As a medical professional, you must bring new patients to your clinic and offer them effective treatment. However, as a rule of any business, it is more vital that you build a loyal customer base from your existing patients.
But what are you supposed to do if you have inactive patients?
To tap on inactive patients, first, you need to make a list of them. Then, contact those patients, and convince them to book an appointment. If they don’t pick up, send an impactful voicemail. Stay consistent while reaching out to patients.
This article will help you understand the art of tapping on your inactive patients, the necessary steps to do it, and how you can implement those steps.
So, continue reading to know the steps that you need to follow!
1. Generate a uniform list of inactive patients
You may find yourself surprised by the number of patients due for a second appointment, yet they are not turning up.
Moreover, some patients haven’t turned up in months now or started a treatment plan you had suggested.
Hence, the first step to tapping on your inactive patients is by identifying who they are.
The best way you can do this is by using software to track inactive patients to make a list of them. With the help of this software, you can come up with three categories:
- Category 1: Patients that haven’t visited your clinic for over six months now.
- Category 2: Patients that haven’t visited your clinic for 6 to 18 months.
- Category 3: Patients that haven’t visited your clinic for over 18 months now.
This process may get time-consuming for a medical professional, which is why you may want to consider delegating this job to someone else. Now, you can either delegate this task to your assistants or outsource people to do it for you.
Outsourcing professionals or teams experienced in this kind of task can save you a lot of time. These people are knowledgeable and well-aware of your skillset, unlike receptionists, assistants, etc. Thus, they can understand the software in a better way to reach out to patients.
2. Gathering information of the inactive patients before calling
Before you or your team members start calling inactive patients, you must have enough information to hold the conversation.
Gathering information can help you understand why the patient didn’t visit again and, accordingly, convince them to revisit. Additionally, some patients may have also forgotten about you. So, it is your task to remind them politely.
Hence, the second step is to gather information regarding when the patient visited last, if they received adequate treatment, or had a bad experience.
Again, this is a time-consuming process and requires working through files and software diligently to gather information.
3. Calling inactive patients regularly
After gathering the list of inactive patients with their respective information, it is time to reach out to them.
Hence, the third step is to call patients regularly to ensure that you reach out to every patient on the list. This may take time, but it is crucial.
To do this job, you may have to hire someone to work on this regularly. Or, you can outsource a specialized and trained call agency that can work through plenty of patients in a day and reach out to everyone.
4. Communicating with inactive patients
Calling patients isn’t the same as communicating. Some patients just might not pick up and leave you on a dead end. However, if they do pick up, you have to grab the opportunity to talk them into scheduling another appointment!
Hence, the fourth step is to call up patients, and if they pick up, then communicate effectively.
The most important thing you need to have in this step is an efficient and trained person or a team that can handle objections. For instance, even when patients pick up, they may try to end the call by saying they are busy.
However, it becomes the duty of the speaker to spark a conversation. This is why you may want to consider opting for a trained call center that can not just call the patients but also build good relations with them.
5. Sending an impactful voicemail
Did you know that 72% of calls from unknown numbers go straight to voicemail in the US? Well, this is the reason why you need a backup plan, like an impactful voicemail.
When calling up inactive patients, many of them wouldn’t pick up and leave you or your team on voicemail; you need to come up with a message that would entice the patient to call you back somehow.
Hence, the fifth step is to send an effective voicemail that would make the patient call you back again.
Now, keep in mind that impactful doesn’t mean detailed. So, if you try to tell the patient everything that you wanted to on voicemail, the chances are that they won’t call you back. On the other hand, keeping the voicemail short and exciting can help you out.
For instance, you can leave a voicemail asking about their doctor’s appointment. This will generate curiosity in them. You may also have to be pretty consistent while sending voicemails to a patient. So, make sure that you don’t give up.
6. Stay consistent and repeat the steps every month
Lastly, always remember that consistency is the key. So, you mustn’t simply give up on the first try. It is also important to note that you should continue reaching out to inactive patients even if you have a few successful appointments.
Hence, we suggest preparing a new list of inactive patients, then following the next steps every month to build a loyal patient base.
Suppose you don’t have enough time to spare every month after this; in that case, consider reaching out to call center professionals that are trained to call inactive patients. The benefits include:
- They can help you save both time and effort.
- They can work diligently on reaching out to patients regularly and scheduling appointments.
- They can gather information regarding inactive patients from medical files and software.
- They can help you build a customized approach and plan to increase your appointments.
So, consider outsourcing a special call team to cater to your requirements and achieve your goals.
Final thoughts
Reaching out to inactive patients isn’t just beneficial to you but also to them. Many patients, even the ones who are in dire need of treatment, may not turn up for a second appointment. Some may even forget about it.
So, as a medical professional, it becomes your duty to convince them to reschedule an appointment for their health and safety.
Thankfully, with the help of the steps mentioned above, you can easily tap on your inactive patients and increase your appointments!