beach does.

Whenever I walk in, I’m usually greeted by someone smiling and asking if they can help me find anything.  I rarely have to hunt someone down to help me.  And if I find someone who can’t help me, they usually stay with me until I’m hooked up with the right person who can help.

I’m amazed how the employees have the store aisles memorized.

“I’m looking for a little stopper clamp for my shower door.”

“Oh, that’s on aisle 23, Ma’am.”

And as I approach the checkout, associates who aren’t ringing someone up are standing out front … smiling … waiting for me.

“Be sure to enter for a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree,” she says cheerfully as she hands me the receipt.

As a long-time student of marketing, I smile.  The Home Depot is ethically bribing me to follow their instructions on the receipt to go online and fill out their customer service survey.  And of course, I oblige.

And now they’ve got my mailing address and email address, so they can keep in touch with me and coax me back into the store with special discounts.

I don’t mind one bit.  I love to see great marketing at work.  It benefits them and it benefits me.  It’s a win-win all around.

The Home Depot moved the cheese.  Are you going to go after it?

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

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It’s so simple – saying Thank You – but how seldom we hear it!

I recently did thousands of dollars worth of business with a home improvement company. I liked the owner, and we initially had a great talk about business and marketing.

“I just bought a book called Why Your Business Sucks,” he said. “It’s so good!”
I had a rather pleasant experience with his installation people, and they promptly addressed some of my concerns.

But as soon as the job was finished and I wrote the check, it was like Hasta la vista, baby!
No “Thank you for your business” card. Not even a postcard.

The same thing happened with the company who installed my windows. The installation guy was great, and knew how to have a good relationship with a client. But as soon as I wrote the check – No Thank You whatsoever.

Hasta la vista, baby!

I know someone who says “Thank You” first class. She runs a bed and breakfast. At the end of each client’s visit, she takes a picture of their family/group – all relaxed and happy. Then she uses an online card service to put their glossy photo on the front of a card, with a personalized thank-you note inside – in her handwriting font. So not only do her clients receive a Thank You card, but they also receive a highly personalized keepsake of their vacation.

Do you think they’ll be referring that bed and breakfast to their family and friends? Absolutely!

As for the business owner who thinks Why Your Business Sucks is so good, but does nothing to build a relationship with his clients … or to ask for referrals … all I can say is that I know why your business sucks!

Chasing After Sales vs. Building Client Relationships

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Dang, it happened again!

I need someone to repair my refrigerator.  But did the last appliance repair guy I hired bother to keep in touch with me?

Nope.  He’s too busy chasing after sales, instead of building client relationships.

In a previous business years ago, I knew exactly what it cost to get a customer to find me in the yellow pages and call me — $65.00.  (By the way, when you know how much it costs to get the phone to ring, you’ll pay a lot more attention to how those calls are being handled!)

Once the customer did business with us, we had systems in place to immediately start building a relationship … thank you card, introduction to our referral rebate program, free monthly newsletter packed with helpful and fun content, and reminders with discounts for future services.

The annual cost to keep each customer?  $9.00.

Which is better?  Chasing after one-time sales, and never keeping in touch with those who have already picked YOU out of all your competitors, and then letting them forget about you so they have to go back to shopping around with your competition?

Or building a relationship so they never even want to consider your competition again?

It’s not difficult to incorporate relationship-building systems into your business.  For starters, you can keep it simple … something as easy as buying a box of thank you cards and having someone send them out after each sale.  Or set up an email program to send out Thank You’s with more special offers.  Better yet, hire someone to set it up for you!

Take a few minutes to jot down a few ideas about how you can stay in touch with the customers who have already done business with you.  Keep it simple, and then do whatever it takes to put those ideas into action.

Stop chasing after sales and sending all your customers to your competition.  Start building relationships.  The lifetime value of a client far exceeds just one sale!

