Office! grow your Practice
regular basis. Select three to four events per month and make a personal commitment to attend. You can’t meet prospective patients if you don’t make a commitment to attend events.
2 Be prepared:
Be ready to promote your business once you arrive. Wear a shirt that promotes the name of your practice. Wear a name tag that clearly presents your name. And never, never, never show up to a networking event without business cards.
3 Be the face of your practice:
The single most important thing you can do when attending an event? Smile! This is the first impression people have of you (and your practice) and a smile makes people feel comfortable engaging with you. Smile and greet people with a firm handshake and direct eye-to-eye contact.
4 Make it about them:
Start the conversation by focusing on what they do. Everyone attending a chamber event is already focused on this question and allowing the person to speak about his or her business first establishes good will right off the bat. Don’t worry – the conversation will naturally drift to your practice.
5 Promote:
Consider a promotion exclusive to chamber members. Develop a special offer that you only promote to members of the chamber. Create a sense of exclusivity by making members feel special.
6 Go deeper:
Once you have met your goal of three to four events per month for a few months in a row, look for opportunities to go deeper with your membership. Volunteer to sit on an event committee or chamber administration committee. Offer to speak at events as a health and wellness expert. Offer to organize events or host an event in your practice.
The key with any chamber membership is to maximize your involvement. A chamber membership is truly one of those instances where you get out what you put in. Have the courage and take the time to get involved and you will be paid back ten-fold with new patients and business opportunities for your growing practice. But how do you maximize your new membership? It is never enough to simply pay the dues, be listed in the directory, and hope that business will show up at your doorstep. Here are some tips for turning your chamber membership into new patients for your practice:
Matt Eiserloh is the chief marketing officer at Parker University and Parker Seminars and has more than 15 years experience in marketing and advertising products and services. For comments or questions, Matt can be reached at meiserloh@parker.edu.
1 Show up!
One chamber president and a good friend of mine used to issue this advice on a July 2012 ParkerLife Magazine | www.parker.edu
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