Your customers can sell themselves on the value of in-office testing, but you have to ask the right questions, like these…
Question: Doctor, how are you looking to grow revenues for your practice this year?
Reason: This question gets your customers talking about their overall practice and how they are planning to grow the business. Lab tests will come up and are a great way to grow revenues.
Question: Doctor, what are the most common disease states that you work with?
Reason: If a customer says they see a lot of diabetics, they should have access to in-office glucose and HbA1c testing. If they are sending these out, they can deliver better patient care, streamline practice workflow and increase their revenue by bringing them in-house.
Question: Doctor, what tests are you currently sending out?
Reason: This is a great way to get customers talking about what they are currently sending to a reference lab. High volumes on certain tests are a great place to start, since they are already running them and they can quickly bring that revenue in-house.
Question: Doctor, what is your current process for running (INSERT TEST)?
Reason: This is an easy way to find out how they are performing this test and if there are any issues you can discuss. If they talk about how difficult it is to run a CBC, e.g., discuss the process and come up with a solution that makes it easier to get a result.
Question: Doctor, would having a face-to-face conversation with a patient about their test results impact the way you practice medicine?
Reason: Have your customers sell themselves on the importance of testing in-house. Every caregiver will tell you they will see better patient outcomes if they can have a face-to-face conversation about test results.
Question: Doctor, how does it impact your care when you refer patients for lab tests and they don’t go?
Reason: Many patients who are referred out for testing never go. This makes it difficult for physicians to provide proper care, since they don’t have test results.
Question: Doctor, have you ever thought of doing lab testing in the office? If so, what tests interest you? If not, why?
Reason: Get the doctor talking about testing in-house so you can determine if there are any reservations or fears that you can put at ease. Once they are talking about testing, tailor your conversation to the tests they send out the most.
Question: Doctor, what is your current treatment plan for (DISEASE STATE) patients?
Reason: Find out how the customer is testing and maintaining these patients.
Source: The Black Book: The 2014 Resource Guide for medical distribution reps, Repertoire magazine