Now to find another appliance repair guy …

Walmart Stopped Listening

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“Excuse me,” I asked a Walmart clerk hurrying by. She quickly glanced back at me and slowed down, with a look of disdain. Why was I feeling like what she had to do was more important than a request for help from me, the consumer … her real boss? After all, without consumers like me pouring money into the Walmart cash registers, she’d be out of a job.

I shrugged away her misplaced priorities and persisted.  ”Do you have any pH tester?”

“No, it’s out of season. We’ll have it back in stock in the spring.”

“Well what about people who have spas? Can’t you put in an order for it?”

“I’m sorry, but we can’t order anything. We just put out what they send us.”

“You mean you can’t submit customer requests for certain items?”

“No, it’s all decided from corporate what to send us.”

“Well how do they know what your customers need?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” She walked on to tackle her all-important task … whatever that was.

And there I was — a consumer — without my pH tester or any hope of ordering any. I had to go somewhere else to find it. What if I had been looking for an item worth hundreds of dollars? I’d still need to go elsewhere to get it. Walmart CEOs had made a decision which was sending me to a competitor.  Maybe they didn’t realize their critical err — of deciding to not listen to what their customers wanted. Or maybe they thought they were big enough for it not to make a difference. Or maybe they just didn’t care.

I remembered a scene from the movie “Rain Man,” in which Tom Cruise’s character told Dustin Hoffman’s character, “Kmart sucks.” I’m sure that didn’t help Kmart any. Ever since that movie, when I couldn’t find something there, I’d shake my head and walk toward the door thinking, Kmart sucks.

Now I have a new mantra. Walmart sucks.

If they won’t bother to stock their individual store shelves with items their local customers want, they’re just building resentment in the people who supply their paychecks — the consumers.

If you’re in business to provide a product or service for people, it behooves you to listen to what they want. When you think you’re too big or too important to listen, you’re on the road down. If you think your idea is better than what your customers actually want, you’ll be seeing a lot less of them.

Always remember who really supplies your paycheck. Never stop listening.

The Difference between Argh! and Aahh!

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We recently flew on Southwest Airlines for the first time.  They understand competing in today’s market is about delivering an experience.  Sure, I want a good plane, but that’s expected.  The experience goes beyond customer expectations. 

Consider gas stations where you pour your own coffee, and hope against hope that they have half n’ half, instead of chemical-laced powder.  Now see yourself standing in line at Starbucks with some cool music you can get into.  They pour the coffee, and call your name when it’s ready.  You even have a choice of real cream to add.  People tend to smile more, and even engage in conversation with fellow java fans.  Yes, the latter costs more, but you walk away feeling Aahh.  You get a lot more than the gas station Argh! 

Southwest gets it.  They eliminate the aggravation of paying to check your luggage, and let you do it for free.  They understand that for the next hour or so you’ll be in tight quarters with a bunch of strangers, flying ridiculously high above the earth, sometimes with a few unnerving bumps.  So they put you at ease and break the ice among strangers with a little humor. 

“Ladies and gentleman, if there’s a sudden change in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the compartment above you.  Don’t worry about the annoying person beside you who’s talking loudly and not paying attention to this message.  Simply put on your mask, and look at him and smile.  He’ll soon be sleeping peacefully, and won’t be bothering you anymore.” 

People crack up, look around, make eye contact and laugh together.  We’re bonding.  Throughout the flight there are more jokes, more laughing, and more bonding. 

When it’s time to collect the trash, our flight attendant seizes an October opportunity in style. 

You can stand head and shoulders above your competition by focusing on delivering a pleasant customer encounter that goes beyond expectations.  Think about how you can not only keep your customers from saying, “Argh,” but also deliver them an exhilarating “Aahh” experience.  Think it through, set the stage, and consistently perform with excellence.

Fully Engaged Employees

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It’s refreshing to make contact with “fully engaged employees.”  They’re not just punching the clock and putting in the hours.  They represent their company with pride, and are willing to go the extra mile to make a customer happy.  I recently had a delightful encounter with employees of this special kind. 

