Author Topic: Marketing & Sales  (Read 7870 times)

dfranklin

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Marketing & Sales
« on: May 29, 2009, 11:35:13 PM »
What is the best way market to doctors?  Ie Canvassing (dropping by offices and leaving information), mailers (postcards, letters etc), cold calling, etc.

I struggle with getting practices interested in my services.   I have an even harder time finding practices that can use my services.  It seems a lot are associated with an larger oranization (like hospitals) billers.

I do I know or find who can use my services so I can market it to them?

For a newbie, what type of practice would be the best to start out with (ie Chiro, Internal, OBGYN etc)?

Thanks!

PMRNC

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2009, 11:32:02 AM »
This is a great time to market. In less than 3 months with only doing a 200 piece mailer (various mailers)
I have 1 signed contract, one will be signed next week and two on the line for signing by first two weeks of next month.
None of the 4 are current clients they are all new contacts.
Your marketing success depends on your experience and / or your education. If you LACK experience you have to make up for it by offering something that will outline the benefits you offer as well as the education. Since I have many years in the business I opted to market my resume, but I also have a special angle I am marketing in order to be competitive.

 I've never used just "one" way. I've done invitational style mailings, flyers, postcards, brochures.. by far the invitational style ones do the best because they generate the most interest. I mail a certain amount out that invite the provider to lunch or dinner to talk about any problems they are having with their billing. Depending on the type of practice this is, I might either bring Pizza into the office to sit down with the doctor and office manager or I might take them out to an Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc.

 If you are new I would suggest going after small solo practices. Mental health providers are great because many times they don't have staff and are often fielding their own phones.
Again, don't just do ONE thing. Mix it up and above all, track what you mail, who you mail it to and keep notes on every prospect. If you don't have a website, get one. Cover all basis.
Linda Walker
Practice Managers Resource & Networking Community
One Stop Resources, Education and Networking for Medical Billers
www.billerswebsite.com

dfranklin

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2009, 06:11:49 PM »
Wow, 1 signed and a couple in the pipeline just after 3 months of marketing...that is GREAT!  That is a 2% response rate....Did you have to place calls following you mailers or did they contact you after receiving the mailers?

I have a website, postcards, flyers, brochures, letters, nice presentation folders and Audio CDs.  I also have flyers specifically for faxing too.  What would you say the intervals for sending the mailers should be?  Every 2 weeks, once a month?  Should I fax and email as well maybe in between the mailers or just focus on the mailers?

Do you do any email marketing too?  If so has that been successful?

PMRNC

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2009, 12:31:07 PM »
So far with this go-around I have not had to do any follow-up calls, I don't know why, I received my first call about 5 days after the mailing.
I keep a database in ACT and track all my marketing there. I don't do one of the same mailings, I mix things up. I might do 200 this time around..and 100 the next.  So far the invitational style ones are working just as they worked for me years ago. I am only looking for about 2-4 small to mid-size clients for now as I'm busy with other projects.

I don't do any email marketing at all. I don't like spam! If I see an ad in the classified's I will fax over my resume and contact information but I have not done that this time around, there seem to be less and less ad's in our local paper these days. I suspect practices are beginning to cut-back and that's why I think it's a great time to market.
Linda Walker
Practice Managers Resource & Networking Community
One Stop Resources, Education and Networking for Medical Billers
www.billerswebsite.com

jcbilling

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2009, 02:57:28 AM »
Linda,

I am curious about the "Invitational Style" Marketing. Do you send a formal invitation (wedding or graduation style) with a specific date & place set or is it more of a letter that you request to meet with them? If it wouldn't be intruding on your marketing skills, would you mind sharing the content of the invitation?

