101 Lead Conversion Tips: How to convert more leads into patients.
By Enrique Rangel and Greg Riley
There are hundreds of ways to get more leads for your medical practice. With the growth in social media, pay per click advertising, directory websites, yellow pages and print advertising, there is no shortage of leads.
But little emphasis is given to the other 50% of the equation. All of the leads in the world will not help your medical practice grow if you do not convert leads into patients. Below is a list of tips that you can do to not only get more leads but to convert more of those leads into patients.
We have broken down our list into categories:
Setting up your lead management system
1. Develop a lead management plan in writing – build a system that all of your staff will work by.
2. Ensure that each lead is being tracked so that you know what lead sources are converting.
3. Get your entire staff on board. Lead conversion is an essential part of business because it helps reduce marketing expenses while increasing revenue at the same time.
4. Have monthly meetings to discuss lead conversion progress.
5. Use phone tracking numbers to track offline forms of advertising
6. About once per quarter revisit your lead sources and eliminate unnecessary spending on those sources that don’t work.
Website Essentials
7. Make sure your website has a Call to Action. A call to action is a form (preferably in the upper right corner) that captures lead information.
8. Since much research is done while your prospects are at work, always ask for Best Time to Reach You on the forms. This will give your staff information on when the best time to call is.
9. Add no more than 6 questions on your form. You do not need DOB and address from leads. Get the minimum.
10. Add an image to the right of your form. Have the person or people in the image face the form. Research suggests that more visitors will visit and fill out the form. View study here.
11. Lead your form with Procedures/Symptoms and then with comments. You will produce more leads if you start your form with these questions rather than with Name, Phone, Email which makes prospects defensive.
12. Simplify your website navigation – yes you have a lot to say but having too much navigation might lead to no action from your web visitors.
13. Use a tool like www.clicktale.com to “record” what visitors do on your website. The tool lets you watch videos of each visitor’s actions from the moment they arrive at your site to the moment they leave.
14. After a form submission, take the client to a thank you page and give them the ability to call you but also let them know that someone will be contacting them.
After the Lead Arrives
15. A recent study by M.I.T called The Lead Response Management Study shows that leads that are not called within 10 minutes quickly diminish in value. If the lead arrives during normal business hours, your staff must call in lightning speed. (Emails do not count as initial contact)
16. Do have an email that goes out to your new prospect after the lead arrives. Emails should be laser targeted to the prospect’s needs. An auto responder that doesn’t touch on their specific need doesn’t work.
17. Proceed with a series of emails that build on each other. Each email should be appropriately targeted to the prospect’s need.
18. Have a system for following up with leads. A lead should be called at least 5 times before giving up, but you will see that calling a lead 3 times will have a significant difference in conversion rates.
After the lead is converted to a patient
19. Always have a system in place to request feedback or testimonials. Testimonials are critical now.
20. Have a retention plan. It’s much easier and cost effective to retain a customer than to gain new ones. Stay in touch with newsletters and ask for referrals in exchange for points that can be accumulated for service.
21. Remember birthdays and send birthday cards with a coupon. This is an easy way to get repeat customers.