By Patrick Randolph, Founder and CEO at QueueDr
In sales, one of the most important focus is keeping a healthy pipeline. A pipeline represents valuable prospects and contacts that eventually turn into equally valuable customers. This is where the support of strategic marketing activities come in. For health practices, keeping a healthy patient pipeline is critical. A pipeline consists of three groups of patients:
1) Existing Patients: Retaining your existing patients and ensuring they are happy with your service can guarantee stability and consistent growth in revenue. Losing patients to other practices is what is called "churn". This, unfortunately, results in additional efforts and investments in new patient acquisitions. Churn is essentially bad news for your health practice.
2) New Patients: Are potential customers in the market looking for the right health practice and quality service they seek. With the right marketing tactic and strategy, acquiring this new revenue is far easier than you think. With a well-balanced combination of social media, search engine marketing, and reputation management, any health practice of any size can achieve successful organic marketing results.
By Patrick Randolph, Founder and CEO at QueueDr
In sales, one of the most important focus is keeping a healthy pipeline. A pipeline represents valuable prospects and contacts that eventually turn into equally valuable customers. This is where the support of strategic marketing activities come in. For health practices, keeping a healthy patient pipeline is critical. A pipeline consists of three groups of patients:
1) Existing Patients: Retaining your existing patients and ensuring they are happy with your service can guarantee stability and consistent growth in revenue. Losing patients to other practices is what is called "churn". This, unfortunately, results in additional efforts and investments in new patient acquisitions. Churn is essentially bad news for your health practice.
2) New Patients: Are potential customers in the market looking for the right health practice and quality service they seek. With the right marketing tactic and strategy, acquiring this new revenue is far easier than you think. With a well-balanced combination of social media, search engine marketing, and reputation management, any health practice of any size can achieve successful organic marketing results.
3) Referral patients: These are new patients you might not be targeting with search engine optimization, ads, social media or campaigns, but reach your health services through word of mouth by friends, family or other health professionals. Personal recommendations are essential in growing your network of evangelists. Make it effortless for happy patients to share their positive experience with their following. Train your front desk staff to consistently mention the referral program and its amazing benefits. Provide referral cards or links via email and be sure to show your gratitude for a new referral by dropping them a personal thank you note/email.
1) Makes Your Existing Patients Happy
Ever walked into your local deli only to see a long line of customers, and receive that friendly and familiar wave from the behind the counter, warming your heart with that homey feeling of being a regular? It truly feels good to know your business is appreciated. Existing patients crave that special treatment. Using cancellations as an opportunity to get these existing patients in early, makes them feel special, like a regular!
2) No idea yet
The goal of marketing is to attract new patients into the office and drive revenue. In breaking down the concept, marketing should be able to find new patients, encourage them to book appointments and get them into the office.
Many practices forget the last step. In order for the marketing and sales cycle to be complete, the new patient must show up to the appointment. Most practices are booked for weeks on end. The last thing patients want to hear on their first call with their new doctor's practice is they would have to wait 3 weeks to be seen. At such an early stage of this patient relationship, it's critical to use all possible options for retention to build loyalty. This ensures a very low no-show rate. Filling cancellations helps all marketing activities and efforts to be more effective by getting patients in earlier and see the return on your marketing dollars faster!
3) Word of Mouth is King
Marketing is about getting new revenue dollars in the door by getting new patients. Word of mouth is the best way to do that. Word of mouth spreads fastest when the care is great! One of the biggest complaints from patients is waiting for weeks for an appointment. All the great doctors are taken! By making your existing patients and new patients much happier, you drive more referral patients, adding a viral coefficient to your marketing.
QueueDr is an award-winning product that seamlessly integrates into your EMR/PM to keep your practice's schedule full, your staff efficient, and your patients happy! QueueDr is 100% automated, yet robust enough to handle the most gnarly of schedules.
