Stop wasting your time.
If you are a sales professional in (almost) any industry, but especially in healthcare, then your first touchpoint with potential customers should be online. If you are still cold calling or randomly knocking on doors in 2020 then you are wasting everyone’s time.
Initial touch points now start online
The reason initial touch points with potential customers all start online is because the process of education and research both begin online. The entire US economy is built upon consumers using the internet to find products and solutions.
Think for a moment about the last medium to large purchase you made… a pair of running shoes, a bicycle, a computer, etc.
If you are like most people then you probably began your research online. Yes, you may have asked a friend or family member too, but chances are that a large chunk of your research was done online.
In healthcare, this looks very similar to most industries in the sense that everyone is online. Even doctors, decision makers and executives of healthcare organizations are on social media, despite our perception that they might not be. We actually wrote a blog recently about how “Social Media Is The Right Tool For Reaching The Mid-Market Healthcare Providers” in which we dig into the details further.
A proven process
Online outreach is the perfect solution for educating Top of Funnel (TOFU) leads. Before the internet, the process of educating and introducing a product or service to potential customers was extremely inefficient. Now with millions of data points at our fingertips, we have the ability to reach the right individuals with the right message at the right time.
But the truth is that we all still get our fair share of junk mail and are constantly bombarded with advertisements for products that we will never buy. And as weird or creepy as it may be to see extremely relevant ads online, it is somewhat refreshing to have a customized advertisement experience.
That, in a nutshell, is the benefit of online outreach: It matches a consumer’s interest and intent with the solution.
Enabling deeper education
A positive consequence of online advertising is the education process. With intent and solution so closely aligned, the Consumer is more likely to engage while the Seller is better positioned to explain “what we do” or “what we offer”.
In essence, the education process becomes streamlined and therefore will funnel more qualified leads down to the sales team.
How & when to get started
At OM Agency, we talk a lot about these concepts because we have helped a number of healthcare companies implement these strategies and processes, which enable their Marketing and Sales teams to perform better. Our latest eBook on Healthcare’s Digital Transformation digs much deeper into the “how” of modernizing your sales and marketing organization. Download your copy today!
Finally, we would like to challenge you to get started sooner than later with this popular Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
