WHY & HOW to increase your medical practice revenue by UP-SELLLING & CROSS-SELLING

PRELUDE :

A hidden truth behind the success of eminent doctors is that, they make every opportunity to increase their revenue generation or profits. Real success of a Medipreneur, unfolds when he finds or device solutions, which our patients prefer, rather than trying to hunt down patients for the services which we already provide.

Upselling and Cross Selling are two crucial sales tactics which every doctor should realize, practice and monetize. The ultimate outcome of these techniques are it encourages re-visits, re-purchases and foster brand loyalty ie. people tend to stick to the brand, they are using.

De-FINITION :

UPSELLING is about convincing the patient to buy a better product or service; better in the terms of time duration, profits and attractive. Whereas CROSS-SELLING is a tactic to encourage a patient to get another service which he might be interested in.

THE DIFFERENCE:

Though, Cross-selling and upselling are often used interchangeably, but different scenarios with different customers can call for one specific approach over the other. When it comes to upselling, though it has obvious benefits, its always better to start with our old / recurring patients. Always remember the saying ‘Old is Gold’. Its always a best practice to encourage upselling to our ‘old patients’.

STRATEGIES :

a) Categorization : Categorizing patients into different tribes will help us in reaching out to them with upselling or cross selling opportunities. For ex. The needs / wants of a working mother would differ from an NRI bachelor. The know-how about the buyer persona or the traits of the patient sitting front of you will enable us to automatically suggest the best option for them to choose from. Segmenting your patients into various demographics like age, gender, location etc will help us know them better.

b) Probing questions : Making better profit is not about ‘knowing it all’ but its about ‘asking the right questions’. You may ask them ‘how are things with kids? How’s your daddy doing? A lot of other patients of your age

c) Wait with patience for the right opportunity- strike the iron when its hot. Don’t delay as well don’t be early. Building relationship is always better than building business.

d) Word of mouth : If you have a delighted patient who is overwhelmed with your services, don’t wait for the next opportunity to encourage him to tell their friends and family about it.

THREE WORDs OF CAUTION:

1. Do it with utmost INTEGRITY. That’s the KEY. If your patients, at any point of time sense that something's not quite right, they'll reject your services out rightly.

2. RELEVANCY/ appropriate-ness : Performing these tactics inappropriately can frustrate your patient and even impact your reputation. The perfect time to suggest an additional opportunity to purchase is when there is a true need.

3. NOT EVERYONE is your cup of tea: DO NOT Cross sell / Upsell to everyone. The last thing your patient want is to be bombarded with your useless product suggestions.

Lets always remember to position the upselling/ cross-selling activity as a win-win and not for selfish motive.

TAIL-PIECE

APPROACH EACH CUSTOMER WITH THE IDEA OF HELPING HIM OR HER SOLVE A PROBLEM OR ACHIEVE A GOAL, NOT OF SELLING A PRODUCT OR SERVICE – BRIAN TRACY

do post YOUR experiences and feedback as comments, below.