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Medical Billing Home Business Sales Ideas

Introduction As a service business, your job is to help a prospect discover their needs and to encourage them to act now to solve those needs. Not everyone understands the principle - you can get what you want if you help enough other people get what they want. People, who have experienced the benefit of a service, talk favorably about the company who helped them recognize and solve their needs. As you develop your business remember you must know how and why you can help your clients. You must master the following: product knowledge, prospecting, selling yourself, and business organization. This manual will help you become successful and get your clients. However, to become successful you need to plan, organize and be able to manage your activities to profit. About Your Clients Customers of the new millennium expect more from companies than they have in the past and want to deal with people they can trust. Be up front and talk straight. When they feel they can believe what you say, you've crossed the biggest hurdle. Physicians are typically not very good business people, and that is okay. They are supposed to practice medicine. In large offices, you will not be dealing directly with the physician but with an office manager. It is important to develop a strong relationship with your clients. Don't present yourself as trying to sell them something or as an underling to do their bidding... present yourself as their partner in success! Your fortunes are tied to theirs, and it is your job to make them more successful. If in the process you benefit, well, so much the better!   Marketing vs. Sales Many people don't understand the difference between marketing and sales, but the distinction is Immense. -. Marketing is an investment and involves more money than time. The benefits are long term and sometimes difficult to spot. Marketing generates the leads that the sales people close. The more leads you have the more sales you will close. Selling is the active part and requires much more time than money. Selling is the process of meeting the prospects face to face and solving their problems with your solutions.   Marketing And The Corporate Image Marketing is the process of developing and maintaining an image and of keeping that image in front of your prospective client base.   Corporate Philosophy Develop your organizational philosophy. What makes you the best company to provide for the prospects needs? What is the key to your success? State your strength and prove it! We feel our primary strength, and the most important concern for the client using our service. is in the support provided after the agreement is signed. Not just the next few months but for years to come With 95% of our business coming from existing client referrals, we think we are doing something right." State a problem the prospect can relate to and then solve it for them The needs of the medical community are changing constantly and the office policies must change with them. For this reason we are continuously improving and enhancing the programs and method we use to provide our clients with the benefits of these enhancements." History and Background You will need to develop an outline of the history of your company, even if you are brand new. Look carefully at the experiences of each member and employee of the company and draw from them something relevant to the company. Do not lie to your prospective clients ... honesty is important. Your choice of words can allow them to draw their own inferences. Example: A person who has worked in fast food and/or retail for eleven years has "more than a decade of experience in customer service.11   Local and Corporate Support Stress the fact you are a local company that is there when they need you. You are backed up by a national clearinghouse and support organization that ensures longevity.   Menu of Service Develop a menu of the services offered by your company. This is what you are selling. The menu tells the prospects what you do and lets them know you can tailor a program to their specific needs. See the following menu example. Menu of Service Service Description Electronic Claims Submission Get your error free claims into the payors systems as quickly as possible. Reduce payment time by weeks! Complete Patient Management Maintain patient records and provide access to the clients.   Electronic Patient Bills Eliminate the paper from your office. Bad Debt Collections Collect past due accounts. Re-Submission of Claims Automatically re-submit past due third patty claims. Management Reports Accounts receivable, delinquent accounts, and daily productivity reports are available. Statistical Reports Analyze your practice Custom Reports Produce any custom report you need when you need it.   Other Resources There are a number of resources that are already available at little or no cost to promote your Billing Center. These include seminars and workshops, newsletters, specialty journals, and conventions.   Seminars/Workshops Look for announcements regarding local seminars or workshops hosted by various insurance companies detailing new rules and regulations. Not only will this help keep you up-to-date with the constant changes in health care, it will make you better able to communicate with the physicians office. It also provides an excellent forum for networking with prospective clients and individuals that can provide you with referrals down the road. Newsletters Sign up immediately with carriers in your area to be put on their mailing list. These newsletters are normally free and provide you with pertinent information about the carrier and health care industry in general.   Journals Subscribe to local industry journals for information updates on a monthly/quarterly basis. Each of the medical disciplines (MD, DO, DC and DDS) will have their own state orgAnl'7ations. You can find information on the national organizations on the inter-net.   Conventions Call local medical organizations such as Osteopathic Association or Family Practice Association to find out when they are hosting conventions. Many times booth space is available for a fee. This allows you to advertise your services to hundreds of doctors.   Medical Group Management Association The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is a national organization of medical office managers. They provide seminars, conventions and a monthly newsletter. Your knowledge of what is going on in the MGMA will give you a strong bond with office managers that are members and a real edge over those that are not. Check your inter-net for more information.   Generating Leads There are numerous ways of generating leads. The five most common methods are advertising, cold calling, telemarketing, direct mail and referrals.   Qualifying the Prospect In order to sell your service, you must first have a thorough understanding of what the service is, how it works, the "features, advantages and benefits" of using such a service, and their value to the medical community. Read the enclosed material until you understand it. Experiment with your software package until you know the main features of the product. Make a list of the "Advantages" resulting from those features and once you have qualified a prospect, you will know the benefits those features. Sunrise Services LLC has one main service to offer you, the billing center. That product is claims processing. However, once you have a thriving business, you may decide to add other services. You may decide to sell a practice management system or do full service billing. The criteria presented here applies to whatever service you offer, although at times it may be directed directly to claims processing. The only time that the features, advantages and benefits of your products have any meaning is when they are related to the prospects specific needs. The specific points of your presentation will be based on the prospects needs. You may find that you will have to help the prospect realize that the needs exist. The need must be established BEFORE you start your sales presentation. Don't Make The Mistake Of Selling Before You Qualify!   What You Need To Know. There are six basic qualifying elements required for every prospect and their office. You need to learn them and know why they are important to your success. The elements are: You need to explain the reason for the meeting.

