How Will Patients Call if They Don’t Remember Your Name?
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When you opened your practice, did you get the standard advice to “do good work and get your name out there?” Did anyone ever question the value of another name being flung around in an attempt to penetrate the public consciousness?
Let me advance a qualified “yes,” there is some value in getting your name out, but there is greater value in being a name people will remember.
All other things being equal, people will go with a familiar name over the unfamiliar. Professor Gur Huberman’s study at Columbia concluded 96% of the people who invested in telephone company stocks owned more shares of their local phone company than any other. Huberman believes they confuse familiarity with knowledge.
A study by Professor Eric Brynjolfsson of MIT’s Sloan School of Management has demonstrated that even when shoppers know of a lower price elsewhere, they willingly pay more to buy from familiar sellers.
And Professor Eric J. Johnson has reported in his Columbia/Wharton School study that as few as 10 percent of shoppers will shop outside the stores they’re most familiar with.
Make no mistake. There is value in familiarity. I’ve written about this before:
“How did I choose the dentist? Did I ask for referrals from people I know? Did I call the Chamber of Commerce? Search the Internet? Consult the yellow pages?
“Nope. Like so many other people, I drive by his office every day. He has a sign out front of his office.
“You’ve heard me say that frequency sells. Repeat the message often enough and people who need what you’re offering will eventually seek you out. By my own estimate I’ve passed that sign well over three hundred times. Three hundred impressions made their way into my brain.”
Under some circumstances getting your name out there can help you to attract new patients. Please note, though, that my “recognize the name” example worked for two reasons, and neither is likely to be common in any other case.
1. There were no other signs visible on my route to work, and
2. I had 300 exposures to this message.
People buy what’s familiar because for some reason familiarity equates in their minds to greater credibility. (This is the single biggest reason the incumbent is usually reelected). Its a major advantage once they know you, but until they know you will they even remember your name among all of those others? Especially if yours is a name they don’t see often?
Mental Hooks and Anchors.
The owners of most professional practices will say “word of mouth” is their primary source of marketing and patient acquisition.
What’s the word about your practice?
Is there any word?
Can people think of anything to say about you?
Many of us have strong recollections of things which happened to us when we were as young as two. We seldom remember anything earlier. It’s not coincidental that most memories begin about the time people learn to talk. We need words for memories to work to their full ability.
When people hear your name, is there anything that “sticks” in their minds?
If yours just another name clamoring for attention; momentarily cluttering up someone’s consciousness before being dismissed as having no immediate value, people will need an anchor, a device to make associations with words they can attach to your name.
Dr. Mark McMahon has such an anchor.
So does Dr. Harvey Passes.
Please don’t mistake what either of these men are doing as “gimmics.” Each is sharing a genuine facet of his personality with his public. If you lived in Tucson or Manhasset, wouldn’t you remember these doctors?
Are We Suggesting You Need to Sing or to Tour South America?
No, but you do need to to do something to stand out. There’s an old rule of marketing: until you do something out of the ordinary, you’ll be ignored.
What do you do that’s worthy of being remembered, and talked about?
Do you have the friendliest staff? Cleanest restrooms? Better parking? Exceptional rapport with your patients? A reputation for giving patients less expensive options for their treatment? Newest diagnostic equipment? A popcorn machine in the lobby?
What is it that makes your practice unique in the minds of your patients? Tell that to your prospective patients.
Tell them you’re the clinic that’s open evenings, that your website can answer many of their common questions, or even that you’ll make it easy to schedule all of the kids in the family at the same time.
Make your message salient enough to get a prospective patient’s attention, and for goodness sake give her words to remember how she feels about you. Those words, and their memory associations, are what give your name and your practice some value to a prospective patient.
Help them to remember who you are and how to find you, and watch your resultant word of mouth become profitably predictable.
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How Will Patients Call if They Don’t Remember Your Name? copyright © 2007 Chuck McKay and AdvanceMyPractice.com. All rights reserved.
Chuck McKay is a marketing consultant who works primarily with professional practices and owner operated businesses. Questions about Transactional and Relational marketing strategies may be directed to ChuckMcKay@ChuckMcKayOnLine.com.