(meat and potatoes at the end, so read on!)
Until you run a practice like mine, you may not be able to appreciate how important contact management software is. Every week, I get anywhere from 20 – 40 phone calls from potential clients. Many of these have found me via my website, and the others have been referred by people who refer frequently.
My process is to retrieve the message, enter the information into my software, and call the client back. Obvious, right? But as we talk, I am also noting what the call is about, where they found me, and what the outcome is. Some of them become my clients, some go to others in my practice. Some need to find out more information or want to call back. Some can’t afford us and are referred to our local free clinic or university counseling center.
If I can do so gracefully (and I need to improve at this), I ask for their email address to keep in touch. If they are referred by someone, I make a note to send a thank-you letter. Later I might want to know who many people came from Dr. Smith, or were referred out because of their insurance needs, or who came from an internet directory listing. Very very important information.
I’ve been transitioning from my old program, Goldmine, to Act!2010, as I mentioned in my previous post. As of today, I am now going to try a third program, RedHorse CRM, because Act is giving me trouble in the worst possible place — referral tracking! Everything else is working fairly well, although change is not fun, as we all know. But, as in “real life”, once you make one change, you become more open to making others, and I’m going to try another change.
Full disclosure: RedHorse CRM is a program sold through dealers, of which my husband is one. It costs more than Act, and I am known as frugal, so I’ll let you know what I think. But here’s the deal: even though I’ve already spent money on Act, if it’s not going to be strong in the most important area, then I may need to cut my losses and move on.
Hopefully, soon, I’ll be finished with all of this infrastructure nonsense, and move on to real work, as in this blog and website, and maybe even real life, outside of work! (I’ve actually been having lots of fun with that, too, in between all of this.) So I’ll keep you posted on how this gets resolved.
Meanwhile, even if you’re just beginning, think about the process I have described above. The key factors are:
- Develop ways for clients to find out about you: website, advertising, referral sources, speaking, and anything else you can think of.
- Keep contact information for every potential referral source, and every potential client, and keep in touch with them as appropriate. You can phone call, meet with, and mail to referral sources. You can mail to (or e-mail) potential and past clients as appropriate.
- Track your results, and adjust your efforts accordingly.
That’s the secret to any sort of practice success, that and of course delivering high quality, valuable service. Have fun!
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