Joy! The prospective new patient responded to your marketing and set an appointment but when the time came they were nowhere to be found.
What went wrong and more importantly how do you reduce or eliminate no-shows in the future?
Detailed research shows that even with identical marketing campaigns one practice can achieve an 80% or 90% show-up rate with new patients while another might only see a 5 or 10% show-up rate!
With paid marketing the initial relationship is based almost completely on the skill of the person doing the scheduling.
The most effective new patient schedulers accomplish the following when scheduling a new patient:
1. Hope.
Empathizing with the patient and assuring them that they have made the right decision in contacting the practice and that there’s a good chance something can be done to improve their condition.
2. Authority.
The scheduler talks up the credentials and reputation of the practitioner so that the prospective new patient views them as a type of celebrity and feels fortunate to have an opportunity to meet with the doctor.
3. Scarcity.
By offering limited appointment slots, they increase the perceived value of the appointment and thus the likelihood of patients attending and keeping them.
4. Curiosity.
This is established by carefully not answering the person’s questions on the phone call but rather assuring them that all their questions will be answered during the office visit. Psychologically, the need to have questions answered is a powerful motivator.
5. Friendliness.
By generating sincere rapport with the prospect so that by the end of the scheduling conversation the prospect feels that they have a new friend already at the practice.
It’s all taught in the New Patient Scheduler’s Course put out by The Customer Factory exclusively for clients.
Of course, there are many more things to know in order to create a consistent flow of qualified new patients for your practice.
To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call. You could have new patients coming in as soon as this time next week.
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