# Can I pick your brains!!!!



## Ruth (Aug 6, 2004)

Hiyyah everyone!!

As most of you know I work at the CERAM clinic in Marbella, Spain.

I am trying to come up with ideas of how to help couples out there know that treatment abroad is an option be it with own gametes or donated and hopefully with us here in Marbella!!!

Here is the question: If CERAM were to do an open day somewhere in the UK (still to be decided) where couples could come along and free of charge receive info and help would this be a good idea or just a waste of time and manpower.

Is this the type of thing that couples would go to or not??  

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this as I see you guys as the experts!!!!!!! 

Thanks in advance.

Ruth


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## Little Nell 1970 (Dec 10, 2008)

Hi Ruth

Im in marketing and had a bit of a gut feeling when reading your post. Other people might think Im wrong and have different opinions but here goes!!!

I feel you would get some interest at the open evening but ultimately you wouldn't get a lot of business from it. So, like you say a lot of manpower and not much results. Also you would have to be careful on the geographical location to appeal to different people from around the country. If you got the location wrong it could be a very quiet open evening!! 

It feels unatural for me to be discussing fertility treatment we all so badly need as a business issue but I'm just answering your question.  

I do feel an open evening for couples considering DE abroad is a wonderful idea and would be so useful. It would help couples come to terms with the treatment, the opportunities, know what's involved and the cost. However from Ceram's point of view I feel it would not be a cost effective way of recruiting patients. Couples who are really interested will do their own homework, look at the costs, waiting lists and gain knowledge from FF.

Have you considered a web cast instead where you can conduct questions and answers for couples (who register on your website) at a scheduled time over the net? You could advertise the webcast via a number of different vehicles quite cost effectively. Overall this would be more cost effective and if advertised and subscribed to well yield some good results and really help couples gain a view of your facilities. 

Will be really interesting to see what other opinions you get on here! Good luck

Little Nell


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## Caz.s (Jun 27, 2008)

Hi Ruth

I would definatley attend an event in the UK. I have never done tx abroad and to be honest it is alittle daunting going to a foreign country and receiving tx. I feel an open day maybe at a few selected places might be an idea. As little nell said the geographics might be a problem.

God luck and I really hope you do this.

Regards

Caz.s


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## Penelope Positive (Sep 12, 2005)

Hi Ruth,

I would have jumped at a chance to speak with someone in confidence here in the UK but as it is such a personal issue I don't know that I would have liked having others in the same room. Some may find this comforting but as a fairly private person I wouldn't feel comfortable. You could combine an open evening/day with some bookable appointments for those shy ones like me  

I also think the webcast is a great idea. I have done many of these previously and they can work really well at very little cost. Its not quite so personal but certainly an improvement on joice email/telephone calls.

Pen
xxx


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## safarigirl (Feb 23, 2005)

hellllllloooooooo ruth, no good ideas but couldnt resist saying hello!!!  If you do come to uk, i can at least come and show you dd!!


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## Toberlone Fan (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi Ruth
I think it is a really great idea, I had to do so much research with absolutely no help from the UK clinic we were attending and when we discussed egg donor programme and time scales (which as you know in the UK is very long) the clinic could not recommend any clinic abroad or had any links with any.
I then, like thousands of other people, had to trawl the internet for clinics and start speaking to friends to find a suitable clinic abroad.
Best of luck with everything.
Toberlone fan


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## MrsBunny (Oct 2, 2006)

Hi Ruth

What Toblerone Fan says hits the nail on the head - trawling the internet. I really think that this is what most people end up doing when thinking of going abroad for tx - after all, how did we all find Fertility Friends? 

I would advise that you maximise your internet presence and get yourselves onto as many other websites as possible - like the ones who provide lists of clinics in different countries. And then make your own website as helpful and as up to date as it can be. Providing a webcast fits in with this and is a really good idea as people can get feedback straight away and get a feeling for what Ceram is like. I did a google search of 'ivf spain' just now and Ceram did not appear on the first page, where other Spanish clinics did. There are ways of getting Google to prioritise your website with searches using particular keywords.

By all means, organise an open day as well, but I'm not sure where you'd advertise this, other than on sites like FF where people probably know a little about Ceram already. As Pen says, it would be a good idea to provide private appointments too. You could also think about advertising Ceram in women's magazines etc or take out the occasional advert in the national press.

