Ambulance Service

Hello,

I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now and have really enjoyed
reading the responses to the questions. Everyone here seems so
knowledgeable and helpful! So, I figured I would toss my situation out
there for review.

I'm in management for an ambulance service in north Alabama, and I've been
"volunteered" for Marketing / PR position, which I've held for over a year
now. The company is 4 years old and has grown to 3 locations in the state.
We hold a valuable contract with a government agency to handle all transfers
in and out of their facilities. This is primarily covered by the location
closest to their facility, although our other two locations also pitch in
and do their share as well as responding to local emergency (911) calls.

I have made sure that our crews have the general specialty items, such as
pens and coffee cups, to give out to patients / families and also to
hospital staff (the ones who place the calls for transfers). I have
established an annual "Health Fair" where information, displays and gifts
are available to the community. Despite these efforts, it doesn't appear to
be gaining us any market share.

I have also got our management going out in our coverage area attending
meetings, "rubbing elbows", etc. In addition, I have some sales training
which I try to impart to our crews since they are the "face" of the company
in the community. All to no avail. There is not an issue of substandard
response time or experienced people. We do (as everyone does) have a few
folks who could use an attitude transplant, but between the CEOs stance on
letting people go and a general shortage in qualified paramedics, we are
unable to toss aside the bad fruit.

A couple of our trucks are getting old, but my request for new trucks last
year was shot down due to our investing a substantial amount into
state-of-the-art cardiac monitors. New trucks are now purchased and are
ready for delivery. We have a temporary web site (
www.lifecareofalabama.com ), but that is being upgraded within a couple of
months.
I also designed a full-color brochure which the CEO edited, then sent to the
printers!

I feel sometimes as if I am putting forth a great deal of effort and not
seeing any results. As previously stated, I do have sales experience, but
not actual "Marketing" experience. This is a much more difficult sell that
I thought it would be. Perhaps I am using the wrong tactics? Any
suggestions? (A free IV of normal saline to the best answer! Sorry, the
valium and morphine are strictly monitored)

Darren C., EMT-P

"Barney Fyffe" <nomail@thisaddress.com> wrote:
> Any suggestions?

My best suggestion is my standard one for on-going businesses. I've
modified it slightly as you're not the owner but its marketer.

"What I recommend you do is determine what your sales territory is. What's
its radius? Take out your customer list and plot them out on a road map.
Plot all of them. If they're from the same city/town, keep track of the
number so you get a distribution picture. To determine your radius, you'll
need to make a judgment call on which of the far-out pins is within your
sales territory and which should be discounted as oddities. Draw on the map
the outer perimeter. Measure that line from your business' location. Now
add 10% more and draw that new perimeter in a different color. Double that
amount and draw a third perimeter. Then go and talk to people outside that
third perimeter limit that are in the same business you're in. Literally,
drive there. Do not do the following over the phone or email or through
snail mail. Show up on their doorstep during the slow time of their
business day. Tell them that you're the marketer of a similar business at
such-and-such a location and ask if they consider you competition. If they
say you would be, drive further away from your business location until you
find a business that says you're not. If you have to go to a different
country, do so. Don't let state or national borders play any part in this
decision process.

Once you find a business that says your two territories won't overlap, ask
if they wouldn't mind answering some questions about how they run their
business. Tell them you don't have all the answers but you're seeking them.
Play to their egos. Have a list of questions written out on notepad, but do
NOT write down their answers. Instead, bring a tape recorder (yes, put it
right out in the open ... no need for spyware ... and besides it plays to
their egos as their words are being treated as worthy of being recorded) and
concentrate on getting as much information out of them as possible ... as
well as picking up the other half of the answers they give in body language.
If they say something you don't understand, speak up and ask for
clarification. Let them wander off your list of questions since where they
wander to might be a place you never thought of asking questions about and
should have been. But keep an eye on the questions you've written down and
try to ask them all before the interview concludes. Of course, always yield
to customers that come in.

