Increase Admissions: Its Not A Mystery

One of the most eye opening things that I have learned through the years in healthcare marketing and sales is that, just because it is your focus doesn't mean that it is your coworkers focus. I want to give you a few real life examples of what I am talking about here. How much does this cost your organization in lost admissions each year?

Your primary objective is to increase referrals, to grow your healthcare organization. Is it only you that feels and more importantly ACTS on this goal? I have done many mystery shopping calls through the years, most are good calls with good results overall. Some great, others average, therefore overall 80% are "good" calls. We can get into the details about how many rings until someone picks up the phone, and the merits of various greetings at another time. For today lets talk about the critical 15%-20% of calls that may be loosing you business/admissions.

1) "We have no more beds available." I will never forget this call. I was working with a Retirement Home in Massachusetts, doing some mystery shopping calls and was informed that they had "no beds available". I documented who I spoke with, time of call, and the other details of the call. I was working closely with the administrator and knew that this home had at least three available beds. Needless to say it was not pretty for this employee the next day. More patients/clients equaled more work for this weekend only employee we guessed, or the employee didnt care enough to find out. Either way saying you have know capacity when you do have capacity is bad.

2) Much less angering but still VERY frustrating for me through the years is the "They didn't leave their name." Who, what when where, and why. Who called, when did they call, why did they call, where did they call from. You know exactly what I am talking about here.

Having a mandatory capturing of the call (referral tracking log) should be just that... MANDATORY. No matter if the person taking the call "feels" that this person does not need or want your services. They called, they at least need some guidance and help that you can assist them with. You may be able to connect a few important networking dots in the process of assisting them. Note: If you ask for contact information and the caller does not want to give the information that is one thing. What I have seen and heard however is at times how poorly we handle initial inquiries. Admissions is a team sport, it requires good communication.

These are just two examples of what we find on some of our mystery shopping calls. The second call much more common than the first.

What will you find? Make mystery shopping a part of your marketing and sales plan.

Here's to taking the mystery out of increasing admissions.

Regards,

Steve
www.seniorcaremall.com
Admissions Guide Pro
Partnership Programs