Your “Mailing List”.
It’s something you probably don’t think about very much.
If you own a practice, then you need to pay attention to your mailing list. It’s where the money’s at.
Every small business should!… But the vast majority do not. That’s partially why most of them fail.
See, you are a business first, practice second. And when I say “pay attention” to your list, I mean it. “PAY” attention.
PAY.
This means INVEST in your list. (Birthday and Holiday cards and Facebook posts don’t count.)
It’s your most valuable commodity. It’s more valuable than all the other assets you own… combined!
Your list is the names, addresses, and email addresses of every relatively local family member, friend, acquaintance, lead, and patient… both past and present.
Your list is perishable. If ignored, the names on it become as responsive to you as a stranger walking down the street.
Imagine if you ignored your spouse. How long with that relationship last?
Then why do you think it’s any different for those who love you less… or don’t love you at all?
But if you nurture your list, its value grows and it will be responsive over a lifetime.
The Direct Marketing Association discovered that after about a year, a contact who is not communicated to often becomes unresponsive. Sort of like the mouse on a laptop computer (remember those?), if it isn’t intermittently stroked, the laptop hibernates or turns off.
People are no different.
They need to be stroked.
Otherwise, they too “turn off” and get turned off.
So, here are some mailing list strategies for you that will keep them turned on and tuned in…
- Message-to-Market Match. – When/if possible, segment your list. You can divide it up by gender, type of insurance, past/current chief complaint, how much time has gone by since the last visit, etc. Then, communicate to that list accordingly so that your message “matches” who they are, how they are, and what they want. Do this about 2-4 times per year.
- Provide value to your list. Don’t always solicit. Be willing to spend at least $25.00 per year per contact in mailings and about the same amount per year in swag (Google it) and/or in-office food/beverages, new patient gifts, etc..
- Email your list – Ideally 20 times per month. Done right, not only will it be tolerated, it will be welcomed. Yes, you can be a welcomed guest and not an annoying pest!
- Snail mail your list – Ideally 2 times per month. Every 2 weeks.
There’s a saying that goes something like this…
“No wonder he/she is so successful…just look at everything that he/she does!”
If you lived in my shoes or the shoes of every successful ChiroTrust member, there would be no mystery as to why we are killing it.
It’s because we get a lot done each and every month… and so can/should you!
…and you want to know a secret?
None of this works unless and until your PRODUCT matches the market too, not just the message.
But once you got that right, it can take about 6 months of doing all the right things done right to achieve the momentum and the results you seek.
After that, it’s just a matter of stroking that mouse!
Don’t think that you have to do this or should have to do this?
Okay, you can think that.
How’s that sort of thinking “working” for you in terms of pleasure and profit?
