Joe Galloway's book
-
Indispensable: How To Become The Company
That Your Customers Can't Live Without - is in a word just
that, indispensable.
One of the highlights of the book is a chapter in which he lists
twenty-eight things that companies can do to become indispensable in the
eyes of their customers. A few are listed here. And if you have
examples of your own, please send them to me.
-
Wow, nobody else has
this.
Jay Parkinson, MD, is a 'virtual' physician from Brooklyn. A product of
Generation Y, he grew up with technology but, after graduating from
Washington University, hit a brick wall when it came time to actually
practice medicine. The technologies he used in everyday life were not
part of any traditional practice he knew. And many of his neighbors in
an artsy community could not afford much in terms of traditional
healthcare. So he created a virtual approach to care.
He has no office or staff. Patients contact him by e-mail, visit his Web
site, or call his cell. He travels to homes and business offices for
visits and then does a virtual follow-up. He points patients toward
health information, gives them prevention tools, and guides them to the
best values for their tests, drugs and hospital care. He has 300
patients in his panel and he limits his practice to those 18-40. For
them it is not so much about the price (many pay $150-$200 out of pocket
for a visit), it is about the convenience. He is available and is
accessible and people pay for the value. And that is why his model is
totally in line with a boomers way of thinking.
Parkinson has received so much attention that he attracted outside
investors and launched
Hello Health.
Wow, nobody else has that!
-
What are they really
buying?
A well worn example but effective nonetheless, when someone gladly
pays $3-$5 for a cup of coffee in Starbucks what are they really buying?
Of course they are buying an experience. Internet access, a place to
work, a place to gather, a place to network.
When someone comes to your hospital for a knee replacement, what are
they buying? Not a new knee but the quality of life and independence it
offers. Does your imagery, stories and testimonials convey that or are
you stuck in the latest, most advanced technology rated #1 by U.S. News
and World Report mode?
When someone needs a nursing home, are they buying: a place to be alone
and die? Or a place to live another chapter in their life?
-
Six words or less.
Can you say what you do in six words or less?
A web site and book sprouted from that
idea.
Here are some great one-liners from the site in which people basically
sum up who they are in six words or less:
Amused spectator becomes cranky social critic.
Almost could have had it all
Always last to get the joke.
My seizure disorder is still poetic.
Too bad, such a pretty face. (ouch!)
Married at twenty, divorced before thirty.
Here is stab at what we do at Fast Forward Consulting:
Change the experience; leverage in marketing.
Leverage in marketing. Wow, nobody else has that!
There are twenty-five more
ways to be indispensable. Get the book and find out and let it guide your
business planning and marketing.
|