Thanks,
Charity
csuttles@jcbilling.com

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2009, 02:57:28 AM »

PMRNC

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2009, 09:17:36 AM »
I use two different types, one invites the client to "lunch", this one is more specifically targeted by picking a larger office
and having already had a conversation or some sort of communication with the office or the provider or maybe another client had referred me to them. The other is an invite to sit down with them and their staff for an hour to go over any billing issues they are facing, a troubleshooting sit down of sorts. The invitations I create myself and hand write the envelopes, I use colorful envelopes that are inviting and spike at least the curiosity of the person opening it. I also keep in mind that a big percentage of doctors don't open their mail nor make decisions on the billing so I include the office manager, staff, billing staff, etc careful not to make them feel threatened. If I receive a call from that invite I fax them over my resume and will email them a newsletter or brochure to give them a little more information.
Linda Walker
Practice Managers Resource & Networking Community
One Stop Resources, Education and Networking for Medical Billers
www.billerswebsite.com

dfranklin

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2009, 05:39:01 PM »
How do you locate your mailing list?  Do you just do a google or yellow page search? How do you know if the providers are not affiliated with a hospital's biller?


PMRNC

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2009, 08:20:37 PM »
I mostly target market, meaning I use the Yellow Pages for random direct mail. For a better target I will actually visit the practice, drive by or maybe I have been there before. I'm working on signing a pediatrician who was filling in for my nieces pediatrician and I happened to have been in their office and they looked like they needed help!  :-\
My main specialty is mental health and it's pretty easy to scope out the small ones, most mental health providers will even answer their own phones (my guess is 2 out of 3) don't have staff that's obvious anyway.
I will go after the larger practices by offering more extensive services (consulting) unless they show an interest in billing.
I don't use mailing lists anymore as I find they are just glorified contacts found the same way I found them, it is more convenient but not really more reliable. I use ACT to manage All my business(s) I even setup each client in ACT to manage internal things like PI sheets, P&P's, Compliance, audits, etc.  Then I have a database for marketing so I can keep track of everything i send, follow-up's, meetings, etc. 
Oh I get phone books from surrounding counties as well. I also scan the classified's and don't laugh.. the obituaries.
I once got a client from obituaries, I read a 68 year old Office manager had died .. I waited a few days and sent my card, resume and brochure, sure enough they called me.
Linda Walker
Practice Managers Resource & Networking Community
One Stop Resources, Education and Networking for Medical Billers
www.billerswebsite.com

jcbilling

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2009, 02:54:25 AM »
dfranklin:

You could also use www.nynpi.com - a free NPI database that allows you to search by city & state & specialty. I found this to be a very helpful tool.

~ Charity

margemib

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2009, 11:28:12 AM »
This npi website, is there a easy way to search for say mental health providers in a certain area, I tried this site and it seems as if you have to look up a spefic provider or I'm not sure how to use it?
margemib ???
Margie Finlay CMRS

Medical Billing Forum

Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2009, 11:28:12 AM »

Pay_My_Claims

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2009, 04:29:12 PM »
This npi website, is there a easy way to search for say mental health providers in a certain area, I tried this site and it seems as if you have to look up a spefic provider or I'm not sure how to use it?
margemib ???

Marge,
not sure about the other one, but this one https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/Welcome.do, you can't search by specific providers, you can search by city state, partial name etc.

margemib

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2009, 04:54:40 PM »
Thanks I'll try it!
margemib
Margie Finlay CMRS

jcbilling

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2009, 01:45:42 AM »
margemib,

If you go to www.nynpi.com - there is a place to select the provider specialty. For mental health, there is a category - psychologist. You can then select a state or even a city within that state and it will bring up those npi records that match that specialty.

~ Charity

Pay_My_Claims

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2009, 04:26:59 AM »
Thanks, I tried it, it works very well. It listed my provider. You just have to put in a zip code other wise it wont bring up anything with "Durable Medical" and NC. I had to put a specific zip for it to work, but hey..it did

margemib

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Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #14 on: June 14, 2009, 02:02:28 PM »
Thanks Charity,
I tried looking providers up the way you said and it worked.
Thanks again!
margemib
Margie Finlay CMRS

Medical Billing Forum

Re: Marketing & Sales
« Reply #14 on: June 14, 2009, 02:02:28 PM »