How to partner with your customer

Posted on August 2, 2011 by jmichaeldunn

Do you market a product, or do you market a service?  The answer is “Both” and “Neither”.  The line between product and service is blurred at best, especially in dental.  They are intertwined.  Features and benefits are indeed important.  However, what we really have to offer to set us apart from our competitors is the total customer experience.  This is true regardless of price, sales channel, or number of players in the category.  Your customers’ experience with your brand and you will determine if they purchase (again), become a raving fan, or become a naysayer.  This, of course, is not a novel concept. 

Yet, when was the last time you put yourself in your customers’ shoes?  I mean, really pondered about their experience with you, your brand, and your company.  Every interaction they have, not just with you, is a reflection of the product/service you represent.  Those interactions form their ultimate, lasting impression of you and your brand.

Take a few moments on a regular basis to track your brand’s customer experience.  The experience starts with your marketing communications tactics.  Are your MarCom messages and campaigns integrated?  Do your ads, social media, video, etc. deliver consistent messaging to support the sales function? 

So, potential customers have expressed interest through the marketing campaign.  They’ve introduced themselves to you as a “lead”.  How are they qualified?  Once qualified, how are they engaged?  Do you have a process in place to maximize the touches and experience provided to future customers in the “lead” stage?

 Then think about the demonstration or seminar (if applicable) experience.  What sets your brand apart?  Is this step in the journey optimized to show your brand’s leadership in the category, or are you just going through the motions?

Next they’ve signed the order.  Hooray!  Don’t celebrate too long.  Now’s the time when buyer’s remorse, inadequate practice integration, and confusion can set in to derail the experience.  The next interactions are critical to setting the customer up for success with your brand and, in doing so, securing success for your brand.  What steps do you have in place to train the customer, establish regular use of your product (make it a “habit”), and welcome the customer into your brand’s family?  This is the time when you can make the customer experience so positive and powerful that they become a raving fan and begin to refer colleagues and friends to your brand.

Lastly, think about what happens once they’re on board and the brand is fully integrated into their practice.  Are they forgotten or are they embraced and regularly engaged?  Tactics such as e-mails/blogs, receptions at trade shows, and social media contests are simple ways to continue to add value to your customers and enhance their experience.  As a side effect, you gain insights, testimonials, etc. from this enhanced relationship to fuel and augment future marketing campaigns.  And the cycle repeats.

The process presented here is simplified.  But the point is to regularly examine your marketing – lead – prospect – customer – marketing cycle.  Ensure it generates a positive brand experience.  Regardless of the features and benefits of what you are marketing, the goal is to build a strong relationship with your customers to where your brand is not just a product or service, but rather a partner to your customers.  Once your brand experience evolves into a sense of partnership with your customers, then you know you’re on the right track.  Do you market a product, or do you market a service?  Does it really matter?  Build a brand experience.  Become a partner to your customers.

Posted in How to ..., Marketing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Have you gone pro?

Posted on July 26, 2011 by jmichaeldunn

Sales reps bring value.  There, I said it.  Marketing-type folk do too.  And guess what else?  Sometimes the customer, or more often, the prospect, isn’t right. 

Let’s face it, the temptation is there – and often all too strong – to put the customer on a high, nigh unreachable pedestal, especially in an industry such as ours where the customers are healthcare professionals.  Titles such as DDS, DMD, RDH, etc can be intimidating.  You may not have such a title after your name.  You are still, however, a professional with value beyond your product.

 
You know your product.  The professionals you serve are speaking to you because of that.  You know the nuances, the subtle, oft-forgotten features & benefits, and the experiences of your other clients who have integrated it into their practices. 
 
