From Inquiry to Patient
If you are consistently marketing your practice, you will get inquiries. How you handle
these inquiries does more than just determine how many new patients you get. It sets
the tone for your practice – with patients and your team.
Converting inquiries into patients is probably the primary source of new business for
your practice. However, before we can explore options to convert them, we need to
understand why people inquire but don't make an appointment.
The key reasons inquiries fail to convert are:
1. Life is busy. Your potential new patient may have been quite sincere when they
inquired, but before you were able to have a conversation with them, the need
for your services has fallen to the bottom of their priority list…for now.
Conversion strategy: Keep in touch. As outlined in items 5 and 6 on the previous
page, use targeted follow-up communications to stay top-of-mind, so yours is
the practice they call when the need returns to the top of their priority list.
2. Money. It could be "value" or "affordability". Value is the patient's perception of
whether their potential gain is greater than the cost. Affordability is simply their
ability to pay.
Conversion strategy: Communicate the benefits of consistent care in terms of the
patient's overall health. Eliminate the patient's concerns about affordability by
mentioning your financing options before they ask.
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