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Does Your Physician Add Sizzle to Your Occupational Health Sales?
By Carolyn Merriman, CHG President |
In the occupational health and urgent care markets, competition is fierce.
Programs today must work to differentiate themselves and position the value
of their services to ensure employers work with them. Physicians, by their
training and dedication, have the ability to contribute their expertise and
knowledge—thereby providing a way to set your program apart.
By engaging your physician in sales, they’ll help bring your brand to life. They’re a natural for demonstrating the credible, tangible value of their expertise specific to the world of safety, the health and risk coupled with their understanding of both customers, and the employer and the employee as patient.
When and Where Should You Use Your Physician?
Physicians are one of your most expensive assets, so think carefully about how they can help you in day-to-day sales and service. Work with your physician to best define when and where to use them. Some questions you might ask yourself: 1. Do you want the physician to serve in a strategic role, providing insights into the customer environment, new services and the best ways to position your service offerings?
2. Is your physician more valuable supporting retention efforts through meetings with key accounts, reviewing their program utilization and assisting the client in planning for future programs?
3. Are there appointments where the physician should be used as your team salesperson, lending their expertise and value? If so, how many appointments do you expect them to participate in, and how often?
Differentiation and Message Development
Work with your physician (and the rest of the team!) to build value and benefits that demonstrate how your occupational health and urgent care program stand apart from the competition. Be able to answer these unspoken questions a customer may have:
· “What’s different about you, your program and how you do business?”
· “Why should I do business with you?”
· “Why should I change from my current program?” |
Service
Your physician is an important partner in helping you exceed customer expectations. Make sure they actively support development of quality processes for service, customer responsiveness and product.
For key accounts, integrate the physician in consistent account management and visibility with the customer. They may work onsite to review their annual report, develop a plan for annual services, and if need be, offer their direct line for responding to program, service and patient questions. Together, these responsibilities are incredibly valued in differentiating your program from the competition!
Consider what’s important to your program’s success, as well as your ability to measure the result and the role the physician can play. Working with your physicians to bring their best efforts and offerings forward at the right time can go a long way to making your program successful and sustainable into the future.
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Carolyn Merriman is president of Corporate Health Group, a national healthcare consulting firm, and is based in Rhode Island. For additional information, please call 1-888-334-2500 or contact us via the Web. |
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