• Know the role your prospect plays in the organization.

 

• Find out how the prospect currently does things.

 

• Find out what they like and dislike about their current system.

 

• Find out what they expect from a billing center.

 

• Summarize the important points of the meeting and ask for agreement, close for a future commitment, or make a presentation.

 

The Reason For The Meeting.

There are several reasons to clearly state your objectives and what it is you hope to accomplish in the meeting. The first and hopefully the most obvious is that it is common courtesy.

The prospect must know why you are there and what you plan to do for them. This may lead to some clues about the prospects attitudes toward your plan of action. This is your opportunity to develop a rapport with your prospect. In stating your reason for the meeting you also establish your professionalism.

 

The Prospects Role.

This step in the qualifying process allows you to understand the prospects beliefs and attitudes. It will give you some insight into their personality. It will help you understand the prospects frame of reference. During this conversation, try to gain information such as:

Their plans and goals for managing their claims filing procedures.

The problems they face in dealing with such issues as staff, computers, budgets, work demand problems, and outside billing services.

How they plan to solve those problems and the obstacles they face_.

How decisions are made concerning claims filing.

What role the prospect will play in making those decisions.

What is the process for evaluating new methods?

These are a few suggestions for gathering information. The more information you get, the better position you will be in to present your service in a way that meets the needs of the prospect.

 

How Are They Doing It Now?

Thoroughly investigating your prospect's existing claims management system is a major step in the qualifying process. It has been said that people never buy until they feel that the salesperson fully understands them. And never forget that your prospect is a person first, and then an office manager or doctor.

You will need to conduct your call in a way that produces the information you require to support any changes you may suggest. Therefore, it is critical you have a thorough understanding of the existing method used and how it functions before you suggest any product or service.

 

Love It/Hate It

Probing for your prospects likes and dislikes are a very important step in the qualifying process. The information you gain from this step gives you the basis for recommending changes to their system. Your task is two-fold:

• First, to recommend the right product or services that satisfies their hidden needs

that are not being met by their current system.

• Second, to recommend the right product or service that satisfies obvious needs                         that are being met by the current system.

