Diagnosis
Monday, March 01, 2010 12:28:25 PM
I am sick today. Sore throat, swollen glands and my head hurts. I am not one to ignore being sick and hope I get better by simply waiting it out. I have no problem with going to the doctor and asking for a pill to make me well. I have plans to do just that this afternoon. The routine is always the same. The nurse begins with a patient history, which consists of the chief complaint, history of present illness, family history, review of symptoms, medications and allergies. She will document all of this information in my chart for the doctor to review. The doctor will diagnose my current condition utilizing all of this information and more than likely a giant q-tip will be run across my tonsils. ARG! The test will be sent to the lab and voila`! The doctor will have a positive or negative result. With a positive result I am sent home with pills to make me well. With a negative result he sends me home with Tylenol. If one piece of the puzzle is missing I could be misdiagnosed. (For the record I think I may have strep throat…I googled my symptoms :) )
The process doctors follow to diagnose a patient’s illness isn’t much different than the steps all of us should go through when assisting our clients with their data needs. There are five questions we should always ask when working with clients regardless of the size and scope of the project.
- What is the client trying to achieve OR what is the offer?
- Who is the client’s target audience?
- Is the campaign local, regional, or national?
- Does the campaign consist of direct mail, telemarketing or email?
- What has worked/not worked for the client in the past?
These questions may seem obvious but I am amazed how often they are not asked. The only way to provide treatment, or in this case, a recommendation is to conduct a “client history”. Clients will self diagnose and come to you with what they believe they need. In some cases they will be right on and other times you will offer a solution they had not thought of. The more you know the more you can offer.
A missing piece of the puzzle could cause a misdiagnosis leading to an unsuccessful campaign.
-Michelle Brown
Partner