Congratulations! You have decided to establish a practice in a new location or foreign country! You have the office, the staff, equipment and the new letter head prescription pads … but where are the patients?
Securing a constant steady stream of customers is critical ( as you know) to the survival of your business.
As a Medical Practitioner, you may feel that patients will visit your practice automatically but It is important to network and become a part of the local medical scene and yes – if you are not a people person, consider it a short term challenge that will jump start your practice!
Here are some suggestions
Consider working with a local news provider ( tv or radio) to offer a patient centric educational series -e.g if you are a Gynecologist, topics could included: ectopic pregnancies, endoscopic, tubal ligations, for the under 30s – tips on preserving your fertility. This series can be run over a period of 6 weeks.
Engagement of local healthcare magazines means that you can place the same content used above in the health magazine specifically targeted to those who are health focused.
Consider volunteer work at a government geriatric home – often the elderly may have basic needs addressed only. Volunteering once or twice a month will expose you to the staff and the staff will become your initial customers and they in turn will send you referrals. Family members of the patients that you see may in turn engage you to see their family members in a private capacity and they in turn will provide referrals
Take the time to go and meet and greet your Internists, Endocrinologist, GPs with the largest practices and those close to retirement age. Engage them and find our what are their needs with respect to your discipline, does it take a long time for their patients to get an appointment? Are they concerned that they will loose their patients? Reassure them that their patients will come back to you after you have taken care of them.
ASK them… yes ASK them to direct one patient patient a day to you. Remember if you do not ask for patient referrals but just share about your services, then you will not receive referrals
Take a look at your website with with a fresh pair of eyes – is your website patient focused? Is it easy for the a patient to navigate? Is the language patient friendly?
Most patients are tuned to the WIIFM radio station ( What’s in it for me Radio Station). Patients are only interested in the successful and positive outcomes to a challenge that they have have. Do you address these patient challenges directly on your website Or do you speak about your equipment or the professional associations you belong to?
Finally once you have the patients engage them through post-visit questionnaires, follow-up phone calls and through a monthly email newsletter or video campaign.