Saturday, November 17, 2018

MARKETING - A View. Contd.5....

WHAT IS A CALL ACTUALLY?

A call on a doctor has two main things : CALL OPENING & CALL CLOSING.

Many of the marketers do not concentrate on this. The time given towards a marketer solely depends on these two facts. General thought of many marketing people about a CALL is just Greeting a doctor and explaining the product / service with the tools they have. In my understanding such calls were proven ineffectiveπŸ‘Ž as it is one among many promotions the doctor is gonna see. 

Those who have concentrated on the above given two facts has always made a place for themselves in the marketing industry πŸ‘. Let us see what we can do about it.. 

CALL OPENING is always with greeting the doctor of course, as that's the basic thing to be done by anyone when we meet someone new, irrespective of their positions. But, after extending a warm greetings to the doctor marketers misses certain things, which has to be taken into prime considerationπŸ˜•πŸ˜• due to which a prospect turns to non prospective lead. 

All the organizations trains their marketing people about their Product or Service which is necessary but doesn't becomes essential than training them on HOW TO MAKE A CALL???

Training on product or service definitely helps the marketer to achieve the first character a marketing person should have but, it alone doesn't helps the person to gain control on other three required characters. So a marketer should definitely have one attitude for being a skilled marketing person which is - QUESTIONING & 

QUESTIONING & REASONING are two prime facts any marketer should have and this attitude comes either as a persons birth attitude or grown attitude from the childhood because of parents or teachers which proves his learning attitude. 
A SEARCH IN LIFE..... A SEARCH FOR NEW THINGS..... WILL TO LEARN - 
These should be there with a person to be a good marketer. 

Person with such attitudes will be eager to learn on the products / services. When a person has such thrive of learning, they will reason themselves for accepting the product / services, so that they will be able to clear the doubts raised to them during their calls.  

Such reasoning sessions will help them partly but any person would be able to understand their own product or services completely, ONLY , when they are in field while facing questions for which the answers would be unknown to them. This actually gives them to gain control on the third character a marketing person requires over a period of time. 

DOES CALL DEPENDS ON CHARACTERS ?????

Monday, November 12, 2018

MARKETING - A VIEW Contd.4...

JUST 2 MINUTES...πŸ˜•πŸ˜•πŸ˜•

When i was an amateur marketer, when i heard such replies from doctors, i was literally confused and didn't know many times what to brief the doctor in 2 minutes??. 
It happened like at some places i have left without talking anythingπŸ˜“πŸ˜“ as the doctor would had already called the patient in. During the thought process to break this ice, one fine day i utilized the given 2 minutes. I just thanked the doctor for the time given and asked an appointment with the doctor to discuss in detail. Waited, fixed my appointment with him and left the clinic handing over my business card. 
The day went and on the next day morning during my reporting to my godfather, i was asked if the appointment fixing to be considered as a call and my answer was YES which he accepted after a small briefing about the call made. 
During the following days did the same with many doctors and the day also came to me for meeting the doctor who was my first prospect with an appointment. Met him, had a detailed discussion for 20 minutes, THANKED HIM FOR HIS VALUABLE TIME and went back to the routine. 
Received a call in a week time asking for a particular surgical procedure cost and the doctor referred a patient to our hospital. The reference of the patient proved me, i was right about the way of approach and i did my detailing well.
There are times even during the appointments the doctor couldn't spare time to me and i have refixed for more than 7 times with them and did the detailing to make the doctor a valuable prospect for my institution. And yes there are times where i have stopped meeting certain doctors, about which we will see later.

What do we detail the doctor during the promotion? 

What is a Call ?? 
Meeting the doctor and promoting is called as a call which was told earlier isn't it...???

But what does a call has in it? 

What is a proper call? 

Saturday, November 10, 2018

MARKETING - A VIEW Contd.3...

IN JUST TWO MINUTES...??????😟😟😟

When i was promoted to a position where i had to handle a team of marketers, i use to go on calling the doctors along with my teammates. [Calling is the terminology used for meeting the doctors and doing promotions.] So, when we get to call on a new doctor whom we haven't met earlier i will remain a spectator watching my team member making the call. Every time, every one, does this mistake of rushing up with their product / services to the doctor and where they miss out the most important two factors which to be carried with them forever their life. BODY LANGUAGE & ATTITUDE. 

