Let's Get Fiscal - Anesthesia Management Consultants Aim To Increase Anesthesia's ROI

There's a business that consults for everything these days. I just did a Google wildcard search for "top * consultants" and here's what I got as a result:

• marketing
• management
• products
• services
• marketing

Then I started typing in random phrases like pets and found:

• pet nutrition
• animal eye consultants
• family pet consulting
• animal behavior

Needless to say, there's a consultant for anything and everything it seems. So it was interesting when I began delving into some research for the medical industry and realized that one big money industry was missing a seemingly important niche of consulting. The industry is medicine (more specifically anesthesia), and the niche is process improvement. There have been many exposes in recent years about the relative inefficiencies of the health care industry, so it would seem like this should have at least popped up in the past few years, but there seems to be a surprising hole still in the marketplace.

Enter companies like Executive Anesthesia Solutions in Tampa, Florida.Their staff includes clinical professionals, members with experience in healthcare management as well as executive leadership.It's a unique collection of skillsets and they work to develop customized solutions for healthcare institutions and anesthesia groups specifically with a stated mission to help their clients achieve quality care, increase operating room efficiency, reduce defects and optimize gross margins.

This seems fundamental at first glance, but try a Google search for this and you'll be floored. Yes, there are a handful of companies operating in a space like "anesthesia management consultants" but before you get to the bottom of the first page you'll start seeing generic results for sites like healthgrades.com.

All things considered, I'd say this is a niche that's ready to explode.

Off the wall direct mail ideas that improve your response rates

Letter Carrier Delivering Mail (Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution)

When the mailbox is overflowing with non-descript junk mail and mailers from every store in a hundred mile radius, it can be hard for your direct mail piece to stick out. If you’re finding yourself struggling more and more to find some sort of “hook” to get potential customers engaged in your direct mail pieces, see if any of these ideas provide a creative spark for your next campaign:

1. Give them something real. I work in the marketing world and a company that performs search engine link building sent me a piece of direct mail that you could tell included something solid. Inside was a small plastic “chain link” and an attached note that said “the first link’s on us”. The added bulk to the mailing certainly grabbed my interest and I not only opened the envelope, I called the company later that week.
2. Use a sticker. Yes, something as simple as a sticker giving the recipient a call to action can greatly increase your response rate. Making a colorful, noticeable sticker that ties to some sort of requested action inside (“What rate makes you want to buy? Fill out this form on our website for information on how you can lower your rate.”) This sort of call and response marketing provides some benefit for the user to perform an action and gets them engaged.
3. Go big. How can you intend to stick out when your mailing is the same, size, shape and color as everything else that comes in the mail? Invest in something bigger, whether it’s a manila envelope or something even larger. This will add to the perceived importance of your mailing piece, so make sure you give them your best on the inside to maintain that interest.

Looking for some more ideas or insight on direct mail? Check out these links:

• ·         http://info.tmrdirect.com/bid/117464/7-Brilliant-Ideas-To-Bring-Your-Direct-Mail-Campaign-To-Life
• ·         http://www.rittersprinting.com/postal-rate-chart.php
• ·         http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/193436