Who Is Your Patient / Client / Customer?

If you try to be everything to everyone, you'll end up being nothing to no-one.

This principle took me a long time to understand but once I did it completely transformed my business. And it's a common mistake Health & Wellness professionals make because when we learn these new skills that can completely transform a persons health and wellbeing it's only natural that we want to shout it from the rooftop.

But I now understand the power of Market Segmentation. Start by taking your service and brainstorming all the possible types of patients who might be interested in it.

Break the types of patients up by demographic and/or psychographic features.
Old, young. Performance or Pain management. Think deeply about what distinguishes different types of patients.

Next, identify the different tasks your patients perform. How might your service fit in with these tasks to help and improve your patients life experience.

Once you've identified numerous potential patients, your next task is to list the top 5 particularly interesting market opportunities, where a market opportunity consists of a specific patient type.

Now it is time for primary market research. Talking directly with patients and observing them will help you get a better understanding of which market opportunity is best. You should also perform Google searches and read research reports from research firms. 

But talking to real people is always best.

Gathering the vast majority of your information from direct interaction with real potential patients about their situations, pain points, opportunities and market information. Be curious in your approach and take your time as there are few shortcuts in this process. 

Once you gather your primary market research, it is time to refine your learning. The main categories you are trying to obtain information on for each patient are

1. End User: Who specifically would be using your service?
2. Application: What would the end user be using your service for?
3. Benefits: What is the actual value that the end user would gain from the use of your new product? Is it a time savings? A cost savings? Pain relief?
4. Lead Patients: Who are the most influential patients that others look to for advice on where to go and who to see? These are sometimes referred to as "lighthouse patients" because they are so respected that when they buy, others look to them and follow their lead, gaining you instant credibility.
5. Market Characteristics: What about this patients market would help or hinder the adoption of a new service?
6. Partners/Players: Which companies will you need to work with to provide a solution that integrates into the customer's workflow?
7. Size of the Market: Roughly, how many potential customers exist if you achieve 100 percent market penetration?
8. Competition: Who, if anyone, is provide similar services - real or perceived? Remember, this is from the customer's perspective and not just yours.
9. Complementary Assets Required: What else does your patient need in order to get full benefit from your service? Sometimes you will need to bundle your service with services from other health providers so that customers can realise the full benefit

The goal of the research is not to provide a perfect solution, but to present a wide spectrum of market opportunities as you start to think about where you will focus your business.