Modernizing operations at your medical business is a great way to increase profitability and resiliency. It may be time to introduce some updates if you’re still relying on strategies and business philosophies that were implemented a decade ago. The good news is that technology has drastically streamlined the way medical businesses of all sizes can get access to systems and products that were previously exclusive to larger businesses.
Take a look at the three things all medical businesses should be doing to grow.
Hire a Sales Representative or Team
Medical businesses can no longer rely on legacy clients to stay afloat. It’s time to actively recruit new leads to ensure that your business can be insulated from volume loss. Hiring a skilled, dynamic sales representative who understands how to handle leads and conversions is something that is more than worth the investment.
A full-time team member tasked with actively establishing new client relationships may make it possible for you to enter new markets.
Get Marketing Help
A revenue problem is often a marketing problem. If sales are slumping, your medical business may not have the name recognition it needs to land clients. This is where bringing in a marketing consultancy can make a big difference. Here’s an overview of the impact of marketing strategies in healthcare systems from the Journal of Medicine and Life:
- “Improve the competitive advantage.”
- “Increase the visibility.”
- “Create a solid reputation among patients.”
- “Understand the needs and expectations of consumers.”
- “Understand the patients’ perceptions of the quality and results of their experience within the medical organization, offering memorable experiences to patients and, of course, building a strong, effective, dominant brand on the health services market.”
Brands today use hyper-targeted marketing practices to make sure their names and value are seen by the specific audiences they want to meet. As a result, you can actually have a more effective reach while spending less.
A marketing professional can help your business to create and serve effective ads, get in the press and increase engagement once leads interact with you.
Optimize Price Points
It’s also important to deliver what’s promised after attracting new clients through sales and marketing. Being unable to offer competitive services often means losing leads that you’ve invested time and money to get. This is where an effective pricing strategy becomes important.
The bottom line is that consumers have more options for comparing prices than ever before. They are also more motivated to make sure they’re getting the best price possible.
Results from the 2019 UnitedHealthcare Consumer Sentiment Survey show that just over 36 percent of respondents report using the Internet or mobile apps to compare cost and quality of medical services. This is a telling sign for several reasons. The first is that data collected from the same survey in 2012 showed that just 14 percent of people were price shopping for medical services. The second is that 2019’s data reveals that 39 percent of customers who do shop around report that they changed facilities or providers as a result of finding better options elsewhere.
The good news for medical businesses is that a medical device pricing strategy can be easy to implement using automated, intelligent software. In fact, 45 percent of people surveyed actually said they’re either interested in or enthusiastic about their physicians utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in care decisions.
Creating a Modern Strategy in a Few Steps
Ultimately, creating a strategy for attracting and serving a greater client base comes down to exposing your value. This is how medical businesses can achieve long-lasting relationships with clients.
The core of any effective strategy involving reputation, services and pricing rests on mastering market intelligence via high-tech solutions.
