Leaky Phones

How Much Revenue Are Missed Opportunities Costing Your Practice?

Every time the phone rings at your practice, is another chance for you to wow that caller with great service.  But all too often the calls simply turn into another missed opportunity.  At OptiCall, we call these errors ‘leaky phones,’ and they are caused by a number of factors: long on-hold times, poor phone etiquette, uneducated staff or simply not asking the caller if they would like to schedule an appointment.

But the main culprit is also the most obvious: not answering the phone.

On average, 34% of phone calls made to a medical office are not answered by a live person.*

Of the 34% who are sent directly to voicemail?  Only 37% actually leave a message.**

So how much could leaky phones potentially be costing your practice?

Based on our records the average practice receives approximately 750 phone calls a month, and that 1 in every 5 of those calls is a new appointment opportunity. That’s 20% of all calls.
750 x 20% = 150 appointment opportunities per month.

If 34% of all calls go unanswered, the numbers change to:
750 x 66% = 495 answered calls/month
366 x 20% = 99 appointment opportunities

That’s 51 appointment opportunities lost simply by not answering the phone.

Now assume your average procedure cost is $4,000, and your conversion rate is 50%. Using that math, you could be losing 51/2 = 25.5 new patients : 25.5 x 4,000 = $102,000 PER MONTH

That’s $102k flushed down the drain.

So why are the phones not being answered? We commonly see two main reasons:

1. Your staff is multitasking: they’re currently assisting other patients either on another line or in the office.
2. The patient is calling on your fringe business hours.

Luckily at OptiCall, we have a solution to fix those leaky phones – our ‘Overflow’ program.
It’s simple: if someone calls your office, and the phone isn’t answered within 3 rings, instead of going to voicemail the call is forwarded to one of our trained professionals – so the caller gets a live, knowledgeable person.

If they call before the office is open, or after closing, or over the weekend, someone is there on the other line.

The result is no more missed opportunities. No more missed calls, no more calls going to voicemail, and even increased opportunity for additional calls outside your regular office hours.

So what is this coverage worth to your practice? We already went over how much you could be losing – think of how much you could gain, for less than half the average cost of just a single new patient.

Request a free demo today and see how much revenue you could add to your bottom line next month.