You invite some friends over for dinner. You answer the doorbell and welcome your guests into your home. You take their coats, and they hand you a bottle of your favorite Merlot. What a delight!

A thoughtful hostess gift builds rapport.

But what if you don't drink? Or what if your guest gave you a CD of their vacation photos--and you're not in them? Further, your guest is not Annie Leibowitz. The hostess gift divorced from the recipient's preferences builds distance rather than rapport.

Marketing efforts, like hostess gifts, build either rapport or distance. A thoughtful object, word or action that delivers the message "I care about you" accelerates your business growth. Any materials with the message "Here's why you should care about me" retards your forward motion. Especially with doctors.

A solution to a doctor's immediate problem is like the Merlot.

As beautiful as your 4-color brochure is, a piece that's all about you is like the vacation photos.

What are some great hostess-like gifts for doctors?

• A phone call with a quick useful tip.
• Your listening ear. Doctors have surprisingly few people who listen to them.
• A piece of your own intellectual property like an article you've written
• A copy of my e-book How to Get More Patients
• A note of congratulations.

With each encounter, deliver something to that directly improves the condition of the recipient, solves a problem and shows you care. Think hostess gifts.

Vicki Rackner MD, President of www.TargetingDoctors.com helps clients sell their products and services to physicians.  Contact her at (425) 451-3777.