After you've interviewed one owner, go home and digest what was said.
Listen to the tape on your way home. Think over it all. Adjust your
marketing plan accordingly. Yes, you should be working on a marketing plan.
More on that later. Adjust the questions on that notepad and on your next
free day, head off in another direction and do the same thing. Interview
the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you're lucky, you'll interview one that
is going out of business or has just went out of business so you can hear
the dark side. Likewise, interview those businesses you think are bad.
Keep in mind that since they're still in business, they are probably doing
something right ... if just being the only game in town for your
products/services.

Share as you give. Let them know what you think is a good idea. Ask them
to read over your marketing plan right there before you. Naturally, don't
leave a copy of it behind. What one of these businesspersons is going to
tell you will be better than ALL the advice from all the business professors
on the face of the Earth. Even from the ones that are going out of
business!

Don't forget these individuals after you interview them. Send them a nice
thank-you snail mail letter for taking the time to answer your questions.

Do this at least once a month ... if not once a week. This process worked
great for a little-known single-location pizza-parlor owner by the name of
Tom Monaghan ... the founder of Domino's Pizza.

Additionally...

"Work on a marketing plan. No matter if your business has been in business
since the dawn of time. A marketing plan forces you to think of all aspects
of your marketing. Question every aspect of it. Think how you can do it
better, cheaper, and faster. Always remember to K.I.S.S. it. Keep It
Simple, Smartass. [Yes, I know it is usually said as "Keep It Simple,
Stupid", but it is the smartasses that make things more complex and
difficult than they need to be.] And forever keep in mind that this is a
business you're running and a business is to turn a profit. It doesn't turn
a profit and it's just an expensive hobby of the owners. And if that's the
case, quickly update your resume and shop it around before your current
employer goes under."

And finally...

"Lastly, ONLY buy used. Never buy anything that doesn't ABSOLUTELY have to
be new. All it has to look like is being in good condition ... and not even
that if it's in the backroom and your customers will never see it. Go to
sheriff auctions, business liquidation sales, garage sales, etc. and hunt
for bargains. Keep your expenses as low as possible and buying used is the
best way to do this. If you do buy something new, it should be with a great
deal of thought on why it has to be new and not used. Again, if the
customers see it, it only needs to look to be in good condition and that's
it."

Good luck!

Scott Jensen
--
Peer-to-peer networking (a.k.a. file-sharing) is entertainment's future.
If you'd like to know why, read the white paper at the link below.
http://www.nonesuch.org/p2prevolution.pdf

Barney Fyffe wrote:
> We have a temporary web site ( www.lifecareofalabama.com ), but that is
being upgraded within a
> couple of months.

By 'upgraded', I sure hope you mean totally changed

Seriously, that is a horrible web-site. It's difficult to read, but more
importantly looks like something a highschool kid whipped up. You want to
display competence and professionalism if you expect people to put their
life in your hands.

John
www.enterpriseblue.com

"John Senior" <john_senior@yahoo.com.removethis> wrote:
> Barney Fyffe wrote:
> > We have a temporary web site ( www.lifecareofalabama.com ),
> > but that is being upgraded within a couple of months.
>
> By 'upgraded', I sure hope you mean totally changed
>
> Seriously, that is a horrible web-site. It's difficult to read, but
> more importantly looks like something a highschool kid
> whipped up. You want to display competence and
> professionalism if you expect people to put their life in your hands.

When I first read John's reply above, I thought he shouldn't have posted
such a harsh thing. Then I visited your website. John hit it pretty much
on the mark.

Your splash page won't play for me. Get rid of it. Splash pages are NEVER
a good idea. Sure, they're cute. Sure, they let the graphic artist show
off her/his stuff. But they delay the visitor to getting what they want and
what they want isn't your splash page.

That logo with the bobbing lights on it is probably the worst I've seen on a
website. It almost gave me motion sickness looking at it.

Do not provide links to "under construction" pages. Simply do not list the
links until you have a real page for them to link to. No one needs to see
them as the only thing they do is make you look at the very least
unprofessional.

Do not have a link to "Employee's Section". Your website is for the public
and everything on it should be geared that way. If you MUST have an
employee section, hide the link to it. Tell employees to go to your mission
statement and click on the little red heart that's located there. Then
again, WHY do you need an employee section on your website? Do your
employees actually visit it? If there isn't a reason and/or your employees
don't visit it, get rid of it.

