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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
