Make the First Office Call

You are now ready to make your first office call. Before getting into the details of it, there is one thing that I want to drive home about every call that you make.

When you speak with someone in an office, it is very important to find out his or her name. And when you return, it is important to use his or her name at least once if you meet again. You can do this when you first meet, as your conversation is wrapping up, or you can do it casually in the middle of conversing. How you do it is entirely up to you, but it is essential in building relationships to learn and use people’s names.

The office call is something that you will quickly become familiar with as it is something you will be repeating week after week. If you are extremely nervous on your first office call, I suggest you go back to your master list and find a few prospects that you think you have very little chance of actually developing a relationship with (maybe they are the wrong specialty or maybe they are in the next town over). Practice getting comfortable in an office setting with these people first. That way, if you totally bomb your first few visits because of shaky nerves, you will not have ruined your chances with a legitimate opportunity.

Greet and Pitch

The first part of the office call begins from the minute that you open the door of the office (or as soon as they can see you if they have a glass front). Treat the entire office as your prospect and not just the doctor.

When you enter the office, approach the front desk and wait behind any patients in front of you. Waiting in line can sometimes be uncomfortable, especially in the beginning as you are still getting familiar with the process, but try your best to act natural. While in line, remember, your office call has already begun. No texting on your cell phone, no picking your nose (please!), and do not turn around to see who is in the office behind you waiting to see the doctor. Be on your best behavior and respect the privacy-centered nature of a medical office. Stand in line behind the people already there, but it is not necessary to let people go in front of you as they enter the office.

When you get to the front desk, they might address you differently than their patients. You will be wearing business attire and carrying a leather folder, so they are probably going to assume you are there as a healthcare rep. They might ask “Can I help you?” instead of saying “Hi” or “Hello.”

At this point, do not jump immediately into your elevator pitch. Greet the person you are talking to and set the right tone for the dialogue that is about to occur. Is the person at the desk a 60-year-old woman with permed hair and an aroma of moth-balls? Is it a 30-year-old man in scrubs with visible tattoos? Is it a young adult who might possibly be a niece or nephew of the doctor? All of these things might change the style of greeting that you use, so be prepared to have a formal greeting, a casual greeting, and a playful greeting. One that I often use is a casual one and, guess what, it ends with a question:

“Hi! How are you?”

After the person answers this simple greeting, I move right in to the core of my elevator pitch.

Gather Information

Remember that your pitch should end with a qualifying question. This first question will begin the process of gathering information. Is this office worth spending time and energy on?

After your initial qualifying question, ask another question to establish your first position point and move toward reaching your goals.

This stage of the initial office call can go in any number of directions and will vary greatly office to office. Whatever direction your call goes in, remember that you are working toward a specific goal. Frame your questions to reach those goals and to relay your position points.

Close

Closing is an important part of any office call. A natural close will leave the prospect with the feeling of a positive visit while a forced close will leave the prospect hoping you do not return. Do you simply stop talking and walk out the door after you get your information? Or do you thank them for their time, let them know you will be back to follow up with something you have discussed? How you handle your close is important.

No matter how you close your office call, you will want to be sure to accomplish two things with your close:

1. Set up a return visit to make your next call seamless and functional.
2. Engage your prospect in leave behind material. This material, covered more in depth in the next section, can be anything that will keep you in the mind of your prospect between office calls. Some states and medical offices have rules about what exactly can be left behind, so be sure to make it small and that it has a purpose.

On your initial call, the leave behind will almost always be your initial flyer. This flyer should be on a full sheet of paper and will serve more to remind your prospects about you than to inform them. It also helps to ask that the flyer be shown to the referral coordinator or to the doctor if you only get as far as the front desk. This will ensure that the front desk person at least feels some obligation to hang on to the flyer for a period of time and engages him in a process after you leave. An engaging leave-behind can market for you even after you have left.