Seven Steps to Get Prospective Client Meetings

How can you crack open the door to meet potential new clients?  I worked with an architectural firm that specializes in health care design and has offices in NY, PA, Ohio and Florida, and I was able to accomplish two major goals for them:

1.     Get the principals in the door to meet and present their capabilities to the vice president of facilities in seven institutions.

2.     Develop a customer relations database of 300 institutions which included a chronological account of my contacts with these institutions.

How did I go about attaining these goals for my client?  Here’s a step by step:

Step One – We first established various parameters for the targeted institutions:  geographic area, size, type (acute, psychiatric, etc.) and maximum travel distance from one of my client’s offices.

Step Two -- Using a list of hospitals from a commercial vendor, we incorporated the basic information of each organization into a contact management software program and segmented prospects by size, type of facility and location.

Step Three -- We drew up several positioning points that established the unique skills and expertise of the firm.  These talking points were incorporated into every type of contact we made and they were strategically inserted into letters, emails, phone conversations and presentations. 

Step Four – We assembled a portfolio of online project sheets as our core marketing communications materials.  I referenced these projects when I called prospective hospital clients and we were able to immediately send the appropriate project sheets with a tailored cover letter as a follow-up.   I did this from an email account on my client’s web site, not from my office. 

Step Five – I researched and called  each institution to find out who the senior person was who hired architects; began to make the institution aware of my client’s capabilities, and established the preferred contact method – via email, postal mail, landline or cell phone.  

Step Six – I sorted the potential clients into various lead categories – hot leads, not interested, call back in six months, unable to contact yet -- and followed up appropriately.

Step Seven– Eventually, I set up meetings with seven prospective clients.  I remained the key contact until a few days before the meeting, when I turned the responsibility of keeping in contact with the prospect over to the partners and business development executives of the firm. 

Long Term – To keep roiling the pot of potential clients, I weekly check my database and follow up.

Sidebar Strategies

Being nimble, assertive, creative, and data driven are certainly the best overall business development and marketing strategies.  Sometimes, however, just being there, when the competition is not, is a successful business strategy.   At other times, not burning bridges with past clients can offer a surprisingly successful segue into  attaining future work.

Recently I had the opportunity of meeting with a potential client before she announced she was looking for a consultant.  How did that happen?  I keep a targeted list of 40 near-by national and regional colleges and at least once a year I send out very basic promotional material to their public relations directors and follow-up with a phone call.  This builds awareness of my services,  helps cultivate relationships over time, allows me to update my prospect list and is a superior way to gather  raw intelligence about my competition. 

The director from one school responded to my email with a cheery note saying my timing was perfect, that they were looking for a publicist and writer, but were struggling with how to conduct the search.  I met with the director, and she hired me without even putting out a request for proposal to other consultants.  Just being there before others turned the trick.

When you get fired from a job, it is natural to resent it, but try not to overtly express resentment because the bitter after-taste will linger with the client long after you are gone; whereas if you express appreciation for the work you have been privileged to complete, the good feelings can lay the foundation for future work.

A year ago, after I had been working as a consultant for a large medical institution for over a decade, a new VP was appointed and he wanted all work done in-house.   I was told my services were no longer needed.  In parting, I said I greatly valued the exciting work I had been assigned to do over the years (which was true) -- and left.  Within a year, I received an email out of the blue from this same VP who was now a Sr. VP at another institution, and, knowing my work, he asked me to undertake a large number of projects.  I don’t think that would have happened if we had parted on a sour note.

The Zen of Public Speaking

I just read a short and sweet book called A Zen monk had sweaty palms: Pointers on the path to better public speaking, that in haiku-like one-page nuggets convincingly tells us how to speak like a river; to control the audience’s eyes; to help our listeners see anew.   It's both fun and informative.

You can flip through A Zen Monk and land on a “pointer” that will help you hone your best skills, or pause to read how to improve a real weakness.  For example, a perennial weakness for most of us is stage fright.  Zen says that stage fright arises from fixating on a possible problem during a presentation, not on the goal.  A tennis player focuses on the ball not the net; a golfer does not focus on the sand trap.  We should focus on the outcome we want or the process we’re using to get to it.  

Each speaking point (there are over 50) is amplified and enlivened with an anecdote or a Shakespearean quote, a Bob Dylan song or an event about a celebrity. 

The author is Sims Wyeth, a consultant for international business who practices the “art and science of high stakes presentations.”   For a pleasantly different book on public speaking visit www.simswyeth.com.

