How to Handle Website Calls VS Helpline Calls at Your Treatment Center
We hear this question quite often, “How should my admissions team handle the calls coming off our website differently from those coming through a helpline?”
When somebody is seeking help for a substance use disorder, for themselves or a family member, they are desperate at that point. Their first option for help is often the treatment center’s web presence or a generic helpline ad they saw on TV. The main goal, and the biggest challenge for most treatment centers, is understanding the human side of the addiction treatment industry.
We often become numb to the reality that there is a real person on the other end of the call. We can lose sight of the fact that the person calling is a son, a daughter, a mother. Their call for help is probably something that’s been building up for a long time. They may never have reached out for help before – but this call for help is something they desperately hope will help save their life, or the life of their loved one.
Handling Calls from Your Website
When people call your treatment center, after finding your phone number on your website, they know who they are calling. They have found you by visiting your website, or from seeing an ad or TV commercial for your facility.
If the caller has already visited your website, you may already have “warmed up” the caller based on the content on your website. To help educate your caller and prompt them to call, your website should have a clear call to action on every page; to either call your center, fill out a form for more information, or sign up for your email newsletter.
In his article Call to Action: The 10 Most Effective Techniques, author Paul Boag says, “Make sure your call to action is not only found on your homepage. Every page of your site should have some form of a call to action that leads the user on. If the user reaches a dead-end they will leave without responding to your call.”
Maybe the caller searched for IOPs in South Florida and your center was at the top of page one on Google. Maybe they’ve been researching facilities that accept their insurance plan and they are reaching out to you to take the next steps. If your website is structured well with a solid combination of information and calls to action, the person calling through your online presence probably has a pretty good idea of who you are, where you are located and what sort of programs and treatment modalities you offer.
In an earlier article, Your Patients Are More Than Revenue Dollars, we mentioned the importance of your online presence. We noted, “When you are creating your website, make sure you include information on specific features, for instance the number of beds and the type of food, and highlight these features on your website. Ultimately, it’s these details: – what makes your center special, what makes your facility stand out from the rest – that people want to know before they commit to getting help.”
Handling Calls from a Helpline
People calling your center’s helpline after seeing a TV ad (but not having visited your website) might not even know what facility they will be connected to. They are simply calling an anonymous 800 number. It’s up to your admissions staff to find out why they are reaching out for help.
Begin by making it all about the caller. Ask what the pain point was that the helpline ad (billboard, Google ad, magazine ad, TV or radio commercial) addressed that made them pick up the phone and call?
In the article, Dealing with Customer Inquiries, posted to the MoneyWatch website, it mentions, “To make sure your helpline is effective, staff it with knowledgeable people who have good interpersonal skills and training in customer-service techniques. To maximize the benefit to customers, respond to queries immediately where possible, or arrange to call the customer back on more complex queries.”
Your admissions staff needs to work on building a relationship with the person calling. This is the perfect time to work on building rapport with the person seeking addiction treatment help. A great way to get more admissions is by first gaining the trust of the person calling. Ask them if they are looking for help for themselves, or a loved one. Give them the chance to tell you why they called before overloading them with facts and figures about all the great programs your center offers.
Getting People the Help They Desperately Seek
Your treatment center can make a real difference in people’s lives by getting them the help they seek. Ask the caller how they found your center- did they find you through a web search, referral from a friend, magazine ad, billboard or TV commercial? Let your admissions and treatment teams make the difference in more people’s lives by getting them the care and treatment they need.
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