How to sell medical clinic services: working with end customers

Competition in private medicine is fierce, and the choice of the audience is also a lot, so the owners of the medical business have to invent new ways to attract patients. And here medical marketing comes to the rescue, without which today it is hardly possible to build a successful business in private medicine.
It does not matter whether you are a marketer or opened your clinic without primary knowledge in this area. Main – desire to comprehend secrets and patience. And estet-portal.com in this article will teach you the basics and tell you a couple of life hacks about promoting medical clinic services.

How to sell medical clinic services and work with patients

Those days are long gone when all people were forced to stand in queues for hours and hang on every word of a wayward doctor, because they simply had no alternative. Today, with the existing variety of private clinics with adequate prices, the corridors of state clinics are 30% empty.

However, the same 30% of the audience of "private traders" significantly raised the bar for their hard-earned money. Now patients want not just an experienced and highly qualified doctor, but also a polite one! As well as an accurate appointment at a convenient time without delay, polite administrators and all possible amenities in the clinic.

Therefore, if you want grateful patients, pay attention to service as often as possible.

Does the administrator warn patients about possible appointment delays? Do nurses get along well with children and elderly patients (if it is a family-run clinic)? Is the doctor ready to communicate with patients, answer questions and explain in detail the diagnosis and treatment regimen? All these are important nuances, since negative reviews and word of mouth – dangerous mix. We wrote here about how to set up your own Dream Team in any business.
Make sure that it is also easy for potential patients to find you and information about your institution.

We hope you have a website and you have spared no expense on its SEO optimization? Are you represented in social networks? Are you active on specialized Internet forums in your region and country? Are there at least a couple of signs, city lights or billboards with your services within walking distance of your clinic? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you have work to do.

By the way, presence in social networks and forums does not mean direct intrusive advertising. Offer content that is truly valuable and helpful for patients to earn a reputation as professionals in their field.

And here's another great life hack about forums. They often appear reviews of clinics. With the help of them, you can learn from the mistakes of others and not step on the rake of competitors. Track what exactly the reviewers are dissatisfied with. Rude administrators? Extended treatment time? Painful procedures? Is it cold in the waiting room in winter? Wind your mustache – and immediately correct other people's mistakes in your own, so as not to get on the "board of shame".

And if you already got it, then do not ignore the review and do not get off with formal replies. Sincerely try to understand the problem, and even if it's too late to solve it, then tell us in the comment what exactly you did to avoid such situations in the future. And, of course, apologize to the disgruntled patient. You can even offer a free consultation or a tangible discount as a consolation. This is how dissatisfied customers are returned to a loyal audience.

The sale of medical clinic services to a patient can be conditionally divided into stages:

1. Searching for contact with a client (patient).
2. Diagnosis
3. Offering a medical service as a way to solve a patient's problem.
4. Working with objections and feedback.

Any of the stages can be hopelessly spoiled by too direct imposition of their services (you can recommend, but not impose!), the inattention of the staff, or, moreover, its rude treatment of the client.

Quality service is so important that Western countries have even developed standards for patient care. With some adaptation, they can be partially applied in the CIS countries.

Gold standard of patient care in a private clinic:

1. The waiting time for the customer to be served by the administrator at the reception should not exceed 5 minutes.
2. The patient's phone call must be answered within two minutes and begin short and clear – with the name of the clinic and greetings.
3. Patients should be reminded of their upcoming appointment. The form for this (phone call, SMS, email, message to instant messengers or several channels at once) can be selected based on the specifics of the audience.
4. The administrator informs the patient if the schedule of appointments has gone astray, and the time of his appointment is delayed, apologizes for the inconvenience, offers tea or coffee.
5. During the appointment, the doctor easily and willingly answers the patient's questions, explains in detail the features of the diagnosis and all possible treatment regimens.
6. Even outside the appointment hours, doctors and clinic administrators must be ready for calls from patients if unforeseen complications that threaten health suddenly occur.

Compliance with service standards should become the hallmark of the clinic. If the institution has a good reputation, word of mouth will spread the word about it even without any additional advertising. Therefore, it makes sense to work on the service most carefully!

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