Complementing Business Management With Sustained Growth

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In the midst of the competitive business environment they find themselves in, professional entrepreneurs by and large recognize the need to manage their businesses not only in the present (ie: to attract revenues today), but also to lay the foundation for additional, referral revenue for the future.

As the apt saying states, each service is an advertisement for the next.  Also, as we’ve stated in previous posts, there is no better time to advertise than when you are face to face with your customer.

Such advertising is not defined as exclusively pushing additional products/services on the customer – you as the CEO/owner will recognize the time and place for that to happen.  Rather, quality face-to-face advertising with a high return for your business is in the form of a more personal engagement.

Engagement is the medium of marketing in our economy.  Digital marketers and advertisers daily assert with loud vocal trumpets the need to engage online, and this constitutes a necessary cog in the marketing arsenal of any business.  The need to engage, however, has become all the more necessary as a result of the pervasive perceived demand to engage online.

Personal engagement is the time to build trust.  Online mediums have afforded us all the opportunity to commence, develop, and track engagement online until that key time when engagement turns from digital to personal, thereby denoting a spike in the trust relationship and a signal of a new patient.

We tackle the process of sustained growth in other posts, but without complementing the drivers that lead to growth in the business with proper management of those clients brought into the fold, those clients become exposed to overtures from competitors, feelings of indifference, and compliance-like attitudes such as “let’s get this over with”

How can the CEO/owner turn the complaint visit into an engaging experience?    Our research suggests that doing exactly this will increase client services, as well as referrals.  Turning client meetings into engagements is, in our opinion, the key to complementing business growth and proper management of that growth.

About 5 years ago, some operators in restaurant industry began offering to waiting patrons small samples of their menu offerings at no charge, a decision considered by many to be wise not only because it gave patrons the desire to order the full size of the menu items tasted, but also because the offering differentiated those restaurants from their competitors and established rapport with visiting customers.

To the extent possible, all CEO’s / owners should establish a similar offering in their businesses – they would be well-served to employ the same strategy – provide an environment and offerings that differentiate you from competitors and that prepare the customer for, among other things, cross-selling opportunities.

Office offerings

Many customers may be either working men and women.  They need a place to engage with their work, since time in this economy is valuable.  Therefore, it’s a smart idea to offer free wi-fi and data plug-ins at your practice so that they can turn this “down-time” into productive time.

It’s amazing how free coffee and finger foods sell people.  The key is to provide something that you know they want, so that you can build rapport and trust.

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CEO/owner interaction

The intent is that, by the time customers see you, they consider your business as relevant and modern.  Barriers to personal communication to facilitate trust are weakened, and the likelihood of the CEO/owner being able to have a valuable conversation leading to the identification of birthdays, personal events, and important issues in the lives of their customers increases.

You the CEO/owner take that information and continue an offline (ie: once the customer is away from the office) relationship by sending birthday cards, reminder check-up cards with personal notes, and gift baskets to your customers to keep engaged.  It’s this continuing engagement that precedes the referral of you by those clients.   As well, the differentiation between you and competitors is broadened.

You’re trying to do things that few other CEO’s/owner’s do in order to provide an experience leading to customer retention, increased business, and increased referrals.

Few CEO’s / owner’s do this because they thing there is little or no time to do it.  However, a 5-minute conversation is not going to dismantle the daily schedule.  .

Growth in the business is the combined result of a well-considered and implemented marketing plan, a well-trained staff in the skills of cross-selling and personal interaction with patients, and personnel who know your products/services well enough to be comfortable selling them.

However, sustaining that growth and facilitating referral business is , we believe, the result of taking steps that differentiate the business, the CEO/owner, and the experience of the customers/prospects coming to you.

These items do not take many hours and dollars to implement; in most cases, they are little things that enhance the experience of the customer and prep them for good, quality conversations so that, hopefully, they will be open both to referring you and to buying your products/services.   Just as in the digital world, the concept of quality and regular engagement is the key to sustained growth.

Nicholas Kilpatrick is a partner at the accounting firm of Burgess Kilpatrick in Vancouver, B.C.  He specializes in business development, and has worked with business owners to increase profitability at all stages of the business.  He can be reached at nkilpatrick@burgesskilpatrick.com or at 604-327-9234.