Growing resupply biz starts with sound marketing

WATERLOO, Iowa - For CPAP providers, the keys to marketing your resupply business are leveraging the right data, attracting the right referrals and doing right by your patients, says Seth Dixon.

“You've got to get the data and you've got to get the right data,” said Dixon, director of marketing and sales for S3 Resupply, during a session at the Heartland Conference in June. “You need to have transparency.”

Providers also have to know who they are, says David Baxter, owner and president of Columbia, Tenn.-based Medical Necessities.

“Identify what you do and do well,” he said. “We identify as a respiratory provider. The easy part is getting business. It's harder trying to develop a team to grow the business, but growing the business starts with marketing.”

'Let's not do lunch'

Gone are the days of marketers who bring lunch to physician offices, says Baxter. Today's marketers need to be smart and driven.

“You need marketers that are going to set the standards for the referral sources you want,” he said.

Preferred referrals

It can be hard for providers to turn away potential business, but it's also important to remember not all referrals are good referrals.
“We find people who really want to partner with us,” he said. “We want to work with referral sources, not for them.”

Groupthink

One of the best things providers can market is group setups. Not only are they more efficient, there's often better buy-in from reluctant patients when they see they are not the only person in the world suffering from sleep apnea, says Stacy Colvett, vice president of S3 Resupply.

“The better educated the patient, the more compliant the patient,” she said. “Patients that are compliant 80% or greater, are 355% more likely to order supplies from you 12 to 18 months down the road.”