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We will make several articles that will all have the same common topic, which is the professional's role as a business manager or employee. This text is the first one and addresses the acquisition of new clients.
Since a lot of healthcare professionals are self employed or work in small teams, they often have a role as a manager in their practice. Acquiring new clients, managing and communicating with teams, setting up processes and managing human resources; so many elements that university education does not cover. In this article, you'll find relevant information about acquiring customers that will help you with your role as a manager or business owner either you work alone, or with multiple employees.
We will start this sequence of 4 articles by the customer acquisition. Of course, we can't cover every issues on this topic, but we will discuss the 4 most common reasons :
- Vague or inaccurate message
- Not enough time spent on business development
- Inaccurate development goal
- Lack of follow-up
Vague or inaccurate messages
In your customer acquisition strategy, you need to present your advantages and your distinctiveness, however, the message is often inaccurate or too vague. In sales, a common tip is to use the three C rule (comprehension, comfort, confidence) to convert a lead to a customer. If one of these elements is missing, the ability to convert the lead will be significantly reduced (e.g. selling your services in a freezer where it is - 30°, the comfort part is missing).
Indeed, it is important that potential customers truly understand what the company's mission and services are. However, this is one of the area where it is difficult for us to help you. You need to think about your offer, the value you bring, your services and your distinctiveness.
Not enough time spent on business development
When developing a business clientele, acquiring new customers is a mathematical process. This process is defined by the life cycle of a prospect that can be summed up in this inverted triangle :
This cycle allows you to see the customer's path through the sales funnel. Indeed, no matter what technique you use, the customer will have to go through these phases before becoming a confirmed customer. To increase your sales, you can change the number of people entering the funnel, or the conversion rate of each step. Once these figures are known and by putting your energy mainly on the cause (Bring 200 potential new leads into the funnel), the final desired effect will take care of itself (Sign 50 customers). For example, with 200 new incoming leads and a conversion rate of 50% at each stage, you will sign approximately 50 clients per year. (See the picture above).
We've created an Excel file that lets you play with these different numbers and visualize your forecast revenues according to your ambitions and goals. Don't forget to always give yourself specific goals!
How many people you need to meet?
If you are interested in this excel file, just click on the button below!
Download the file
Lack of follow-up
Now that we've seen the customer acquisition formula, you need to make sure you use the right methods and tools to track them.
In the prospect's life cycle, it's important to follow the prospect closely around every step of the process. Every potential customer who enters the sales channel should have a folder that is created automatically, especially if you need to contact them in the future.
For this purpose, a software like Hexfit allows you to create a client file to centralize all its information, interventions, objectives, activities, and thus visualize its evolution using graphics and more. You can also create tasks not to forget anything. For those who have many customers and have more complex customer management processes, you should use more comprehensive CRM tools for tracking sales processes, such as Hubspot.
In any case, it is important to connect the software you use and to automate the tasks that are prone to errors. You will be more efficient in your activities. Software like Hexfit ensures you can connect with other software. Indeed, the software integrates Zapier, a third-party application for synchronizing applications together. Here are some examples of actions you can create with Zapier :
All these tracking features will allow you to optimize your customer follow-up during the acquisition process.
By defining your service offering, respecting the life cycle of the prospect and using good tools to track potential customers, your customer acquisition should give more results easily!
For more information about Hexfit, please contact us!