Are Your Competitors Quietly Using Physician Liaisons to Win Your Doctor Referrals?
I just came away from a discussion with two practice representatives who work with one of our highly successful specialty practices. Real world, “from the street” healthcare marketing information is often perceptive, and the conversation left me with important insights that I wanted to share with our readers.
For context... Three years ago, our client acted on our recommendation to hire these two representatives, and they have been remarkably successful. Today they were working their territory and found out that one of their major competitors is hiring 12—yes, 12—practice reps to cover the city. (That’s more reps than many hospitals have.)
The first observation is that competition among medical practices and providers is huge. In fact, the view-from-the-street tells us the competitive environment is probably a lot hotter and far more serious than you realize. (It’s the same intense reading we get from our work throughout the country. It’s the same across the board.)
Next, this snapshot illustrates that any lingering discussions about whether or not to have a practice rep (or physician liaison, for hospitals) is just silly at this point. Know it or not, your competition is probably already winning away referrals and new patients. (Unfortunately, most providers, specialty practices and organizations don’t realize what’s happening until the damage has already been done.)
In fact, if our client didn’t have their own representatives in the field, they wouldn’t have known about this development either. And our third point is that—above and beyond getting referrals—reps are great at competitive reconnaissance…sooner, not later.
Your competitors are quietly using physician liaisons to win your doctor referrals. With our help or not, it’s time to have your own representatives working for you in this increasingly competitive environment.