Well... 
What these has got to do with marketing??😏😏😏

If this question comes to your mind, then it is the right time for you to understand that these two are the most important qualities a human should have at all times which shows Your Skill & Confidence level. To be precise YOUR STRENGTH. πŸ’ͺπŸ’ͺπŸ’ͺ

When a person misses the right opportunity then IT'S A LOSS and when a marketer, misses its a huge loss as the impression created to the opposite person plays a vital role in a marketing carrier. So, due to over enthusiasm or in a hurry when a marketer does a mistake it will only create an impression that he / she is not strong enough for the job where again it may take several months or years to rewrite this opinion in doctors mind.

When i was taught to market by my Godfather, certain characteristics which he wanted me to carry forever was also taught to me, which actually made me who i am now. A marketer should have "4" characters. 

1. EGO 
2. BOLDNESS
3. AUTHORITIZATION
4. FEARLESS

A person until & unless confident enough about his / her product should not go to the field and do marketing. Its only when a marketer knows the product / service (or) the company (or) what they deliver - is the best, they will get this EGO. Only when, they won't feel shy to present themselves where as, they will hold their head up straight during the presentation where the body language explains the confidence with self respect.

When a person achieves such a EGO, then the BOLDNESS comes in the speech where the pitching of the product and explanations of the services happens in a rightful manner. A crystal clear speech which will be nailed in the doctors mind grabbing their attention with confidence on the marketer.

During the briefing or post briefing, if there are questions or doubts raised by doctor regarding any services, the marketer should be AUTHORITATIVE to clear the doubts by understanding and analyzing it within few seconds and should be able to promise on services which can be delivered. But the authoritization doesn't ends only with promising to the doctor but only when it is delivered as promised.

If a marketer feels at any point of time, that he / she isn't authoritative to promise on the services, he / she should be FEARLESS to ask an apology to the doctor and promise them to get back with the required details. Post which this should be considered as learning opportunity through which he / she becomes authoritative on that area and learn it AND the answers to be given authoritively to the doctor for the questions asked. 

These all should happen when a marketing person meets a doctor from a hospital. 

Is it possible in JUST 2 MINUTES??πŸ˜•πŸ˜•πŸ˜•


Thursday, November 8, 2018

MARKETING - A VIEW contd.2...


HEALTHCARE  - A word that has a power of Attraction, Respect, Honesty and Hospitality. 

One may think - How this word can be so powerful ? Is it real? 

I would say - Oh yes it is and i don't know if you are from healthcare or any other industry but when a person claims as a Healthcare person, one can see the people responding to him / her with great respect irrespective of creed, power, financial status and what-so-ever a person may have to show themselves big. 

When i joined Healthcare Marketing with a corporate hospital at chennai which is well known across the globe just because of its Managing Director's skills, it was a dream come true senario in my life. My Managing Director was THE BEST DOCTOR & PERSON who is & will be my godfather forever my life. A character whom cannot be forgotten or ignored in life. Whatever he taught me, out of his experience and learning is nailed in my brains. He taught me about HEALTHCARE and the responsibility of a healthcare person on our society. There are lot of days as everlasting wonderful memories where i was taken along with him, side by side, during his hospital rounds to see how, he and his team of specialists treat patients coming to our hospital. 

In Healthcare Marketing, there are again only TWO methods of promotion carried out which are REFERRAL MARKETING & DIRECT MARKETING. 

A newly built or an upcoming hospital, has to promote their services between public - for them to get it utilized. So how does this happens ? As per medical ethics advertisement of an individual medical practitioner is forbidden but an institution can. 
So advertising the hospital will do it all ? πŸ˜•NO..

This happens majorly through Individual Medical Practitioners practicing in different places. A person meeting these Doctors and doing marketing comes under DOCTOR REFERRAL SEGMENT which is called as DRT(Doctor Referral Team) or MPT(Medical Practitioner Team) in healthcare industry. 
So what happens here is, an individual going to a nearby or known doctor for treatment will be diagnosed by the practitioner and could get treated there OR could be referred to such hospitals where certain facility is available to treat the patient, which again purely depending on the severity of the ailment and the decision of the doctor. Now a marketer has to meet such individual medical practitioners and explain the facilities available at his/her hospital along with the reason -  WHY THE DOCTOR SHOULD SEND HIS / HER PATIENT to marketers hospital. 

Well it seems easy right ?😊

But the beauty of it is, how a person can take the time of the doctor during his / her practice? Patients will be waiting right outside the cabin and couple of screamings also could be heard. And many who were / are into healthcare segment would had heard this answer during their meeting with the doctors.. "YOU GOT TWO MINUTES !"✌

Well two minutes would be over when you greet the doctor and start briefing, where the doctor would had already started saying - "OK OK ! I DON'T HAVE TIME, KINDLY LEAVE A BROCHURE IF YOU HAVE AND I WILL GO THROUGH WHEN I AM FREE AND WILL TALK WHEN YOU COME NEXT TIME ... And trust me there are gonna be lot of two minutes and the same reply is gonna come with slightest changes.

