Building a brand is an imperative for your business, the building of the right brand

will drive your business to the heights of success. Geoffrey Cooling discusses what

it means and why it matters in Audiology.

BRANDING in Audiology Practices

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AUDIO INFOS N°80 JULY- AUGUST 2013

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If

used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.” E.g. Wikipedia. Wikipedia itself has become a one word brand, recognizable internationally. That definition is exceptionally narrow and does not reflect how the concept of brand has evolved. When I speak about the branding of an Audiological practice I am not

really referring to its name becoming a household name, or a world recognized brand. What I am speaking of is the perception that your practice portrays to its customers and indeed its prospective customers. You need to understand explicitly that you indeed have a brand and every element of your practice speaks to that brand.What elements in your practice speak to your brand? What elements of your practice help your patient’s perception

By Geoffrey Cooling Geoff@widex.ie

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n Selling Trust and ExperienceWhat an Audiological cl inic real ly sel ls at the beginning of the relat ionship is t rust , t rust is engendered through many strategies in a sales process, but perception of efficacy is the highest contributor to the closing of a sale in our business. That perception allows the patient the belief that the practice will actually care for them. What we in fact engage in is an experience, if you understand that, you can take steps in your practice that support that concept. I do not mean nor would I advocate smoke

and mirrors theatrics, what I mean is real efforts to enhance somebody’s experience with your pract ice. You wi l l a lso need to understand that the experience does not end after the sale, to del iver ongoing v a l u e to y o u r b u s i n e s s ; a

patient’s experience needs to be continuous. That experience is your BRANDWhen you believe the importance of these concepts you can then set about applying strategies to your practice to cater to them. It is imperative that you understand these concepts for the survival of your business. In short, your brand is what your Patient says about you. Or in the words of Shep Hyken;“Before going any further, you must keep in mind that you can’t really create your brand.The customer, be it internal (someone you work with) or external (someone you do business with) determines what your brand is. Their perception is their reality.”I think it is clear, that while we take precautions and lay down strategies, it is our patients who actually set the terms of our brand. However, all is not hopeless, we can encourage or steer their thoughts, their perception. We can and do influence the perception of our patients every time we have contact with them. There is a large crossover between the strategies you set to retain patients and setting the terms of a brand. They are both comprehensive affairs with huge similarities in the approach. The strategies you undertake to encourage Patient Retention and Customer Referral are in fact exactly the strategies that will encourage a favourable brand perception.

n Branding for the short and long-termPatient Retention tends to be seen as a long term return concept, but Customer Referral pays of f immediately. The efforts that you put into ongoing Patient Retention can immediately affect your bottom line through customer referral. In order to achieve Patient Retention and customer referral, you need to put comprehensive and all-encompassing strategies in place that makes your patient ecstatic about you and

of your brand? I believe all of them, every element of your practice speaks to your brand. I read a really excellent article about defining brand recently by a guy named Shep Hyken. Like me he is convinced that your customers set the definition of your brand. He asked the question, “What do you want to be known for? If there were one word or short phrase you wanted to be known for, what would it be? In essence that word is what you should strive to engender in your Patient’s perception.”Your understanding of brand and how it affects your practice is imperative. You really need to believe that strategies to generate a brand must cover every par t of your pract ice. Brand should be a consummate part of your thinking when it comes to all facets of your practice not just your healthcare marketing. You also need to clearly understand that every facet of your practice should be viewed through the marketing prism. In effect every part of your practice from how the phone is answered through how problem patients are handled is both part of your brand and your ongoing healthcare marketing strategy.

Why is an understanding of this concept imperative to you? Because we do not just sell products, seems like a strange statement, of course we sell products, hearing aids. I would ask you this question, have you ever paid six thousands of your favourite currency be that euro or sterling for a product that you do not understand? I would say the answer is probably no, but our patients do every day. Yes they do some research on the internet, yes they may even recognize one or two of the manufacturer’s names, but they don’t understand the product at all. They do not have the knowledge to undertake true comparisons when making purchase decisions so we in fact make those decisions for them.