 

11 Ways Publicity Has Punch in a World of Social Media

Trustworthy content is still at the core of effectively reaching influential target audiences.  Content from publicity (getting a story about you or your services published in print or produced in video or audio) has multiple, steady benefits in the age of Facebook and Twitter.  Here are 11 of them:

• Repeated publicity, no matter what platform, reaffirms all targeted publics that your organization is a “go to” expert in your field.

• It keeps your name  “top of mind” among audiences who are making decisions at that moment.  Publicity can be the tipping point in using your services.

• Repetition builds reputations.  A continual string of stories about your practice or institution is powerful in image building.

• Publicity establishes and strengthens your unique “brand” among targeted groups – it can define you and your strengths vs. your competition. 

• Publicity instills pride in your staff.  It is third party public recognition of your professionalism.

• It improves recruitment – young professionals who are looking for a job want to work for the best, and the best-known.

• Publicity can be used to produce marketing communications material for proposals, direct marketing, advertising and presentations.

• All print and electronic publicity can be repurposed for use in social media – on blog posts, on Facebook pages, on Twitter and Linked-in. 

• Credibility.  Stories on TV, on radio or in magazines and newspapers have third party credibility.  The content has been vetted and written by professional journalists.

• Publicity can trigger direct inquiries about your services.

• Publicity can help you change your image and open doors to new markets.

Social Media: Physician Friend or Foe?

One candid and enlightening discussion about the rewards and risks of physicians using social media can be found in a recent round table chat sponsored by Orthopedics Today at http://bit.ly/IAG01u.  Half a dozen orthopedic surgeons explain how and why they are using some social media platforms, but not others, to reach specific audiences for specific reasons.  The discussion offers thoughtful and responsible “best practice” nuggets for the use of social media by professionals.

Orthopedic physicians seeking to exchange clinical and business practice ideas that can be openly challenged by peers are turning to restricted-access forums (“collaborative practice communities” with firewalls) such as www.orthomind.com and www.beckerorthopedicsandspine.com and www.Doximity.com .

Physicians seeking more to “educate patients and improve their online reputation”  are creating websites or blogs that allow deep Web 2 integration with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to Howard J. Luks, MD., who has developed a social media presence that is a model for others.  Another way for physicians to educate the public and gain an online presence is through consumer Q&A websites such as HealthTap, ShareCare and Avvo.

The forum addresses sensitive issues of patient confidentiality, legal ‘phishing’ and who in a medical office should be responsible for participating and monitoring blog, Facebook and Twitter posts.   This discussion is worth more than a cursory read and shows how social media can compliment traditional marketing and public relations.

12 Tips for Powerful Architectural Proposals

Kudos to SMPS Boston for its helpful blog posts and peppy reminders of practical information when it comes to marketing and business development for architects and engineers.  One recent post was titled 12 Tips for Powerful Proposals.  An excellent check list to keep in mind every time you write a proposal.   

I liked the second tip best...."Remember that the selection team is often not looking to choose a winner -- instead, they are looking to eliminate weaker proposals.  Don't give them a reason to eliminate yours!  Be sure to address all of the requirements in the RFQ/P."  

So, while you have to aim high and be creative in your proposal to get attention,  beware of not anchoring your planning and design innovations with detailed answers to the more prosaic questions.

Architect's Innovative New York School Designs

 
 The New York City school system is the largest in the nation with 1.1 million students packed into 1,700 schools.  Here, land is rare and real estate is the coin of the realm.  Architectural firms are challenged to create exciting designs on space-tight lots.  But, one firm I worked with parlayed this challenge into becoming a thought leader in urban school design.

How did we do this?  Through innovative public relations.  With the senior K-12 school architect, I reviewed dozens of schools the firm had designed in the past few years, and we identified themes about planning compact schools.  One was to combine separate small schools in one building; another was to share library and science lab spaces in these combined schools; another was to use the basements of city schools for gymnasiums (and first floor windows as clerestories).  The list went on.  For k-8 schools, architects can design auditoriums with lower ceilings (the children are smaller) which can make room for extra classrooms on the floor above.

We then identified one $60-million K-8 school facility that seemed to embody all these challenges in planning, designing and building urban schools, and I sent a pitch letter and spoke on the phone with the editors of several national design and construction magazines that focused on education.  One editor got back and said she wanted to do a Q&A on urban school design, which resulted in a several page interview on the challenges and solutions of urban design -- with photos of the one school.  

Lessons learned?  If we had focused only on one project and had not approached the editor with the more universal themes, the opportunity for positioning the firm as a thought leader and pioneer in urban design would have been missed.

PR Revs Up Opening of Hospital Outpatient Center

When physician groups and hospitals gin up marketing campaigns to win new outpatients and open a suite of offices, then publicity – in tandem with direct mail, website and social media – can successfully kick off the campaign to build awareness in the community and among referring clinicians.  Repeated positioning of the strengths of a clinical practice in all communications, and telling a compelling story to targeted audiences brings solid results.

