DCs and corporations
7 ways to make the relationship work
By Tom Deters, DC

Creating demand for your services in your community is one thing — creating demand and then implementing a program in a corporate environment is another.

Working with corporations has its challenges, from getting an audience to winning them over (or creating a champion) to getting buy-in and approval from the management. But the rewards can be significant.

Whether you want to offer health screenings, low back schools, ergonomic evaluations, or other programs, gaining entry to the corporate wellness market requires planning in addition to learning the company’s needs and restrictions.

Your success depends on how well you present yourself and your services in the context of the company’s needs. Your job is to make their job easier, keep management happy (which means different things to different people), and offer a measurable benefit to their employees.

1. Do your homework. Remember you are in sales. Selling is all about how the features and benefits of your product or service meet the customer’s needs. Learn all you can about the company or types of companies you are approaching.

Make a point to know their businesses and understand their challenges. Spend time on their Web sites and talk to their employees. How many employees do they have? What are their demographics? What are their top work comp issues? Do you have something to offer that can help address their challenges specifically?

Find out about employee morale and management’s attitude toward employee service. Do they have high turnover rates? If so, why? Many companies are looking for benefits for their employees to offset stagnant wages. How would you position your services to help?

2. Tailor your program. Prospective corporate clients will be receptive to you only if they believe you are capable of addressing their particular needs. What type of program or service are you offering? Are you primarily looking to the company to supply an audience to whom you can provide office chiropractic care, or are you looking to sell a service to the company directly?

Depending on your scope of practice, you may have many choices. Low back schools, ergonomic assessments, educational programs, on-site massage, wellness seminars, smoking cessation programs, various screenings and heath-risk appraisals, and cholesterol screenings are just a few ideas that have potential.

Whatever program you had in mind, customize it to make it as relevant and applicable to the company’s needs as possible.

3. Find (or make) a champion. With the basic research behind you, your next step is to locate or enlist a contact person who is a proponent of chiropractic and of you as a doctor. This person will be helpful in providing company contact and background information so that you know whom to approach and what the hot buttons are.

Corporations function from both grassroots and trickle-down initia-tives. Acquire your champions from both rank-and-file and executive levels so that there is more widespread follow-through and a higher chance of successful adoption of the program you are offering.

4. Control the message. Once you know your target company’s needs and how best to address them, the next step is to determine the best possible sales communication vehicle. Consider the scope of content and the receiving audience. Is it printed material that the decision maker will see? A PowerPoint presentation? A phone call? How much time will you have?

How will you establish demand and bring immediate relevance and urgency to your message? What are the decision maker’s most urgent issues? If you are presenting to a numbers-oriented person, are your numbers solid and compelling? Are they the right numbers to sell him or her?

If you are dealing with a director of human resources, does your program address that person’s key needs in a way that he or she can own and defend? What three key points are the take-home message?

Having the right product is not enough. You have to position the right product to the right customer in a way that makes them want to say yes.

5. Show them how. Most decision makers in corporations have little time for anything but results. Results may be increasing the bottom line, making operations smoother, or solving a problem. Whatever you do, try to make their job, and their decision to engage your services, easy.

Telling them, “This will save you money,” or “It won’t take much of anyone’s time” is not very convincing. Show them exactly how and then make it happen. Whenever possible, do their work for them.

List all the elements of the process to make their jobs painless and turnkey. Address schedules, logistics, fliers, and presentation to the employees. Give them the statistics and logistics to not only convince them, but to convince others up or down the chain of command.

6. Think relationship. An important rule to remember when dealing with corporations is to be patient. Corporations move slowly unless they are forced to move fast. Realize that they have many more pressing demands besides your program. It may take months just to get the audience to hear your message, let alone make a decision.

Think long-term relationship whenever possible. Another rule is to never give up. While “no” should and does mean “no” in interpersonal relationships, in business “no” can mean many different things, ranging from “not yet” to “go back, tweak it, and try again.”

If you get a “no,” find out why. Make adjustments and accommodate the requests.

Also, consider timing issues. Trying to get management to make any decision (on anything) during year-end closing, budgeting, product launches, or while considering an acquisition, is bound to fail. Consult with your champions to learn when the coast is clear.

7. Small may be better. Despite the types and sizes of the companies in your area, remember that the vast majority of companies are small, meaning 20 employees or fewer. These companies tend to move faster, be more progressive, and have lower barriers to entry.

Small operations are also the most likely to consider ways to enhance employee value benefits with ancillary programs such as those you might be offering. Consider approaching corporate parks and office complexes (multiple small companies clustered or under one roof) as groups so that any space considerations or costs might be shared, thereby making your program more viable for all.

Corporate wellness is and will be what the healthcare field makes it, and right now there is no clear leader in this effort. That provides you and chiropractic with an opportunity to serve and educate more people than ever before.

For further information on seminars, workshops and consulting on strategic practice development by Dr. Deters, visit his Web site, www.tomdeters.com, or e-mail him at info@tomdeters.com.