By Zsolt Halmos, CEO,
In a difficult economy, affordable publicity becomes the lifeline of small businesses. If you are already providing automated reminder calls, you are providing a valued service and projecting a cutting-edge image. Did you know you can also use automated reminder calls to grow your practice? Here’s how to add inexpensive and effective automated reminder calls to your marketing arsenal.
- Focus on the patients you already have. Generating repeat business is far easier than trying to find new patients. Sending promotional phone calls to past clients is an easy and effective way to get referrals and book more appointments.
- Create a sense of community. Use automated calls to invite patients to an Open House celebrating a holiday or company milestone. Give out refreshments, product samples and discount coupons. Be sure to invite local physicians.
- Have your existing clients bring in new patients. Use automated calls to create a Refer-A-Friend promotion and increase your client base. Reward the referring patient with a discount or a promotional giveaway.
- Offer a free class. Use automated reminder calls to invite patients to attend a free class about exercise for weight loss, proper back care, or pain management.
- Use automated reminder calls to promote friendly relationships with your patients. For example, send out birthday greetings that include a discount.
- Generate a buzz. Use reminder calls to enhance your online marketing. Announce webinars, podcasts and your presence on social network sites or blogs.
- Increase patient loyalty. Do you have many Spanish or Mandarin-speaking patients? Use automated reminder calls to communicate with them in their language of choice.
- Improve patient compliance. Allow patients to sign up for automated exercise reminders.
- Remember to always project a professional image. Use a pleasant tone, professional vocabulary and words like courtesy call to deliver a message that feels like a courtesy to your clients.
These are just a few ways to use automated reminder calls to grow your business. Best of all, you get to avoid ineffective postcards that end up in the trash, unopened emails that cannot get past spam filters and print ads that are simply too costly. You are virtually guaranteed that someone will receive your message, either in person or on an answering machine, for less than the cost of a stamp!
