Barlow/McCarthy Blog
Check back often to hear from our talented team of consultants. Topics covered include: Physician Relations, Physician Recruitment, Practice Marketing, Medical Staff Development, Community Health Needs Assessments, etc.
Effectively Leading Physician Relations
by Kriss Barlow, MBA, RN Just as best-practice organizations need capable field staff, so, too, do they need capable program leaders. Effective leaders balance their ability to look at the whole ladder, while never losing site of the individual rungs. The best...
Ensuring Physician Relations Gets the Credit
By Allison McCarthy, MBA Effectively measuring ROI on physician sales and retention activities requires two key elements - quantitative data and qualitative data. While producing the quantitative data has its own set of challenges, qualitative data trending and...
Getting Leadership’s Attention Through Innovative Reporting
By: Susan Boydell You’ve gone out into the field, talked with physicians, compiled actions steps and presented a volume of viable suggestions to leadership… And nothing happens. Now what? To make sure you don’t find yourself in that “Now what?” position, it’s...
A Checklist to Consider How Ideas are Processed Internally
By Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA "It is one thing to have a great idea – it is quite another to see your idea actually implemented. How often have you had a “brainstorm”, gotten excited, rushed in to share it with your boss, co-workers, family, etc. only to see their...
Four Barriers to Successful Physician Sales
Author: Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA This article appeared in Healthcare Marketing Advisor, January 2007 and was updated by the author in 2009, to provide readers with the most current market reflections. What makes some physician relations programs so successful, whereas...
Important Sales Rules Not to Live By
Author: Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA Anyone who's ever sold anything to anyone has learned the lessons of what not to do. Conversely, those negative experiences can teach us to do things the right way-and how to build solid relationships with our customers. Consider these...
Is My Model Right for the Times – Developing or Redefining Your Physician Relations Program
By Kriss Barlow, MBA, RN The right model is essential. It includes positioning in the organization; the leverage needed to be effective internally and with the doctors and it assists the program leader in focusing the field talent in the right direction. While it is...
Physician Sales Tool Box
By David F. Zirkle, PhD As with most sales efforts, effective physician relations begins with well-developed prospect lists to direct field activity and allocate resources. The process and tools described below focus on growing key strategic service lines. The...
Prospecting Tips for Sales
Author: Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA This article has been updated by the author to reflect 2009 trends and market dynamics. For many people who are in sales, seeking out and developing new contacts is a difficult and time-consuming task, a task that often gets pushed to the...
The Silver Bullet in Physician Relations Tracking – Part One: Creating the Right Team
By Allison McCarthy, MBA Establishing a physician relations tracking system is much more than selecting the right product. In fact, that’s actually a small part of the effort. Those who have successfully selected and implemented systems took an inside-out versus...