Now what to be done ? How one makes a selling in JUST two minutes ????  πŸ˜•πŸ˜•πŸ˜•

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Marketing A View cont..1

My experience was totally into MARKETING which started with Promosales Banking product for a short period of time, a year and so... Then had a chance to get introduced with Concept Selling which is Promotion through an Insurance Company. The policies were so good that i personally would not refuse taking up one but it was pretty difficult to sell a single policy to a customer for a period of time. I was wondering why is it so difficult and why a person says "NO" to such benefits which were really good. Every individuals answers was "I have a policy and don't want anymore"Well it was direct selling which I was doing apart from the branding and advertisements done by my organization.

I fix up appointments with people, go to their place, understand their economical situation and suggest a plan which was again a "NO" from many and "MAY BE LATER"from few. Had discussions with my boss, took them for appointments to close the leads but there was only a slight change where from few it became many of theirs reply i.e., "MAY BE LATER". Had a brain storming session conducted by us, for us and finalized at the way of approach which is nothing but REFERRAL MARKETING.

Any insurance company Will ask one to start selling with friends, relatives and neighbours and then take reference from them. But, not many would had succeeded in this method where even i was one who wasn't. The reply from the known circle would be majority "NO" and sometimes they would hesitate to meet when they find out you are selling insurance policies and wanna sell one to them.

So where do we take reference?

One have to find a proper place and source to sell any product or concept. I found a bank branch where bankers  started selling my products to their customers in a span of two months. (Here - started selling means they started telling their customers to take a policy which benefits them.) It was a powerful marketing where the conversion of leads started hitting the roof. Think what would had happened... 

I was identified as Country's No.1 marketer by my organization and was holding it for three years. Once I was awarded as above said i was identifying my mistakes, where., i was not identifying those who wanna invest but was calculating the risks of one and explaining the benefits to those who were not ready to invest. Don't ask me if I have missed ethics to sell just for becoming No.1?? The answer is NO, as i sold it with all necessary risk coverages for them so they will be benefitted.

Identifying a proper client is a skill but many loses such clients from converting them to customers due to one of the reasons: Not a good time, No privacy, Wrong pitching to right person or Right pitching to wrong person which was a learning from the field. Since then I always ensure i am meeting the right person along with second right person when I sell a policy that too with enough time to hear my briefing without any disturbance which makes easier for them to concentrate, understand / analyze and to decide AND yes, for me to have a potential customer. So this was one which kept me Country's No.1 Marketer in my organization until I shifted to my passionated industry - HEALTHCARE.
Contd..2

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

MARKETING A VIEW

A Product or a Service coming for public use have to introduce with millions of peoples so that their product or services been bought or utilized respectively. The manufacturer or the service provider invests money to provide this which he can multiply only be selling their product / service which are known facts.

There are certain companies which are successful and some are not. This i would say, it is solely because of the market penetration of the product / service. In simple words it depends on the MARKETING of the product / service.
MARKETING is always divided into two : SELLING & PROMOTION.
Selling is determined for products where the number of products sold out identically shows the strength of marketing.

Promotion is the terminology for services where the number of people utilizing the services determines the strength of marketing.

Let us take a quick look at the industries coming under Selling & Promotion
Selling : FMCG, Electronics & Electricals, Home Furnishing, Jewellery etc.,
Promotion : Educational Institutions, Hospitals, Insurance, Hotels( Boarding & Lodging), etc.,

Here i think i can classify the third division in MARKETING - PROMO SALES for the industries like Pharmacy, Real Estate, Labs & Scans, Hotels (Food Providers) etc., which actually takes a bit of both Selling and Promotion.

What is the big difference between Selling and Promotion is - Promotion is selling ultimately a virtual product or we can say a concept where the marketer has to create and visualize the service of which he sells to the client or customer, which the so called client or customer cannot touch nor feel it physically but emotionally can be felt only when one involves himself to the briefing of the Marketer and understands it. Whereas Selling is little easier compared to Promotion as it is a product which is visible and can be physically felt where only comparison matters for the results.

Generally marketing is done only through Direct Selling, Advertisements and Referral Marketing across the globe. Whatever a company does as Marketing it falls only under these categories.

I have always been proud being a Marketer than carrying any big designations...  
www.wecare4all.in