Small world…

A day after posting about eye doctors, I got this link in my email box. Welcome to eyeconX!

Glad to be just one step behind the curve.

February 3, 2004

Two great questions: #2

“I guess this doesn’t apply to opthamologists”. I guess that’s not really a question, but it’s what someone in the audience muttered when I finished my talk.

OF COURSE it applies to opthamologists.

Remarkable marketing is the only way to grow. That’s not what they teach you at eye doctor school, but even doctors are beginning to understand that the health insurance free ride can’t and won’t last forever.

Medical care has operated in a weird twilight zone for a long time. Basically, many customers of health care don’t pay (except with their time) for the services they get. In a marketplace where people are fearful (they want the best, not something flaky) and where everything is free, it certainly appears that the best approach is to play it safe, to keep your head down, to force your product to become a commodity and just wait for your fair share of the business.

In essence, most medical professionals are focused on being reasonably well recommended and reasonably convenient. That keeps the waiting room full, and until recently, the coffers filled.

The problem (at least in the USA) is that health insurance doesn’t pay as well as it used to, doesn’t pay promptly and often (for more and more people) doesn’t pay at all. In other countries, doctors are compensated by their popularity, so there’s an incentive (though not as much) to get people in the door.

Bottom line: remarkable doctors (the ones that people talk about) can charge more, can see more patients and have more security.

Being remarkable is not about a better ad in the Yellow Pages. It’s about everything from the way the receptionist interacts with the patient (hint: receptionist comes from the word ‘reception’) to the way the doctor talks to the patient.

What’s become clear to chiropractors and dentists (who went first in the marketing game) is that the actual quality of the medical care is often secondary. The fact is, we have nothing to compare the medical to. We don’t know if a different doctor would have cracked our back better, or if a different eye doctor would have made our vision less fuzzy. What we DO know is how we’re treated, cared for, accomodated and talked to. And it’s amazingly easy to do this in a remarkable way.

The sooner you start doing this on a regular basis, I would have told my friend the opthamologist, the quicker you become remarkable.

February 2, 2004

Two great questions: #1

I gave a seminar at the library down the street yesterday. A fund raiser for a good cause. It was fun but I was nervous, because, after all, I’ve got to see these people in the supermarket and at school every day.

After I finished, there were some spirited questions.

The best question was in response to my story about my sister’s quest to create a remarkable resume, something that short circuits the, “Mail my resume to 1,000 companies that would scan it into the HR database and promptly reject me” approach to finding a job.

Sharon pointed out that in addition to creating a remarkable resume, my sister was also putting the recipient in a spot where THEY had to be remarkable. In essency, being ‘risky’ was the safest path for my sister, but didn’t it require that the recipient take a risk by interviewing her? After all, they’d be breaking the rules by voiding the faceless HR shredder.

“Of course,” I grinned. “You’ve got it!” Sharon had cut through a lot of my blather and gotten to the essence of the Purple Cow. The only way you’re product or service grows is when people who are willing to color outside of the lines take a chance on it. The only way you get a job interview outside of the status quo is when an interviewer takes a chance on it.

The thing is: if someone isn’t willing to take a chance, YOU’RE GOING TO FAIL ANYWAY. Krispy Kreme grew when people willing to take a flyer on a new donut bit one. The folks who were Dunkin Donut fans, unwilling to try a taste of something new are invisible no matter what, right?

In other words, the only growth, the only breakthroughs, the only new customers and great jobs come from people/customers willing to go out on a limb a little bit. So WHY NOT cater to those people from the start?

If you cater to the ignoring masses, they will ignore you. That’s what they do.

Michael’s menu response

In response to Amazon’s puzzling menu postings, here’s a tool that will let you look up whether a San Francisco restaurant that you’re browsing has any health violations on the books.

The world keeps getting smaller. parasitic: Goofing around with bookmarklets

January 25, 2004

Amazon now does restaurants

It’s not clear to me why, though.