Marketing and Sales Conversions with Brandi Musgrave
Brandi Musgrave dropped some vital knowledge to help you convert leads into sales in a clinical setting.
On the podcast, I recently spoke with Brandi Musgrave, a strategic clinical growth consultant who helps healthcare practices achieve significant revenue growth. She shared some useful nuggets of wisdom to help your clinic grow it’s revenue.
Our discussion, while centered on marketing, quickly revealed a truth I emphasize daily in my work: Your people are undeniably at the heart of every strategy for success. Brandi's expert advice perfectly illustrates that often, the biggest marketing challenges aren't external campaigns, but rather what's happening inside the practice.
Here are some of the most impactful takeaways from my conversation with Brandi, offering practical, actionable advice for healthcare leaders looking to boost their growth and efficiency:
1. Don't Miss a Single Lead!
Brandi’s primary advice for clinic leaders is to conduct a thorough audit of their internal workings. She challenged us to ask:
How many phone calls are you missing – are they going to voicemail, or simply being dropped?
How are the calls that do come in being handled? Are your staff converting inquiries into appointments?
If a patient isn't ready to book an appointment, what "next step" are you offering to keep them engaged?
What is your follow-up protocol for those who don’t schedule immediately, or those who have no-showed or canceled?
Brandi emphasized the importance of consistency in follow-up, noting that people often need 8 to 12 "touches" – emails, texts, or phone calls – before they're ready to engage, let alone commit to a procedure. Ignoring these opportunities means literally letting potential revenue "die."
From an HR perspective, this takeaway highlights why hiring the right people for your front desk and call center roles is absolutely non-negotiable. These are often high-volume, high-pressure positions that demand more than just a friendly face. It requires individuals who understand patient psychology, can guide conversations effectively, and are committed to consistent follow-up. This also speaks to the need for comprehensive training and onboarding processes that equip your staff with the knowledge and scripts to handle diverse patient inquiries, ensure proper lead capture, and understand your practice’s follow-up protocols.
2. Cultivate Trust Online — and in Live Conversations
Brandi underscored that healthcare is a service profession, a critical component of a patient choosing a practice is the "trust factor." In today's digital age, this trust is built long before a patient walks through your door. It starts with your online credibility, which means:
Having a strong online presence through reviews and social media.
A website that is not only an educational tool but also speaks to the user’s needs: "How am I going to be serviced by you? How will you help me feel good or see better?"
Using your website and social media to show your personality as a practice and as a doctor, as patients are looking to connect with you on a human level.
A particularly actionable piece of advice Brandi offered was about responding to reviews, both positive and negative. Ignoring a negative review can make your business look unresponsive. She advised showing empathy and concern, offering to resolve the issue, and crucially, doing so in a HIPAA-compliant manner – no patient names or procedure details!
Brandi was quick to remind us that while your marketing team might manage the website and social media, it's your staff whose daily interactions either reinforce or undermine that online image and trust. Every phone call, every in-person greeting, every follow-up touch point is an opportunity to build or break trust. This means that effective staff management and training must include robust communication skills, empathy training, and a deep understanding of patient-centric care to ensure consistency across all patient touch points.
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3. Maximize Conversions: Streamline the Patient Journey from Inquiry to Appointment
Once a patient has done their research and decided they're ready to engage, Brandi emphasized the need to eliminate barriers to scheduling. This means:
Responding to web leads quickly with a personal phone call, and if possible, a text with an online scheduling link.
Making it easy for patients to schedule, leveraging online scheduling capabilities that many patient portals already offer.
Critically, listening to call recordings to assess how your staff are handling phones. Are they answering questions effectively? Are they capturing lead information for follow-up? Brandi noted a common "pet peeve" is staff constantly putting callers on hold because they lack the knowledge to answer basic questions.
This is where Brandi offered a truly actionable piece of advice that aligns perfectly with effective HR practices: assess your current team through "secret shopping" or listening to call recordings. This isn't about finding fault; it's about identifying whether someone was just “off that day” or whether there are systemic training gaps. Or, as Brandi put it, realizing if "that person shouldn't be there" in that role.
For healthcare leaders, this means having a robust performance review and feedback system — more than just an annual “atta girl” and slap on the back. Regular review of call recordings or shadowing staff provides invaluable insights into training needs and areas for improvement. Are your staff adequately onboarded and continuously trained on all procedures and common patient questions? Are they utilizing all the tools you’re already paying for to make the patient journey smoother? Often, the solution isn't more technology, but better utilization of existing resources and more empowered, well-trained staff.
4. Address High Staff Turnover: The Direct Impact on Your Bottom Line
A common challenge brought up during our discussion was high staff turnover at the front desk or call center. Brandi rightly pointed out that this can have a "huge impact" on conversions and lead retention. Her advice was direct and practical:
Monitor what's going on at the front desk and with your staff. Determine if they are overworked causing their demeanor is affecting patient interactions.
Assess if you have enough staff covering a particular area to prevent individuals from being overwhelmed.
From my perspective as an HR consultant, Brandi's observations reinforce that hiring the right people, comprehensive training, and providing consistent feedback are paramount to staff retention. High-volume, high-pressure roles like call center and front desk require individuals who are not only friendly but possess deep knowledge of your practice. They also need to be not just comfortable with sales but they should enjoy helping connect patients with the treatments that patients will love. Hiring well will cut your turnover.
Training is also key; staff need to "know a little bit about everything" to answer basic questions and avoid constantly putting patients on hold, which frustrates both the patient and the employee. Retaining employees better makes this easier — it means reducing the costs associated with recruitment, onboarding, and the lost revenue from inexperienced staff.
The Bottom Line: Invest in Your People, Invest in Your Growth
Brandi’s insights consistently tied back to a central theme: true healthcare growth and revenue generation aren't solely external marketing efforts; they are deeply intertwined with the effectiveness of your internal operations and, most importantly, the capabilities and engagement of your people. From capturing leads and building trust to converting inquiries and retaining staff, your human resources are the engine of your practice.
This is precisely where Seasoned Advice HR Services comes in. We help healthcare leaders implement these kinds of strategies by ensuring you have the right people in place, through strategic hiring, equipping them with the right skills via effective onboarding and training, fostering a supportive environment through proactive management, and ultimately retaining your valuable staff.
By focusing on your people, you’re not just improving HR; you’re directly impacting your patient experience, conversion rates, and the sustainable growth of your healthcare business.
Connect with Brandi Musgrave at bmbizconsulting.com or by calling 720-217-3655 for strategic growth consulting in healthcare. For further support on optimizing your human resources and transforming Brandi's insights into actionable HR strategies within your practice, reach out to Seasoned Advice HR Services.
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