Positioning Your Medical Practice
Always on the lookout for ways to help practices understand the value of great communication, I found this quip from author Skye Jethani too good not to share.
Skye’s 6-year-old son has a “passion for sucrose” and, like many kids that age, loves anything with sugar. If he asked his son, “would you like to try some crème brulee?” the response would be an instantaneous “no.” That technical term (to a child) sounds like an adult food that may involve vegetables. Yuck!
But what if instead he said to his young son the following: “would you like some vanilla pudding, covered in sugar, and cooked with a blowtorch?” That’s how to position the offering that’s far more compelling to the target audience!
This same scenario — albeit with different details — takes place in most interactions between a medical practice and patients when you are trying to convey the benefits of an elective procedure or treatment. We tend to focus on technical terms and fail to provide a much-needed frame of reference that is relevant to the patient.
Building that frame of reference is not difficult. It just takes curiosity to ask questions and learn each patient’s desires and goals.
Questions For Positioning Your Practice
What’s the first thing you’re going to do after having the procedure?
What’s a big dream or goal that you are now going to be able to accomplish?
Who else is excited for you?
Looking through this lens helps you better understand the patient’s problem — from their perspective. They came to you for a reason. Uncover that reason and you will be able to frame your solution in a way that solves their specific problem!