LunaLog
February 2010
16 posts
“I want to be elected president, learn the truth about aliens, and then resign.”
—via Dustin Curtis (RT @dcurtis)
Spam is more than unsolicited email, it's a way of thinking (via @37svn) #resumes
Congratulations to Rob Pearigen, Millsaps' 11th President
Dear Members of the University Community,
It is a bittersweet duty for me to give you the news that Sewanee’s Vice President for University Relations Rob Pearigen, C’76, will become the Eleventh President of Millsaps College. He was elected unanimously by Millsaps’ Board of Trustees and will take office in July. Additional information about his appointment can be found at www.millsaps.edu.
Rob has served Sewanee with great distinction since 1987, as Dean of Men (1987-92), Associate Dean of Students (1992-94), Dean of Students (1994-2005), and Vice President for University Relations (since 2005). He is also Professor of Political Science, having been a faculty member throughout his service as an administrator. His selection for the Millsaps Presidency is a recognition of his superb leadership for Sewanee and his record of outstanding contributions in student life, working closely with alumni and donors, securing major gifts, teaching, and leading the work of others.
Phoebe Pearigen, who will be an outstanding first lady for Millsaps College, has been an instructor in Sewanee’s Theatre Arts Department and has taught dance classes for the College for over two decades. She created and advised Perpetual Motion and founded and directed the Sewanee Dance Conservatory - in which large numbers of children have participated since 1987.
We are deeply indebted to both Rob and Phoebe, and they will be missed greatly on this Mountain, but we take pride in this signal achievement of one our own, and we congratulate both of them on this new opportunity and wish them all the best in it.
There will be opportunities to thank and celebrate the Pearigens more formally later this spring, but for now I hope many of you will join in offering them congratulations, thanks, and best wishes.
Joel Cunningham
15 Principles for Marketing Any Professional Service
by Michael W. McLaughlin on January 22, 2010
Successful marketing doesn’t happen by accident. It takes insightful analysis, dedication to building a business and, most of all, patience.
Even though every company approaches the market in a unique way, the most effective marketers follow 15 principles that lead to their success.
- Marketing is embedded in every aspect of the business, from the big things (like how you deliver services) to the details, such as the look of your emails and envelopes.
- You have a market positioning vision that reflects your direction and purpose. Everyone in the practice understands and can describe it in a few brief sentences.
- Clients understand your market positioning.
- Your clients and prospects know what makes you different from your competitors.
- All members of your practice know exactly how they contribute to the success of both your business and its marketing strategy.
- You have a marketing activity calendar, and you follow it.
- Client-specific programs are at the center of your marketing strategy.
- You have patience with your marketing program, recognizing that some strategies take hold more quickly than others.
- You measure the effectiveness of your marketing, making mid-course corrections as needed.
- Your marketing strategy relies on an array of integrated tactics, applied consistently over time, rather than a start-and-stop approach.
- You place a high value on client relationship skills.
- You deliver your services flawlessly.
- You provide a positive experience for your clients, no matter how tough the project.
- Your marketing materials make a positive difference in your business development efforts.
- You make time every day for marketing the business.
You can probably add to this list, but look at each of these principles and assess how well your firm is meeting the intent of each one. For most organizations, a few small changes in how they go to market can make a significant impact on performance.
I’ve left one essential, but obvious, item off this list. You must have an in-demand service offering that you can deliver to the market. Without that, your marketing efforts may succeed, but your business will ultimately fail.
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“It’s a lot harder to create something people love than to take something people love and figure out how to make money from it.”
—Paul Graham
“The greatest enemy to communication is the illusion of communication.”
—Pierre Martineau
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BusinessWeek: How to Redesign Health Care by Jay Parkinson →
businessweek.com
It currently costs employers, on average, nearly $11,000 per year per employee for health insurance. In 2019, it’s going to cost $28,000. That means the 90% of Americans who have few medical needs every year will soon be paying $28,000 a year for the privilege. This is insane.
