Why an "off the shelf", $199 Contact Management software program can cost you Significantly More in the Long Run.
It sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? Sales Automation, Contact Management, Relationship Management, all wrapped up in a inexpensive $199 Package. All you have to do is install it on your PC, and let the sales begin!
But in the real world there is so much more to successful Physician Relationship Management and Sales Process Automation. A simple Contact Management system can do wonderful things: keep track of your appointments, maintain a file of contacts, send emails, etc., and that is a great Beginning…
But, if you really want to see your productivity increase…and your referrals expand…you need more than a simple computerized Rolodex®, you need a tool that will help you manage your Relationship Process for new Doctors and existing referrers.
Studies have shown that the typical sales person spends only 38 percent of his/her time in front of potential customers. If the time you spend in front of new prospects was increased by 10 percent, you would expect a similar increase in sales, wouldn't you? So how do you accomplish this magic?
Simple. By reducing or eliminating activities that are keeping you from being with prospects. These same studies showed that the average sales person is spending up to 32 percent of their time doing paperwork or other non-productive administrative tasks. Ask yourself, how much time does it take to create a proposal, or to fill out your weekly call report, etc.? (assuming you are doing these tasks manually).
OK, so why can't a simple contact manager help me with these activities?
A simple contact manager can take you part of the way…but it was not designed to automate call reporting or issue managment. It may allow you to print out your calendar, but it can't produce a call report with the information your CEO is expecting.
Now, if you're spending as little as 5 percent of your time doing the above activities manually, how much is that $199 contact manager really costing you?
If you could increase referrals
by as little as 3 percent with the added efficiency of a Physician Relationship
Management system, what would it be worth?
If your average relationship manager produces $200,000 in referrals,
and you could increase that number by just 3 percent, your simple contact manager
is costing you $6,000 per year…pretty expensive isn't it?
Take a look at the following
demonstration of 
MarketWare's Physician Relationship Management system, and see for yourself
just how much time you can free up for more face-to-face time with your physicians!
Bob Bartel, CPA MBA
Consultant