Apple are great at communicating to their customers and you have to be as well, make sure, that your customer relationship management system (CRM) is completely up-to-date and being utilised fully. There are a variety of CRMs available; you can get industry-specific ones or more general ones, just make sure that every person that contacts you goes on to your CRM along with where they heard of you, and as much information as you can possibly get. You can then tag these people so that, when you have to, you can retrieve them and send them relevant information that they will find of interest.
When choosing a CRM make sure that you understand everything that you want it to do. Some website form fills can automatically populate a CRM, but this is sophisticated and not many CRMs can fully handle this type of functionality, so if it’s something you’d like to replicate make sure to check your preferred system has the capability.
Ideally put together a shopping list of items that you want your CRM to do before committing to one. Most systems will give you a free trial so you can try before you buy. Remember that all your future wealth is in your database so do make sure you keep it up-to-date and relevant.
I’d also recommend using a CRM that will either integrate with your finances and online diaries or provide it’s own online diary system for everything that you do within your clinic, including bookings, holidays, and training courses. Whatever you do, don’t have multiple diaries, get everyone using a single system. Google Calendar is excellent for this purpose and I can highly recommend it.
Also ensure that what you’re focused on within the business is the one thing that will make you the most money. We mentioned Steve Jobs in one of our other emails and how when he returned to Apple he reduced the amount of products Apple was producing to actually turn Apple around.
It’s worth talking about his mindset and how he used this principle for when he joined Pixar after being ousted from Apple. Pixar was supplying computers to the movie industry that created the CGI and cartoons; Jobs saw that these computers were selling for a few $tens of thousands but they were producing films that grossed $tens of millions.
He saw that to make real money he needed to take Pixar into the movie-making game, and how he went about it was absolutely brilliant. Jobs approached Michael Eisner, the then CEO of Disney, and told him what he was going to do. He proposed that they would do a joint venture with Disney to produce a new cartoon with new characters (now remember, at this point Disney hadn’t produced a new cartoon character for ten years and were struggling, but they were still Disney and had never collaborated).
Jobs proposed that Pixar and Disney partner on this new cartoon and Eisner recognised that this could be the shot in the arm that Disney needed. But then Jobs told him that he wanted 50-50 share on the credits for the film. Eisner flatly refused; Disney had been around forever, their credibility was massive, they were a household name, and Pixar was a complete unknown! Now, what Jobs was doing here was very clever, it’s something called up-branding. By aligning Pixar with Disney on a 50-50 basis, Pixar would become a big name in the movies instantly.
Jobs said it was 50-50 on the credits or he’d walk away, and Eisner was ultimately worried enough that another studio would take Jobs up on his offer that he eventually agreed to the deal. The first film was Toy Story and it was a massive hit. Fast forward to Jobs re-joining Apple, and remember I said that he had to sell Pixar; well, he sold it to Disney for $7 billion! One of the main reasons it was worth so much was that Disney had originally up-branded Pixar with its name.
By Alan Adams The Clinic Coach