Going to the doctor, having routine surgery, buying bulk medications online—all could be radically reinvented with the application of one type of medicine: designed disruptive innovation. Combining the principles of disruptive innovation with design thinking is exactly what health care in America needs. We need to disrupt the current business model of health-care delivery. And we need these disruptions to be designed experiences that are consumer-focused. Imagine: a health-care experience truly on par with a visit to the Apple (AAPL) Genius Bar or buying a book from Amazon.com (AMZN).
But as executives at those two companies know, elegant experiences don’t just happen. They are designed from the ground up to ensure an enjoyable interaction every time. Smart, forward-thinking companies should start applying these same principles to health care. Established brands or even companies that aren’t currently in the health industry should design the future health experience today, delighting customers with innovative services and products that optimize health and happiness. These companies will be the big winners of tomorrow’s health-care system. Here’s how a design process can help them get there:
Define the Problem
Today’s health-care delivery processes are unpleasant for multiple reasons. Patients aren’t the real customers; insurance companies are. Doctors profit from sickness. Most importantly, the fee-for-service business model values quantity over quality. When doctors are paid for the frequency of illness and treatments in an aging population, health care will inevitably become more expensive—until eventually it becomes financially out of reach for many consumers.
Reframe the Problem
As premiums for traditional insurance skyrocket, consumers will look for more affordable options. The 90% of Americans who don’t need serious, complex care will turn to high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and learn to pay their own way. That’s 270 million people and some serious buying power: well more than $750 billion a year within the next 10 years. Companies that help consumers spend their money wisely will win. Because guess what?—these consumers will learn to think carefully about what they’re buying. Are they going to pay their own cash for the same tired health experience of today? Would you? I know I’d be angry paying $200 for the anxiety of an eight minute visit to a doctor’s office that wasted most of my working day or $15,000 for a routine hernia repair carried out in the opaque abyss of a large institution.
As the balance of power shifts back to the patient, the opportunity to provide a well-designed experience is also an opportunity to tap into this new market. For instance, I would pay $2,500 to have that hernia repaired in a highly focused, beautifully designed outpatient surgery center. I would also pay for affordable iPhone apps that let me know if my health is worsening and connect me to professionals who can prevent expensive problems down the line. I would pay for a robot that helps me live on my own rather than in an exorbitantly priced nursing home. Thinking differently about how to approach the field of health care could lead to exciting, radically different solutions.
Try Something Now
Time and time again, people pay for a designed experience that makes their lives better. So how about creating a Starbucks (SBUX) of urgent care? Would patients use it? I think so. The health industry should take lessons from retail. Build scalable service experiences that people love. Learn from the “positive deviants” who are experimenting outside the current business models to come up with new ideas. Design a health insurance product akin to AppleCare, the customer service guarantee offered by Apple.
Create an open source, online platform for communication, payments, and secure medical records that connects my robot, my biometric monitor (like the new Fitbit), and my calorie-tracking iPhone app (like Daily Burn) with professionals who can help me stay on top of my health and my health care-related finances. People would search out services that connect to the platform knowing that a quality experience stems from data-driven, personalized solutions. And pay doctors a bit more to join these experimental groups. After all, doctor salaries are only about 10% of total health-care costs. Everyone needs to be on board. And everyone needs to keep pushing. Iterate like hell, and improve all the time.
Most importantly, don’t meddle within traditional health care. That’s the biggest mess imaginable. Differentiate and go straight after the cash-paying consumer with elegant experiences that are human-centric, simple, data-driven, and connected to the platform. Create a network of effective, convenient solutions for simple problems. Meet 90% of the health needs of 90% of the people. Disrupt health care with design. Is it easy? No. Is it do-able? Let’s hope so.
Jay Parkinson, MD, launched the online healthcare service, Hello Health, in 2008. More recently he co-founded innovation firm, The Future Well, to design services and products that create health and happiness.
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