Summary of "7 способов растить бизнес — как мы делали миллиардную выручку в Скандинавии / Колосок"

Summary of Business Growth Strategies from

“7 способов растить бизнес — как мы делали миллиардную выручку в Скандинавии / Колосок”

The presenter, former CEO of the Scandinavia clinic network in St. Petersburg, shares seven key levers they used to grow a large healthcare business to billions in revenue over seven years. The focus is on practical, systematic approaches to revenue growth in a complex, people-driven industry.

1. Price Increase as a Growth Lever

Strategy: Regularly benchmark prices against competitors and your target price segment (budget, mid-market, premium).
Framework:
- Identify your price segment (e.g., premium = 30% above market average).
- Review the entire price list (~1,000 items in medicine) and raise prices where below segment benchmark.
- Apply differentiated pricing for high-demand doctors or unique services/devices.
- Use occupancy/schedule metrics as triggers for price increases (e.g., if appointments are booked 2 weeks ahead or occupancy >80%).
Operational cadence: Review and adjust prices every 3 months or more frequently.
Example: Scandinavia priced vaccinations equal to competitors despite being premium, leading to missed revenue.

2. Maximizing Use of Business Capacity (“Using All Your Powers”)

Key insight: Revenue drivers depend on business context (e.g., number of shelves for retail; number of offices/rooms in clinics).
Process:
- Conduct a detailed inventory of all physical resources (clinic rooms, windows, devices).
- Convert all available licensed space into revenue-generating offices.
- Eliminate idle space (e.g., offices used for non-revenue activities like manager offices or kitchens).
Result: Full utilization of physical capacity directly drives revenue growth.

3. Schedule Management

Critical operations management:
- Align doctor schedules tightly with clinic operating hours to avoid lost revenue.
- Minimize downtime (e.g., ventilation time, shift changes) to maximize billable hours.
- Proactively manage doctor absences and replacements with sufficient lead time to allow patient bookings.
Challenges:
- Persuading staff to work early hours, weekends, and managing human factors (families, preferences).
- Daily meticulous operational oversight required to ensure all capacity is sold and convenient for patients.

4. Agency Sales (Building Referral Networks)

Context: Many medical services require referrals from other doctors (“agents”).
Strategy:
- Systematically identify and build relationships with referring doctors (agents).
- Motivate agents not just financially but by building trust and familiarity with referred doctors.
- Organize events, communications, and feedback loops to maintain strong agent relationships.
Outcome: Significant sales boost in inpatient and specialized services through referral channels.

5. Partnerships with Insurance Companies

Market dynamic:
- Clinics profit when patients visit more; insurance companies profit when patients visit less.
- This creates a fundamental motivation gap.
Approach:
- Negotiate individually with insurance companies to create mutually beneficial terms.
- Offer special pricing or discounts in exchange for marketing access, employer engagement, or patient volume guarantees.
- Align incentives, e.g., payment based on average bill rather than capped services.
Result: Insurance companies become a major patient acquisition channel, with aligned interests.

6. Reputation Management (Marketing & Positioning)

Positioning: Scandinavia branded as a “clinic of attentive medicine” — covering almost all medical issues, 24/7 availability, premium quality, and convenience.
Tactics:
- Consistent messaging across all channels to reinforce positioning.
- Monitor patient perceptions and reputation metrics via independent agencies (e.g., Top of Mind studies).
- Manage online reviews and doctor ratings transparently and honestly (no fake reviews).
- Set targets to be top 1 or 2 in patient recall and preference.
Key metric: Ranking in patient mindshare and online reputation scores.

7. Working with a Warm Base (Customer Retention & Reactivation)

Definition: Existing or past patients who use some but not all services or visit infrequently.
Program elements:
- Collect and manage detailed patient data in IT systems.
- Design multi-channel outreach campaigns (mailings, calls, SMS, WhatsApp) with personalized offers and hooks.
- Experiment and test different messages and channels persistently.
- Allocate dedicated marketing budget and set KPIs for patient return rates, revenue, and ROI.
Outcome: Significant patient reactivation and cross-selling to other specialties when done systematically.

Overarching Themes & Recommendations

All levers are complex and require systematic, ongoing, and data-driven work.
Growth is hard, especially at scale; requires no illusions and persistent experimentation.
Combining operational excellence (capacity, schedule), pricing strategy, relationship management (agents, insurance), marketing (reputation), and customer engagement (warm base) creates a powerful growth engine.
Leadership mindset: “Only those who try and do win.”

Key Metrics & KPIs Mentioned

Occupancy rate trigger for price increase: ~80%
Price segment target: 30% above market average for premium
Patient return rate and marketing ROI from warm base campaigns
Online reputation rankings and Top of Mind survey positions (1st or 2nd place)
Appointment booking lead times (e.g., 2 weeks ahead fully booked)

Presenters / Sources

Former CEO and first employee of Scandinavia clinic network in St. Petersburg (name not explicitly stated)
Video hosted by Kolosok (YouTube channel)

This summary distills actionable business growth tactics and frameworks from a large healthcare business case, emphasizing pricing, capacity utilization, referral networks, partnerships, reputation, and customer retention as core pillars of scaling revenue to billions.