When it comes to building a successful business or freelancing career, it’s essential to focus on solving problems that your target market faces. Once you’ve identified a market and its specific problems, the next logical step is to choose a skill or service that directly addresses those issues. In this article, I’ll walk you through my journey of connecting market problems to tangible outcomes and selecting the right skill or service to deliver value.
Step 1: Choose Your Target Market
Before you can choose a skill or service, you need to identify your target market. This is the group of people or businesses you want to serve. For me, I chose clinics as my target market. Clinics face a variety of challenges, such as missed appointments, cash flow problems, and patient retention. By focusing on a specific market, I can tailor my services to meet their unique needs.
Step 2: Identify Their Problems
Once you’ve chosen your target market, the next step is to dig deep and find out what problems they’re facing. For clinics, some common issues include:
- Attracting and retaining patients
- Reducing the number of missed appointments
- Cash flow problems
- Administrative workload
- Hiring and staffing challenges
These problems directly impact a clinic’s bottom line. For example, missed appointments can lead to a significant loss of revenue, while poor patient retention can affect long-term profitability.
Step 3: Connect the Problems to the Bottom Line
After identifying the problems, the next step is to understand how these issues connect to the revenue line. This means figuring out how solving these problems can increase revenue, reduce costs, or improve efficiency. Here’s how some of the clinic problems connect to their bottom line:
- Attracting and retaining patients: Increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can boost profits by as much as 85%. Losing patients due to poor retention can result in significant lost revenue.
- Reducing missed appointments: The average missed appointment rate is 10%, which can lead to $140,000 in lost revenue annually for a clinic with six full-time physicians.
- Cash flow problems: Billing errors and late payments can create cash flow issues, making it difficult for clinics to cover payroll and purchase necessary supplies.
By understanding the financial impact of these problems, I can better position my services as valuable solutions that clinics are willing to pay for.
Step 4: Choose a Problem to Solve
With a clear understanding of the problems and how they affect the bottom line, it’s time to choose one problem to focus on. For example, I decided to tackle the issue of reducing missed appointments. This problem has a clear financial impact, and solving it can make a significant difference for a clinic’s revenue.
Step 5: Search for Solutions
Once you’ve chosen a problem to solve, the next step is to research possible solutions. For reducing missed appointments, I conducted a simple Google search and found various strategies, including:
- Automated appointment reminders
- Pre-paid appointments
- Follow-up systems
- Thanking patients who keep appointments
- Providing a printed copy of the appointment time
These solutions are practical and can be implemented with relative ease, making them ideal for a service offering.
Step 6: Create a List of Action Items
Based on my research, I compiled a list of action items to deliver as a service for clinics. Here’s what my service proposal looks like:
- Keep accurate records of patient contact information: This is essential for ensuring patients receive appointment reminders and follow-ups.
- Implement automated reminders: Use a system that sends reminders via email, text, or phone calls to reduce the likelihood of missed appointments.
- Offer pre-paid appointments: This can incentivize patients to keep their appointments, as they’ve already invested financially.
- Follow-up with patients who missed appointments: Reach out to reschedule and ensure they don’t miss future appointments.
- Acknowledge and reward patients who keep appointments: Building loyalty through recognition can encourage patients to stay committed to their scheduled visits.
Step 7: Present the Solution
With my list of action items, I can now present my solution to potential clients. Here’s how I might pitch my service:
“I help clinics reduce missed appointments and increase patient loyalty. By implementing automated reminders, pre-paid appointments, and a follow-up system, I can help your clinic save up to $140,000 annually. My goal is to make sure your patients show up, stay loyal, and help your clinic thrive.”
Step 8: Focus on the Outcome, Not Just the Skill
The key takeaway here is that it’s not about having the most technical or complicated skill—it’s about delivering a specific outcome that solves your client’s problem. For clinics, the outcome is fewer missed appointments and higher patient loyalty, which translates into increased revenue.
Whether you’re using Facebook Ads, automated reminders, or patient engagement strategies, the tools you use don’t matter as much as the result you achieve. Clients care about the outcome, so focus on that in your service offering.
Step 9: Adapt to the Market’s Needs
Finally, it’s essential to remain adaptable. If the skill or service you initially choose doesn’t fully solve your market’s problems, be open to adjusting your approach. You might need to expand your skill set or explore different solutions to address your clients’ needs better.
For example, if a clinic also struggles with cash flow issues, and you have accounting skills, you can offer a service that addresses both missed appointments and cash flow management. The more problems you can solve, the more valuable you become to your clients.
Conclusion: Choose to Solve, Not Just to Do
Choosing a skill or service isn’t just about what you’re good at—it’s about solving real problems for your target market. By identifying the problems that connect to the revenue line, researching solutions, and focusing on delivering specific outcomes, you can position yourself as a valuable service provider. This approach not only helps you stand out from the competition but also allows you to charge premium prices for your services.
So, instead of just offering generic skills, think about how you can solve specific problems for your clients. In the end, it’s the value you bring to the table that makes all the difference.