Easy Prospecting
Here are three easy ways to find prospective customers for your occupational health program. First, if your organization offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to local employers, cross-reference the EAP’s client list with your occupational health clients to identify leads. Second, follow up with your hospital fundraising director to review any business donations from companies that are not your clients. Third, work with your accounts payable department to request a list of all hospital/clinic vendors from the last couple of years. If a vendor is doing significant business with your hospital/clinics, it should be using your occupational health program.
Stay in Touch with the Chamber and Other Local Associations
A great way to learn about prospective new customers and stay ahead of the competition is to join and stay in close touch with chambers of commerce in your service area. Most active chambers are very involved in bringing new business and industry to the area. Encourage the chamber to recommend your program. You may even be able to get a contract set up with the company before they open their doors for the first time. Many new companies need to hire from the area, which creates a great opportunity for replacement services.
Generate New Leads by Working with the Entire Staff
Discovering new sales leads is not something unique to the sales/marketing representative at your facility. Think of all the businesses that are known by your staff. Where do your employees’ spouses work? What businesses do your employees drive by on the way to work? What company provides services for them (garbage pick-up, lawn service, daycare, auto dealers, etc). Get other staff members involved by creating a lead contest. For every qualified lead someone brings to the sales professional, an employee gets an award ($10 or free lunch, for example). Run the contest for a quarter and provide updates in the break room and at staff meetings. Make a big deal about the leads provided and more of your staff will take an active role in helping to identify new business opportunities
Be Your Own Best Client
Whenever an occupational health program goes out to sell a service, its parent organization needs to have adopted it first. When a prospect asks, “How has it worked for you?”, the last thing you want to say is, “We haven’t gotten there yet.” Service rollout needs to be done, not on a wholesale basis, but in small steps, starting with executive leadership, branching out to middle management and transitioning to the departmental level for implementation. Once a service is implemented internally and you have measured your success, you can look that prospect in the eye and say, “This is what we are doing for ourselves.” ←
