Offering a key decision-maker a tour of your facility is often helpful in signing a new client. But what about the scores of individuals who work for that company? They’re not likely to come traipsing through your clinic en masse, hungry to learn about your services.
Remember what the infamous criminal Willie Sutton said when a reporter asked him why he robbed banks: “That’s where the money is.” Similarly, if you want to reach the workers who will be treated at your facility, you need to go where they are. Taking your “show” on the road is an excellent branding opportunity for your clinic, allowing you to connect directly with hundreds, if not thousands, of prospective clinic users, often setting up an employer prospect for further sales activity.
Following are some tried-and-true tips for making the most of that opportunity.
Tip #1: Create a finite package of educational offer- ings. Many clinics create a “one size fits all” presentation that is offered to every comer, thus neglecting the priority needs at individual companies.
Conversely, some clinics create one-time-only talks tailored to every individual company.
We have found that a middle ground works best. Design, say, five different programs and provide the one program that is most relevant to a particular company.
Tip #2: Select a topic of interest that is occupational health-relevant. Many times, the choice of a topic is de- pendent upon who within your clinic family is willing to
speak. The pet topic may be a good one, and the speaker may be competent and polished, but if the prospective au- dience is not interested they will stay away in droves.
Likewise, the goal of a talk should be to create greater awareness of occupational health issues. If you are trying to educate and motivate your public’s, why not deal directly with work-related health and safety issues?
Tip #3 Seize the moment. Take full advantage of your ex- posure. Ask for the name and email address of everyone in the audience. After, send personal, information-oriented emails to individual workers.
At its core, outstanding marketing is basically a numbers game. One workplace lecture a week before just 50 employees would generate (assuming 80% would offer their email address) 2,080 individual email addresses per year. Monthly email advice for 2,080 members of your community provides an excellent opportunity to brand your clinic in a positive light.
Tip #4 Make it fun and add some pizzazz. Veterans of quality sales training programs recognize that the best way to teach something is to create an interactive, fun atmosphere. Ask your audience for their opinion, offer little con- tests with some type of prize or reward, or do a brief pretalk and post-talk survey (“Let’s see if and how your perspective has changed…”).
Tip #5 Talk the talk of the common man. There is usually dissonance between “provider-speak” and “employer- speak” and an even greater gap between provider-speak and rank-and-file worker-speak. Frame your message in simple phrases and concepts that can be understood by everyone.
Tip #6 Learn something from your audience. Education should be a two-way street. Ask your audience to complete a short mini-questionnaire (perhaps three to five multiple-
choice questions) and supplement the quiz with show-of- hands questions (“How many of you…?”).
Use this information to customize the presentation and provide feedback to your employer client. For example, you might ask everyone to write down “the one thing that your company should do to make your workplace safer and healthier.” Results from such questions can be an eye-opener for the employer and may lead to greater opportunities for your clinic.
Tip #7 Post results on your website. Why not ask the same questions at every worksite and publish the compos- ite results (e.g., “Across 2,000 employees in Gotham City, 23% felt that poor communication with senior manage- ment was the number-one deterrent to optimal workplace health and safety”).
After awhile your “N” will be large enough to offer cross tabulations comparing area companies by size or broad industry classifications.
The more other companies are exposed to such information, the more likely they will want your clinic to speak at their worksite.
Tip #8 Keep a few relief pitchers warmed up in the bullpen. If just one person is your go-to educator, your goal of one onsite presentation per week will quickly dry up. Thus, a goal of 50 programs per year could easily fall to only 10 programs per year, thus rendering your entire onsite education plan just 20% as far-reaching as it could be.
Tip #9 Place your talks in context. Remember Mark Twain’s famous idiom, “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em, tell ’em, and tell ’em what you told ’em.” This structure should be central to all talks (and sales encounters, for that matter); place what you are about to say in the clearest of contexts and end every presentation with a brief synopsis of your key points.
Onsite education should be viewed as an outstanding opportunity for your clinic and an obligation to effectively serve your community. An educated and appreciative population will likely view your clinic in a better light, and an informed population is good for both your clinic and the community at large. Onsite education should be part of your clinic’s portfolio and will have the best chance to succeed when it’s offered with both forethought and careful planning.