When it comes to marketing your new surgical facility to physicians, the best approach is always the personal one. Marketing one-on-one or to a tightly focused group will yield the greatest results. Here are six simple yet powerful tools to help you do just that.

Pound the pavement. Set a goal of three face-to-face meetings per week with surgeons and other providers. Arm yourself with a credentialing packet, an approved procedure list, and a list of available equipment and instrumentation. Center brochures are also helpful. Stress your facility's convenience and location, multi-specialty services, foreign language capabilities and cross-specialty treatments such as pain management. Follow up visits with a letter and a thank you.

Court office schedulers. Schedulers and physician's front-office staff hold the keys to getting cases posted. Take them to lunch, and then give them a tour of your facility. Offer open block time, and try to obtain a list of their participating managed care contracts (invaluable data when it comes to coordinating postings). The last surprise you'll want after a successful courtship is to find out that the center and physician don't share the same insurance contracts. You might also consider offering physician's staffers in-depth tutorials or in-services on how to schedule cases.

Sponsor community educational seminars. Community programs and lectures can be very useful in building volumes. New physicians find this is an excellent way to introduce themselves (and the surgery center) to the community. This approach also lets you shine the spotlight on your facility's new procedures and equipment.

Get accredited. Far from mere symbols of internal quality, the accomplishments of certification and accreditation have proven to be valuable marketing tools for surgical centers. Most facilities are either Medicare-certified, state-certified or both. In addition, many centers have also chosen to undergo the voluntary accreditation process of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) or other smaller, specialty-based accrediting bodies. While demonstrating quality clinical care, these stamps of approval have become synonymous with participation with third-party insurers and managed care plans.

Cultivate a great staff. Room turnover is the definitive measure of a great staff. Monitor this - even when the caseload is light - and tout it to physicians. Nothing will attract a new physician or encourage an existing one like a well tuned, efficiently run operating suite. Physicians' offices are more likely to schedule additional cases if they know they won't be delayed.

Create your own buzz by doing a great job. Many surgical facilities find that their least expensive marketing tool is also their most effective. By word of mouth, a good facility can become a great facility.

Get out there
In the competitive world of modern medicine, the margins of success are becoming increasingly narrow. Effective marketing can make the crucial difference.