I was on the phone with a Pfizer
rep the other day and she said to me, “Remember when we used to come home
and the answering machine light was on?
That was it! That was the only
thing we had to deal with!”
Boy, did she take me back.
There I was, 1996, opening the door to my apartment, just praying that
that little red light was on…that meant I was remembered and loved…didn’t
matter by whom. It’s hard to believe,
but 1996 was 17 years ago and a LOT has changed.
We’re busier, right?
It’s not just me, is it? I work
from home a lot, frequently on the weekends.
I send emails to business counterparts and they reply…in minutes! Since when did everybody pick up a Sunday
shift?
My colleague Brenda Tassava took
a snap shot of a
dry erase board at one of her practices.
Four out of the six surgeries listed were to be ‘texted’ their pet’s
status update. Now in addition to
everything else we do, we have to track ‘preferred method of communication’?
It still blows my mind that people are keeping in touch with
their veterinary practices using Twitter.
One of my hospitals
installed a ‘live chat’ button on their website page. Can you imagine? When I worked at the front desk, it was
EVERYTHING I could do to keep up with the phones, now I have a live chat to
work too?! Someone hand me my nerve
pills! I asked the young maniac, the
pert twenty-something at the desk, why she pushed for the feature and she
happily chirped, “Oh I’m addicted to my phone.
I don’t want to call people…I don't have time for that. I want answers now.”
I don’t think that’s what Alexander Graham Bell had in mind,
Sweetie, but I suppose you have a point.
We are talking in a whole different way…and in a whole different
language.
Who reads ads any more?
We don’t read ads. When’s the
last time you opened a phone book and thought to your self, “Hmmmm, now there’s a nice quarter page layout
on a plumber. I think that’s my
man!” We don’t do that. We get on the old Facebook page and we holler
out into cyberspace, “Hey, my five hundred friends…who knows of a plumber I can
trust”. I could drive you past the same
billboard for a week and you’d be hard pressed to pass a test on it’s content,
but if I ‘friend’ request you on Facebook, I’m willing to bet you pick up that
puppy in less than an hour.
The good news is, provided we strip away the antiquated work
systems that we have in place to handle communication (“Mary Ann, you sit up front and
answer the phones, Jessie and I will be in the back waiting for the pets to come
in”), this way of interacting is not only manageable, it plays directly into
the hands of the small business owner.
Online communication provides an extraordinarily intimate and
personalized way of reaching our clients and if it’s one thing that small
veterinary professionals have in spades, it’s an interest in caring. Right? I mean, let’s get honest here. We GIVE the stuff away because we care so
much. When big business sends us
entreaties to ‘like us’, we smell a sales pitch. Done right, the same entreaty from our
veterinarian is a welcome invitation to know someone better that we’re already in love with!
Social Media and the communication tools of the 21st
Century have the ability to give your practice unheard-of visibility and
exposure. Get busy talking. I’ll be interested in reading up on your
progress…on my phone (!)
Nicely stated, Bash...I think most people are unaware that we are bombarded with more than 3000 advertisements everyday and so it truly takes a personal touch, as you mentioned, to connect with folks. Over at the Veterinary News Network, I can tell you that I see FAR too many veterinary hospitals trying to emulate bigger businesses and using far too much marketing in their online presence.
ReplyDeleteWhat works is the one on one communications...in person or online. That's where the true power lies!
3000 ads a day! That is an incredible statistic. It seems like we all have stories to share. Here is another. At one of my practices, Animal Medical of New City, our Facebook page was languishing in nowhere'sville...just a bunch of random posts about fleas and dental promotions. The practice owner attended Brenda's lecture on Social Media then sent his twenty-something, brainy client care representative. That's when things really took off. Using Facebook as a virtual key hole of sorts, she selected photos and stories that provided fans funny, moving glimpses into the day-to-day operations of the practice. Fans doubled and the page sees a sizeable amount of activity. No ads, no selling, just an extension of the kindness and the interest Animal Medical takes in its clients and patients. It's BY FAR our most effective marketing tool...leaving other ways we interact with our clients (fliers, postcards) feeling like they are missing an entire dimension of space.
DeleteGreat post, Bash! Your comments about 1996 take me back to when I was that receptionist at the front desk. When the power went out, the phones were dead and it was as if a lifeline had been completely disconnected between the practice and our clients. Sometimes, this could last for hours! Just this year, at one of my practices, the phones went down for two DAYS! Did they stand around and "wait"? NO! They used Facebook, Twitter, text-messaging, etc to get the word out the their clients as to what was happening and then they deployed a cell phone to forward get their incoming calls forwarded and answered as quickly as possible. Was it ideal? NO! But today's technology and connectivity makes it all possible:)
ReplyDeleteHorrors to have to return to the days of limited connection!
ReplyDeleteIt burns me to have to wait an hour for people who refuse to be sitting around just waiting for my email, much less text. You know who you are:)