O CC U PAT I O N A L M E D I C I N E Hedging Your Bets: The Art of Market Segmentation ■ FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH I f you have more than one child or grew up with at least one sibling, you have probably experienced “segmentation.” That is, you have most likely used different tactics and strategies in dealing with each of your children or you were treated somewhat differently than your siblings. Segmentation within the urgent care occupational health market follows the same principle; a communication tech- nique that is effective with one audience may not work as well with another. Market Differentiation Any clinic launching a marketing campaign should explore the question of whether its market has different segments that require different sales and marketing strategies. Usu- ally, the answer is “Yes.” Consider a national political campaign: A candidate’s core message in California is likely to be considerably differ- ent than the message he would emphasize in Georgia or Iowa. Market segments for an occupational health initiative are limited only by one’s imagination and are likely to vary by region. However, three variables are virtually universal in occupational health: employer size, industry type, and prox- imity (i.e., distance from your core delivery locale). Employer Size A clinic’s basic instinct is to market to mid-sized employers. However, such an emphasis ignores the largest and smaller employers in a market, thus ceding volume potential to competitors. A more fruitful strategy is to market continu- Frank Leone is president and CEO of RYAN Associates and executive director of the National Association of Occupational Health Professionals. Mr. Leone is the author of numerous sales and marketing texts and periodicals, and has considerable experience training medical profes- sionals on sales and marketing techniques. E-mail him at fleone@naohp.com. w w w. j u c m . c o m Table 1. Three Steps to Market Segmentation 1. Is anything unique about your market? Does a partic- ular industry type dominate? Do you wish to reach out- lying markets? Are there an inordinately large number of big (or small) companies? 2. Does your clinic offer services that are relevant to one or more of these segments? For example, do you offer executive health services to your white-collar employer segment? 3. What unique marketing tactics might be applicable to a segment and/or a product geared to a given segment? “Small employers are largely overlooked, although they can produce significant volumes for an occupational health program.” ally to all segments: large, mid-sized, and small. Each of these segments requires different stimuli in order for your clinic to be most effective with each group. Large employers tend to be low-probability/high-reward prospects. Breakthroughs with large employers are more likely to occur when a team, including physicians and/or clinic managers, is periodically involved in the sales process. For example, your clinic might schedule a weekly group sales call at a set day/hour that is devoted to “large employ- ers.” With such a commitment, your urgent care clinic will cultivate approximately 50 large employers a year. Small employers are largely overlooked as well, although in the aggregate they can produce significant volumes for an occupational health program. When it comes to market- JUCM T h e J o u r n a l o f U r g e n t C a r e M e d i c i n e | N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 31