For the holidays – do you really want to Outreach in a unique way that will astonish your peers and customers?
Hope so. Now you are going to learn about a wonderful holiday Outreach initiative that you could replicate or adapt – that is fun, highly engages your team with your customers and – could contribute to a worthy cause.
For 2018 – Come on – don’t do boring – do different… LET YOUR OUTREACH SING!
THE BACKSTORY; ADAPTING FROM THE ORIGINAL DYSRHYTHMICS ™
Some of you long-timers may recall a Medical Musical Comedy group called The Dysrhythmic’s™ and some may have witnessed their “World Tour” concerts in the USA or in Australia. Since their launch in “The 80s” many fake / copycat The Dysrythmics™ have emerged – but part of this story is about the Original group which also featured the comedy skits of the owners of “Vic & Vern’s EMS, STAT Rescue, Car Wash and Video Rental” – John Chamberlin and Rich Obertots (me.)
Our formula was to write satirical and humorous songs and comedy skits that we would perform at medical conferences throughout the USA and Australia. Our skits and tunes were “by Insiders for Insiders.” We also composed songs to inspire, validate and motivate those of us in the Critical Medical / Emergency Services field.
HELOS FOR THE HOLIDAYS; INNOVATION AND TRUE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
In 2000 – John and I were fortunate enough to be involved with STAT MedEvac – a flight program based out of Pittsburgh, PA. At the time – our company (now ThinkThroughTools) was branded as Rock, Paper, Scissors & Chute. We were engaged to develop an Outreach Operating System and figure out effective methods to earn customer trust and loyalty to increase their utilization of STAT’s services and help the flight program to grow.
The leader of STAT MedEvac at the time – Jim Bothwell – was a true innovator and knew the importance of investing highly to create an Outreach Operating System, support creative Outreach efforts and employ many full-time highly trained Outreach Coordinators (vs. expecting staff to do Outreach “when possible” with no professional Outreach training, system, Customer Relationship Management software or support.) Jim was also among the most brilliant human beings to ever lead efforts in our arena.
As we were planning for the holiday season – John Chamberlin and I approached Jim and his highly capable and charismatic Outreach Manager, Al Boland – with the idea of bringing together STAT flight crews, Comm Specs and Admin staff with customers to sing some of the parody songs that The Dysrhythmics ™ had been performing at their concerts. This live session would also include a finely catered social event. Jim and Al understood how important it was to use our EVERlasting ™ model for Outreach events – which in part – assures the “eats” are always fine (not cheap!)
During this event – we would video and audio record the group singing together and create a CD (Compact Disc). The CDs – with lyrics – plus – other STAT contact information would then be distributed to many thousands of Loyal and Neutral Decision-Makers, Influencers and Dormants throughout the region that STAT Outreach Coordinators documented using our TargetingMatrix ® customer triage methodology (that in the future would reside in our Outreach Module database in emsCharts.com.)
CONTRIBUTIONS TO A WORTHY CAUSE
Best of all – the effort also was a means to raise funds for The Mario Lemieux Foundation.
Media outlets in several states were provided video and audio of the event along with information about STAT MedEvac, The Mario Lemieux Foundation and the CDs. This achieved a great deal of positive Outreach media coverage.
WHAT’S IN YOUR CUSTOMER’S STOCKINGS FOR THE 2018 HOLIDAYS
Looking back 18 years – this Outreach effort is still among the most creative and effective we have had the good fortune to produce. It took true leaders like Jim Bothwell and Al Boland to have the courage to take on – and invest in differentiation.
During the holidays – so many flight programs still engage in terribly unoriginal Outreach initiatives that customers – frankly consider – boring and uncompelling. How many calendars and candies do they reallycrave to have? The novel approach we took did create a great deal of interest and generated positive results. And yes – we still did produce and distribute extremely high-quality calendars.
Perhaps the idea of doing something novel and musical with some whimsy may be something for you to consider for the 2019 holiday season. Why 2019? Our project did require months of planning and scheduling to execute the recording and the event in October. At the time HD live-video-streaming was not an option. But – just imagine how you could utilize today’s amazing Digital Outreach platforms and IoT to force-multiply your Outreach to earn and stimulate more flight requests. 2019 EMS Week and Nurses Week are coming – hope your plan is being created NOW to do something innovative and not boring.
We’re spooling up our DOaaS ™ (Digital Outreach as a Service) so that our clients will optimize IoT and all the powerful capabilities that synchronizing Digital Outreach with Human Outreach can achieve.
In the meantime – the lyrics are below. You can use these – now – internally, with peers and – if you’re inventive – although there is not the time to plan a full-on “Helos for the Holidays” like initiative – what the heck – you still can go out and sing to – or with customers – or make a video for them!
Do keep in mind – these lyrics are written by insiders – for insiders. The general public will not “get it.” But – insiders (with a sense of humor) will. Lighten up – have some fun – produce some endorphins!
SEND US YOUR YouTube VIDEOS AND BE A WINNER
Now – send us your YouTube video links singing some of the lyrics below (OR BETTER YET CREATE YOUR OWN!) on or before 15th December 2018 to post on our blog. We’ll have a vote by your peers to see who wins the 2018 Most Awesome Critical Medical Aviation Carolers Award. e.mail the links to [email protected]
Now get out there and sing to – or – with your customers! DON’T DO BORING OUTREACH.
A DYSRHYTHMICS ™ HOLIDAY MEDLEY
Lyrics & Arrangements © Richard M. Obertots, MBA, NREMT-P (ret) – permission granted to use and abuse these
Oh Light Bar Tree (performed to “Oh Christmas Tree”)
Oh light bar tree oh light bar tree
Don’t you know we worship Thee
Oh light bar tree oh light bar tree
Shine your light of trauma glee
Let your rack of twenty strobes
Stimulate our frontal lobes
Oh light bar tree oh light bar tree…”We’re late for lunch!” – Let’s run CODE 3!
Deck the Halls (performed to “Deck the Halls”)
Deck the halls with lots of patients
Fa la la la la la la la la
Heal the sick both young and ancients
Fa la la la la la la la la
Pray to God they have insurance
Fa la la la la la la la la
Or we’ll “de-fib” at lower currents
Fa la la la la la la la la
Yes we know our work is science
Fa la la la la la la la la
Patient’s give their full compliance
Fa la la la la la la la la
Treat them with our new devices
Fa la la la la la la la la
An AED that shreds and slices
Fa la la la la la la la la
The Compression Song (performed to “The Christmas
Song… Chestnuts Roasting”)
Chest compressions on a mannequin
Just don’t have that snappy feel
Give us a chest we can crack and compress
Cause we’ll be pumping with our heels
Imagine how that feels
Silent M.I. (performed to Silent Night)
Silent M.I., no way to die
Just like that, lights go black
All those times your angina had warned
Of deep denial you had been scorned
Now the big one has come
Next time you won’t be so dumb
I.C.U Rock (performed to “Jingle Bell Rock”)
I.C.U., I.C.U., I.C.U. Rock
I.C.U. roll to patients in shock
Two in the morning alarm tones will sound
Mr. Kazinski’s going down
I.C.U., I.C.U., I.C.U. Rock
Trust us we know our stuff
Quality care money back guarantee
We’re the best in town
But if your vent breaks down
We’ll gladly discount our fees
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HEARING THE ACTUAL RECORDINGS OF “HELOS FOR THE HOLIDAYS” – or if you’d like to learn about our latest innovative non-boring methods to earn and stimulate more flight requests – be in touch to: [email protected] 330.623.5910
