Increase Admissions: Whats Your Favorite Position?

We have talked about conceptual items at this point. Necessary concepts yes, but still theory, planning, and strategy items. All these "activities" are non actionable items really.

If you are like me, you like action, you live for action, bring on the action! Well lets refrain from action at this point. Lets look at positioning your agency or facility and a few more critical areas in our upcoming blogs before we speak about these action items. Lets get our Marketing House in order. Lets now talk about positioning, and two ways to properly position your healthcare organization to maximize your admission outcomes.

Congratulations, you have completed your SWOT and Competitive Analysis, and you are ready to start planning your positioning in the market place. What were your competitive advantages? How are you going to exploit these competitive advantages?

Is your marketing material in alignment? Is it consistent with your positioning? You may have heard (and sorry if you have) the expression " ready...fire...aim!"
Isn't this what we do from a marketing and sales perspective in healthcare? Look at your marketing material. Does it differentiate you? Does it define who you are, and what you do well. Does your sales team communicate this same message consistently?

Lets look at two ways you can position your healthcare organization in the marketplace thoughtfully and consistently that will help lead to increased admissions.

1) Marketing Material Positioning Mission statement, credo, logo, message are all consistent.

I have been the creator of, and the distributor of much collateral material over the past 20 years. When I was the distributor I typically had very GENERIC marketing material. Why? Mostly because the distance! The distance between the branch or facility that I worked in, and the corporate office that created the promotional marterial. It is this disconnect and the need to create one size fits all material that DILUTES the power of your message! The nice thing is you can (if you are a nimble large agency, or local small company) kick the tail of those generic marketing material "distributors" in your geographic territory. You can do this with material that speaks to your local community needs, and your competitive strengths.

2) Sales Positioning You and or your sales team communicate your positioning message clearly and consistently.

Sales people tend to do things inconsistently. We mean well, but we are so action oriented that we tend to be butterflies jumping from flower to flower with seeming randomness. The elite sales professional is precise. He or she asks the right question, LISTENS carefully for the pain, and then has the marketing material in his or her tool box that speaks to that pain. They are focused on their organizations positioning and leveraging that position. You can do this as well and increase admissions with powerful and precisely focused sales messages.

These are two areas of positioning that you may want to review to ensure your sales and marketing activities are are in alignment. You may only have to develop a few unique program flyer's. This alone could make a tremendous difference in increasing your referrals.

Here's to increasing referrals with proper positioning.

For assistance on increasing referrals for your healthcare organization visit us here. http://www.seniorcaremall.com/info.html

Steve Kiley
Senior Care Partnership
Guide Program