But who is your competition? Is it the national firm with name recognition?
I would argue that your competition is not the financial institution that advertises on national TV.
Your real competition is the set of your prospect’s current financial behaviors. To beat your competition, you must overcome the human resistance to change.
The status quo is a formidable foe.
Making changes is hard work, even if you want the desired outcome. Think about the last time you started a new exercise program or made a commitment to healthier eating. A study by researchers at the University of Toronto suggests it will take a smoker 30 attempts or more to go a full year without any cigarettes.
Further, we form financial habits in childhood. They are deeply engrained.
Here are some tips to overcoming the resistance to change and beating your REAL competition.
Understand their why.
Generally people make changes because the pain of the current circumstances–or the perceived value of the desired goal –outweighs the discomfort of new behaviors. A burned-out physician who is a financial do-it-yourselfer might be willing to accept professional financial advice to move up retirement.
Minimize the perceived risk.
Offer low-risk action steps. Ask doctor prospects to sign up for your monthly e-newsletter or video series and deliver valuable content.
Tell stories about other doctors. Remember that physicians behave like tropical fish. Paint before-and-after pictures about physicians just like them.
Use medical metaphors. Things outside of our day-to-day experience tend to feel riskier than the familiar. Wealth-building takes physicians out of the familiar; however, when you use medical metaphors, the ideas stick because you hook into the loops of the familiar.
Identify and leverage triggers for change.
A breast imaging colleague noticed that the number of women getting mammograms goes up when a celebrity gets breast cancer. A change in a prospect’s outer world creates disequilibrium, which leads to rebalancing.
Times of beginnings and endings also trigger changes in financial habits. This includes
- Birthdays
- January 1st
- A wedding,a birth or a death
- Starting a new job Incidentally, most physicians begin new jobs on July 1st, and here’s why. Medical school begins July 1st. At the end of the year, everyone advances a year in the training process. That means that physicians end their training at the end of June, and start their new jobs around July 1st and sign annual employment contracts.
Show you care.
Doctors say, “For the secret in the care of the patient is caring for the patient.” I’m telling you that the secret for physician client acquisition is caring for the prospect.
There are five basic ways people complete this sentence, “I know they care because…
• …they tell me with words: ‘You’re important and I care about you.’”
• …they spend time with me.”
• …they give me gifts.”• …they do nice things for me.”
• …they offer caring physical touches.“
Each person—including yourself and your prospect—has a temperamental affinity to one of the five. Deliver the “I care” message guided by the recipientsʼ preferences—not yours. Since each prospect is different, consider ways you can say “I care” to each in a way that works for them and is comfortable for you.
You can beat the competition by helping your prospects navigate change.
© 2019. Vicki Rackner MD. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this post with the following by-line:
Vicki Rackner MD is an author, speaker and consultant who offers a bridge between the world of medicine and the world of business. She helps businesses acquire physician clients, and she helps physicians thrive. Contact her at (425) 451-3777.