"Passive Marketing of In-Office Dispensing Products"

The driving force of a healthy economy is supply and demand.  This can be translated in a sense to a win-win relationship in our offices between the physicians, assistants and patients, where the patient is in need of a product and the office serves as the supplier.  The many benefits of an in-office dispensing program far outweigh any potential negative aspects.  This is fully dependant on the presentation of the products to the patient, providing top quality products and educating staff as to the products and their uses, and discussing their use and benefits to the patients, as well as sharing the profits with the staff.

In our practice we have employed what we call “Passive Marketing”.  That means that we never suggest to a patient that they have to purchase our products.  We tell them, “Mrs. Smith you really need to use a skin moisturizer on your feet twice a day”, and their response is usually “Can you recommend one for me?”   And now your door of opportunity is open.  In our waiting room we have two binders available for patients to look through which have information on the doctors, the staff, the services we offer and a section on foot care products, which shows the products we have available and their uses.  We also have a small display in the reception area which includes some of those products.  Patients often ask at the front desk which product they should use.  Our staff has been trained in “non-selling”.  We do not push a product but will show a bottle of the moisturizer we offer, and the patient is informed that similar products can be found in the pharmacy, but these are available for purchase in our office if they would like. Our unscientific survey revealed that  approximately 80% of the patients make their purchase from our office.

One of the many joys in our practice is when one of our front office staff tells us that a person (non-patient) just came to the front desk and made a purchase of several items, because they were recommended by a patient who was successfully using a product. Many of these people who present to our office for purchases eventually make appointments to be seen as patients.

Here are some simple examples of scripts on presenting in-office dispensing products to your patients:

“Mrs. Smith, the dryness of your feet is starting to create cracks called fissures, which can split and bleed.  You have used other creams but the cracks continue.  To prevent this, I recommend this cream, which will not just moisturize but also eliminate the heavy skin buildup.  My patients have had good results with this cream and it has really helped them.”
 
“This product is available at local pharmacies but we have this available here for your convenience.”

We will continue this series in the next issue of your FootZine.  Happy, healthy and safe holidays!

PS: Maybe you want to give some cream or Biofreeze as a stocking stuffer or leave some for Santa for those dry and aching feet!!!