Really reconsider your mission statement. I'd strongly recommend ripping
out all references to Christianity. Why piss off non-Christians? Business
is to make money and that should be pretty much it. Preach at your church.
Preach at your business and you lose business.

The ticker-tape cursor is so amateurish that ... *groan* ... just get rid of
it.

You need to answer this question: Why does the business need a website?

"Because everyone else has one." isn't a good reason. If you cannot think
of a good reason for having a website, don't have a website. If you can
think of a good reason, your website should be focused on servicing that
reason. Honestly, I don't see a need for an ambulance service to
have a website. No one is going to think, "Oh no! My husband is having a
heart attack! I better quickly do a web search for my local ambulance
service!" No one will do this. NO ONE WILL DO THIS! They dial 911. So
why do you need a website for? If you cannot think of a good reason, take
it down and act as if you never had one.

Now if you can think of a GOOD reason for your company to have a website,
hire an experienced web designer to do it for you. If you have little money
to spend on the website, still call around to your local web designers.
Tell them how much money you have budgeted for this and if that's enough to
interest them. If it isn't, ask for a referral to someone that might be
willing to do it for that little of an amount. They may refer you to a
college student and that's fine. The college student they're referring you
to will likely do a good job. Do NOT seek out college students on your own
to do this for you since you don't know who's good or bad nor have any clue
how to determine this. The experienced web designer will know and that's
all you need to know.

Good luck!

Scott Jensen
--
Like a cure for A.I.D.S., Alzheimer, Parkinson, & Mad Cow Disease?
Volunteer your computer for folding-protein research for when it's idle.
Go to http://www.distributedfolding.org/ to sign up your computer.

In article <c540c408sq@enews1.newsguy.com>, stj@charter.net says...
>
> "John Senior" <john_senior@yahoo.com.removethis> wrote:
> > Barney Fyffe wrote:
> > > We have a temporary web site ( www.lifecareofalabama.com ),
> > > but that is being upgraded within a couple of months.
> >
> > By 'upgraded', I sure hope you mean totally changed
> >
> > Seriously, that is a horrible web-site. It's difficult to read, but
> > more importantly looks like something a highschool kid
> > whipped up. You want to display competence and
> > professionalism if you expect people to put their life in your hands.
>
> When I first read John's reply above, I thought he shouldn't have posted
> such a harsh thing. Then I visited your website. John hit it pretty much
> on the mark.
>
> Your splash page won't play for me. Get rid of it. Splash pages are NEVER
> a good idea. Sure, they're cute. Sure, they let the graphic artist show
> off her/his stuff. But they delay the visitor to getting what they want and
> what they want isn't your splash page.
>
> That logo with the bobbing lights on it is probably the worst I've seen on a
> website. It almost gave me motion sickness looking at it.
>
> Do not provide links to "under construction" pages. Simply do not list the
> links until you have a real page for them to link to. No one needs to see
> them as the only thing they do is make you look at the very least
> unprofessional.
>
> Do not have a link to "Employee's Section". Your website is for the public
> and everything on it should be geared that way. If you MUST have an
> employee section, hide the link to it. Tell employees to go to your mission
> statement and click on the little red heart that's located there. Then
> again, WHY do you need an employee section on your website? Do your
> employees actually visit it? If there isn't a reason and/or your employees
> don't visit it, get rid of it.
>
> Really reconsider your mission statement. I'd strongly recommend ripping
> out all references to Christianity. Why piss off non-Christians? Business
> is to make money and that should be pretty much it. Preach at your church.
> Preach at your business and you lose business.
>
> The ticker-tape cursor is so amateurish that ... *groan* ... just get rid of
> it.
>
> You need to answer this question: Why does the business need a website?
>
> "Because everyone else has one." isn't a good reason. If you cannot think
> of a good reason for having a website, don't have a website. If you can
> think of a good reason, your website should be focused on servicing that
> reason. Honestly, I don't see a need for an ambulance service to
> have a website. No one is going to think, "Oh no! My husband is having a
> heart attack! I better quickly do a web search for my local ambulance
> service!" No one will do this. NO ONE WILL DO THIS! They dial 911. So
> why do you need a website for? If you cannot think of a good reason, take
> it down and act as if you never had one.
>
> Now if you can think of a GOOD reason for your company to have a website,
> hire an experienced web designer to do it for you. If you have little money
> to spend on the website, still call around to your local web designers.
> Tell them how much money you have budgeted for this and if that's enough to
> interest them. If it isn't, ask for a referral to someone that might be
> willing to do it for that little of an amount. They may refer you to a
> college student and that's fine. The college student they're referring you
> to will likely do a good job. Do NOT seek out college students on your own
> to do this for you since you don't know who's good or bad nor have any clue
> how to determine this. The experienced web designer will know and that's
> all you need to know.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Scott Jensen
>
Don't hold back, Scott - how do you really feel?

