How’s Your Back?
March 18, 2010
We just got back from visiting my brother- and sister-in-law who are staying on Hutchinson Island in Florida for a few months. On Sunday, when the weather down there had finally turned nice, they took us to a really nice craft show in Vero Beach, about 20 minutes away.
As always, I’m on the lookout for creative marketing ideas – even ones the people using them don’t quite understand themselves.
For example, I’m always wary about going to craft shows. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely enjoy seeing fine work and precision in any endeavor, but too often, these craft shows have three or four basic styles that are repeated – with little variation – at every booth throughout the conference.
But at this one, there were nearly as many different types of media, styles, and interpretations as there were individual booths. (Can you say, “Unique Selling Proposition?”)
The one that caught my attention, though, had nothing to do with any of the artists or craftspeople at the show. It was a booth at the far end of the show where they were offering free chair massages and free screenings for neck and back pain.
Of course, this was nothing more than a lead-generation mechanism for a chiropractor’s office, but still it was reasonably well done.
You filled out a brief questionnaire, spoke briefly with the chiropractor, and got a quick five-minute chair massage. If you indicated on your form that you had even one of a wide variety of symptoms, you were invited for an office visit with free X-rays, for only $20.
There were a few things they did right, and a few others they missed, and I’ll share them all with you here so you can have a few things to think about from my field trip:
1. The concept itself was great, especially in an area with an overwhelming majority of senior citizens with various aches and pains who generally have medical insurance that includes chiropractic coverage – a good message-to-market match.
2. An enticing offer: an office visit and X-rays worth over $100 for just $20 – such a deal!
3. Potential patients were required to pay the $20 right then and there to reserve their space and lock in the appointment – an extremely powerful approach to help ensure that people actually show up for the appointment. After all, you can’t sell a treatment plan to an empty chair.
So with all of this done right, what was the problem? They weren’t measuring. When I pulled the assistant aside and asked her what her “show rate” was, (the percentage of people who book an appointment and then actually show up), she didn’t understand the question. Once she did, she said that they paid their $20 at the booth, so naturally they would keep the appointment. If she checked her records, she would certainly discover that wasn’t always the case.
When I asked her what their conversion rate was from the “report of findings” meeting, and what their average case value was, she didn’t understand those questions either, much less have the answers.
Not measuring key performance indicators can derail great marketing strategies just as easily as bad service can. And not knowing how your marketing is working can be a real pain in the neck.
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