TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Our Experience for Your Use
This website was created created and co-founded by us – Sarah Breymeier and Ann Dosen.
Both of us have spent nearly ten years in the podiatry industry, attending dozens upon dozens of podiatric meetings and trade shows.
Therefore, we want to put our experience to good use!
Below are some helpful “tricks of the trade” from us to you… enjoy!
GOOD ADVICE – PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
No matter if you work in the podiatric profession as physician, vendor, or meeting organizer/planner, utilizing the tips and resources supplied below will serve you well!
Increase your Productivity and Without Getting Overwhelmed.
I read this book cover to cover in just a couple of days. It’s been a few years since I read it, but it always stands out as one that I recommend to anyone that wants to continue to achieve. Whether you own a small business (like a podiatry practice or a device company), it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the things you should be doing.
The Slight Edge provides practical/doable advice to help you set your goals and break down the activities that must take place to achieve those goals – step by step. By doing a little bit every single day, you will see big changes over time. There’s no need to do everything in one day, one week, one month, or even one year.
Do one action item every single day and the result will show itself!
-SARAH
Every day I listen to at least one podcast episode while I’m driving or working out to give me inspiration for the day. There are days when I wake up and don’t want to do a single thing other than catch up on episodes of Outlander, but after listening to one of these podcasts, I know I can take over the world! No matter what your daily life brings you, every single person on the planet will get something out of listening to these individuals.
John Maxwell Leadership Podcast – a weekly podcast from the leadership authority John Maxwell. This podcast focuses on the principles, practices, and process of becoming a transformational leader. Even if leadership is not one of your primary goals, the principles translate to any project or position you are in. I always come away with new motivation or a fresh outlook on a current project. Each episode comes with a downloadable resource to work through.
Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield – Amy Porterfield is considered the GIANT in the online marketing space. She is so inspiring to listen to. Her episodes include expert interviews, mini execution plans, and secrets from her product and service launches; all tied together by her mission to make each episode as actionable and profitable as possible. Every episode I listen to of hers gets me thinking about the next big thing I want us to tackle. Her advice is tangible and for real life.
Rise Podcast with Rachel Hollis – hosted by the best-selling author of “Girl, Wash Your Face”, this podcast is a series of conversations with business powerhouses and personal development leaders where each episode provides listeners with tactical, valuable takeaways.
-ANN
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Tips for DPMs
CHECK OUT OUR LIBRARY OF DPM DOWNLOADS – CLICK HERE!
LET THE LITERATURE LEAD, What I Learned from My MLM Experience
Say what you want about multi-level marketing programs (or as most people refer to them, the dreaded PYRAMID SCHEME!). Granted, it's unlikely I would ever get involved in one again (I had my first and last experience in 2014), but there were a lot of "crash course" business lessons learned. One of them is a semi-extension of an article I shared last month: (click to read it) Collateral Damage: Get Rid of Those Printed Materials Those who invest into an MLM program, very often have zero sales experience. The creators of these programs know that; they know they have a [...]
THE NEXT 30 DAYS, Maximize Each Day of Foot Health Awareness Month
Be honest - are you ready for the month that's made for you?!! Obviously I'm talking about FOOT HEALTH AWARNESS MONTH. Every year, I urge DPMs to use the 90 days (January - March) to plan an epic marketing/communications/awareness campaign to launch on April 1. 90 days may seem like a lot of time to put a plan together, yet I fail to see many practices utilize this time to make something happen. Trust me, I'm not scolding anyone for finding it difficult to find time to plot a 30-day strategic communications campaign; let's be real, I write this newsletter [...]
Collateral Damage: Get Rid of Those Printed Materials
One of my favorite things to (teasingly) make fun of, especially at conferences / exhibit halls because it's so prevalent, are the individuals that freak out when they think they're going to waste their collateral materials. Oh no!!! I printed those materials for everyone to see, but I don't want you to take any!! If you're not familiar with "collateral", it's simply a marketing term for communication materials.... flyers, brochures, postcards, hand-outs, etc. GET IT OUT OF YOUR OFFICE AND INTO YOUR PATIENTS' HANDS!! I've seen physicians spend thousands of dollars on materials that they never want to let go [...]
Reruns Are a Good Thing
You Heard It Before... But Now It Means Something Else If you are a creature of habit (like we all are) you probably go to many of the same meetings each year. No agenda is ever copied & pasted from year to year, but when you continue to hit the same events, you will likely start to hear some recycled lectures. That's not always a bad thing! I was reminded of this when I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts (The Daily Stoic with Ryan Holliday) and he was discussing "Meditations" from Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. "Meditations" [...]