All kidding aside, I agree with Scott. As a followup, if you end up
needing to redo your web site "on the cheap", do as do the Fortune 500 -
offshore. I used http://www.guru.com and ended up with a designer in the
Phillipines. He redid the front end of my site including a 2 minute
Flash movie. His quote? $150.
--
Dave Miller
FundablePlans - Create a custom business plan online - only $39.95
http://www.fundableplans.com

"Barney Fyffe" <nomail@thisaddress.com> wrote in message
news:c53mio01nhe@enews4.newsguy.com...
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now and have really enjoyed
> reading the responses to the questions. Everyone here seems so
> knowledgeable and helpful! So, I figured I would toss my situation out
> there for review.
>

At one point in my life I worked in the public safety/E911 world, so I've
got a few questions for you.

The first thing you need to do is figure out who your potential customers
are. I don't think your customer is the patient, because they don't make
the decision of which service to use. You've already got a government
agency for a customer, and I assume you're on the rotation list for 911
calls. In most jurisdictions, the 911 center has to send the closest
available unit according to some rotation scheme, so there's probably not
much you can do for marketing. A general marketing campaign of educating
the public won't do much for you either.

Part of figuring out who your customers are is figuring out what service you
have to offer them. What problem are you solving? There are lots of
problems that an ambulance service can solve, but only some of them are in
areas that have enough of a pain point to grow. And only some of those
areas will be profitable. Go through the exercise of segmenting your
customers, pain points, and solutions. Then figure out where the profitable
business is and you'll be ready to go after it.

From the outside, it seems to me that you need to focus on the non-emergency
transfer business. Nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, sports arenas, etc.
If you go through the above exercise, you may find out that there's a
different segment you should be going after.

Once you've isolated a target, you need to get to the people that actually
make the decision. Hint: It's not the CEO. You may need upper management
to approve you, but the person you're looking for is a gatekeeper. It's the
person that actually dials the number. Price, medical competence, new
trucks, etc probably have very little to do with that decision. They'll
never look at your website. The greatness of your Christmas gifts,
remembering their birthdays, and good old fashioned salesman ship are
probably what you need. Your service needs to show up on time and be a
minimum of hassle to deal with.

Instead of a health fair, focus your marketing on your potential customers.
Are there local industry events that potential customers will attend? How
about throwing a barbeque and open house and inviting all the gatekeepers?
Buy season tickets for the local minor league baseball team and send tickets
to the next game to the gatekeeper after they use you for the first time.

My guess is the reason you're not gaining market share is that you've got
competitors that are taking care of these gatekeepers. If you can't invest
the resources and effort to win them away, then stop wasting your time on
marketing and trying to grow and concentrate on being a profitable niche
business.

And I agree with the other posters. Get rid of the web page.


--
Greg Leman
Carolina Sauce Company, Inc.
http://www.carolinasauce.com
A wide variety of sauces and specialty foods over the web.

"John Senior" <john_senior@yahoo.com.removethis> wrote in message
news:c53ruq01vie@enews4.newsguy.com...
>
> By 'upgraded', I sure hope you mean totally changed
>
> Seriously, that is a horrible web-site. It's difficult to read, but more
> importantly looks like something a highschool kid whipped up. You want to
> display competence and professionalism if you expect people to put their
> life in your hands.
>
> John
> www.enterpriseblue.com


John,
Thanks for the honesty. I agree that it is absolutely awful. Our resident
"IT" guy did this... and the CEO loved it!?!?!? Can you believe it? I'm
having a company take care of the layout and I am furnishing the content. I
think the company doing the work is Netcentric.

