O CC U PAT I O N A L M E D I C I N E Perfecting the Clinic Visit as a Closing Technique ■ FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH I nviting would-be employer clients to visit your urgent care clinic is an increasingly common and effective marketing tool. Yet, most such visits are done with insufficient forethought. The majority of occupational health closes are “soft” commit- ments—that is, there is no guarantee that the prospect will use your urgent care clinic. Hence, some type of follow-up to most sales calls is advisable. Further, it is best to actually involve the prospect in some manner, as prospect involvement is often the key to closing a sale. A visit to your clinic is an excellent way to instill both a psy- chological and actual sense of commitment. In addition, such a visit provides you with an opportunity to meet with a prospect on your own turf, as well as an opportu- nity to refine numerous processes that are likely to save your staff time down the road. Rule #1: Schedule two clinic tours every week. For example, you might make Thursday afternoon clinic tour day and schedule two tours every Thursday at 2:00 and 3:45 p.m. Strive to fill your open slots rather than inviting prospects only as opportunities arise. Two tours per week equates to 100 tours per year—a sure fire way to bring in large volumes of new employer clients. Rule #2: Schedule tours on days and during hours that make sense. You do not want your weekly tours to take place during busy times (e.g., Monday mornings) or usually quiet times (e.g., Friday afternoon). While it is impossible to predict the volume of walk-in patients with certainty, if your schedulers know that every Thursday afternoon is clinic tour day, they can set up planned appointments accordingly. Frank Leone is president and CEO of RYAN Associates and exec- utive director of the National Association of Occupational Health Professionals. Mr. Leone and David Stern, MD, CPC are scheduled to speak at a pair of half-day seminars, Urgent Care: 40 Ways to Increase Profitability, in Tampa and Boca Raton, FL July 25 and 26. For more information about the seminars, call Megan Montana at (800) 666-7926, extension 13. Mr. Leone may be contacted at fleone@naohp.com. 34 JUCM T h e J o u r n a l o f U r g e n t C a r e M e d i c i n e | M a y 2 0 0 8 Rule #3: Make it easy for the prospect. Once a tour has been arranged, routinely e-mail prospects confirmation of the time, date, and location of the visit, where and how to park (with park- ing passes as appropriate), and a map and/or basic written di- rections to your clinic. Cancellations are less likely if the prospect understands that you have set up an itinerary and blocked out your time. Include a basic “itinerary” of their visit so they would know what to expect. Rule #4: Turn the prospect over to your clinic director, if possible. The clinic visit is an excellent time to introduce the prospect/new client to your clinic director, who would then con- duct the actual clinic tour. Rule #5: Establish a routine tour. Every moment of the tour should be carefully orchestrated. For example, you should pro- vide a soup-to-nuts walk-through to demonstrate typical patient flow. Always associate a “why” with a “what” and make sure that the why implies value. Do not simply say that you have six exam rooms; say that you have six exam rooms, which expedites pa- tient flow and offers patients more privacy, which leads to greater satisfaction. Rule #6: Ensure that key conversations are planned. Your clinic director should be briefed on the prospect’s hot buttons and focus his/her conversation on these issues (i.e., “I under- stand that you are concerned with excessive waiting time. We attempt to address this concern by…”). Minimize chitchat or reciting the obvious (“this is an exam room”) and focus on the prospective “win-win” relationship. Rule #7: Make staff introductions meaningful. Go beyond simply introducing staff by training staff members to ask the “right” questions and script the “right” answers. Your physi- cians and clinical staff should always ask something like, “Tell me a little about your company. What seems to be your w w w. j u c m . c o m