MARKETING

Marketing Yourself

Astigmatism surgery is a win-win for doctors and patients.

By Brad Ruden, MBA

One of the most difficult tasks a new ophthalmologist faces is how to market himself and help grow a practice. Despite the education and training you've gone through, nothing teaches you how to promote yourself to a new community in order to establish a patient base. Unless you're replacing a doctor, a practice probably won't have substantial patient volume for you. As such, you'll be expected to develop your own following. Lesson one—there is no quick fix and no shortcut to success.

Patients Come First

All the marketing and promotional efforts in the world don't mean a thing without good bedside manner. Patients come to doctors they like, trust and respect. A patient who leaves the exam room questioning the competency or caring of his ophthalmologist is a patient who isn't likely to return (and even worse, may share his negative experience with others). If you focus on keeping patients happy, you'll increase your chances of becoming a successful physician.

Remember, a patient has cleared his schedule and made an appointment to see you. Never forget that a patient may be your 15th or 30th of the day, but you're probably his first (and only) doctor of the day. Don't fall into the habit of treating your patients like numbers. They are people, not appointments.

Also, never ask a patient to do what you wouldn't do. How long would you wait to be seen? When you have a question, how much information do you need before you feel the question has been satisfactorily answered?

When you interact with patients, let them know you appreciate that they've chosen you. Never take a patient for granted. It's a well-established truth that a satisfied patient is the best word-of-mouth marketing tool any physician can have.

One trick to “wowing” patients is to call them at home after surgery to check on their condition. This personal touch only takes a few minutes, but creates a lasting impression. A patient who receives a personal phone call is often impressed by the gesture and likely to talk about it with friends and family, creating the possibility of multiple word-of-mouth referrals.

Teamwork

It takes teamwork and the support of your practice to help develop your patient following. You must be given the time (and budget) to meet with potential referral sources. You also need the support of the practice's staff. Great service by you can be undercut by poor interaction with a staff member. For many patients, the receptionist is their first contact—and first impression—of the practice. A pleasant and trusted receptionist can help guide patients to you.

For new doctors, it's often helpful to have a nice profile/bio in the waiting room for patients to read. This should contain not only relevant educational and training information, but also some personal information (for example, married or single, hobbies outside of medicine, and so on). This can help the patient better understand the doctor and serve as a great icebreaker. A version of that same profile can be mailed to regional medical practices as a way to introduce yourself.

Lastly, your practice should have a plan in place to funnel as many new patients as possible to you. As they call the practice, every effort should be made to funnel them to the newest practitioner since their schedule will likely be the most open.

Referring Doctors

Any doctor can be a potential referral source, but an internist or family practice physician may know very little about ophthalmic surgical techniques or outcomes. As such, referral patterns from physicians outside the eyecare arena are likely to be based on friendship or office location. Optometrists are an obvious referral source, but in most cases, they already have a doctor (or doctors) to whom they refer. So, the question becomes, how can you obtain some of those referrals?

First, understand that optometrists who refer to you should be treated with respect. They're a vital part of the patient care chain. While some referrals may be predicated by a comanagement relationship, in my experience, the majority of optometrists want the best care for their patients and will send them to the ophthalmologist they feel is most qualified. When meeting with an optometrist about establishing a patient referral relationship, be respectful of the fact that you're asking them to send their patients to you. Highlight the timeliness of appointment availability, friendliness of your staff, how your skill set will benefit patient care and that the referring doctor will be kept in the loop. A thank you letter—or even better, a phone call—informing them of the patient's progress can go a long way toward cementing a relationship.

When speaking with a potential referring doctor, be specific in your qualifications, such as “my patients like me and return because ______”, or “I've performed ‘X' number of ______ surgical cases with great results and a low complication rate.” Results matter. When an OD sends a patient to you, that OD is putting his reputation in your hands. Let him know that you take that responsibility very seriously and will do everything in your power to honor it with great patient care and the best possible outcomes.

Spreading the Word

Consider giving lectures to various groups about your areas of expertise. I've had clients give lectures at senior citizen centers, country clubs, Rotary clubs, Lions clubs, and so on.

Donate time to a cause that's important to you. Acting as an advisor or participating as a board member for a charity or service agency can be a nice avenue for having your name recognized as a resource for health-related information. Giving away your time, services and expertise for free can be a very effective promotional tool.

Consider alerting the local media (print and television) of any special training you have; let them know that they can come to you with questions on developments in that area. Also consider promoting your practice if you offer a piece of equipment or service not found in other practices in the region. This free exposure can provide a huge public relations boost, create name recognition and be a terrific way to attract patients.

Lastly, you may wish to contact the local newspaper to see if they may be interested in using you to contribute articles on developments in ophthalmology. The Internet age has produced a wealth of information, but not all of it is easy to find and understand. The public wants information that is accessible, well written, easily understood and accurate. Becoming their source is a wonderful way to grow your practice and create name recognition.

If you perform surgeries in a local hospital, consider approaching the hospital staff to position yourself as the person the hospital defers to if they need an expert in ophthalmology. Let the hospital know you're available for screenings and lectures. You may wish to inquire if the hospital will mail (or email) a version of your profile to all staff physicians as a way of introducing you to the medical community.

Internet

If your practice has a website, get your bio on it as soon as possible. Register your name with all of the search engines. Then test your “searchability” by visiting Yahoo, Google or other search engines. Type in your name; then check the results. Take note of how often you pop up and in what order compared to others. If possible, improve your positioning.

Many practitioners have found Facebook to be a valuable marketing tool. However, just as Facebook can be a source to help practice growth, it can also become a source to help it fail—and in a very public fashion. Your Facebook page needs to be well managed and frequently updated with relevant information or it risks becoming stale.

As the world's largest social networking site, Facebook offers incredible exposure. Information can be posted on disease management, developments in eye care, specials, additional services (such as aesthetic services) and appointment availability, as well as changes in the practice (ie, hours, location, new staff, new services). Facebook also can be used to direct patients to the practice's main website.

The demand for ophthalmology services is anticipated to increase substantially in the coming years, and the better you market yourself, the better the position you'll be in to take advantage of this increase in demand. Remember, while there are no quick fixes or shortcuts to success, there are many avenues through which you can promote yourself and your services. nMD

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Mr. Ruden is president and owner of MedPro Consulting & Marketing Services, Phoenix. He can be reached at bruden@medprocms.com.