Challenge: A prospective client contacts your office for care. You do not accept their particular insurance, they may be hesitant to make that appointment. What do you say to encourage them to come to you for care?
Before the phone sounds the usual “click”, be sure to catch their attention. Typically, after they hear you do not accept their insurance, the call is over. “No, we don’t take blah blah insurance, but we can probably help you.
What can you offer to encourage them to book your appointment?
Value: Do you know what your copay is?” If they do, you may be pleasantly surprised that it is a high value, such as $50 per visit. “We may be able to save you some time or money.” “Did your doctor tell you to go to PT 3 times per week?” If so, that adds up to $150 per week in expenses. “In our office, we see only one person at a time for fully attended care, not the typical group therapy. Since we see only you, we spend more time overall with hands-on therapy than you might receive in another office where they treat multiple clients at once. Becaues we spend the time, we do not need to see you 3 days/week. Most clients only attend 1-2days/wk. We charge only $75 per regular visit, so you are getting more value for the money.”
Specialty care: Do you offer any specialty therapies? Are you board-certified in a PT specialty such as orthopedics or geriatrics? Educate them about your area of expertise. Do you offer aqua therapy, or Pilates? TMJ or chronic pain interventions? Expert sports analysis? Ergonomic consultation? Golf analysis? Explain how you differ from the neighboring offices by your experience in areas of expertise.
References: Ask who referred them to your office. The more personal referrals you generate, the more likely people will book appointments. Even for patients who initially called, learned we did not take their insurance and went elsewhere, many called a few weeks later, asking to switch to our office.
Results: Do you keep statistics on your outcomes for common diagnoses you encounter? Share them. Keep a list of successful clients who gave you permission to offer their name as a reference for their excellent outcome. Better yet, ask some referring physicians for their recommendation or to use them as a reference. People like to go where they have heard others had great results.
Connections: Do you know other practitioners in the area who take their insurance? Do you have a relationship with them? Refer. Yes, refer. Ask the client to tell them who referred them. Referrals work both ways. When the offices we refer to receive clients from us, they usually return the favor. Perhaps someone who had chronic pain presents to them, and they do not want to spend the time necessary to address the issue, so they refer to us. It works both ways.
