The fact that you are holding this magazine is a testament to your desire to grow your business. If that assumption is true, you must first consider two of the most basic factors of growth in a competitive market: What is growth and who are my competitors.

Growth is more than simply increasing sales. If the annual expenditures for home care increase by 10% and your company’s sales increase by 5%, your company did not grow, or even hold its own in the market. Growth occurs when a company’s sales increase at a faster rate than market expenditures. Therefore, growth occurs only when a company is capturing sales that would otherwise have gone to a competitor.

Your competitors are not limited to only those companies that offer the same products and services as you do. Competitors include any entity that takes a sales dollar from someone who would otherwise have spent the money with your company. Never kick a company off of your competitor list because they do not offer the same variety of products or specialized services that you do.

Given these parameters for growth in a competitive market, there are five tricks that will help you. By being first to execute any of these methods in your market, you will create a competitive advantage for your company.

TRICK 1
Make it easier to buy from you. This is one of the basic rules of selling that is often violated. Companies often accidentally make it hard for potential customers to buy from them when they try to make their processes more efficient. Now, in general, more efficient processes are to be applauded. However, processes must be modified with the customer in mind.

The other day I was working with a principal of a company who told me of a referral his company had just received. The referring doctor told him that the referral was not originally intended for his company. However, when the doctor phoned his first choice, an automated attendant answered the phone. The machine told the doctor to press a number to signify he was referring a patient and then put him on hold. After 5 minutes of waiting, the doctor was so frustrated he hung up and called my client instead. The provider that got the business was not the one with the best technology, the most efficient process, or even the one the doctor thought was best. It was the one that was easiest to do business with.

Another way to make it easier for customers to buy from your company is to reduce the number of decisions customers must make. Remember, the more times you ask a person to pay, the greater the risk that he or she will say “no.” For example, if you are working with a customer that is considering a scooter, avoid asking, “Would you like to add a basket for $X?” and “Would you like to add a super long life battery for $Y?” When you do that, you ask the customer to make three buying decisions—one for the scooter, another for the basket, and yet another for the battery. Instead, identify all of the customer’s needs with thorough and professional questioning, and then offer the customer the package that solves his or her problem for $Z. That way the customer must only make one decision. The fewer decisions, the easier buying is.

TRICK 2
Create a niche. This means finding a need in a market and filling it. However, that is easier said than done. To identify a niche market, ask yourself and your team the following questions:

• Who are the people in my market on any given day? Categorize them by age, disease, disability, resident status, reason they are in your community, how long they will be there, occupation, and as many other characteristics that you can reasonably know about.
• What are the needs/problems of these people (by category)?
• What competencies does my company have?
• Which of their needs/problems can our competencies and products be used to fill/solve?
• Which of these solutions will these people pay for?
• Which of these solutions already has a provider?

TRICK 3
Dump the “Quality of Service” talk. Almost every time I ask a provider how they differentiate themselves in their marketplace, the response comes as fast as they say their name: “We provide a better quality of service than our competitors.” Put yourself in the shoes of the referral sources you are asking to send business to you. First, consider how many other providers have been in their offices making the same claim. If all the providers in the market make that claim, all but one is wrong and the referral sources know it. Second, consider who among referral sources, payors, and patients is qualified to be the judge of quality service. Who among them knows how long it takes to set up a concentrator, and if it is a quality product and a quality job?

Nobody wants quality service talk—they want the result of quality service. Collect and talk about the measures of quality service. This includes patient satisfaction ratings, timeliness of service information, number of complaints filed with referrers, compliments filed with referrers, and outcome data.

TRICK 4
Get ink. Getting ink is a cliché of marketing professionals that refers to having stories published about a company or a person. Positive press is a way to stay in front of your referral sources, customers, and all other constituencies who need to know your name. Dedicate the resources to get more ink than any of your competitors.

First, make it someone’s job. It may not be their only job, but it must have a significant part of their attention, and it must become a habit. Second, learn who the media players are and what they need in such a way that you know how you can make their jobs easier. Third, write.

You may want to write a press release about a hire, promotion, or employee of the month. It is also news if you send a staff member to a conference, get an employee certified, receive recognition from a group, get involved with your state or national association, plan to host a conference, or speak at a conference.

In addition to press releases, you may also wish to write articles. My wife, Lou Ann, is the marketing director for our company. She had been working some angles to get a feature story about our company in a newspaper without success. In a last ditch effort she wrote the article she wanted, took the pictures, and sent it to the editor. A couple of days later the editor called and said she wanted to run the story, but would like to have her photographer come by for a different picture. Never fear being forward with the media. Feature stories on your company have great value.

TRICK 5
Build a club. Create the perception that only the best refer to you. Use the example of the American Express credit card claim: “Membership has its privileges.” Make similar references in your leave-behind literature and display advertisements. Display ads can be used in the newsletters of your local medical association, case managers’ society, newspapers, and television.

Be exclusive in every way you can. Start an appropriate screening method for new referral sources and then find ways to use phrases such as “the people we accept referrals from.”

Use members-only parties and meetings to bring people together for a good time and education. If only your referral sources are invited and the event is valuable to them, they will tell others and reciprocate with their loyalty.

Finally, be a matchmaker. Find ways to help the people in your “club” by introducing them to opportunities that are afforded by other people in your “club.”

Yes, some of these methods are as old as the hills and twice as dusty, but it is amazing how few companies take full advantage of them. So, if you wish to grow, pull these tricks on your competition before they pull them on you.

Wallace Weeks is president of The Weeks Group Inc, Melbourne, Fla. Contact him at (321) 752-4514 or by email at wallace@weeksgroup.com.