Our oldest son is in medical school overseas, and was home for a few weeks in July.  I seized the opportunity to hire a photographer and have some long-overdue family photos taken.  I ordered a large canvas of our favorite photo online. 

When I received it in the mail, I was pretty impressed with the care that went into packing and mailing the canvas.  I liked the photo, but I wasn’t thrilled.  I thought about it for a week or so, and then sent an email to the company, expressing my concerns.  I didn’t know if they would respond, but it was worth a try. 

I received a reply from Kayt.  She asked me to return the canvas, and said I could have a replacement, a credit, or a refund.  I was a bit nervous about reordering another canvas, so I opted for a credit toward enlarged, mounted family photos. 

They soon arrived in safe packaging, and were gorgeous … all except one 8×10 which had a scratch on it.  I was willing to settle for keeping it, but was a little annoyed.  I certainly didn’t want to pay the shipping to return it, so I sent an email to Kayt, expressing my concerns, a little uneasy about complaining so much. 

She wrote back, telling me she had been out of town, but would have it taken care of.  Then Virginia wrote me, thanking me for being a loyal customer. 

Yesterday I not only received a replacement mounted 8×10, but three additional mounted 8×10’s of other photos in the credit order.  I was amazed.  I wrote back to Virginia, thanking her for a response I certainly didn’t expect.  She responded with a “Hooray!” 

Kayt and Virginia are engaged … excited about building a reputation for their company.  That’s pretty impressive.  As I quoted in my last post, “marketing demands an organization that matches it.”  Fully engaged employees are a vital part of that organization. 

If you need to order prints, mounted photos, or an array of other photo products, AdoramaPix will deliver the goods.  You can find them at http://www.adoramapix.com/home.

Good Marketing Demands Change

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Here’s a gem from Seth Godin’s bestseller, Meatball Sundae:  “…marketing demands an organization that matches it.”  

Perhaps that is why so many small business owners resist becoming students of marketing.  It involves making changes … first in your thinking, and then in your business.  If you want your business to grow, then first you, the business owner, must experience personal growth. 

But we all have a tendency to get comfortable right where we are.  It’s called our comfort zone.  I once saw a cartoon of a guy leaning back on a pillow, with the words, “The greatest enemy to human potential is your comfort zone.”  So true.  If you’re comfortable, why change?  Why grow?  It’s so much easier to stay comfortable with what you know.  Venturing into the unknown involves fear and uncertainty … feeling uncomfortable. 

Joe Polish, president of Piranha Marketing, always opens his annual marketing conference with a simple exercise.  He asks everyone to take out a piece of paper and write on it, “Everything I know about marketing.”  Then he instructs the participants to take that piece of paper, crumple it up, and hurl it. 

What a good idea!  If you’re serious about having effective marketing in place in today’s ever-changing world and economy, then you’ve got to get psyched about making some serious changes … in your personal growth … and in your business. 

I challenge you.  Get a piece of paper and write on it, “Everything I know about marketing.”  

Are you still sitting there, feeling comfortable?  Come on now … get out that piece of paper, find a pen, and write it down. 

If you wrote those words, congratulations!  You’re a learner.  You want to grow and change.  Now take that paper, crumple it up, and toss it as far as you possibly can. 

Wasn’t that fun?  Now you’re ready to learn.  I’m not a Buddhist, but there is an interesting Buddhist proverb:  “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”  You’ll find something amazing on the internet, you’ll stumble upon a book, you’ll receive a marketing piece in the mail that will intrigue you.  

You’re on your way—to change—to growth.  You know you have potential.  So kick your greatest enemy, your comfort zone, in the royal butt.  Forget all you know about marketing, so you can really start to learn.  Then start making changes in your organization to match that marketing.  You’ll build something that will always be changing … that you can always be proud of.

