No matter the number of years your practice has been in business, it is always healthy to have a steady flow of new patients coming into your practice in order to maintain a continual expansion.
Here is one way to increase the flow of new patients into your practice.
Telephone Shopper Handling:
In many practices, the front desk staff receives as many as 1 – 10 telephone shopper calls per week. While these calls can be a pain in the neck if the staff is very busy with patients coming and going and other administrative duties, these calls ARE very important to the growth of the practice.
Instead of thinking it’s a call to get rid of, take it as an opportunity to get a new patient.
Assume the person calling needs your services and wants an appointment. Shoppers are not sitting at home dialing numbers to irritate you or your staff – they actually need and want something or they would not have called.
Do not try to rush through this call. Taking 5 minutes to build a rapport with the person will show that your practice believes in high quality care and attention to the patient. This will set your practice apart from others who merely “quote the fee” and ask “would you like an appointment”. You should avoid making either of those errors.
If asked directly for fees right at the beginning of the call, say something like this: “I’ll be happy to help you with that but first I need some information from you. What is the current difficulty you are experiencing? How did you hear about our practice?” Etc. Get answers.
Then tell the potential new patient: “It sounds like we should schedule you for an appointment as soon as possible. Is June 13th at 10 a.m. or 14th at 4 p.m. (give two options) better for you?” Find a time that works for them and get them scheduled. Get as much personal information filled in on your intake forms as possible “to save them the time” when they arrive for the first appointment. This firms up the commitment and is actually a nice service point.
If they again ask about costs, answer, “Our fees will vary depending on the treatment required. However, it can range between $_ to $_. We will not, however, start any treatment without your consent.”
Use these tips and increase your new patients.
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