Here’s the practical 1-2-3 guide to how I planned for the opening of an orthopedics center at a teaching hospital.  Placements included 4 newspapers, 2 TV stations, a radio station and multiple Internet outlets.  Simple checklists can bring success.

·      Advanced planning – Meet with the chairman of the department and the hospital’s marketing director several months in advance of the opening.  Tie down the exact date and time, who the specific target audiences were (don’t forget community leaders!), and what collateral material was needed (brochure, web page), what mailing lists exist/ are needed.

·      Positioning --  We determined how the offices differed from competitors and focused on strengths (largest in the region, breadth of specialists,  standard and specialty care, high technology such as digital x-ray units).  These points were made in all brochures, emails, news releases, on the website – and were made into talking points for the chairman for his upcoming interviews.

·      Site Tour -- Two weeks before the event, I visited the site of the orthopedic center and with the administrator, scouted out the best sites for giving the media a tour of the patient areas and technology spaces that made the new center unique.  

·      Advising the Media -- We wrote a media advisory, documenting the “who, what, where, why and when” of the event.   A week before the opening, we emailed the advisory to all local media in the hospital’s catchment area.  The day before the event I emailed the advisory again and left a phone message, with my cell phone number for the “day of” contact.    (If your opening is large enough, alert AP Daybook, as well).

·      Opening Day -- We met all TV, radio and print reporters at the site.

o   We made available to them a press kit, including a news release

o   We arranged personal interviews with the chairman of the department or the president of the hospital

o   We had reporters remain for the brief opening ceremonies

o   We gave a tour of the facilities (for guests and media), carefully giving each reporter individual access to senior staff who could explain the technology.

o   We had a staff photographer to take photos (no video) and sent these with captions to all media who did not make the event. 

How To Get on "The Today Show"

According to the New York Times, Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards and student debt is topping $1 trillion for the first time.  The bitter irony is that many high-school students are enrolling in colleges and, after graduation, instead of landing a job are landing in the poor house.

One way students can reduce debt is to chose a quality public university where tuition can be one-fourth that of a private one.  But how does a public school lure away students who are attracted to a brand-name private college? Here's how.

Working with an affiliate PR firm and the associate dean at a public university, I identified several dozen recent transfer students from private universities.   They were all contacted via email to see if they would participate in a story about how transferring from a private to a public school  helped their debt situation and proved to be a good academic fit. 

Three students (10%) replied that they were willing to work with us.  One was a computer science major, another an economics major and the third was a voice/opera major.   All had transferred to take advantage of the lower tuition and the public university’s academic excellence and small size.

When I pitched the story to a variety of national reporters and TV producers who specialized in education, the producer from the Today Show, who wound up doing a feature story on one student, told me that she was really not interested in the computer science or economics majors.  What caught her eye was the voice major and the possibility of entertaining video and audio – voice lessons and singing in an opera that would tell a visual story etc. – along with how she had reduced her debt.

If I had not conducted thorough research on all the possible students, and not developed profiles on three (vs. one) students, then we would not have achieved a spot on The Today Show.   The pitch also triggered a post in a nationally read education blog in The New York Times. At the core of this success was the original research, which allowed us to offer the producer choices.  And, we triggered a story that we hope helped many families struggling with student debts.

About The Buzz From Bang

NM Insight, a Neilson/McKinsey company, says that in 2011 they were tracking over 180 million blogs around the world. So, why would anyone in his right mind want to start another blog?

For a couple of reasons.   First, the conviction that there is a small niche not being filled in the blogosphere.   Second, because it’s more fun to be a participant than a rubbernecker.  Or, as Seth Godin, the original “permission marketing” author said in a recent blog post about social media: you can be a bandit (who takes from others) or a philanthropist (who sees it as a platform for giving).  Why be a bandit?

This blog is intended to reach out to professionals and institutions – doctors, architects, engineers, hospitals and colleges -- who want to learn from and share new (as well as tried and true) ways of promoting their services through public relations, marketing, business development and social media.

And, in the spirit of quid pro quo, it is intended to encourage other PR and marketing folks to share their case studies of success for small businesses, professional firms and academic institutions.

Hats off to those who are already successful at blogging in these areas, such as archidose and arch daily and SMPS Boston (architecture), Howard Luks and Kevin Pho (physicians), Seth Godin (social media), John Jantsch (social media for small business) and Roger Johnson of Linked-in’s PRWise forum (educators, others).

For more information and a website link visit me here.