How Many New Patient Opportunities Are You Missing Each Month?
Today I have a few questions for you…
How many new patient phone calls does your practice get each month?
How many of these calls come into your practice during times when nobody is answering the phone?
For those calls that are answered, how many are successfully converted into new patient appointments?
If you are spending money to drive potential new patients to your practice, the truth is that every time that phone rings, you have paid for that ring to occur. And each time the phone rings with a prospective patient on the other end, there are only 4 things that can happen:
- Call goes unanswered, new patient leaves a message requesting a return phone call.
- Call goes unanswered, new patient chooses NOT to leave a message requesting a call back. (Missed Opportunity)
- Your front desk team fields the call and appoints the new patient.
- Your front desk team fields the call but is UNABLE to appoint the patient. (Missed Opportunity)
For the past few years, we have tracked our clients marketing efforts using call tracking. Over that time, we have learned some things that may shock you.
- On average, practices are missing 40 patient calls per month, with most of those occuring during business hours. Less than 30% of those missed calls leave voicemails.
- In the initial month of call tracking, we find that offices are converting new patient callers into new patients less than 50% of the time!
Think about how those missed opportunities can add up. Let’s assume that your practice gets 40 new patient calls a month, and 20 end up appointing as new patients. Your practice is converting at 50%. If you could increase your conversion to 60%, that would equal an additional 4 new patients per month (48 per year!). 70%? that would be an additional 8 new patients per month (96 per year!). How much would those incremental patients be worth to your practice?
Would you would like to know how many opportunities you might be missing?
Ask us about our call tracking service, Opportunity Track. We will track, record and summarize your new patient calls, and quantify for you how many potential opportunities are being missed. The report will help you (or your practice management consultant) identify ways to improve your call handling to ensure that you are capturing all of the opportinities you are already paying for! Call (866) 433-1645 or visit www.opportunitytrack.com.
Practice Success,
Benjamin Suggs
New Patient Marketing Strategist
Practice Treatment Plan, Inc.
