Building Patient Relationships 9-11

By Kathy Foltner,AuD
KEYSTO
CUSTOMER
REIATI0NSHIP
MANAGEMENT
lSVITAIto everybusiness
{CRM}
practices.
includingaudiology
Infact,thebusiness
of audiology
andhearing
qualityreaiddispensing
is highlydependent
uponbuildingandmaintaining
lationships
with patients.Notonlyis it moleexpensive
to attractnewpatients
to a practicethanit is to maintaincurent patients,butcurrentpatientsare
typicallymoreresponsive
to marketing
messages
fromyourpracticethanare
coldprospects.
Everyaudiologybusiness
mustdevelopa balancebetween
patients,
its numbersof new andestablished
with eachrepresenting
about
50percentofthetotalpatientdatabase.
Successfulaudiologybusinessis not only
about building relationshipswith patients,
but also includesmaintaining thoserelationships. Once established,your patients
arefamiliar with you andyour practiceand
theyhopefullyhavedevelopedsomelevelof
trust in you. Theydo businesswith you not
only becauseofthe productsyou sell,but
alsobecauseofthe long-term relationship
you havebuilt alongwith the fact that they
like you and haveconfidencein your knowledge,expertiseandthe servicesyou provide
that help to solvetheir hearing and understanding problems.Patientsneedto trust
that the adviceand recommendationsyou
provide arealwaysin their bestinterest.
Most audiologypractice management
softwaresystemsinclude someversion of
a CRM program, but there can be distinct
differencesbetweensystemsincluding the
completenessor the scopeof the CRM
program.Consideringthe importanceof
maintaining current patientsto the life of
a practice,this is one areaofpracticemanagementin which a practiceowner should
not compromise.Keep in mind your competition is also marketing,targetingand
temptingyour patients.Everypracticeneeds
an easyand afiordableway to build patient
loyalty and keep existing patientscoming
back to the practicefor services,products
and new hearingaids.
hearingcare
professionals
lnformation
sponsored
by Sonus-USA
lnc.
MinnesotaRegi stration *F-l032,5000Cheshire
Parkway
North,Plynouth,MN 55446
Marketing expertssuggestcontactwith
patientsno less than L2-16times a year.
A contactcould be an appointment,call,
card,remindernotice,warranty expiration
notice,battery special,newsletteror any
touch point that placesyour nameand your
practicein front of patientsand into their
consciousness.
Remind your patientsthat
you are alwaysthereto servethem whether
they havea problem with their hearing or
current hearing aids or when they receive
a promotion from a competitor touting a
newtechnology.Establishyourselfas"THE
hearing expert" and your practiceas the
"go-to" placefor hearing care.Createan
goals of any marketing program are to
generatecalls and to setappointments,but
tracking thosegoalsaloneis not enough.
UltimatelyROI shouldbe determinedbased
on dollars generatedversusdollars spent.
In other words, identify how many dollars
aregeneratedfor everydollar spentin your
CRM program. A double-digit ROI can be
expectedfrom any quality CRM program.
Thereare many factorsthat impact ROI,
including the patient database,the marketing piece,the offer,the envelope,timing,
frequency,follow-upcallsand the script uti
lized. whether or not a friend or loved ohe
is alsoscheduledand much more.Access
A n o n l i n el i b r a r yo f a l l K e y st o S u c c e s sc o l u m n si s a v a i l a b l ea t
www. advan cewe b,com/ Heari n g KeystoSuccess.
opening for your competition'smarketing
to alsowork for you.
AutomatedCRM programsdo existthat
can take the "work" out ofthe program for
audiologists.It canbe assimpleaschecking
oneor more of 20 touch point boxes,which
then triggersthe processingand mailing of
cards,noticesandvariousothertouchpoint
pieceson a regularbasis.Someprograms
chargefor suchserviceswhile othersinclude
productionandmailing costs
the associated
aspart oftheir servicebenefits.Investigation is key to finding a match and the best
CRM program for your practice.
As with anymarketingcampaign,a CRM
programshouldbe trackedfor results."Feeling" a programis successful
is not enough.
A practice owner should objectivelytrack
the resultsand determineactualreturn-oninvestment(ROI).Of course,two important
R A c r c EM A N A G E M E N
1 O a o v e r ' r c eF o RH E A R T NpG
I sTE p t l o c t z o r r
to marketing professionalsthat not only
understand,but also track the variables
to identify those most likely to impact
patients' decisionmaking is a huge benefit of a quality CRM program.Knowledge,
completeness,
organization,planningand
follow-up arekey to a successfulCRM program. Simply having a CRM program is
not enough.You must leverageyour CRM
program to achievemaximum resultsand
ROr!lm
KathyFoltner,
AuD,is vicepresideut
of Sonus
Franchise
$ales*East.
$hehas3$y*arsof industry experience
andhaldsadjunctfa$illlys!at*$
at
RnshllniversityMedir:nlCenterand$alusUniversity.Conta*lherat katlry.foltneMlar*plil*n.cam
or31?-286-7$S8.
Visitwvyw.sonus.ecm
lor more
inlonnation.
www.advanceweb-com/hearin g