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If a Client is a Patient a lead would be a.....?

by iScotts
18 replies
HI all. I am now targeting the Health niche ( Doctors etc) Now I want to change some words in my script. So instead of saying Clients I would say patients but now I dont know what the "Doctor" equivalent of a lead is.. Can anyone help me here..

PS: in addition any advice on how I can go about getting a hold of these people would be very helpful as I can guess they are very very busy people.
#client #lead #patient
  • Profile picture of the author LeonAzrael
    I would assume a lead to a doctor is still a patient or a potential patient.

    As far as contacting them, leaving voicemails tend to work. If you leave one and they're continuously ignored, try calling at different times and see when they're most responsive. There's always a slow period for any business - you just have to find it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Which niche within health care are you targeting?

    The reason I bring this up is to be a devil's advocate.

    Once you get past the politics of our health care system the problem is basically one of supply and demand. Due to health insurance, medicare, and medicaid the vast majority of people do not pay for their health care. Thus there is a high demand since they view it as free or cheap (thus why premiums go up faster than inflation). On the supply side thanks to AMA and the cost to be a doctor we have a supply problem in this nation. We simply do not have enough doctors.

    Why I bring this up is the vast majority of general practice doctors don't need leads. Hell some likely would love to have less I am sure. And certain niches like heart and such specialities normal get their leads from other doctors. There is not a lot of patients out there looking because they don't treat health care the like they do other products and services because once again they do not directly pay for it.

    But certain niches are not covered by insurance and thus still work on market principles. These niches would be the ones to target. Plastic surgery is the big boy of course but there are others.

    As to your questions I would use the word patients myself vs. client or lead.
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  • Profile picture of the author iScotts
    Yes Aaron You correct and funny enough I am thinking Chiropractor or Plastic Surgeon. Are the doctors usually the decision makers with issues such as internet marketing?
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    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
      Originally Posted by iScotts View Post

      Yes Aaron You correct and funny enough I am thinking Chiropractor or Plastic Surgeon. Are the doctors usually the decision makers with issues such as internet marketing?
      Depends on the office. Doctors will normally be busy so I would ask for the office manager. He or she will either be the one to talk to or can get an appointment outside of business hours set up for you to meet with the main doctor or doctors who would make the decisions.
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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by iScotts View Post

      Yes Aaron You correct and funny enough I am thinking Chiropractor or Plastic Surgeon. Are the doctors usually the decision makers with issues such as internet marketing?
      Some doctors' offices and vetrinarians have a "business manager" or "practice manager" who might be the decision maker or at least the point person for the practice. Which could be a good thing because if the clinic is large enough for a manager, they are likely to be aggressive when it comes to marketing. A vetrinarian clinic I used to use had at least 15 vetrinarians on staff - specialists too - and the practice manager was an MBA.
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      • Profile picture of the author Shadowflux
        Just to answer the question in the title:

        Perhaps a lead would be a referral? I know many doctors will write referrals for their patients to visit another specific doctor. If you're aiming for specialists then maybe other doctors would be like leads as well.
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        • Profile picture of the author iScotts
          Originally Posted by Shadowflux View Post

          Just to answer the question in the title:

          Perhaps a lead would be a referral? I know many doctors will write referrals for their patients to visit another specific doctor. If you're aiming for specialists then maybe other doctors would be like leads as well.
          But then It is a referral if it comes from a Doctor or someone else (not a search engine) no?
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      • Profile picture of the author iScotts
        Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

        Some doctors' offices and vetrinarians have a "business manager" or "practice manager" who might be the decision maker or at least the point person for the practice. Which could be a good thing because if the clinic is large enough for a manager, they are likely to be aggressive when it comes to marketing. A vetrinarian clinic I used to use had at least 15 vetrinarians on staff - specialists too - and the practice manager was an MBA.
        So would It be smart to ask for a Practice Manager Or should I just ask for the Surgeon?
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        • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
          Originally Posted by iScotts View Post

          So would It be smart to ask for a Practice Manager Or should I just ask for the Surgeon?
          If you're taking time to research, and find they have a Practice Manager, I'd ask for them by title or name. Otherwise just ask for the "decision maker about ..." or the "person in charge of getting more patients..."

