Our industry is deeply entrenched in one-on-one communications
with referral sources. There is nothing wrong with that except the
expense. With lower gross profit margins, HME managers have to
increase the revenue per sales rep or reduce the compensation per
rep. Of course the latter is unacceptable and leaves only one
option.
The opportunity does exist to build more good relationships with
less time and fewer miles. This sounds all wrong until we realize
that the world around us has accepted digital communication as a
forum for building relationships. I recently heard of a study that
concluded one out of eight couples who married last year met online
via social media.
The Internet provides at least three non-intrusive ways to build
relationships with referral sources, multiply the presence of each
marketing rep and solidify relationships with customers.
Social networking should be the first of the three to be
deployed. Social networking is no longer the domain of youth; it is
a solid platform for business. Facebook and Twitter probably offer
the best opportunities. Facebook now has more than 400 million
users. If it were a country, it would be larger than the United
States.
Home care companies should achieve two objectives with social
media: building and maintaining relationships with referral sources
while making fewer personal sales calls, and solidifying
relationships with customers. The first assignment should go to
your marketing manager, and the second to the customer service
manager.
Getting started is the easy part. Set up accounts with at least
Facebook and Twitter, and set up a business page with Facebook. Put
links to the social pages on all appropriate pages on the company
website so that visitors can find your social pages. Collect the
email addresses of all of your referral sources, and especially the
people that are plugged in to social media. Invite them to connect
online and to be a fan of your business page. Also collect the
email addresses of patients (customers), and invite them to connect
online.
Once you have begun building a network (based on people you
already do business with), then you can add to it by tapping into
the connections of your connections. The old saying “birds of
a feather …” is clearly true when you get into social
media. Doctors will connect with doctors, so use that to connect
with more doctors. Think of the concept “six degrees of
separation.”
Then the hard part. Produce meaningful content for the network.
Don't let anyone in the organization dispense useless messages like
“Wow! The pastrami sandwich I had for lunch gave me
heartburn.” No one cares. Produce content that shows your
company is made of humans, but make it valuable content, too. Keep
the concept of “pay it forward” in mind.
YouTube is now the second-largest search engine in the
world. It could be used to distribute in-services, advertisements,
testimonials from customers and referral sources, information and
so on. The first thing you should do is to visit YouTube, search
for “socialnomics” and watch the video. Then look at
other content.
Producing in-services can save a lot of miles and create a lot
of good will. Send the pizza and let them watch the in-service
without you. Dial in for a Q&A if you need to.
Blogging. There are now more than 200,000 blogs. Most
have content that is specific to a certain audience. The content
doesn't have to be produced by the blog owner, it can be collected
from many sources and shared. Blogging is another way to share
valuable content, and again, “pay it forward.” A blog
can be a part of your company's website or it can be on a different
domain. Check any of the free resources, such as WordPress and
BloggSpot, for help in getting started.
There are plenty of us who might lack the desire to start social
networking, but it is an undeniably good alternative to having reps
rack up miles to remind someone you still want to do business with
them, deliver information and perform a host of other activities
that build relationships with referral sources and customers. Maybe
you will start by connecting with me at www.facebook.com/wallace.weeks.
Read more Better
Business columns.
Wallace Weeks is founder and president of Weeks Group Inc.,
a Melbourne, Fla.-based strategy consulting firm. You can reach him
at 321/752-4514 or wweeks@weeksgroup.com.
