Increase Admissions: Do Your AIDA

Stand Out From The Crowd With A Solid AIDA

I'm not into opera but I remember at least two or three times when I spoke about AIDA that someone told me that this was an opera, or opera related. Well we wont be writing about opera in this blog post today. AIDA is one of those fundamental marketing ideas/concepts that adds structure to your sales and marketing efforts. Lets look at each letter in the A..I..D..A.. process.

A stands for Attention. Whether you are placing an advertisement, doing a presentation, writing a Constant Contact email, or making a sales call, this step cant be missed. Think about what your audience and target markets needs are, and ensure you get their attention. In today's marketplace the caregivers, seniors, social workers, care managers, and the like are all very busy and at times very stressed. (Just like you!) Getting the attention of your target market can be a challenge. Everyone is competing for their attention!

I stands for Interest. All right, great, they are listening or reading your message...but now what? What if it fizzled from there? What if you couldn't keep their interest? You would loose them right. As long as you are focused on the needs of your target audience, this step should be relatively easy. Just keep the momentum going!

D is for Desire. This is critical now. Your half way there! You need to now get your target market really jazzed up though. If you did your homework, and really understand your market, this should also flow naturally. What are their real pains? What "keeps them up at night?" If you have a unique solution this is the time to shout it out loud. Let them know how you can make their life easier, safer, more comfortable, more stress free and the like. Show them how you are going to do this, and make it convincing with testimonials, some statistics, or any way that will ensure they trust that you can truly make it happen.

A is for Action. I remember reviewing a flyer that was well done many years ago. I say well done because it was an open house invitation for a nursing home that did a good job of getting your attention, (nice graphics) getting your interest, (food was available) and describing the fellowship and warm environment that was going to be at the facility that evening. (piano player and socialization) The problem was it missed the who to contact and a phone number. I am certain that they missed out on having a much larger group because the call to action was weak. It happens to the best of us!

So stay focused on your AIDA, at the opera or in your marketplace, and I am sure it will help you improve your communications.

Here's to helping more patients and clients receive your services.

Steve @ Senior Care Partnership

For more information on unique and low cost marketing and revenue producing programs for your healthcare organization (here's my call to action) visit us here at:

www.seniorcaremall.com/hmare.html or Call Us @ (859) 577-6255 or Email admin@seniorcaremall.com

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

Increase Admissions: Its Not A Mystery

One of the most eye opening things that I have learned through the years in healthcare marketing and sales is that, just because it is your focus doesn't mean that it is your coworkers focus. I want to give you a few real life examples of what I am talking about here. How much does this cost your organization in lost admissions each year?

Your primary objective is to increase referrals, to grow your healthcare organization. Is it only you that feels and more importantly ACTS on this goal? I have done many mystery shopping calls through the years, most are good calls with good results overall. Some great, others average, therefore overall 80% are "good" calls. We can get into the details about how many rings until someone picks up the phone, and the merits of various greetings at another time. For today lets talk about the critical 15%-20% of calls that may be loosing you business/admissions.

1) "We have no more beds available." I will never forget this call. I was working with a Retirement Home in Massachusetts, doing some mystery shopping calls and was informed that they had "no beds available". I documented who I spoke with, time of call, and the other details of the call. I was working closely with the administrator and knew that this home had at least three available beds. Needless to say it was not pretty for this employee the next day. More patients/clients equaled more work for this weekend only employee we guessed, or the employee didnt care enough to find out. Either way saying you have know capacity when you do have capacity is bad.

2) Much less angering but still VERY frustrating for me through the years is the "They didn't leave their name." Who, what when where, and why. Who called, when did they call, why did they call, where did they call from. You know exactly what I am talking about here.

Having a mandatory capturing of the call (referral tracking log) should be just that... MANDATORY. No matter if the person taking the call "feels" that this person does not need or want your services. They called, they at least need some guidance and help that you can assist them with. You may be able to connect a few important networking dots in the process of assisting them. Note: If you ask for contact information and the caller does not want to give the information that is one thing. What I have seen and heard however is at times how poorly we handle initial inquiries. Admissions is a team sport, it requires good communication.

These are just two examples of what we find on some of our mystery shopping calls. The second call much more common than the first.

What will you find? Make mystery shopping a part of your marketing and sales plan.

Here's to taking the mystery out of increasing admissions.

Regards,

Steve
www.seniorcaremall.com
Admissions Guide Pro
Partnership Programs