Running a small business can be very rewarded and difficult at the same time. Running a successful private healthcare-related practice is no different. As the owner, you have to wear many “hats” and juggle multiple responsibilities all while trying to be profitable. You may have a fantastic staff of highly skilled individuals who know their “stuff”, but this is not enough to stay competitive. There are literally tens of thousands of private practices in the United States and the field is growing.
According to several recent reports, only about 66 percent of small businesses stay in business after two years and only half make it past their fifth year.
So, how can you help to ensure your business beats the odds? In addition to constantly improving your service, you need to be a life-long student and seek out the resources needed to help grow your business. Seek out healthcare practice consultants if you think you can find value from them. You need to understand the importance of marketing not just your business, but YOU! At the end of the day, referring doctors and patients ultimately need to feel comfortable that you can help them fix whatever problems they may be having.
Share your results
When it comes to marketing yourself to potential clients in any industry, being able to show past results and actual case studies goes along way in helping to convince people that you know how to get results. In the medical field it is no different. Potential patients will want to know how you have helped people in the past. They need to have you demonstrate and convince them of the value you bring and why you are a better option than your competitors.
You may be the world’s greatest practitioner but unless you can effectively demonstrate your past results, most clients will be suspect of what you can do for them. Both doctors who make referrals and their patients care mostly about fixing whatever ailment they have. If a doctor is going to refer someone to you that is in pain, they need to know that you have a proven track record of helping past patients. Perhaps the best way to prove this is to provide clinical results. There have been numerous studies that show that clinical results are a major factor for referring doctors who are vetting potential private practitioners.
Sharing your patients’ results is extremely important and should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. Ideally, you should be able to provide case studies with photos and solid evidence. Additionally, past client testimonials can also be a powerful tool to use at it lends further credibility to your abilities.
Create a solid body of work and use this as a marketing tool which you can present to potential patients and referring doctors.
One thing to note is that not all patients and doctors are looking for the same thing. Some doctors will be looking for specific areas of need such as pain reduction or increase in range of motion. With this in mind, it would be a good idea if you had a distinct portfolio of case studies that are tailored to the different areas of your expertise. This will allow you to easily provide the most appropriate results/case studies to the appropriate doctors and patients. Tailor your results to their needs.