Recruiting is a Sales Program

It’s the end of another long work day and you will either go home late or leave projects uncompleted.  Perhaps you see opportunities for growth of your practice but have limitations of time and staff.  You feel the need to add or replace staff.

You went into the medical field to help others and to gain some self-satisfaction along the way.  As you range from “fresh out of academia” to the “old-timer”, you can see how your “ideals” have changed into the new “reality”.  Medical practice is evolving and you must add or retain skill sets outside of medical practice.

You may be able to coast and survive without growth; however, most practitioners realize they need to incorporate selling to enhance their medical practice. Recruiting is often a major part of your overall sales program.  Adding or replacing staff was simpler at one time; you placed a small ad in the newspaper and waited for results.   As you may have noticed, we don’t live in a simple world today. To score in growth, you have to enhance your product, improve your methods, and then sell…sell…sell.

I have been heavily involved in recruiting for over twenty years.  I run recruiting with the same mentality that I ran my clinical business as a physical therapist. The clinical model requires you to evaluate the situation, listen to the patient, set goals, determine a treatment plan using your best tools; then, most importantly, SELL this plan to the patient.   As you have probably noted clinically, a weak selling of the treatment plan will typically give you limited patient results.  Accountability and reassessment is also critical to stay on track and revise the plan.

Effective recruiting is enhanced when you utilize that same clinical model. Many professional recruiters will embrace parts of that model but begin to fall short when you hold them to such things as accountability and reassessment.  Managers who attempt to recruit may fall short on such things as a solid plan using modern recruiting tools and evaluation of the program. Owners may set up recruiting departments and overlook the critical component of accountability and professional oversight of the process.

We live in a competitive world where simple methods achieve limited results. If you have faith in your product; sell it with the best methods available.  Recruiting is a form of sales. You have to determine your needs and then aggressively find and promote your practice to potential leads.  Evaluate your practice.  Look at your strengths, set firm goals, then sell with a plan.

As a manager or owner, you are not expected to be an expert in every aspect of your practice.  Use consultants and tools to enhance your vision of a successful practice.   You may need to bring in experts for their tools; but, you must still keep a finger on the plan.

Advertise and sell with a plan and with insight. If you want mediocre results; then scatter your desires into the wind and hope for results. If you want optimal results, then be aggressive and use “professional grade” recruiting tools that compete in today’s modern market. Avoid the tired sales approach; your need to develop a cutting edge recruiting program that meets your needs and budget.