A few years ago, before the rise of the Electronic Revolution You would see fellows like this Newspaper Salesboy all around “The City.”
He would be at his “news stand” from early before the rush hour people got to the offices, and he was there when they were on their way home after 5:30 going to the train station.
He was there in the morning, there in the evening – always diligent. Persistently at work.
You may be a doctor or a tailor. No matter. You can learn valuable business lessons from him.
Not only is he amazingly diligent: he’s might also be dressed to draw attention especially at holiday seasons.
He was a landmark. He became so familiar he made the area feel like it was populated by the right people.
The coming and going workers felt they were home, in the right place. He was like a buoy leading into a harbor. He was a fixture. His familiarity made him seem safe and comfortable to approach.
The fact that he was young and productive, bringing home something to help feed himself and his family by doing honest work, made him an example of respectable behavior.
Your most important challenge, whatever it is you do, is to be noticed. Familiarity breeds comfort.
People see your photo and know you are the skilled, capable person they want to visit when they need your services or products.
It is often noted that 90% of success is persistently being there. It’s being in classes or it’s being at lectures and seminars or it’s being at your clinic, or wherever you work. Persistence Pays. Always remember that.
That doesn’t mean you have to be obnoxious. It means you have to be reliably familiar.
I made part of my living doing what today is called “Medical Massage.” I had completed a 4-year degree in Human Physiology, and some additional studies in Nervous System Physiology and Orthopedics, Completed 12-more quarters to become a Chiropractor, then continued at another school learning Classic (Swedish) Massage. I also taught massage students.
I combined the two disciplines; massage with Chiropractic, and my little start-up practice was fully booked with daily patients in less than 5-months.
How did I do that? I provided very good service at the reasonable and customary price. Many patients complemented me about the work I was doing. I wasn’t weird. I didn’t run ads on TV showing frogs singing my name. I was familiar, and my sign was always easy to see.
Now you understand most of the world is not troubled with back pain constantly. But by survey we see that 80% say they have had some back pain some of their lives. Sometimes only for a day or two and other times longer and requiring more help.
We learn that we must never assume that because people don’t respond the first time after they see your business ad or sign they’ll come to you. Nor do we assume the one run, or a 6-month run of an ad is all that is necessary.
Ads run persistently by quietly letting viewers know that you’re still working, helping, and available.
Do you drive to work on a busy highway? Do you watch for your exit sign? If after a bad storm the sign was missing what would you say to yourself? Would you assume the exit ramp was no longer there too? Of course not.
The road exit ramp is there, but it is helpful to see your exit ramp signs and be guided into the right lane and off the highway safely.
In the same way, your photo persistently telling the world that you’re still giving patients exams and helping them maintain their better help, is a comforting reminder that you’re available and taking more new patients.
Those prospective patients may not perceive that they need your help now, but they may respond eventually.
Good salespeople know; “People buy when it suits them, not when it suits you.” Sure, some people don’t come in for a heart exam or an OBGYN exam every year and they should.
One day something changes. Their nervous system is ringing an alarm. That is when they want to see your photo and phone number immediately.
It’s great if you have a mile long list of course and specialty credits, but when someone is feeling sick and might be frightened about it, they don’t want to read all of that to finally get your phone number!
The public perception is, if you’re licensed and in practice you can be trusted with their health issue.
That’s when they are thinking, “Who can I talk to NOW?”
Your receptionist has probably many times heard or read, “I’ve been thinking about seeing you for a check-up. I just couldn’t afford it then. or “I’m thinking of visiting you but I’m not feeling the urgency about it yet.”
You never know when people are ready to buy, or visit and request help.
They buy when they need to – maybe when their situation has changed and they suddenly have a need for what you sell, or the service you provide.
What else can you learn from this young newspaper boy?
Well, if you’re providing a service or selling something one of the smartest moves you can make from the start or immediately (like right now) is to place yourself where you’ll be seen.
You either are well located in a clinic, or well located in print. Today that means “digital print.” Having a website isn’t enough. You need that website address instantly available when someone wants to see it.
In Real Estate we talk about “Location.” A clinic located behind an empty shopping mall won’t get many new patients walking in. If the mall goes empty you’ll inevitably need to move to a different office. Even a rolling office trailer pulled by a truck is better than hiding behind buildings that obscure your business.
Roll into a lot of business parking lots. Raise a sign about Free Consultations and keep doing that in several places every 2nd week.
It won’t be long before your rolling office is busy and so prosperous you can take a rented larger clinic location for a clinic space.
Another thing that really will help you have a busy practice is your personal motivation.
For this boy, feeding himself and his family was required and he was motivated to grow up to be a respected working-man. Right then he was motivated to earn a dollar or two selling papers. Back in those years a dollar bought more.
Like many young people, (including my young parents) He gave his money to his mother. He kept 30 cents for his transportation to work and home. He carroed his lunch. For a few years that was the way many people managed. Being lazy was not an option. and…
…I want you to know, many of today’s big names in cars, jewelry, firs, hand bags and shoes, saw the close of that terrible war when they were nearly bankrupt. They had to rebuild from “almost nothing.”