	The "I love it's" are needs that are currently being taken care of by their current system and they want to keep. The "I hate it's" are the things that their current system lacks and they want.
	If you can get rid of the "I hate it's" and keep all of the "I love it's", your prospect will find true satisfaction in one system - YOURS.
	Expected Standards.

	There are many ways to make a trip. You can fly, drive your car, or even walk. To take this a bit further, you can fly first class, coach, red eye special, or take a no frills airline. Each mode of travel satisfies the need to get there. However, these needs are quite different. How does your prospect prefer to travel, or need to travel, based on financial or other constraints?
	The prospects needs will vary depending on how their claims are prepared and filed, how they use reports, and how much information they need. Do they need to upgrade their practice management program, obtain a new practice management program, or will a link to the clearinghouse do the job for them?
	You can only prescribe the appropriate product or service when you know the prospect's standards for service, accuracy, turnaround time, and any other standards important to them.
	Summarize and Close.

	This is where you will gain the confidence of the prospect. At the conclusion of your information gathering, review your notes and your memory, and summarize what you have learned. This should always include a summary of their existing system or method of handling claims. Discuss the prospects likes and dislikes, and any other areas that were covered in the qualifying process. This serves two purposes:
	First, you verity with the prospect the accuracy of your listening and recording.
	Second, you show the prospect that you have developed a thorough understanding of the existing system and the prospect's needs.
	If the qualifying process does not bring to mind an immediate solution to the problems and needs of the prospect, close for a future appointment. You may need further information from the prospect or her supervisor, from the tech support department of her software company or even conduct an analysis to gain more information. Always close for some future action, or do a presentation.
	The Presentation

By now, you should have learned that the unifying focus of the entire sales process is the prospect's needs. Now that you have thoroughly qualified your prospect you are ready for the centerpiece of the sales process, the presentation. The sole purpose of the presentation is to get to a successful close of the sale. This is accomplished by directly and specifically tying the appropriate service's features, advantages and benefits to the agreed upon needs of the prospect.

Develop your presentation based on the knowledge you have gained from qualifying, and the knowledge you have of your product or service. It is imperative you have a thorough understanding of your service, namely claims processing by one means or another, so that the prospect has confidence you are offering a service you can deliver at the quality level expected.

• Summarize the prospect's needs.

• Get agreement or acceptance of the summary.

• Refer to a specific product or service.

• Determine the prospect's knowledge of or attitude toward the product or service.

• Relate the features, advantages and benefits of the service to the prospect's needs.

• Probe to get acknowledgment of acceptance of the benefits.

All of these items are important to the overall sales process. Ask questions, get agreement. Suggest a service, get agreement. State the features of your service, get acceptance. If you follow these steps, you are on your way to a sale.

 

Objections

In any sales process, the prospect will object to something. When your prospect voices an objection, she is telling you she is involved in the process and wants to make sure she gets what she wants and needs. Objections are opportunities the prospect is giving you to convince them and make them feel good about the decision they are about to make.

As you do your presentation, you will be interrupted by the prospect from time to time. Usually, they are just voicing a concern about some feature of the service. Sometimes they will state an objection. You need to make a determination as to whether what they are saying is an objection or a concern. Either way you need to address it at the time it is voiced. However there is one exception to this rule. During the qualifying process do not answer any objections. They may have nothing to do with the service you may be proposing. Don't ignore the prospect¹s remarks. Respond with "May I come back to that question after I have learned a little more about how you currently handle claims filing?"

Treat objections positively. They mean your prospect is interested in your service and is looking for assurance from you that they arc making a good decision.

Close the Sale

By qualifying, you have learned of the prospects wants and needs. In the presentation you addressed all of the prospects wants and needs with a specific product. You have answered all of her concerns and objections. The prospect has agreed that you have presented her with a product or service that meets her needs. After all this work, I can guarantee the prospect will never ask you to place the order for her. You Must Ask For The Business!

Keep in mind the person you are likely to meet, the office manager, cannot usually make a decision like this herself. Most medical offices make decisions by committee. For that reason, you will very rarely get the business the same day you present.

