Ask Our Experts — How Should a Practice Rep Approach Clients?
I work at an MRI center. We are strictly referral-based so I have to call on doctors. My goal is to increase patient scan volume. What is the best way to approach these clients and the most beneficial information I can give if granted a minute of their time?
Answer: First, identify who is really directing the referrals in your potential referrer's practice. It is probably not the doctor, since many don't have a preference for an imaging center and are so busy that they don't have time to see practice representatives. (GP's, family practitioners and internal medicine practitioners see up to 80 patients per day.)
Sub-specialty offices like neurology, cardiovascular and orthopedic will rarely see an imaging center representative. They have often invested in their own imaging center.
So identify your true target: It may be a "referral coordinator", office manager, doctor's administrator and/or nurse or a nurse practitioner.
Then focus on making this person's job easier and simpler in every way that they interact with your imaging center. Give your contact your cell phone number. If the referring office has not received a follow-up report, for example, they can quickly contact you to resolve the issue.
Is your referrer having a problem with a staff member in your office? Always be available to discuss such problems confidentially, and assure your contact that you will work to resolve the issues.
Offer to accept last-minute rush appointments from the potential referrer's office, and make sure your office staff will handle these last-minute scheduling changes smoothly and cheerfully. Those patients are going to report back to their doctor, as you know. Bad feedback from even a few patients could cost you years of future referrals.
Follow these steps — identify the key referrer, deliver excellent customer service and solve problems — and you are likely to gain your referrer's loyalty for life.
How to Keep Your Referrers Loyal, Track Your Results and Enhance Your Bottom Line