Marketing Tip # 2 for physician business owners

Marketing Tip #1 was that all business failures are earned.

Now let's talk about something that's less of a downer!

Have you ever heard the saying "people do business with those who they know, like and trust"?

If you want to attract the attention, interest, desire and action of your ideal patients or clients, first impressions count. These will help get attention and generate interest. The book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell went to great entertaining length to make that point.

But trust is much harder to win.

Here is a Dan Kennedy-ism I was reminded of, during his seminar.

All the trust, AND the money, is in the follow-up.

Trust is earned step by step, drop by drop, contact by contact. The marketing experts tell us it takes between 5 and 9 contacts (where do they find these numbers??) with a prospective customer before they even register who you are and that you exist. It takes several more for them to decide if you're trustworthy!

Every time you prove to reliable, helpful and friendly, you reinforce the experience of  you in the mind and emotions of your prospect.

This means you have to get your creative juices flowing to come up with those 5 to 9 sequential ways to demonstrate your competent expertise, your helpfulness and your responsiveness. This is the principle behind relationship marketing, in which your goal is to build trusting relationships.

And if something goes awry, you apologize immediately, do all you can to make amends, and work extra hard to regain that precious trust.

How often have you met or talked with a "prospect" once and then never initiated the next step?

If you want someone's business (or career help or possible mentoring, for those who are more interested in a new career than growing a business), it is your responsibility to make the next overtures, no matter how it was left.

Remember - all business failures are earned. And one great failure in business is a lack of persistent, helpful follow up.

Become a dripping faucet. And watch for the gush of business!

So just how good is your follow up?