New Lead Follow-Up

What Do You Do After You Have Promoted A New Lead?

The phone rang. An email came in. A patient called and said a friend of a friend wanted to find out…

In other words, something you did caused a new prospective patient to respond. Now what?

The Prospect Who Came In From The Cold

That response is a very delicate thing. That person has been wandering in the chilly darkness of ‘research mode’. Something gave them the courage to stop and turn in your direction. That interest is a fragile thing, nothing more than the feeble guttering of a candle flame – it can illuminate their way forward into your practice or it can be blown out with the slightest breath…

Sounds exaggerated? It’s actually right on the money.

Of course, not every LASIK prospect in your marketplace is filled with the kind of apprehensions, anxieties and fears that can send him back into the wilderness at the slightest misstep – just the 90% that you’ve never seen in your laser suite and never will if you don’t get this right.

If you don’t have an effective follow-up system that hums into action the moment the phone rings, you will be wasting most of your advertising dollars and leaking patients like a sieve.

“Eyesie Dozie Vision Center– Your Call Is Important To Us…” (But Not Important Enough To Handle Properly)

The follow-up system starts with where that call arrives.

If all calls and visitors arrive at your Reception, the calls will be neglected. Given the choice between an incoming call from a stranger and a live patient arriving for surgery, your receptionist is going to go for the live patient every time.

Next, what you say to the caller is going to determine whether they politely hang up and look elsewhere or stay with you. Does the caller get referred to someone who says: “Hi! Thanks for calling Eyesie Dozie – we have a special offer this week of $500 off your LASIK procedure if you schedule your Consult by the end of the month…”?

Or to someone trained to ask: “Eyesie Dozie – how can I help you?” And who actually LISTENS to the answer.

Factually, 90% of callers are still NOT ready to buy.

They’re future buyers who still have questions. Fail to answer their questions and they’ll wander away, back into the wilderness. Therefore the odds are 90/10 that you WON'T sell this person over the phone, so don’t try.

The Hopper System

What the caller most needs at this stage is to be provided information in a form he can easily assimilate, free from the stress of social interaction.

That prospect is going to move through his stages of research in the same way you do when considering a major purchase.

You can help him move faster by making sure he gets concise, relevant, accurate information. Having a mailing system that he now enters is one way to ensure your newly generated lead gets this information from you – and will return to you when the time comes to buy.

We call this the Hopper System – a series of carefully-designed, regular mailings that address the actual concerns those prospects most need resolved.

What Else?

Décor, ambience, internal prospect flow lines, keeping and tracking of weekly statistics, incentive programs and training programs for your sales team, and systems for following up Consults who didn’t buy – these are also important elements.

If some of this information is news to you, don’t worry – it’s not news to us. Putting these follow-up systems into place is how we ensure our clients increase their conversion and closing ratios and make more profits so that we get paid.

Contact us now to schedule an in-depth and confidential Marketing Analysis.