I really debated whether or not to even include the URL in the original
post! I swear I didn't have anything to do with it! :-/

"Scott T. Jensen" <stj@charter.net> wrote in message
news:c53qc001v0o@enews2.newsguy.com...
>
> "Barney Fyffe" <nomail@thisaddress.com> wrote:
> > Any suggestions?
>
> My best suggestion is my standard one for on-going businesses. I've
> modified it slightly as you're not the owner but its marketer.
>
> "What I recommend you do is determine what your sales territory is.
What's
> its radius? Take out your customer list and plot them out on a road map.
> Plot all of them. If they're from the same city/town, keep track of the
> number so you get a distribution picture. To determine your radius,
you'll
> need to make a judgment call on which of the far-out pins is within your
> sales territory and which should be discounted as oddities. Draw on the
map
> the outer perimeter. Measure that line from your business' location. Now
> add 10% more and draw that new perimeter in a different color. Double
that
> amount and draw a third perimeter. Then go and talk to people outside
that
> third perimeter limit that are in the same business you're in. Literally,
> drive there. Do not do the following over the phone or email or through
> snail mail. Show up on their doorstep during the slow time of their
> business day. Tell them that you're the marketer of a similar business at
> such-and-such a location and ask if they consider you competition. If
they
> say you would be, drive further away from your business location until you
> find a business that says you're not. If you have to go to a different
> country, do so. Don't let state or national borders play any part in this
> decision process.
>
> Once you find a business that says your two territories won't overlap, ask
> if they wouldn't mind answering some questions about how they run their
> business. Tell them you don't have all the answers but you're seeking
them.
> Play to their egos. Have a list of questions written out on notepad, but
do
> NOT write down their answers. Instead, bring a tape recorder (yes, put it

> right out in the open ... no need for spyware ... and besides it plays to
> their egos as their words are being treated as worthy of being recorded)
and
> concentrate on getting as much information out of them as possible ... as
> well as picking up the other half of the answers they give in body
language.
> If they say something you don't understand, speak up and ask for
> clarification. Let them wander off your list of questions since where
they
> wander to might be a place you never thought of asking questions about and
> should have been. But keep an eye on the questions you've written down
and
> try to ask them all before the interview concludes. Of course, always
yield
> to customers that come in.
>
> After you've interviewed one owner, go home and digest what was said.
> Listen to the tape on your way home. Think over it all. Adjust your
> marketing plan accordingly. Yes, you should be working on a marketing
plan.
> More on that later. Adjust the questions on that notepad and on your next
> free day, head off in another direction and do the same thing. Interview
> the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you're lucky, you'll interview one
that
> is going out of business or has just went out of business so you can hear
> the dark side. Likewise, interview those businesses you think are bad.
> Keep in mind that since they're still in business, they are probably doing
> something right ... if just being the only game in town for your
> products/services.
>
> Share as you give. Let them know what you think is a good idea. Ask them
> to read over your marketing plan right there before you. Naturally, don't
> leave a copy of it behind. What one of these businesspersons is going to
> tell you will be better than ALL the advice from all the business
professors
> on the face of the Earth. Even from the ones that are going out of
> business!
>
> Don't forget these individuals after you interview them. Send them a nice
> thank-you snail mail letter for taking the time to answer your questions.
>
> Do this at least once a month ... if not once a week. This process worked
> great for a little-known single-location pizza-parlor owner by the name of
> Tom Monaghan ... the founder of Domino's Pizza.
>
> Additionally...
>
> "Work on a marketing plan. No matter if your business has been in
business
> since the dawn of time. A marketing plan forces you to think of all
aspects
> of your marketing. Question every aspect of it. Think how you can do it
> better, cheaper, and faster. Always remember to K.I.S.S. it. Keep It
> Simple, Smartass. [Yes, I know it is usually said as "Keep It Simple,
> Stupid", but it is the smartasses that make things more complex and
> difficult than they need to be.] And forever keep in mind that this is a
> business you're running and a business is to turn a profit. It doesn't
turn
> a profit and it's just an expensive hobby of the owners. And if that's
the
> case, quickly update your resume and shop it around before your current
> employer goes under."
>
> And finally...
>
> "Lastly, ONLY buy used. Never buy anything that doesn't ABSOLUTELY have
to
> be new. All it has to look like is being in good condition ... and not
even
> that if it's in the backroom and your customers will never see it. Go to
> sheriff auctions, business liquidation sales, garage sales, etc. and hunt
> for bargains. Keep your expenses as low as possible and buying used is
the
> best way to do this. If you do buy something new, it should be with a
great
> deal of thought on why it has to be new and not used. Again, if the
> customers see it, it only needs to look to be in good condition and that's
> it."
>
> Good luck!
>
> Scott Jensen
> --
> Peer-to-peer networking (a.k.a. file-sharing) is entertainment's future.
> If you'd like to know why, read the white paper at the link below.
> http://www.nonesuch.org/p2prevolution.pdf
>

