Medical Billing Forum

Starting a Medical Billing Business => Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business => : williamportor August 25, 2013, 09:20:04 PM

: What to say when you call...
: williamportor August 25, 2013, 09:20:04 PM
Hello- I'm going to be sending out my first set of marketing letters on Friday, Aug. 30th, and starting to do follow up calls on Tuesday Sept. 3rd. Can anyone suggest what to say when following up on these marketing letters? Also...What do you say when you encounter a message machine? Any suggestions would be welcome. :)
: Re: What to say when you call...
: PMRNC August 25, 2013, 10:24:02 PM
Hello- I'm going to be sending out my first set of marketing letters on Friday, Aug. 30th, and starting to do follow up calls on Tuesday Sept. 3rd. Can anyone suggest what to say when following up on these marketing letters? Also...What do you say when you encounter a message machine? Any suggestions would be welcome. :)

Aug 30th is a Friday.. Your mailings won't get looked at at LEAST till Monday so I would actually plan for a follow up Wed. Also always send 50% more anyway.. (can't hurt) so if you planned to mail 100 and do 25 follow up calls, do 150 mailings.
As for answering machines, I always would call and say, "Hello, this is Linda Walker and I am following up on some information I sent to you on __/__/__. Can you please give me a call at your earliest convenience at ------   "      Don't give TOO much and don't make it to transparent you are selling.   Some people will argue and tell you this is sales, I don't believe that at all in our industry.   

Another tip.. I always tried to get the name of the office manager for my mailings, at least half of them and the ones I wanted to follow up with. I also HAND addressed them to the office manager and NEVER EVER EVER used "private or confidential".

: Re: What to say when you call...
: Merry August 26, 2013, 03:53:09 AM
I echo what Linda said but would never send out a mailing on a Fri. Monday's are one of the busier days in an office. Better for them to get the letters on a Tues or Wed.
: Re: What to say when you call...
: PMRNC August 26, 2013, 11:20:26 AM
I also use light pastel envelopes that are about the size of a greeting card and I hand address them TO the office. I don't put return address on them either. Who throws out something that looks like an invite or greeting card ?  ;D  My first mailing I try to keep light so that when I make the follow-up call I can offer to send them more information. This also helps cut-down on printing costs as well.  The best mailing I ever did was a 500 piece mailing in 2 batches. I did all of the above only it was an "invitation" to sit down with them and go over any billing problems they are currently having. The invite is a 90 minute "troubleshooting" or "round table" discussion. When you make them think you are giving them something valuable you have more of a chance of being successful when you do the follow up. For example, I would call and say "Hello, this is Linda Walker and I'm calling to see if you received my invite last week and I'd like to see if you would like to schedule that free 90 minute session?"  On half of the mailings I even put an expiration date (call to attention).

Just few tips/ideas. Try not to give away TOO much with that first mailing or you won't have anything to follow up with. DO make sure you have a website for your business as well. Today most offices that are willing to "look" at what you have will ask if you have a website they can visit when they have a chance.
: Re: What to say when you call...
: williamportor August 26, 2013, 02:17:52 PM
I echo what Linda said but would never send out a mailing on a Fri. Monday's are one of the busier days in an office. Better for them to get the letters on a Tues or Wed.

Thank You for advise on exact dates of when to call, and details of mailer content, but......what do you say when you're following upon your mailers and a live human being answers the phone and says ________Medical Clinic, may I help you?
: Re: What to say when you call...
: PMRNC August 26, 2013, 02:30:49 PM
I try to obtain the office managers name ahead of time and then I track these in a contact management software ( I use ACT) so when I follow up I can ask for that same person. If I cannot obtain a name I will call and ask to speak with person in charge of billing. USUALLY you get put through because they initially think it's in reference to a billing issue. On the occasion it's not and they say "May we ask what this is in reference to", I will say "My name is Linda Walker and I'm following up on some information that I had sent out last week."  I don't ever remember having too much of a problem, stay honest and don't be intimidated and especially don't get pushy or you'll never get in the door. The office manager is the gatekeeper.. upset her or bypass her and you can hang it up. MY Number one marketing tip:  NEVER BYPASS THE OFFICE MANAGER or appear like you are taking her job, do the opposite and let her have all the kudo's and control, let them know you will work FOR them.   Marketing an industry like this is NOT the same as a sales call that's the biggest mistake medical billing companies make and try to go straight to the doctors office. It almost never works that way. It is not sales in the way we regard sales. JMHO
: Re: What to say when you call...
: williamportor August 26, 2013, 03:33:26 PM
Thanks, that does help.  If I may press you a bit further, assume you're speaking with the office manager... what do you say?? (I guess I should have asked this to start with) :)
: Re: What to say when you call...
: tallmanusa September 19, 2013, 09:07:09 PM
To the OP, could you please give  us an update on whatever happened to your direct mail/ cold call campaign?