They did rebuild with smart planning and diligent work No matter how bleak your situation may look, you can climb up out of it. Simply advertise more, speak to crowds more, and go to work 6-days each week.
The directory concept New York City Area Shopper Magazine offers is your best medium to do that at an extremely reasonable price. Shop and compare. You’ll see what I mean.
Whatever work you do, – be more observant. Look around you, and especially watch out for what people who make money on the streets do.
I notice that the doctors with the longest detail pages, also are most active in practice, and work in several locations. They never gave up. They love their work and, have been at it for many years.
They have many certificates from seminars and specialty studies. They’re on committees and boards of directors. They are immersed in their career.
They may have written many articles and perhaps also one or several books. The patients have seen their photo and their name. Take a lesson from them and begin doing as they are doing.
Advertising is everywhere and in the early 1900s as today, some people will stop to read yours. They may be just one or two people per hundred, but that is enough to keep your business growing and keep you busy and prosperous. Generally speaking, when you do good work the patients tell at least 20-friends about you. You can’t stop them.
The job of phoning around for work or leaving a sign up to be seen is not intended to sell everyone. It’s to sort through 100 to find 2 buyers today. If 100 pass your sign, 2 or 3 will remember and will eventually visit you.
If your sign is not prominently visible you must do something to correct that. Talk to a sign maker about various options.
You can find lessons everywhere – just as with this newspaper boy. The best lessons are very rarely found in jargon-strewn guff about marketing, poorly written, indicating no precise goal and direction.
Years ago, Budweiser Beer did not need to be so creative as to have three frogs advertising their name during a football game. They spent about $50,000 per SECOND to do that. They kept their name before the public, and that’s good for them. Did they sell any more beer? No one knows for certain.
How would you feel about spending several million dollars on TV Advertising to make viewers giggle but none of them buy your product?
The lessons here? Be persistent and constantly be familiar and noticed. Get a message across. The message headline generally is a big promise and ideally is news worthy and might leave a question that the reader wants answered.
You are more likely to get noticed if you’re in the right place.
The right place might include giving a seminar to a bunch of overweight men sitting to hear your lecture about proper lifting, or the value of an annual cardiovascular checkup.
You might have a room in the factory where you can test blood pressure, get some case history information, and take blood samples. Making yourself conveniently available, smiling and asking a few case history questions can go a long way to making yourself familiar and later, wanted and needed. Even if you did blood sample collection free of charge, and got 1 or 2 patients out of 100, that service and expenditure will return to you much more than you spent.
The arguably world’s most respected ad agency owner alive today is Drayton Bird in London. Mr. Bird has sometime ago observed his 80th birthday. His letter to his fans inspired what you’ve been reading. He was 20 when he got into the direct mail advertising business and eventually expanded a huge ad agency and then two of his own.
Don’t assume potential patients aren’t interested in you and your work if they don’t call this week. They will call eventually, and the more familiar you are the better.
That explains why you must continue persistently displaying a small ad leading to a bigger detail page with your contact information on it. Preferably,…
….since they are thinking, “Who can I TALK to?” you’ll want your phone number prominently displayed at or near the top of the page.
If you write an article I can link it from your detail page. it’s worth doing.
If you’re not motivated – and you can’t motive others – you won’t succeed: morale is half the battle.
That means YOU should continue to immerse yourself in your career. Feel pleased and interested in your work and motivate potential patients to get exams, receive free articles, and come in for an annual exam.
Some are cooperative. Some will never be. Some are functionally illiterate. Don’\t carry any emotional weigh from their recalcetrance on your shoulders. Just move on.
Salespeople learn to say; “Some will, some won’t. Some do, some don’t. Whose’s next?”Out of that group there’s enough work to make a very good living.
Continue thinking and looking for times and places where you can speak to a crowd.
Even better, produce a locally seen ad or video (or both) letting potential patients know you’re here for them. Keep your eyes open looking and thinking.
I am here for you. Show me your concepts for an ad. It’s my work to improve it and run it in the magazine at a very reasonable price.
What can you talk about in under 10 minutes on YouTube? If you can find a friend or professional video maker or photographer to help you produce a few short videos, I can run advertising for them and would be pleased to do so. Call a local college teaching T.V. Pdroduction. Someone there will be happy to have you come into the studio. You can get a project done this way for a very low price.
Walk into the studio with a script. Be prepared. If that’s not a comfortable idea, a professional video maker should have voice-over software to do the talking for you. The software will read your script and speak it. Work with that videographer to find a voice you like. (If you use numbers write them out in words. 2024 becomes twenty twenty four.)
If you wonder how that looks on a page, visit this page https://nycareashopper.com/lincoln-of-milford-and-devon-ct/ to see an advertisement with two videos embedded within it. I did it for them. I can do it for You too.
Thank you for reading this message today. Continue reading new ones published. They are intended to help you be more prosperous. You’ll get lessons gleaned from a lifetime of involvement in sales, marketing and advertising.
Best regards,
Dr. Steve Newdell
