Serious Lessons Learned from Occupational Medicine Leaders

Marketing Occupational Medicine Services: Never Eat Alone

In Keith Ferrazzi’s national bestseller “Never Eat Alone” he stresses building a lifelong community of colleagues, contacts, friends and mentors. A key principle of the book is that building and maintaining relationships involves more than just getting what you want. It is about getting what you want and making sure that the others in the relationship get what they want too. The very essence of occupational medicine marketing is based on building your community and relationships.

As an urgent care provider you can basically incorporate occupational medicine into your service line by dedicating one afternoon a week to marketing your occupational medicine program. Suggested marketing activities include participating in Lunch & Learns, Health Expos & Fairs and Business After Hours Events.

Lunch & Learns are one of the best marketing activities you can implement. Lunch & learns involve targeting a group of businesses and inviting them to a complimentary lunch at your clinic followed by a short presentation. The presentation should be on topics of interest to the business. Consider presentations on worker’s compensation cost savings, drug testing, or decreasing OSHA recordability.

Health Expos & Fair participation can help target some of the corporate clients in your area. This will depend on your local market. In some areas the health fair will attract businesses and in others it will attract consumers. Either way, participation in these events is an opportunity to market your services to corporate clients or private pay clients.

Business After Hours Events are just what the title implies. This is an event held after your clinic is closed. Invite local business and potential clients to come to your facility and enjoy food, drinks and perhaps a short presentation. If you include a presentation, be sure it is brief, as many business people look at After Hours Events as networking opportunities, so they need the chance to talk with other attendees. This event will also provide an opportunity to showcase your clinic. Clients are much more likely to send their employees to a clinic when they are familiar with the provider and location.

By committing to one afternoon a week and implementing some of the ideas suggested you will be well on your way to building an urgent care and occupational medicine community of relationships. Your clinic will benefit from the increased profitability and market share and your clients will benefit from the knowledge you share during your presentations.

Wishing you great success.
January 2009