Most people looking for clinics abroad are looking for donor egg treatment because they've been told the wait for a donor in the UK is too long. I'm not sure how you'd target those people needing ivf with their own eggs.
You could also do more to cultivate links with hospitals here so that they can recommend Ceram rather than another clinic but of course this would probably mean taking into account their ways of dealing with patients.

Hope this helps
Mrs Bunny x


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## crusoe (Jun 3, 2005)

Ruth
Hi
I think it's a great idea. We would have loved this kind of thing before starting treatment abroad. We were very nervous about going abroad (scaremongering on the part of the HFEA had a big role in that) which is why we were keen to check out CERAM (and IM) before having treatment in spain. Perhaps I'm a bit out of date now but when we embarked on treatment abroad 3.5 years ago there wasn't nearly enough info around. 
I would say definately try it once and find out!

Love Crusoe
x


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## emsoph (Sep 8, 2008)

Have to admit we'd have loved to do an open day in the UK as I had so many questions when looking for a clinic and didn't really know where to start. I think being able to talk to a clinic in person in the UK first might have swayed our decision of which clinic to use abroad. 
Geography would always be a problem so can't really say there's a solution to that. 
interestingly, we were recommended our clinic by our UK doctor so there definitely is potential in marketing to Uk consultants. 
Hope this helps
Emsoph
x


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## RSMUM (Sep 3, 2003)

Hi Ruth - I would have jumped at the chance to attend an open day and, when I started, my UK clinic,although not against people going abroad, had no experience of it so couldn't guide me at all.

I guess your main problem would be people wishing to remain anonymous about donor conception.

Good luck and please say Hi to everyone over there.

xx


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## Skirtgirl (Mar 17, 2008)

I am with Pen on this one I would not attend an open event as this is a very personal/private issue for me But would have welcomed the chance to chat to someone about de in the uk. We were recommended our clinic by a gynae not linked to a fertility clinic but just someone who had started to see private patients getting results. So reasearched it on the internet and it looked as good as any, so not really an ideal way to choose.


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## bluebell (Dec 9, 2004)

Hello Ruth,
I would have gone to an open day, but as others have said, geography would limit you.
What I would say is all that people need to know to get them 'into the system' is merely the info that tx abroad is possible, and contact details of your clinic, and also a reference to ff so people can be directed here.  My clinic didn't tell me about DE tx abroad, and I had to find it out for myself trawling the internet.  I know they now recommend to people to go abroad (and ask me to be counsellor for them !!!), so if you could persuade UK clinics to pass on details of your clinic to patients that they feel would benefit from tx abroad, this would help.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Nice to be able to help when you have helped us so much.  
Bluebell xx


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## Rusty06 (Oct 25, 2007)

Hi

I would definitely attend an open day in the UK. I would find it really useful it would be great to be able to discuss with the clinic staff face to face before having to travel abroad. I guess everyone is different but for me it would be an excellant idea. As you can see I am in London so would be a little biased in terms of location but perhaps it would be worth doing 2 or 3 locations around the UK.

Thanks 

Rusty


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## suitcase of dreams (Oct 7, 2007)

I would also attend an event in the UK. London Women's Clinic organise what they call 'Inseminars' which are targeted at anyone needing tx with donor sperm/eggs. If you attend you get a half price initial consultation with them as long as you book it within a couple of weeks, which I'm pretty sure encourages people to a) attend the open day and b) book up a follow on consultation 

So you might want to think about what you could offer to incentivise people to take action after the event itself

Totally appreciate that some people prefer a chance to discuss these issues in private. The way LWC does it is they have a number of presentations on the day, from the nurses, the consultants, the embryologist and a specialist fertility lawyer, and then there is time for questions - some people ask these in the open forum and others wait until the milling around bit afterwards and ask them more privately then - so def worth ensuring that you give people the option to do both

Hope this helps..
Suitcase
x


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## nats210 (Apr 25, 2005)

Hi Ruth
i think it would be a good idea, like others have said clinics here can't really offer any information on tx abroad. My old consultant was really interested and asked me to pass on details so he could help other couples. 
Def worth considering.
xx


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