To me, the simplest closes are the best because I am not very good at psychology. I start by briefly summarizing the items the prospect agrees would be beneficial to the business. Then I say, "With all of these benefits, is there any reason you wouldn't want to do business with Sunrise Services?" She will always say she must check with the doctor. I reply, "Of course. I just want to be sure I've covered all the bases and satisfied your needs. I then ask for another appointment or date that the decision will be made. You can also ask if she would rather set up another appointment when you can present to the decision-makers directly.

If her objection is she is not sure of the savings to the business or something similar, I tell her I will prepare a quote based on her costs. I then get certain information and use Claims Wizard, a spreadsheet template we provide once you become a client. With it, you can determine their cost per claim using data they supply for their current system. I also ask for a return appointment to go over the cost analysis with her.

Another closing technique that is used quite frequently is called "The Ben Franklin Balance Sheet Close". Using this method, you again start by summarizing the agreed to items. Then say "Mary, I can see you still aren't sure about sending your claims electronically. So let's do what Ben Franklin always did when he had to make an important decision. Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. At the top left write Positive, at the top right column write Negative. Now list all of the positive things you and Mary have agreed to in the left column. Make sure to ask Mary for her agreement on each one. When you have made a long list of positives, ask Mary to list the negatives in the right column. Do not help her with this. Hopefully, the left will far exceed the right. Now say, "This makes the decision! Just like old Ben would have done." Show her how to fill out the enrollment form.

 

Proposal

You may want to or be required to follow up your presentation with a formal proposal. If so, remember that the proposal is your representative in the medical office. A perfect presentation can be completely negated by a sloppy proposal. Take great care to prepare the proposal as carefully as you do your presentations. Address all of the issues you covered in the presentation_. Try to set another appointment to present the proposal in person and make it a powerful closing tool.

Notes on expanding business...

When you feel comfortable with your software package and have decided to expand your business, remember that slow and easy is the best way to go. As with any new business, you need to get familiar with your customer base and understand their needs.

The most important factor in medical billing is attracting clients. Vendors contact medical offices every day. Your competition is other billing services, clearinghouses, and software vendor who claim to have electronic claims built into their software package.

It takes perseverance to move a prospect to client status. You will probably call on each office multiple times before they feel comfortable enough with you to allow you to handle their claims Don't assume you have lost the business because they haven't signed. They may not be ready to commit. Keep calling until they ask you to stop.

Following is a script to use when telemarketing. This script is not used to solicit for data entry clients but will give you an idea on writing your own telemarketing script. The important thing is to get in the door and develop a relationship. Ask questions that find out what kind of help or support they need.

When calling, ask for the office manager because she/he usually is aware of the needs of the office. Then, say something similar to what follows.

Hello! I'm John Doe with Medical Billing Systems. We've developed a process that allows you to send insurance claims electronically, at very reasonable cost, without having to purchase any new software or hardware.

I will be in your area next Tuesday and Wednesday and only need 20 minutes to explain the process. Would morning or afternoon be best for you?

OR

If you can set aside about 20 minutes, I'd like to stop by to speak with you about this and how it can simply your office routine and save money for the practice.

The important thing about any script is that it sounds natural when you say it, not like you're reading it. So, develop a script that is easy to say.

Many practices will say they are sending claims electronically. Most are sending Medicare and Medicaid electronically, but statistics show that at least 60% of commercial claims are still submitted in paper format. These are the claims you are after.

Hopefully this helps you to understand the nature of the medical billing business. See the pages that follow for additional sales tips.

 

Expanding Your Medical Billing Service

Hiring Sales Staff

The first step in the hiring process is running an effective advertisement. The second step is answering the phone correctly and explaining to the prospective applicant what the job consists of; in such a manner that there is a high turn out for the interview, The next step is mass interviewing and the last step in the hiring process is speaking with applicants individually after you've completed mass interviewing. Let's discuss these steps one at a time.

 

Advertising:

Any advertisements for account/sales representatives should be placed in the Sunday classified section under "Medical" or "Sales" in the largest daily newspaper in the area. Check your local paper for examples.