Great advice, Scott! I will pull out the map, markers, etc and get to work
on this. As far as the marketing plan, I prepared a fairly detailed
"Marketing Outlook, 2004" around Oct. or Nov. last year and went over it
line-by-line with the CEO. It was a bit disappointing seeing that CEO
wasn't even that impressed that I had the initiative and foresight to map
out the (then) upcoming year. For this guy, I think he believes that "CEO"
means "Completely Encompassing and Omnipotent" LOL He means well, but
thinks his philosophies are far superior to anyone else's. Until my
start-up gets going well enough to pay the bills, I'll keep on giving 100 %
despite the touch of apathy Mr. CEO has. Hey, it's great practice for me!

Thanks again!
Darren Camp, EMT-P

"Scott T. Jensen" <stj@charter.net> wrote in message
news:c540c408sq@enews1.newsguy.com...
>
> "John Senior" <john_senior@yahoo.com.removethis> wrote:
> > Barney Fyffe wrote:
> > > We have a temporary web site ( www.lifecareofalabama.com ),
> > > but that is being upgraded within a couple of months.
> >
> > By 'upgraded', I sure hope you mean totally changed
> >
> > Seriously, that is a horrible web-site. It's difficult to read, but
> > more importantly looks like something a highschool kid
> > whipped up. You want to display competence and
> > professionalism if you expect people to put their life in your hands.
>
> When I first read John's reply above, I thought he shouldn't have posted
> such a harsh thing. Then I visited your website. John hit it pretty much
> on the mark.
>

Hey, no arguments from me. I thought it would be good to have a website
(reasoning below), suggested that we look into it, then it was done and the
Marketing guy (me) was consulted AFTER it was "done". I think it is
cheesy... well, it is. We're going to let professionals manage the layout
(Netcentric), and the PLAN is for me to be in charge of the content.
Although, I know what I furnish for final review will have to be edited in
some way. I think this is CEO's way of demonstating his authority.
Regardless, it is his company, if he wants to put something out there with
his name on it, that's his choice, ya know?

> Your splash page won't play for me. Get rid of it. Splash pages are
NEVER
> a good idea. Sure, they're cute. Sure, they let the graphic artist show
> off her/his stuff. But they delay the visitor to getting what they want
and
> what they want isn't your splash page.
>
> That logo with the bobbing lights on it is probably the worst I've seen on
a
> website. It almost gave me motion sickness looking at it.

Same here, I hate it!

> Do not provide links to "under construction" pages. Simply do not list
the
> links until you have a real page for them to link to. No one needs to see
> them as the only thing they do is make you look at the very least
> unprofessional.
>
> Do not have a link to "Employee's Section". Your website is for the
public
> and everything on it should be geared that way. If you MUST have an
> employee section, hide the link to it. Tell employees to go to your
mission
> statement and click on the little red heart that's located there. Then
> again, WHY do you need an employee section on your website? Do your
> employees actually visit it? If there isn't a reason and/or your
employees
> don't visit it, get rid of it.

