Author: Patty Cisco, Creative Catalyst, December 27, 2011

With only a few days remaining until 2012, are you confident with your game plan or are you feeling a bit overwhelmed and confused on where to focus? Usually the last week of the year finds senior care and living providers reflecting on what they actually achieved in the past year, and a feeling of the “unknown” as they look to the year ahead…especially 2012 with healthcare reform and severe reimbursement cuts looming on the horizon.

If your 2012 plans include strategies and tactics to become more valuable, more visible and more indispensable to your customers, and your marketing and sales strategies reflect it, congratulations! You’ve done your planning and research and you should be looking at 2012 with confident anticipation.

On the other hand, if your 2012 plans are basically a re-run of what you’ve done in 2011 and prior, you’re probably stuck in a rut. You may be feeling stressed and anxious about what 2012 will bring and hoping for a little luck.

Unfortunately luck isn’t what you need. You need change, insight, education and a solid strategy. As much as I would love to give everyone the magic “quick fix” strategies, there really isn’t anything worth doing that doesn’t require pushing up the sleeves and getting the hands dirty with a little hard work. Every organization requires a different game plan.

A few things to consider for 2012 to give you a competitive advantage:

1. Customize marketing and sales strategies that make the most sense for your market area, target audiences and the services being offered. Don’t waste money on one-size fits all strategies.

2. Customer Service. Customer Service. Customer Service. Need I say more?

3. Integrate your marketing strategies. Don’t waste time and resources creating fly by night campaigns. Look for avenues to weave all of your marketing strategies together.

4. Internet marketing. From web site (if yours is older than 2 years this should be a priority for 2012) to social media…it is imperative that it’s part of your strategy and you use it correctly to gain the full benefit.

5. “Sales” is not a dirty word, and not just a warm smiley cookie-dropper person. Internal sales strategies are different from external sales strategies. Regardless of your service, having a sales system is imperative to engage both referral sources and leads.

6. Develop a competitive advantage message. Don’t be “vanilla” like your competitors. You need to have a clear message that defines your unique attributes and the benefit your customers and referral sources receive from working with you.

7. You need a brand identity, and no, that’s not just a logo! If you haven’t refreshed your brand in 5 years, it’s time.

8. Engage and provide value to your prospects and referral sources. From helpful rich internet content, to educational information it’s time to stop pushing out information about you, and start engaging and pulling people to connect with you on their terms.

9. Personal goals yield success. If you struggle to achieve your objectives, try using these strategies adapted from Five goal setting secrets to jumpstart your life, by Ed Sykes, on the Sykes Group to breathe life into your goals:

• Rephrase. Don’t say “I hope to” or “I want to.” Say “I will.” Treat achieving your goals as a foregone conclusion. Your certainty will fuel your progress.

• Anticipate. List the benefits you expect to receive from achieving your objectives. Shift the focus from what you must do to what you will gain.

• Visualize. Schedule time each day to meditate on your goals. Create a vivid mental picture of how your success will look and feel.

• Record. Write out your goals. Studies show that people who commit their goals to paper are more likely to achieve them.

10. Ask for help! I know what it feels like to try and manage so many fires and “everyone else’s priorities” as a senior care and living provider. It’s ok to ask for help and just brain storm with someone who understands. You would be amazed at the number of people just like you that take advantage of our “on-the-spot” tele-coaching calls to talk through sales, marketing, customer service and yes leadership challenges. Change begins by looking within. Never worked with a coach before? Let 2012 be your time to experience the benefits of working with a professional coach.

What do you think will be most challenging about 2012 in your marketing and sales efforts?

If you’d like to use this article in your own newsletter or on your web site, you are welcome to reprint it in its entirety with an active link to our web site and the following author info:

“By Patty Cisco, Creative Catalyst for CISCO & CO. For effective marketing, sales and customer strategies that connect you with your customers visit www.ciscoco.com.”