How To Be in Control of Your First Call With a Potential Client
Do you ever feel disappointed when you hang up the phone call with a potential new client?
So much work goes into getting your practice noticed. And so much work is put in into attracting a potential client. All your marketing efforts lead to that first phone call.
And then... It doesn't go well. Or it does and you end up taking on a new client that will not help your practice grow and fulfill you professionally. But you take them on, because the conversation was long and you had already gotten involved.
How do you make sure that you can retain the potential clients that you are interested to work with and weed out the ones you're not? I'll give you an answer below.
But first, I am going to tell you why it's not going your way.
Because you don't know how each phone call will go ahead of time. You are waiting to hear what your client wants to know instead of defining exactly what you need to know. While your client's needs are important, letting them be in charge of your first phone call is a mistake.
If you want to be satisfied with the first phone call from your potential client and not have regrets after, you need to treat this phone call like a sales call. I know that this notion might make you cringe a little, but let me explain by example.
I recently worked with a client who was frustrated by the way her first phone calls went. These calls were long and she would be dragged into conversations about the client's needs before discussing fees and insurance and actually understanding if the person would be a good fit for her. Often times, it left her frustrated about the time spent on the call with the wrong type of client for her practice or after having an unexpected negotiation about fees and insurances.
When we analyzed these conversations with my client, I noticed that the person who called her had all the control in these conversations. What I mean by that is that they were directing these calls based on their needs instead of my client taking charge and asking the necessary questions upfront. This is when I suggested to use a script.
Why use a script?
In his book "The Introvert's Edge", Matthew Pollard goes through his ordeal of failing as a sales person when he was a young man. He was shy and introverted and the regular sales techniques that loud and extroverted sales people used did not quite work for him. It was then when he discovered the power of a sales script. When he was equipped with a script, he discovered that he could plan the way his meetings went and he was in control of the conversation with a potential client.
It doesn't matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert, you are not a sales person. You approach the relationship with your potential client as a healer so, naturally, you tend to listen before you offer an opinion.
Knowing how to manage your first call will help you add more ideal patients to your calendar and weed out the people who are not a good fit for your practice.
Having said that, you need to remember that your patients are a source of your income and your practice is a business. Knowing how to manage your first call will help you add more ideal patients to your calendar and weed out the people who are not a good fit for your practice.
In this video, I outline the steps of creating a good sales script for the first phone call with a potential client.
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Conclusion
You don't have to leave the first call your receive from a potential client to chance or to feel discouraged about how your phone call went. You can plan for different phone call scenarios and create a quick script. It will be a good guide for you and your staff to make sure that you ask all the right questions in the sequence that make sense for you.
It will not only be more efficient and have a higher success rate, but it will also make you feel more comfortable about getting to know your future clients.
So what do you think about writing a script? Would you like to try it?
Leave a comment or send me a quick message if you want help with writing your own first phone call script.
Photo by Hassan OUAJBIR on Unsplash
