Marketing Miscue
The following is based on one of The Covenant Group’s clients. All of the names and telling details have been changed.
Mary McIntosh is one of those ingenuous people who isn’t afraid to speak her mind if something doesn’t make sense to her. We learned that during the best practices workshops we conducted for her company a year earlier. So here we were, at a follow-up session and Mary was as blunt as ever.
“That whole ‘target marketing’ thing we talked about doesn’t work”, she said. “I’ve been trying it for almost six months and the results are dismal.”
“Obviously, Mary, I am disappointed to hear that such a key strategy hasn’t been as effective for you as it has been for so many advisors. The good news in what you have just said, however, is that you gave it six months. Building a profile in a market is a gradual process and the results can take time to be felt. Before you abandon the approach altogether, though, can we see if there are any clues as to why it might not have worked out as expected?”
“Let’s go back to when we first met. At that time, you had been in the business for just over three years. You left the nursing profession to become a financial advisor because it fulfilled your passion to genuinely help people. That same motivation initially drew you to become a nurse, but, unfortunately, after a few years, the long, often thankless, hours started to wear you down. You also felt frustrated by the “system” that didn’t deliver the level of patient care you felt it should. The role of a financial advisor, however, provided the opportunity to set your own ‘standard of care’ and be entirely responsible for its delivery.
And knowing you as we do, we are certain that it isn’t for lack of trying that your strategy hasn’t been as successful as hoped. So let’s look a little deeper. First, how did you define your ‘target market’?”
“It seemed obvious to concentrate on the health care industry. I know a lot of people at the hospital as well as most of the doctors who have privileges there. In fact, I zeroed in on doctors. After all, they are the ones with higher incomes, more complex financial needs and less time to deal with personal matters. It seemed like a natural choice.”
“On the surface, that appears logical. Let’s evaluate doctors as a target market against some commonly applied criteria. A target market is first defined as a group of people with common interests, common needs who are connected to and communicate with each other. Doctors would meet all those conditions.”
“Yes, I also know they really need help. Many of them can’t manage their financial affairs. I used to hear them talking about that all the time.”
“Good. Hopefully, you also recall the other target market qualifications; that the group should be large enough to justify the focus and they must be approachable by you. How many people are in your target market?”
“I did some research and discovered there are about 2000 health care workers of some sort in town. I’d estimate I can identify close to half of them either personally or because of an association they have with someone I know.”
“That’s great – your network within the health care industry is certainly large enough to justify special attention. How many of them are doctors?”
“According to the Canadian Medical Association’s website, there are 109 General Practitioners and 66 Specialists for a total of 175 doctors.”
“How many of those 175 would you expect to develop as clients?”
“There are other good advisors in town who have some of my target market as clients already but I think, given my background and contacts, that I should be capable of eventually capturing, say, 10%. It will take time so my objective was to have 15 - 20 doctors as clients within two years, but here we are after six months and I don’t have any. That’s why I think the strategy was all wrong.”
“Before we concede that, Mary, tell us about your experiences so far.”
“I thought I had a pretty inclusive marketing plan. In the workshop, you emphasized how important it was to have 4-6 robust promotional activities as part of our marketing strategy so I laid out what I thought was a good program. First, I set up a direct mail campaign to every physician and followed up by telephone to arrange an appointment. That was my broad-based tactic for letting doctors know that I now had a financial advisory practice focused on their unique needs. Even where I couldn’t get through to the doctor directly, I assumed I’d easily get in because I knew many of the nurses and doctors’ office receptionists. Most of them, however, were reluctant to put me in the doctors’ schedules without checking first and more often than not, the doctor declined the appointment. I know personal introductions are the most powerful way to initiate new relationships so I asked the nurses and receptionists I know if they’d be willing to introduce me to the doctor if I just dropped by the office. Some agreed, but overall, I wasn’t very successful. I also organized a ‘Financial Planning for Doctors’ seminar and posted notice of it in the hospital but no one came. It was so embarrassing and frustrating. Finally, there are a few doctors with whom I worked closely at the hospital so I approached them directly. I had better results there, in that I had some exploratory appointments but just couldn’t seem to generate any real interest in what I could do for them. So I had my 4-6 promotional activities but they just weren’t working. That’s why I have concluded I should probably abandon the strategy.”
“Mary”, we explained, “because you are a person who doesn’t like to beat around the bush, let us be candid about why we think your strategy was flawed. Is that OK?”
“Sure – all I did was follow your advice so go ahead”
“Yes”, we replied, “you did as was suggested in putting together your marketing plan but you ignored two very important factors. Number one – the promotional activities you undertook weren’t appropriate for your target market. Doctors and other professionals are generally not responsive to direct mail solicitation. In fact, it often offends them because they feel it doesn’t acknowledge their stature in the community. They are also very busy and as a consequence, reluctant to take time from their schedules to attend seminars. Dropping by their office unannounced generally doesn’t court much favour either. Your promotional strategy must recognize the ego, position and preferences of the intended audience. Yours didn’t do that. But the number two issue is even more important. Recall that one of the criteria for a target market is that it has to be approachable and let me add emphasis – by YOU! I know you were a very dedicated, well-regarded nurse but please be honest, how do doctors typically perceive nurses? Is the relationship one of mutual respect?”
“Well, there are a few good ones, but I’d have to admit, there are too many doctors who think of nurses as more subservient than as anything approaching their equal.”
“And that, Mary, is where the root of the problem lies. You have targeted a relatively small market of people who generally do not hold anyone – not just you – with your background in high esteem. Then you approach them in a way that they find disrespectful. Some of them may even be bitter that you are no longer around to assist them. Is the outcome predictable?”
“I guess it was – so I just wasted six months.”
“No, not at all. Sure you could have been more effective but today, there are many more people who know about your expertise as a financial advisor than six months ago. Where have you been and who have you talked to?”
“I’ve spent almost all my time in and around the hospital and in doctors’ offices and clinics so I’d have to say that the people I’ve encountered there know what I do.”
“And there’s the answer, Mary. Start a marketing campaign directed at the people who are comfortable speaking with you – the nursing supervisors, hospital administrative staff, medical technicians and, of course, the nurses. My guess is that you could capture a significant share of that market. I also sense that if you have a large number of clients who work alongside the doctors, it won’t be too long before word-of-mouth will get you the access and respect that has been elusive so far. What do you think?” Over the next few weeks, Mary developed a new marketing strategy aimed at the non-doctor medical community. She leveraged her contacts for personal introductions, offered “lunch and learn seminars” to hospital staff (including a couple at midnight right after shift change) and arranged to write a regular column on “Financial Fitness” in the hospital’s internal newsletter. She volunteered everywhere in the medical community – at charity events, on a committee to attract new doctors and in fund-raising activities. Six months later, Mary was the acknowledged “health care industry” financial expert. Not surprisingly, several doctors began to notice what she was doing and to date, six have become clients. Mary's goal was to have 15-20 by the end of the year and she did.
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