Tips for Bankers on Targeting Healthcare Professionals
Posted by Ned Miller on Tue, Jul 05, 2011 @ 09:08
Question: I represent a small, young (6 years) community bank and am going after healthcare professionals (MDs, DDSs, DVMs) and their practices. I am looking to build "loan-deposit - other products" relationships around small, non-Real Estate deals (up to $1.0MM) and competing against one top 10 bank and a regional bank. Any words of advice?
Answer: As you undoubtedly realize, you are targeting a niche that many other financial services providers—not just banks--focus on. Medical doctors are solicited by everybody and anybody, which does little to rein in their outsized egos. That said, a few suggestions:
1. Build a list of who specifically you are going after. You might, as an example, refine your list of medical specialists to emphasize surgeons, say, over family practices, or medical groups over solo operators, or doctors located close to your branches.
2. Show your list to everybody in your network, starting with your colleagues--even tellers have connections with doctors. If your bank has any health care professionals as clients, think about how to leverage that. Figure out which CPAs in your community have dealings with your prospects and get to know them. In my experience, without a referral from another practitioner, a COI or a patient, you're going to have trouble getting in to see most doctors and dentists.
3. Get smart about the issues in each segment you're pursuing. Follow the industry research--association websites are great sources, as are e-Mentor, Ibisworld, and First Research. Become a specialist yourself. As Jim Unland, a health care consultant that we have worked with in the past once remarked, "You can't dabble in this and be successful."
4. Look into professional associations. If you're in a place where local or state medical/ dental/ veterinary societies are running events, find out what's on the schedule. It might be worth attending one. Check out the Health Care Financial Management Association and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the association for practice managers in the health care field.
5. Stick with it. Prospecting requires a high degree of preparation and persistence. Building relationships with health care professionals is a challenge, but many relationship managers have been extremely successful at it.
Looking for more insights into the health care field? You might be interested in listening to our recorded webinars on prospecting medical practices, dental practices, and veterinarians. Go to http://mzbierlyconsulting.webex.com to register. If you’d like more information, call Ned Miller at 610-296-4772 or email him at nmiller@mzbierlyconsulting.com.