By: Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA | kbarlow@barlowmccarthy.com
This summer will be described many ways, but I suspect lazy, hazy days is not one of them. Organizations are anxious to see referring physician relationships return and teams across the country are generally happy to be creating routines that include more time in the field. These early summer visits may start with a little bit of getting reacquainted, but then what? Here are a few ideas to make sure you can maximize your summer time in the field.
Set a Summer Goal: Set a goal that you can accomplish and measure by Labor Day. It might be the number of contacts, or intelligence learned or maybe new practices that are ripe for discovery visits from you. Write the goal down and then segment it by month and expected action. There’s nothing wrong with promising yourself a reward if you meet the goal either.
Call Out Your WIIFM for the Doctor and Their Patient: This summer try starting with a story of value in your message. Create a simple one-line story about the impact of a clinical offering and the patient impact. Prepare a statement about physician value. Once those are ready, think about the question to stage this offering and then repackage your message for a few practices and evaluate the impact. We need to keep our style and approach fresh, so this is a perfect time to mix it up a bit. (WIIFM: What’s In It For Me?)
Get Smarter: Summer is a great time to learn something new and now might be the perfect time to shadow an area of the hospital or interview one of your internal specialists. Make sure you prepare for your learning by doing your homework, planning questions that will help you with the referring physician audience and take notes so your summer learnings will be retained.
Different is Good: Invest in making sure you know what makes your offerings different – for the specific practices. Because people are more distracted in the summer, your ability to differentiate your services will be even more important. Take the time to customize your benefit language. And, if you are unsure, more learning opportunity for you!
Amp Up Your Social Side: Some practices exude that summer vibe, so match your style with theirs. Test the waters, but for some practices ask about baseball, summer vacations, practice changes with the summer, etc. The social connections matter. They differentiate you when authentic and they can be nice icebreakers after a year with Zoom. As you do this, make sure to prepare your transition line for the business at hand, so your professional side shines through as well.
As a person who grew up where winters are fierce, summer is a time to be enjoyed. This year it is especially so. Everyone needs us to do good work, so why not provide the right summer flair!
If learning is at the top of your list of needs for summer or fall, please reach out as we’ve got classes suited for one or a group in a variety of settings. Email at info@barlowmccarthy.com to learn more.