The employee page is going to be a seperate URL altogether. The plan is to
use this to access reporting software, employee e-mail accounts, forums,
etc. Also, our management team is pretty much spread from one end of the
state to the other, so we hope to use this to improve communication at the
management level as well.

I would like to see us also use the employee site to offer continuing
education of some sort.


> Really reconsider your mission statement. I'd strongly recommend ripping
> out all references to Christianity. Why piss off non-Christians?
Business
> is to make money and that should be pretty much it. Preach at your
church.
> Preach at your business and you lose business.

I agree. I am a Christian, and I think the mission statement comes across
as "using" Christianity to bolster reputation (this is the bible belt).
From what I understand, even if you take out the references to Christianity,
it is still a poorly written mission statement. However, this is one thing
I know he (CEO) won't budge on. He's very proud of it.

> The ticker-tape cursor is so amateurish that ... *groan* ... just get rid
of
> it.

IF I'm allowed to exercise any authority on this, its outta here!

> You need to answer this question: Why does the business need a website?
>
> "Because everyone else has one." isn't a good reason. If you cannot think
> of a good reason for having a website, don't have a website. If you can
> think of a good reason, your website should be focused on servicing that
> reason. Honestly, I don't see a need for an ambulance service to
> have a website. No one is going to think, "Oh no! My husband is having a
> heart attack! I better quickly do a web search for my local ambulance
> service!" No one will do this. NO ONE WILL DO THIS! They dial 911. So
> why do you need a website for? If you cannot think of a good reason, take
> it down and act as if you never had one.

The bread and butter of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) actually isn't 911
calls, but non-emergency medical transfers. In an emergency situation, the
patient really has no idea which service will respond, nor do they really
have any choice when it comes right down to it. The web site can be used to
increase brand recognition. It also will allow municipalities, who are
looking for a different EMS service, to shop and compare, we could also
field inquiries from other potential customers (healthcare facilities,
municipalities, government agencies, etc). We could even eventually allow
Healthcare facilities to preschedule non-emergency transfers via the
website. Maybe I'm being a bit lofty here?

> Now if you can think of a GOOD reason for your company to have a website,
> hire an experienced web designer to do it for you. If you have little
money
> to spend on the website, still call around to your local web designers.
> Tell them how much money you have budgeted for this and if that's enough
to
> interest them. If it isn't, ask for a referral to someone that might be
> willing to do it for that little of an amount. They may refer you to a
> college student and that's fine. The college student they're referring
you
> to will likely do a good job. Do NOT seek out college students on your
own
> to do this for you since you don't know who's good or bad nor have any
clue
> how to determine this. The experienced web designer will know and that's
> all you need to know.

We've already got the contract with a firm who specializes in web page
development and maintenance.

> Good luck!
>
> Scott Jensen
> --
> Like a cure for A.I.D.S., Alzheimer, Parkinson, & Mad Cow Disease?
> Volunteer your computer for folding-protein research for when it's idle.
> Go to http://www.distributedfolding.org/ to sign up your computer.


Thanks again for the ideas and input!
Darren Camp, EMT-P

"Dave Miller" <dave@fundableplans.com> wrote in message
news:c54lju0a2m@enews4.newsguy.com...
>

> Don't hold back, Scott - how do you really feel?

Yeah, he is kinda beating around the bush, huh? :-) Seriously, I can't
tell you all how much I appreciate your honesty and input.

> All kidding aside, I agree with Scott. As a followup, if you end up
> needing to redo your web site "on the cheap", do as do the Fortune 500 -
> offshore. I used http://www.guru.com and ended up with a designer in the
> Phillipines. He redid the front end of my site including a 2 minute
> Flash movie. His quote? $150.
> --
> Dave Miller
> FundablePlans - Create a custom business plan online - only $39.95
> http://www.fundableplans.com

That is a great idea going offshore. Since the Ambulance company is already
in a contract with someone to redo that site, it probably isn't going to
work there. HOWEVER, the advice isn't wasted; I've got a small company of
my own and I will probably go this route for my web site.

Hmmm... I just may need a good business plan as well...

Darren Camp, EMT-P