A Little Smile—Big Results

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Many times it’s the little things which determine who we’ll do business with.  Today I was at a higher end grocery store.  The cashier handed me my receipt with a smile and told me to have a good day.  The guy who bagged my groceries smiled, looked me in the eye, and put his hand on my shopping cart as he asked, “Can I help you out to your car?” 

Pretty impressive … made me smile. 

Smiles are contagious … and they’re so simple.  Set aside any troubling thoughts, and turn up the edges of your mouth.  Very simple.  It makes you feel better, and it helps others put on a smile, so they’ll feel better, too.  A good thing to spread around. 

It’s usually pretty easy to smile in our face-to-face contact with people.  Storefront businesses do well to train their employees to greet each visitor with a smile. 

But what about “telephone storefront” businesses, where customers call on the phone instead of walking in the front door?  Are they greeted with a smile?  Yes, they can hear a smile over the telephone.  Are your telephone customers “hearing” the smile? 

“Smile mirrors” can help office staff remember this vital step in the Positive Customer Experience.  Buy a few inexpensive stand-up mirrors at the dollar store and tape the word “Smile!” on them, with a little smiley face.  Place them by each phone, and instruct office workers to look in the mirror and smile each time the phone rings.  No matter how the telephone receptionist feels … no matter how difficult the last caller may have been … she can always turn up the corners of her mouth, feel better, and share that smile with the next caller.  It can become a good habit, and actually helps to reduce office stress.  

We all have habits—some good, some bad.  Frowning and rolling the eyes are very negative habits which bring a person down.  These frowns and eye-rolls can be picked up by the prospect or client calling, and it makes for a very negative customer experience.  

If you have an employee who refuses to change his negative attitude when taking calls on the “telephone storefront,” it’s usually best to part ways.  Sure, you can think of all the things he does right in your business.  But if he’s projecting a negative attitude over the phone, he’s turning away business.  You might get business from the immediate caller, but will they tell their friends about you?  Will they come back again?  Negative customer experiences will cost you thousands of dollars in lost referrals and repeat business.  Invest the time to hire the right people … those who will not only do great things in your business, but who will consistently have a positive attitude … to turn each prospect/client into a thrilled cheerleader for your company. 

A little smile … it goes a long way.

The Story Begs For Life

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Everybody loves a story — the party anecdote, a speaker’s personal incident, a short story, a novel, a gripping news story, a movie, a television series — they’re all stories.  Their characters blossom and deepen and draw you in.  They make you laugh, they make you cry, they make you think.  They may even make you angry enough to change something in your organization or community.  The more the story grips you and pulls at your heart, the more you love it.

Enter … the copywriter.  Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, the story yearns to be told.  It is conceived in the mind, and stays there — in the womb, hidden — until the writer sets pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard.  He’s not quite sure what the end result will be.  All the writer knows is that the story needs to be told, and he must go about telling it.

As she begins to write, the story is born — crying in triumph, the words have voice, in crystallized form.  The writer writes, and the story takes on a life of its own.  The pen dances across the paper … the fingers flitter over the keyboard.  Neither the pen nor fingers know where they’re going next.  They’ve got an idea, but the story commands itself.  It is alive.

The story alone knows how it will end.  It arrives there at its own choosing.  At that point, the pen has nowhere else to go, the fingers cease their frenzy.  It’s done.  There’s no more.  It’s told — to inspire, to arouse empathy, to compellingly tell.

In marketing, it’s paramount to tell the story.  The writer must begin, with pen gliding or fingers flying.  The story is already in the consumer’s mind.  It’s in the womb, waiting to be born.

You, the copywriter, give birth to the story.  You put into words what has been incubating in the consumer’s mind.  You give the already-conceived story life, depth, characters, passion.  You must.  It’s there.  Begin.  Write.  Give the story life.  Bring its readers to the point of decision.  Let the story have its way.