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Question about signing up a new client and marketing

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bethcanare:
Hi!  I wanted to ask if it is necessary to ask for a sign up fee when you sign up a new client.  Won't that turn off the client?  The reason I ask is because I have asked a veteran biller who told me that he never asked for a sign up fee from any of his clients.  In some of the websites I see that most billing companies ask for a sign up fee.

I also want to ask the pro billers in this forum which marketing technique worked better for them?  Did any of you guys do postcard mailing or brochures?  Where did you get your list of prospective clients from?  Has anyone tried cold calling and did that work for you?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

Beth C

Michele:
Hi Beth C,
 
   As far as sign up fees you will get many different opinions on it that go from one end of the spectrum to the other.  I will give you what I know.

We have never charged a sign up fee but I do understand the reasoning behind it.  I know there is another member of this forum who would never sign up a new client without a sign up fee.

When we started our business we took several things into consideration.  We were looking to establish long term relationships with our providers and we felt it was a show of faith to them that we weren't charging a sign up fee.  For the most part that has worked for us.  We have only had a few accounts that didn't work out for at least a year.  Also, we own our software so there is not a set up fee involved with the software. 

As far as marketing, we have found that for the most part mailings are not very successful and they are quite costly.  When we did do mailings we would usually get the names from the yellow pages.  Once we had the opportunity to purchase a list from our local Medicare of non-electronic billers.  That was 14 years ago so I'm not even sure that is a possibility anymore.  We haven't done a mailing in over 12 years.  Cold calling is not my favorite but it can work.  You just have to know you are going to get a lot of 'no's' to get just one 'yes'.  We did compile 12 marketing techniques that we used when we started.  You can read more about it at http://www.medicalbillinglive.com/medical-billing-marketing-strategies.shtml

Good luck
Michele

bethcanare:
Thank you Michele!  I also prefer not to ask for a sign up fee from my clients but the ASP billing software will charge me, I think, to set up a schema.  May I ask what billing software you use?

Thanks again.

Beth C

Michele:
We are using Lytec, but we are also working with a software company on a new software product.  Do you get our monthly newsletter?  (Free)  We had an article in there about it, also stating we would be sending out a survey in next months newsletter.  We are looking for some providers/billing services that my want to be part of the pilot.

Michele

dbogherie:
I was actually looking to see if there was information in here about when you sign up a new client, I am new, so I did not know if I should start a new topic or just add to this one since it sounded like questions that should go with this topic. Anyway, what exactly are you going to ask for from the new client.  If you are taking over their billing, do you start with new bills?  Or do you have them give you all their files and you input all the patients?  If so what do you ask for from the files?  Also do you need any other information from them and will they have this information or should you have a form to fill out? This might sound a little ametuer because I am.

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