          As Aaron said, the doctor or surgeon is not likely reachable, so your likely to have to establish a relationship with the office manager to get the appointment with the Doc.

          Veterinarians and Laser Vision clinics and cosmetic non-surgeon skin care clinics are also good prospects..

          Dan
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          • Profile picture of the author misterme
            Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

            As Aaron said, the doctor or surgeon is not likely reachable, so your likely to have to establish a relationship with the office manager to get the appointment with the Doc.
            So here's a question about that: if you get your stuff into the doctor's hands first, may not the doctor do one of three things - call, toss it, turn it over to the manager? And if the doctor even uncommittingly says "check this out" to the manager isn't that better than just getting your stuff from you direct to the manager?
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            • Profile picture of the author spesialis
              Originally Posted by misterme View Post

              So here's a question about that: if you get your stuff into the doctor's hands first, may not the doctor do one of three things - call, toss it, turn it over to the manager? And if the doctor even uncommittingly says "check this out" to the manager isn't that better than just getting your stuff from you direct to the manager?
              Most of the time the doctor is the owner of the business i.e. the practice.

              Doctor is the decision maker.

              He make the ultimate decision. If he's delegating it to manager, that only means he doesn't want to be bothered with something like it.

              Getting your stuff into the doctor's hands first is the offliners wet dream.
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              • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
                Originally Posted by spesialis View Post

                Most of the time the doctor is the owner of the business i.e. the practice.

                Doctor is the decision maker.

                He make the ultimate decision. If he's delegating it to manager, that only means he doesn't want to be bothered with something like it.

                Getting your stuff into the doctor's hands first is the offliners wet dream.
                Or it could ruin your chances. Your mission should always be to get your message to the correct person period. If that is a guy making $10/hr the doctor hired to handle it so be it. If you don't know who to talk to or send it to ask or make an educated guess.

                But as someone who handles the online marketing for a company I can tell you from experience that getting it "pass" me is not the right move. if my bosses wanted to deal with it I wouldn't have a job. In a best case it just gets passed back. In a worst case you will annoy one of the decision makers (boss, me, etc) because it will appear you are not following our chain.

                Aiming high is fine if you don't know who to aim for but the higher you aim the more likely you are to hit the trash IMO. In the case of a Doctor's office I would rather call and ask for the Office Manager and find out that wast he wrong person to ask for and get a bump to the right person vs. calling a doctor who is super busy and who will ignore me or pass me off in anger because I interupted him.

                Gatekeeps are not in your way. They are your way in. If you don't know who to ask for just ask.

                I can tell you right now I have paid far more attention to cold calls from people who got Cindy (who handles our front desk) to like them. On those calls she calls me first and tells me about it. The ones you blind transfer to me I say not interested very quickly. And some of the ones that get to my boss he doesn't even pass on he just takes a number and tells me to call back if I think it is worth looking into.

                Now I can't say that every business will be the same but I have been both the manager and the one delegated to in the past, it is annoying for both when someone bypasses the correct person to speak with. So please never knowingly do it.

                The last thing you want to do when cold calling is start off with them against you. So if you have the ability to ask who to contact please do. It is better for both of us. And you never know if you get us in a good mood we might just listen to you vs. hanging up.

                Google does a great job with this. Their cold callers always ask who to talk to and they keep notes in their system of who the correct contact is.
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                • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
                  As I often find, Aaron is right on. Also, I think Doctors are spending the bulk of their time "doctoring" and reporting what has transpired and so are very dependent upon their staff to do their scheduling according to priorities.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Appointment? Initial consultation...? I think the term "lead" is used broadly... who knows what people mean by the word half the time.

    To me it's a potential "prospect".
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    • Profile picture of the author iScotts
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      Appointment? Initial consultation...? I think the term "lead" is used broadly... who knows what people mean by the word half the time.

      To me it's a potential "prospect".
      I think I like Appointment actually.. I might just use that thanks..
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    lead = a potential patient.
    business = practice.
    a sale = new patient.
    price shopper = wants brain surgery for the price of having a bunion removed.
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    • Profile picture of the author iScotts
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      lead = a potential patient.
      business = practice.
      a sale = new patient.
      price shopper = wants brain surgery for the price of having a bunion removed.
      :p that cracked me up lol
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    a lead would be a cure or at worst a diagnosis
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