Most clinic owners I talk to say the same thing: “We need more leads.”

Sometimes that’s true. Most of the time, it isn’t.

Most of the time, the leads are coming in. They’re just falling through the floor between the phone ringing and the client sitting in the chair.

I built a call centre that handled more than 100,000 leads. Here’s what that taught me.

Every lead has a shelf life

Someone who fills in your web form at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday is thinking about their hearing right now. By Thursday, they’ve talked themselves out of it — or their daughter has booked them somewhere else.

If nobody calls back until Wednesday afternoon, you didn’t lose that client to a competitor. You lost them to the clock. A Harvard Business Review study of online inquiries found most companies don’t respond nearly fast enough.

Quick test: how long does your clinic take, on average, to call back a new lead? If the honest answer is “I don’t know,” that’s your leak.

Five places leads go to die

1. Nobody owns them. If a lead belongs to “the front desk,” it belongs to nobody. One name, one person, responsible.

2. One call and done. Most people don’t pick up the first or second call. Most clinics stop trying long before the client is ready to answer.

3. No-shows get forgotten. A no-show isn’t a lost client. It’s a client who needs a different conversation.

4. “Tested, not sold” goes in a drawer. These are your warmest people — they’ve already sat down and heard their results. Most clinics never call them again.

5. Nobody knows what a lead costs. Can you name the ad, referral or event behind your last 20 sales? If not, you’re spending in the dark.

At one of my clinics, the entire client database was still on paper. Instead of hiring a marketing company to bring in new clients, I hired a data entry person.

Every file got entered and every document scanned into our office management system. Then we marketed only to the clients we already had — for almost a year, nothing aimed at new ones.

It cost money up front. But the orchard was already planted. We just picked the fruit.

Your best leads are already in your database

Every client you’ve tested, fitted or seen in the last several years is a lead. Hearing aids age, hearing changes, and spouses need testing too.

That database is an orchard that’s already planted. Most clinics are buying apples at the store instead of picking the ones in their own backyard.

One caution: you can’t just blast your client list. In Canada, privacy and anti-spam rules decide who you can contact, how, and why. Get that part right first.

The system behind the phone

Good lead management isn’t about working harder. It’s a system — who calls, when, how often, what gets said, what happens next — so no one slips through.

Before you spend another dollar on advertising, find out how many clients you’re already losing. The answer is usually the cheapest growth you’ll ever find — and it’s sitting in your own files. If you’re not sure where your leaks are, I’m happy to help you find them.

Daren Jones is the founder of YBX Growth Partners. Learn more at ybxgrowthpartners.com.

Source: Oldroyd, J., McElheran, K. & Elkington, D. (2011). The Short Life of Online Sales Leads. Harvard Business Review, 89(3).