- Are You Letting New Clients in Your Area Slip Through Your Fingers?
- Discover A Quick And Easy Way For Prospective New Clients To Contact You.
Now you may argue that most of your new clients come through referrals from existing clients and you’re absolutely right.
That’s how it should be.
However, you’ll also find (if you’ve done your research) that quite a few clients come to you because you’re conveniently located.
Or
- They rang up directory assistance and asked for a local vet
- They looked in the Yellow Pages directory and chose your clinic
- They found you online. (Website or online directory)
Did you know that there are hundreds of people searching for vets every day in Australia?
In fact, the average monthly searches for “Veterinary Surgeons” using Yellow Pages Online alone are:
- Brisbane 7,000
- Sydney 7,000
- Melbourne 11,000
So what does this mean?
Well, some of these could be people who have recently moved to a new suburb or town and have not yet established a relationship with a local vet.
Given that over 350,000 people move interstate each year this is a highly likely scenario.
And that’s not counting the ones who simply move to different suburbs or towns.
Or
Some of these could be first time pet owners who have not needed a vet until now.
So
How do you currently tap into this market?
Now you could just rely on your online presence and Yellow Pages listing to capture new prospects however remember this.
When searching the yellow Pages prospective clients are faced with quite a selection of clinics in their area to choose from.
Not the best idea is it?
Unless of course you have the best ad on the page!
Now
Just imagine if these people could ring a specific, easy to remember number without the need for online or directory searches and connect directly to you?
Now wouldn’t it be great if you could get access to this number that instantly connects calls from NEW local pet owners to your clinic?
And that’s without the hassle of installing any new lines or changing any of your existing numbers.
And
What if this phone number was so easy to remember that they only need to see it advertised once?
Let me explain
Who do you think to ring when your car breaks down miles from home?
Who do you call when you need a taxi?
Who do thousands of people call when they need car finance?
Or a home loan?
Or a fitness centre?
Or rubbish collection?
Or Flowers?
They call a centralised number that connects them to the closest service.
They call:
- 13 RACV
- 13 CABS
- 1300 CARLOAN
- 13RAMS
- 1300WESTPAC
- 1300 FERNWOOD
- 1300 CONTOURS
- 1300 RUBBISH
- 1300 FLOWERS
And that’s only a few of them.
Watch TV or listen to the radio and you’ll hear a new one appear almost every week!
It’s a 13, 1800 or 1300 number which can be geographically routed by postcode to specific businesses in that area.
That’s their unique feature.
And the numbers are specifically chosen to spell an industry word to make them easy to remember.
They’re called Phone Words and they’ve only just recently been introduced into Australia.
It’s the new way for customers to quickly and easily connect to a service near them.
The Phone Word available for vets is 1300 VETCLINIC
Now how easy is this for pet owners to remember!
So take for example a pet owner who has recently moved to (your suburb).
They dial 1300 VETCLINIC that’s 1300 838 254
So let’s say….
You have has secured the rights to this number in (Your suburb).
The prospect dials the number from their home phone and the call is promptly answered by your staff.
- No automated messages.
- No extra phone lines needed.
The client’s needs are addressed and depending on the need an appointment is made.
Bingo!
Now we all know that it costs money to attract new clients to your practice.
You’re doing this already through directory listings, advertising in local papers, mail outs and perhaps maintaining a website.
If you’re web savvy you may even have invested in search engine optimization or Pay per Click advertising.
So what’s all this costing you?
A single display ad in the local paper could cost a few hundred dollars and that’s only for a single issue. And, unless it’s a memorable ad with a powerful sales message I’ll guarantee it’s lost you money.
Direct mail flyers - They’re expensive too (printing and distribution costs) and once again, unless you’ve got the right offer they just end up in the bin without a second look.
Trust me, I’ve done the research and the stats are pretty poor for most mass mailings.
The secret is to focus on “qualified” leads.
That’s people already looking for your service.
That’s people looking online, using call connect or in directories for “Vets”
Plus
Here’s another fact you might like to think about:
- The first contact with a business is generally initiated through a phone call. The telephone is still the most popular form of communication.
So what’s the opportunity for you?
Create a quick and easy way for new local pet owners to connect to your clinic.
Step 1
Decide which postcode areas you currently draw from or want to draw from. Choose as many as you’d like.
Bear in mind though that people value proximity so there’s no point in trying to capture prospects from 3 suburbs away.
Step 2
Check out the postcode statistics for these areas. You’ll be surprised how many people you could capture. (This information is available online from the Australian Bureau of Statistics)
Now naturally this system works best once the number is recognised in the community and this will depend on how many vets take up the opportunity.
And once a postcode area is allocated it’s not available to anyone else.
No competition with other clinics in your areaThis number will become yours for a specific geographical area of your choice.
You are free to advertise this number to your local community as you wish.
Now imagine this
Wouldn’t it be great if our community of pet owners all over Australia could ring this centralised number and get professional animal care advice by individual clinics’ own trained staff?
Imagine the conversion possibilities for participating clinics!
The more clinics that participate, the more valuable the network becomes.
Plus - no more competing with non veterinary businesses for advice.
So what will this fantastic marketing opportunity cost you?
