By Nancy J. Beckley, MS, MBA
Staying on the Offensive Using the “take what the competition gives you” approach to surpass your competitors. I recently heard an NFL quarterback comment on television that you need to “take what the defense gives you” and not force anything because that’s when you get in trouble. Why is it important to let the defense give you something, and how does that relate to the rehab entrepreneur looking for new programs and opportunities? It is that time in the sports world when major league baseball is in full swing and national league football is starting grueling summer workouts. Since I am a sports fan located in a major sports city (say what you may about the Devil Rays and the Buccaneers, but they are major league), it is difficult to listen to the news without getting detailed reports about the teams as well as the players. I have been a sports fan all my life: you could not go to college in Wisconsin during the late 1960s without being an ardent Green Bay Packers fan. But I really decided to tune up my sports “ear” and knowledge as a professional therapist to find the common theme between sports, marketing, and entrepreneurial dreams. Marketing Power When diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) came in 1983, I was at Tulsa Rehabilitation Center, a 50-bed unit at Hillcrest Medical Center and the only comprehensive rehabilitation facility in the state of Oklahoma. We knew that with the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA), we would have competition springing up all over the state. Simultaneously, the state’s federal funding for spinal cord injury rehabilitation dwindled considerably. We stood to lose a considerable amount of business; where we once had a waiting list of 18-20 spinal cord patients at any given time, the possibility of empty beds was real. We decided we needed a marketing approach to the problem, as well as someone to market our program. What a glorious time for me—my department head colleagues unanimously volunteered me to fill the first director of marketing position. This was an era of “build it and they will come.” Insurance reimbursement was good, employers in the state had good health plans, and potential patients were interested in programs they might benefit from. Putting out test balloons helped gauge the public’s interest in programs that the staff thought would be terrific. Yes, this truly was a product-driven market. Rehab brings to the market what it wants, and people buy. Over a 2-year period we achieved great success. The team thought a chronic pain management program would be good. As we began some preliminary planning, our medical director went on a early Sunday morning TV talk show and talked about chronic pain, its toll on the lives of those suffering from it, and how those suffering could benefit from a chronic pain management program. We had so many phone calls that we were forced to scramble to hire staff, conduct the right training, and coordinate admissions. Our program was incredible, the patients liked it, insurance companies began to send people for evaluations, and pretty soon we were full. Then we began to hear about postpolio syndrome. Carol Carey, our director of physical therapy, and I decided to take a trip to Houston, to visit with Lauro Halstead at TIRR, and Laura Luck, PT, who started the first post-polio clinic. We were convinced after our visit to give it a try. We decided to host an informational meeting for polio survivors and got some radio publicity. We expected 10-15 people at this support meeting; we had more than 50 attendees including the press, whose coverage went out on the national news wires. Our clinic was under way, and insurance reimbursement was coming in. We also started a subacute back program, a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation program for injured workers, and a wheelchair sports program that were all equally successful until managed care and escalating health care costs took their toll. Making Competition Work For You Many rehab facilities are trying to add new programs and services. We have settled into the Medicare fee schedule, managed care, and various other reimbursement programs, as well as gaining efficiency in operations through increased productivity and cost management. After listening to a few folks (as well as clients) talk about programs they want to start, I realized that the football advice of “take what the defense gives you” relates to rehab entrepreneurial marketing and market development as well. I’ll call it the “take what the competition gives you” approach. Here are two typical scenarios: “We would really like to increase our orthopedic business, but Joe Smith’s clinic has all the business because he golfs with the doctors,” or “We’re interested in starting a return-to-work program but the hospital’s occupational health clinic is referring all their patients to the hospital outpatient therapy department.” Sound familiar? Substitute your own programs and your competitors in your market. So how do we apply the “take what the competition gives you approach”? First, you must find out what the competition gives you, which means doing a competitor’s analysis. While it is possible to conduct a market-wide competitive analysis without interviewing your competitors, you may find that you will get better information if you do. One outpatient clinic that desired to build their orthopedic business interviewed the competitor in town who had most of the business. They found out during the interview that the competitors was doing another program successfully but reluctantly—interestingly enough because they had given it up. So they reclaimed their lost turf, and realized they needed to market the program because in the minds of the market they owned it. A hospital outpatient department with a large practice in the neurological area wanted to do more orthopedics, but believed they were blocked by the competitive hospital across town because its director of physical therapy golfed frequently with the referring physicians. I was asked to intervene and get the competitor’s perspective on the market. “What would the competition give us?” (of course, that is not the question you ask!) When I interviewed this competitor, he was honest about his programs and strength in orthopedics; in fact, he said that his program was so strong in orthopedics, that neurology suffered, and complimented the other hospital’s program as the “go to neuro program” in town. While it is not always good business practice to let the competitor dictate what your market position will be, it is good business practice to know what they will give you. Nancy J. Beckley, MS, MBA, is a rehabilitation consultant and professional coach. She can be reached at (888) 888-0275 or via email: bcbeckley@aol.com.