Results with Rapport: The Art of “Mirroring” to Enhance Relationships and Revenue
REPORT TALK vs. RAPPORT TALK You've likely been a part of a practice management and/or marketing presentation discussing how to build a rapport with your patient base. The first time I had given any attention to rapport was in graduate school and understanding the communication theory presented by Dr. Debra Tannen, a professor at Georgetown University and focuses on a term called: genderlects. Ultimately Dr. Tannen describes how males tend to communicate with report talk (transactional and without the need to share anything other than information for the sake of gathering and giving information) and females communicate with rapport [...]
Become a Brand Champion
Having worked with various podiatric providers (from orthoses and lasers to AFOs and emollients), I've come to understand how certain products can become the basis of a thriving podiatry practice; products that the DPM relies on daily to provide optimal care. So, what I wonder is - do they know? Have you taken the time to let your provider(s) know just how critical their products and/or services are to your practice success? They may know simply by the recurring orders, right? But why not take it a step further? Consider becoming a BRAND CHAMPION. Ultimately what this means is taking [...]
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Ideas for Meeting Planners
ARTICLES WORTH SHARING; WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH POSTERS?
I'm going to be 100% honest... the poster area of an exhibit hall is one that I just don't have much to say about. The only thing I can say I know about the posters is that most exhibitors find no value in being near them. I'm going to cut myself a little bit of slack for being in the dark about this conference staple, though, after reading this statement from the article I am sharing below: "With medical conferences having so many moving parts, it’s understandable that something as basic as poster creation might not command much attention from [...]
DO YOU HAVE TO CHARGE FOR EVERYTHING?
LET'S ALL WIN WITH A FEW FREEBIES If you've read my previous articles, you know that I start a lot of these the same way; by beating a dead horse that is one of a few foundational challenges for every meeting. So I'm going to do it again... Costs. Costs are rising and nobody seems to be getting anymore money from either end. So why would I ever suggest giving away some commercial real estate away for free at a meeting? Well, because exhibitors are needing more bang for their buck. Costs are rising for exhibitors in every aspect of [...]
TIMING YOUR MEETING MARKETING
THIS REPORT JUST MADE IT SO MUCH EASIER TO PREP Having worked with several different organizations and types of people while putting on a meeting, it is often a point of contention with how the meeting should be marketed, how much should be budgeted for marketing, and who is in control of the marketing decisions. Marketing tends to be one of those topics that everyone thinks they're really good at; however, I have found that people are usually just really good at throwing out insane ideas and wrenches in plans that actually make sense (excuse my pinch of bitterness in [...]
ARTICLES WORTH SHARING; MANAGING YOUR SPEAKERS
There cannot be any argument which debates that your faculty members are the most critical aspect of your meeting. The educational content is THE PRODUCT your organization provides (at least at the time of the specific event). If your faculty is not delivering top-quality content, your reputation is at risk. I highly doubt members of your scientific/education committees are not working to recruit the leading experts of the profession, as well as anyone who is uncovering novel research and methods. Once you've got great content, though, there are additional areas of speaker management that are imperative to either protect your [...]
ARTICLES WORTH SHARING; ATTRACTING YOUNG PHYSICIANS
One meeting challenge that never seems to change: difficulty attracting young physicians. Over a year ago, we shared some insight from surveys collected from young DPMs with the following summary: Young physicians are drawn to conferences that have engaging speakers. My recommendation – when you are creating promotional materials (especially via email and on your website) highlight your faculty and emphasize their expertise. Also, avoid choosing the same faculty members every single conference. Get some new blood on your podium! Young physicians are seeking educational content that they can use immediately – practical applications! Hands-on experiences are also ideal. Young [...]
BUSTING YOUR BUDGET, AXE HIGH-COST, LOW-VALUE EXPENSES
Two things we know to be true... nobody is getting any younger and running meetings is not getting any cheaper. This is a massive issue that plagues meetings year after year and it always seems that the simple fix is to increase fees - primarily on the exhibitor side. I believe, very strongly, that these vendor fee increases have to stop. Exhibitors are getting more and more frustrated with rising costs, especially when foot traffic in the hall is not increasing at the same rate. The cost per lead is getting too high to be able to achieve ROI. Below [...]