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Business Builders
Copyright © 2012, Business Builders. All rights reserved. None of this material may be copied or reproduced without expressed written permission from Business Builders.
Services We provide:
Patient referral building
Physician referral building
Patient relations programs
Insurance/IPA contracting
Employee morale building
Strategic planning
Promotion design
Website design
Blogs and social networking
Advertising design
Identity packages
Yellow page advertising
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The Essential Laws of Communication and Trying to Grow Your Medical Practice
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There are four Laws of Communication. Apply them along with The Marketing Formula in your promotion and you will improve your patient satisfaction and patient retention, and cause a significant increase in patient referrals. On the other hand, violate these laws in your communications and you will have a tough time retaining your patients and will likely have to resort to more managed care contracts for your practice to remain at all viable.
The four Laws of Communication are:
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Communication is equal to understanding
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Communication and understanding are not absolute
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There are two basic components of communication and understanding. These are agreement and affinity
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The greater the level of agreement, the greater the level of affinity. Conversely, the lower the level of agreement, the lower the level of affinity.
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#1. Communication and Understanding
You cannot have communication without understanding. Thus, the greater the level of communication, the greater the level of understanding. This leads to the definition of ideal communication, which is, transferring an idea from one individual to another or others in such a way that the idea is totally understood. In other words, the idea becomes a clone or a exact copy of the individual's idea to the receiver(s).
#2. Communication and Understanding Are Not Absolute
There is no such thing as perfect communication and understanding. Therefore, the goal of all marketing communications is to achieve as close as possible to perfect communication. The closer to absolute communication you achieve, the greater the chance the marketing communications will succeed. This includes your advertising and all direct communications with patients and referral sources.
#3. There Are Two Basic Components of Communication and Understanding: Agreement and Affinity
To reach the goal of near perfect communication, you must dissect communication and understanding down to their basic components. These are agreement (reality) and Affinity. Agreement is. "what is real to an individual based on his/her viewpoint, experiences and values." As an example, a patient rushes from her place of employment to get to her doctor's appointment on time. She manages to arrive five minute early, signs in and the receptionist asks her to have a seat. Ten minutes later, she approaches the receptionist to ask how much longer she will have to wait and explains she will soon need to return to work. The receptionist apathetically replies it should be no more than a few more minutes. The patient is ignored for another twenty minutes. As a result, she becomes annoyed and walks out. When she arrives back at her office, she complains to her coworkers about her negative experience. This brings us to the other key component; Affinity.
Affinity is, the degree of liking, interest and desire, or degree of willingness to be close to someone or something. It can also be defined as emotion. Notice in the above example, the patient was in disagreement with the way she was handled. As a result of being in disagreement, her affinity dropped and she decided to distance herself from that practice. She never again communicated with that medical office.
#4. The Greater the Level of Agreement, the Greater the Level of Affinity. Conversely, the Lower the Level of Agreement, the Lower the Level of Affnity
THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT POINT IN ALL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS. Why? Because all you have to do is ensure your audience agrees with your message and you automatically raise their level of affinity, communication and understanding. This increases their attraction and desire for what you're offering. As a result, you increase interest and receive more new patients.
THUS, YOU CAN SURVEY TO DETERMINE EXACTLY WHAT YOUR GREATEST NUMBER OF PROSPECTIVE PATIENTS OR REFERRAL SOURCES AGREE WITH. USE ONLY WHAT THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH IN YOUR ADS, DISCUSSIONS AND PRESENTATIONS AND YOUR PRACTICE VOLUME AND PROFITABILITY WILL SOAR. We conduct these surveys for many of our clients and would love to do so for you.
Copyright © 2009, Business Builders. All rights reserved. None of this material may
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