Text reminders

Brent believes his product could save businesses money

After 12 years as a hairdresser Brent Andrew was at a bit of a loose end and looking for a new career.

He is no technology wizard but friends in the health business complained about their customers missing appointments - and Brent thought he had a solution.

"It should completely change the way health practices work," he asserts.

So REMtext was born.

Customers

Brent's intended customers - dentists, doctors and physiotherapists - key their patients' appointments into a computer programme.

The information goes via the internet to a central system and a reminder is sent to the patient shortly before the appointment, either by text message on a mobile phone or by e-mail.

REMtext has worked well for Peter

Missed appointments would be a thing of the past. The health professionals could make more money and treat more patients.

"It's cut my monthly no-shows from 10 to two," says Peter Wallace, who has been testing out the system at his practice.

Peter is a laser therapist, using low level lasers to help people recover from injuries to tendons and nerves.

"It works because the patients like it and it's cheaper than sending letters," explains Peter. "The text messages work out at about 9p each for me."

Cost

The cost of using REMtext starts at £20 per month, a fee which covers the first 170 text messages.

Extra messages cost 12p each, with the price dropping substantially for high volume users.

But Brent has found it much more difficult than he expected to tempt potential customers to try out the system.

"We can't get it out to the people who need to know," he complains. "We've got limited resources and it's very difficult to generate interest."

Q&A

Roger: quality not quantity

Working Lunch brought business adviser Roger Cowdrey to Brent's HQ in Bournemouth to answer some of his questions and make some suggestions.

What is the best way to market the idea on a large scale and with minimum outlay?

"Marketing on a large scale is probably not the best thing to do. You need quality customers, not quantity. Once you've done well with a few, you can use their references to get business with bigger companies," says Roger.

Should I use marketing companies to do the work for me?

"In fact if you don't have the skills yourself, it can make sense to get a specialist to do the marketing for you. The key is to get a marketing company which operates in your field anyway. Also, don't expect them to agree to be paid by results."

How about putting forward my idea at trade shows?

"Trade shows will be expensive and you can't be sure that the right people will go," warns Roger. "It might be better to try to get articles into the trade press."

Is it worthwhile cold calling potential customers?

"You're assuming that somebody is waiting there for you to phone or knock on the door, and they're not. They might not like being cold called, anyway."

Brent has already produced leaflets which explain how REMtext works. But Roger Cowdrey says the key marketing move will be to ram how how the system helps "the bottom line".

To be successful, Roger emphasises, Brent will have to talk up the money-saving benefits of REMtext at every opportunity.