Phone Scripts
For Mental Health Professionals
That Fill Your Schedule
Chutzpah phone scripts that fill your calendar with paying clients
by
Philip Copitch, Ph.D.
Marketing Maven and Author of Chutzpah Marketing
The secrets of chutzpah marketing in action
SMASHWORDS EDITION
PUBLISHED BY:
Hutzpah Press
Phone Scripts For Mental Health Professionals That Fill Your Schedule
Copyright © 2010 by Philip Copitch, Ph.D.
eMail: DrPhil@CopitchInc.com
www.CopitchInc.com
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
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Table of Chutzpah Contents
1. Introduction
2. What to do when the prospect calls
The phone work space counts
Only allow the professional you to answer the phone
Chutzpah phone script
It is best to be choosy
The 4 parts and 1 rule of the intake phone call
Gently control the call
4 basic parts of an intake call
Greeting/Opening
Give/gather information
Appoint/objections
Closing/Goodbye
Four basic annotated phone scrips
In closing
1. Introduction
This is a companion white paper to my book Chutzpah Marketing For Mental Health Professionals. In the Chutzpah Marketing book you will learn how to find and keep clients. In this white paper I will show you how to keep your practice filled to the level you desire.
For the sake of this discussion. I am going to assume a few things about your practice:
You are in a solo or a small group practice, sharing office space. The chutzpah techniques discussed in this white paper work just as well for large for profit corporations or non profit agencies. However, throughout this white paper, I will only give examples of solo practitioners.
I will assume that your phone is ringing. If not, you can see how to get your phone to ring in Chutzpah Marketing For Mental Health Professionals.
I will assume your office is ready to accept new clients. If not, see Chutzpah Marketing For Mental Health Professionals.
Great, let’s get started.
2. What to do when the prospect calls
Most therapists are, at their core, caring people, but they are often terrible business people. I am not bad mouthing therapists, but most therapists have little if any business training. Running a business takes education.
Angela confessed to me, “When my office phone rings, I start to panic. I know I am good at my job, but when I get asked questions over the phone I find myself rambling like an idiot.”
If any part of Angela’s discomfort rings true for you, don’t worry, I am going to show you how to present on the phone, as the amazing therapist that you truly are.
In the next few pages, I am going to show you how to write a phone script that will keep you focused. This focused view will help you meet the needs of your callers as well your own needs.
But first, let’s deal with the fear of the phone call.
Many therapists feel the pressure of the empty datebook. Their goal is to be working with 10, 20 or 30 clients per week, but the datebook is mostly bare. This pressure is going to trigger adrenaline to course through your veins like a bunny being attacked by a starving wolf, every time the phone rings. Once adrenaline shows up, you are going to experience the fight or flight response. If you remember back to your anatomy and physiology course, or your abnormal psychology classes, you will recall that when the bunny is being chased, its respiration increases, its senses go on overdrive, and its thoughts become randomized. This randomization of thought is very important to a species’ survival. Without it, each bunny will try to escape in a species specific pattern, say, 3 hops to the left, 6 to the right, then 16 to the left. If this happened repeatedly, the predators would very quickly learn to scare the bunnies senseless then simply go to where they are going to be in say, 25 hops. Easy dinner. (Nature’s original Meals on Wheels.)
Like bunnies, when we get nervous, our thoughts randomize as we go into reactive mode. This very normal behavior pattern becomes quite inconvenient when we find ourselves opening our mouths and having vowel movements. The best way to deal with this normal situation is to be prepared before answering the phone. By using a phone script you can make sure you say what you want to say, professionally and accurately. Within no time, the phone script becomes memorized and you will only need it for training office staff, or when you have old-timers moments.
The phone work space counts
Clutter is the hobgoblin of a busy day, week and month. This mischievous imp, secretively moves important papers under unimportant piles of desk debris that eventually inhabit an unguarded desk.
Clutter comes from Middle English cloteren, which means to clot. A clot, whether in your veins or on your desk, may wind up in the wrong place and cause havoc. This all too often happens during a phone call when you are trying to represent as the professional you are, but find yourself caught with your “Ahs” and “Umms” showing. “Travelers Insurance, Ah... I’m pretty sure... Umm... Oh yes, Ah, no that’s not it, Ummm...”
The simplest solution to avoiding clutter hobgoblins is to make your phone work space a “no clutter zone”. The vast majority of your first contacts will be made in the phone workspace area, and it is imperative that you respect that this area has a direct link to your income.
Many of us work from one desk, thus our phone intake area, our patient logging area, as well as our lunch area, our snack area, and our computer work space, is all the same small piece of real estate. If this is the case, an anti clutter, everything-has-it’s-own-place mandate, is imperative.
What should be in your phone work space:
Quality phone with headset. Do not skimp on quality, sound clarity, and ear comfort. You will be attached to your phone for long periods of time.
A mirror
Your phone script
Your information database. I find that a computer printout of my constantly changing computer database works best.
Note pad. I log each and every phone call. This raw data becomes my phone matrix information.
Mug of pens
What should not be in your phone work space:
Candy dish. A candy dish is an invitation for someone else in the office to disturb you. (Plus, according to my wife, candy is bad for you-except on rare occasions.)
Distractions such as unopened mail, sudoku puzzles, or iPhone video apps. (I have seen therapists doing each one of these while on the phone with a potential client.)
Only allow the professional you to answer the phone
There are a few simple chutzpah tricks to conducting your phone interview. You read the previous sentence correctly. You are conducting a phone interview of your prospective client. You are in private practice, you get to choose who you wish to work with. That choice starts in the initial phone contact.
When I answer the phone at my office, Dr. Phil answers the phone. Dr. Phil is this amazing fellow that is always calm, polite, and helpful. Dr. Phil is the personification of all that is good in the world. In my world I play 3 major roles–Dad, Phil and Dr. Phil. I don’t let Phil answer the phone. Phil is basically lazy, he wants to go play, go hang out with Geri (better half) and lounge about. I don’t let Dad answer the phone because he is a little bit grumpy and is always cleaning or taxiing the kids about. He is a little short tempered, best not to let Dad answer the phone.
When client prospects call they want to talk to the role you play in their life, therapist. When my personification, Dr. Phil answers the phone, he is not worried about his own needs, he is focused on the caller’s needs. The caller wants questions answered, Dr. Phil answers.
Dr. Phil is willing to give 5 minutes to anyone who calls. Dr. Phil wants the caller to get her needs met. And most importantly, Dr. Phil has no expectations. Dr. Phil has no mortgage, back pain, or financial concerns. Dr. Phil is the reason why Phil wanted to be a therapist in the first place.
Your professional personification needs to answer the phone. When your professional personification answers the phone you will notice that the prospects will tend to choose you to be their therapist. They will feel comfortable with you and want your help.