- A lot less than a mass mailout
- A lot less than running ONE display ad in the local paper each month
- A lot less than a Yellow pages ad
In fact
Less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day!
To be instantly connected to a population of around 10,000 people.
Now compare this product with a call connect service
Have you currently listed your business with a call connect service such as Sensis 1234?
Well then you’d know that the prospect needs to identify your business by name to be directly connected to you.
This won’t help someone who is new to your area and has no idea which clinics are around. They’ll be connected to the first listing available on the list.
Are you first on their listing?
Wouldn’t it be easier for them just to dial 1300 VETCLINIC and be connected directly to you – not your competitor down the road?
So why let an opportunity to capture newcomers slip through your fingers?
Well, quite simply this depends on the situation.
Some people may call just to ask for advice and do expect this to happen.
However, what you have done by answering the inquiry is establish the foundation of a relationship.
Don’t underestimate this step!
Provided they received helpful and friendly advice who do you think they will call next time?
You of course!
That’s how people buy and if you’ve ever studied buyer behaviour then you will know how powerful this first contact with a business is.
You see, one of the first rules in business is that you need to make it easy for customers to buy from you.
This means you need to make it easy for them to contact you in the first place.
You need to focus on their needs. Not yours!
So what are the costs of joining this network?You’ll pay only:
- A one off joining fee of $187.00
- A small monthly fee of $57.00
- A $15.00 per month reporting fee. You’ll receive a detailed report from the carrier to show you exactly how many calls were received through this service each month for your records.
To access a local population of between 10,000 and 15,000 people in your area
This means you’ll know exactly how effective this strategy is on a month by month basis. No guesswork – unlike other advertising methods.
Plus for this investment you’ll also receive:
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The information contained within these reports is a compilation of powerful marketing strategies developed by some of the greatest marketing minds around.
And the good news is you can apply many of these simple strategies immediately to reap the benefits for your practice.
Now you may still have some questions?
Such as:
Q: Do I need to do anything with my existing phone lines.
A: No. You don’t need any extra phone lines. The service is linked to one of your existing phone numbers.
Q: Can I still advertise my existing number?
A: Yes. The 1300 number is mainly aimed at attracting new prospects to your business. Your existing clients can also use this number provided they live in the postcode area you have leased.
Q: My phone lines are diverted to an answering service when the clinic is closed. What happens to the service then?
A: The service follows all your diversions so there’s no need to do anything different to what you do now.
Q: I own more than one practice. Which number do I use to connect the service to?
A: You can connect different geographical areas to different clinic numbers to ensure that prospects are connected to the closest of your clinics.
Q: Is this service available from mobile phones?
A: No. This service is currently only available from landlines until we have sufficient members to warrant the upgrade to mobile connection.
Q: Are there any call fees associated with this service?
A: Calls from local landlines are free of charge for the first 15 minutes. Given that most calls are completed within this time frame, most will attract no fees. After this time the call attracts a fee of $0.08 per minute.
Q: How long can I lease this service for?
A: You can lease this service for as long as you wish. The minimum lease period however is 12 months.
Q: Will I see instant results?
A: No. As with any advertising initiative it takes time to create awareness within the community to use the service. You need to see it a longer term strategy to build your new client base.
Q: How can more awareness of the service be created?
A: By having more clinics join the network so funds become available to advertise the service on a greater scale. So join up yourself and encourage your associates in different geographical areas to do the same.
Q: But I want to increase my business quickly.
A: If you want to create faster revenue use direct response advertising and invest in a direct response copywriter to write the script for you. Don’t expect this service to be your answer to this.
Q: Does it actually work?
A: There are never any guarantees in advertising however it is a fact that people are turning towards fast and easy methods to connect with businesses. Just look at the explosion of online directories and phonewords. Not to mention the increased sophistication of online web searches as more and more businesses compete to increase their exposure on the web.
What I can say is this. Having tested and measured this concept on only a very small scale, I know it can work for you. To this day I still receive calls to this number from pet owners from different areas long after this number was tested on the market for only a very short period of time.
Have I answered all of your questions?
If not, please feel free to email me with any further questions you may have.
I promise I won’t use your email address for any other purpose other than to respond to your query. I hate spam as much as you do.
I’ll also promise no hard sell tactics either. I have no interest in forcing you to buy something you believe is not suitable for you at this time.
Plus it does require a specific mindset. It’s not for everyone.
Now to thank you for just taking the time to read through this information you can ask for my FREE eReport “10 Mistakes Most Commonly Made in Small Business Advertising”.
Obligation Free
No questions asked - Yours to keep and pass on to others if you wish.
Just email me for this report and I’ll send it out to you promptly.
Kind Regards
Gaby Ware
P.S. Remember, only One Clinic can have access to a specific postcode so once it’s been leased to your competitor, it’s gone. They’ll get the calls.
P.P.S. So if you can see yourself helping the lady from Keilor with her inquiry, the man with a sick puppy from Preston who has just moved down from Sydney, the owner from Chelsea with an injured dog, the lady on the Mornington Peninsula with a sick cat, the dog owner from Tullamarine, just to name a few, then this may well be an opportunity for you.
