In today’s episode, Kelley Knott is joined by her husband, Justin Knott, together they both have grown not only an award-winning healthcare marketing agency but also successful 8 figure physician liaison programs to boot. Today they are going to discuss business development, building referral relationships, and increasing those referrals.
Check out the show notes below and download the full transcript.
Ahh, the challenge of the beloved gatekeeper.
What is a gatekeeper?
The gatekeeper is the front desk. They are the people that are blocking you from meeting with the doctor due to the fact they are trying to keep the physician’s on time, patients happy, and gatekeepers get in trouble when they interrupt that workflow.
When representatives continuously come into the office to talk to the physicians, that takes their already busy schedule away from the physician. Make it brief.
If you can’t figure out how to get past the front desk, you won’t get anywhere.
Medical Sales:
You know the gatekeeper is keeping you from your objective: What next?
Know your stuff!! Don’t settle on your craft. Make sure you gain the knowledge, learn the lingo, and figure it out step by step.
How to win with Physician Liaison Marketing?
Get the front desk up to ask the doctor if he can meet with you. This step highly increases the likelihood of success with your meeting.
Mistake #1: Letting the front desk dictate your meeting with the physician
You can’t let the front desk dictate if you are going to see the referring physician. Have confidence and insist you are not a sales rep, you have something that is beneficial not only to their practice, but also the physician’s time.
All it takes is a handshake with the physician to get a referral. Don’t abuse the time with the doctor.
Mistake #2: Wasting the Physicians time
When you are finally granted the access to the physician the worst thing you can do is waste their time self-promoting or advertising your practice. Answer their questions, their hesitation, and their objections and address their needs and wants. Do your validation research.
Mistake #3: Bribing your way back
Bribing your way back already leads you into the office on the wrong foot. Lose the treats, the candies, cupcakes, expensive lunches. When it comes to your potential patient their patient’s symptoms and conditions.. not what snacks you are bringing to the office. 95% of physicians do not want lunch. It’s Awkward & expensive. Moral of the story: it wears them out.
Liaisons are not medical & pharmaceutical sales reps – YOU are different
95% of physicians would love to speak with a liaison, but will not speak with a rep.
My Fast-Pass the Front Desk Formula
#1 Position: Research & Clinical knowledge
You need to feel comfortable & confident with your knowledge to have a message that the front desk realizes that you are a professional and knowledgeable enough to speak with the provider.
Shadow physicians, read books, test yourself, interview physicians. 10
#2 Be persistent
Your time is not more important than their time. Be willing to wait it out to meet with the physicians. If you show you are willing to wait they will see that this is important enough to speak with the physician.
#3 Patience
Be patient, your time is not more valuable than theirs. Be willing to wait, but also think of the physician. If they have a time slot you can come back in, make sure to take action and come back!
Take pride in what you are doing. Use the marketing budget for community events, digital marketing, or anything else that give you a better ROI
It is rewarding to grow these relationships with physicians and their office staff. There is a time and a place to talk about things, but not when there are patients waiting to be seen. The front desk time is valuable ‘
Remember this: Physicians think about: Quality of life, patient care, symptoms & patients.
Looking for more information than just getting past the gatekeeper for physician liaisons? Check out Physician Liaison University!
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Thanks for listening. Kelley Knott
