My TV interview – how storytelling sells hospice
You want to convince your hospice prospects about the importance of your service, right?
You know that there is a lot of ignorance out there – and yes, just plain resistance – in the area of dying, hospice, and planning for the inevitable.
So, you explain to them why you should plan out what to do when their loved one is dying. What is an advance directive. Why making a decision for a hospice ahead of time is good. You give them statistics, reasons, and facts.
Blah, blah blah.
Their eyes glaze over. These are just inanimate, lifeless numbers.
Use your story in hospice marketing
However, what if you told them a story about how an elderly person you knew failed to plan ahead and therefore faced the rigors of paramedics? Crisis workers who made them suffer until their dying breath by trying to resuscitate them in forceful ways? Would you have the ear of your listener?
This is a valuable type of hospice marketing. Stories sell, and facts supply logic.
That’s the approach I took when I was interviewed recently by RVN-TV, an internet television station in Cherry Hill, NJ. I was interviewed by Anne DeSantis on her show “The Positive Side.”
I tell my story of the “Tale of Two Grandmas.” In this interview, you’ll see that on the one hand, my great-grandmother died at home, in her own bed, in peace.
My other grandma, however, suffered a difficult fate. When she showed signs of approaching death while at home, the paramedics were called. She became a victim of professionals who followed their training in doing all that they could to bring grandma back to life. But it was a painful death. One that occurred in an undignified way while being whisked to the hospital.
If only my family had planned out what to do when this moment arrived. If only they had written out an advanced directive. If only they had anticipated the time of imminent death. That no amount of resuscitation would have restored her life. If only they had known … it’s OK to die at home.
Storytelling, sales and hospice marketing
With such a story, your prospect will mentally put their own loved one in the position of grandma number one and number two.
“You would not want your mom or dad to suffer the same fate as grandma number two, would you?” is your followup question.
You would then have their heart and their sympathy for the best route to take when the moment of passing comes.
Thus, storytelling is your guiding path in hospice marketing – for both sales and content.