Make no mistake, we shouldn’t attempt to put ourselves on their level when it comes to clinical knowledge and expertise (unless you have that training & experience, of course).  However, the art of being a professional in an industry serving professionals lies in embracing the value you bring beyond the product.  Separate yourself from the mere order takers, “yes” people, and stick fetchers.  Challenge your prospects and their misconceptions when they need it.  Ask them the questions which make them take pause, which make them really think about their practice and their vision for it.  Ask for commitments.  Heck, engage in debate.  In doing so, you will really be engaging the prospect and deepening the relationship.  They’ll appreciate that you, “just a rep”, stepped up and acted as a real professional.
 
Marketers, this concept isn’t limited to reps in the field.  You have an opportunity to challenge pre- and misconceptions of your constituencies from sales leadership to finance management.  It’s easy to get lost in the details & tactics, the need for tearpads in the field to support a promotion or the creative for a new ad campaign.  While these things are important, you have an obligation as a marketing professional to take a big picture, strategic approach.  It can be difficult in the face of demands for more “stuff” from the field balanced by demands to spend less from accounting.  Again here’s the art.  Embrace your role in driving strategy through the marketing function.  Resist the urge to implement a tactic simply because it’s what was done last year.  Collaborate with Sales on new ways to meet needs in the field as well as more deeply engage prospects.  Sit down with Finance and explain the goals and metrics for that integrated campaign and how it will move the needle.  You too have an obligation to step up and be more than “just a marketing” guy or gal.
 
As our customers & prospects are oral healthcare experts the patterns and pedestals can be set early.  Remain cognizant of your value and your own expertise.  Step up and set yourself apart.  Your prospects, clients, sales teams, and other constituencies will recognize and appreciate it.  Break the patterns.  Go pro.
Posted in Dental, Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Have you met Nevi?

Posted on July 19, 2011 by jmichaeldunn

It's Nevi with me and some new friends at ADHA2011Last month I attended the ADHA meeting for the first time.  Admission #1:  I did not know what to expect.  Due to my experiences and interests, I have always gravitated more towards digital technologies and equipment rather than hand instruments & preventive products.  So, I strode into the exhibit hall with wide eyes and keen interest in what I might find.

It wasn’t long before I met Nevi.  I instantly became enamoured.  Admission #2:  I wasn’t enamoured with Nevi’s design, ergonomics, or other features.  Frankly I’m not well-versed enough in scalers to make a real comparison between them.  I was drawn however to Hu-Friedy’s marketing presence for Nevi at the show.  Admission #3:  I don’t work for Hu-Friedy, nor am I affiliated with the company in any way.  I simply like their campaign for this product and wanted to point out some of the reasons why.

First, although a variation on a theme (the Travelocity Gnome comes to mind), I haven’t really seen this concept executed that well in dental.  Look at Nevi in the photo on this page…how can you resist?  I couldn’t and had to have my picture taken with him.  Of course, the campaign didn’t stop there or at the booth.  Naturally there was a post card to tell me to “friend” Nevi on his Facebook page.  Yet, they took the integration a step further.  You can host Nevi on his tour around the country.  By doing so, the host gets some free stuff.  The company gets a written request of why the host deserves to be chosen as well as some photos of the host & their team with Nevi in different locales all around the nation.  Now, we’re getting somewhere (yes, pun intended).  The personalization of a product in a…well…crowded category is one thing.  The integration of the show activity and the personalization with social media is another.  Extending it to a higher level of engagement with the prospect and/or customer starts to make it exciting.  Add to that the charity element (the company is donating money to a scholarship fund for clinical education for each new state Nevi visits), and now you have yourself a winner.  Good media integration, great prospect/customer engagement, a dash of solid corporate citizenry, and a cute promotional icon turn a campaign that could have easily been “here are X features and benefits that make our scaler better than theirs” into a real marketing delight.  Kudos to Hu-Friedy and Nevi!

We don’t see that much truly clever and effective marketing in dental.  We should.  There are enough good minds and products in our industry to support some excellent campaigns.  Let’s challenge ourselves to do better.  I can’t wait to meet the next great campaign.

Posted in Dental, Marketing, Products | Tagged , | 2 Comments