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Branding the touch pointsEvery customer facing touch point in your business should be clearly designed with this in mind. Because everything affects your Patient’s perception, everything!

l The cleanliness of your shop frontl The signage that you usel The smell when they walk through the door l The cleanliness of the carpetl The repair state and type of your furniture l The freshness of your wallsl The modernity of your décor l The quality of your magazinesl The friendliness of your staff

68%of customer defections take place because customers feel poorly treated. It can cost five times more to get new customers than retain existing ones. (Source: TARP)

What an Audiological clinic really sells at the beginning of the relationship is trust.

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but make opportunities to shape their perception of your brand, the brand of you and your practice. Before we go further, let’s look at why we lose patients? We all know that some die, we all know that some are unhappy for whatever reason, we all know some may move away. While some patients leave a practice because they move away or indeed die and some because they can just never be satisfied, the majority of them leave because of a perceived attitude of indifference.Feeling ignored when entering the office, being rushed through an appointment, leaving without having questions answered, or not having a problem solved in a timely manner may be sufficient to cause a patient to search for a new practice. Since the routes traditionally used appear to have become ineffectual and the cost incurred of acquiring a new patient has correspondingly exponentially increased. It would appear that the retaining of a current patient is critical to the profitability of a practice. It has become critical to maintain a relationship with a patient for as long as is possible and to design strategies to service this need.

n Building relationshipsDeveloping a relationship with a patient may be the best way to maximize not only patient retention, but furthermore, patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is the route to evangelism; evangelism is exactly what you need to build your brand. There is some evidence that an over whelming major i ty of consumers make important purchasing decisions based upon relationships, and we have no reason to believe that our industry is any different. Relationship buyers are customers who like your products and services. They build a relationship with your employees and they think of your company as the primary supplier of their needs within your category.They do not want to be bothered to have to shop around every time they make a new purchase. They look for quality, good service, helpfulness, friendship and information. If you supply these things, they will stick with you. The key is to attract them to you initially, the efforts you take to ensure this happens are also the principles you need to consider retaining them. Every element of your practice has a direct effect on the perception of your patient/customer. From your shop front and display, waiting area, receptionist, consultation room, consultation manner, presentation skills, after sales service, communication style, the patient journey and so on and so on. All of these elements combine to support the perception of efficacy; they also encourage a patient to place their trust in you. From these beginnings a great brand will grow, these strategies will retain patients and drive new patient acquisition. They will ensure the long term viability of your business; they will drive your brand.

your practice. If they are in fact ecstatic about you and your practice, that is the perception of your brand. In order for customer referral to happen, you need to make your patients evangelists for your brand, happy customers are just not enough. A happy customer may tell a few people how good you are, but evangelists will become active advocates for your business, publicising your brand far and wide. As we are all aware word of mouth sales are indeed the best sales because most of the impediments that traditionally exist to a sale have been removed prior to your consultation. The strategies that you put in place to bolster your Patient Retention are also designed to increase customer satisfaction and will lead to evangelist customers. A more common term for these Patients is relationship customers; relationship customers love your practice.They are the people that you want to be setting the terms of your brand. Most patients have no brand awareness when it comes to hearing instruments, their loyalty or otherwise is based on the perceptions of your practice and their perceived treatment at your hands. So what you need to do is not just take every opportunity

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About the authorGeoffrey Cooling is the writer of the hearing healthcare blog, Just Audiology Stuff. He also contributes to several other hearing healthcare blogs. He currently works as a member of the Widex Sales Team in UK and Ireland. He has a great interest in strategic commercial planning and tactical implementation of those strategies. He also has a great interest in the psychology of customer engagement in health practice situations and the implementation of commercial strategies in practice management

The customer experience is key in building a brand