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What if selling your services was really about helping people get the support they need? Is your front desk strengthening your brand or accidentally costing you clients? How well is your practice converting interest into real client relationships?
In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok discusses training front desk staff to sell with Melinda F. Emerson.
Podcast Sponsor: Alma
As a clinician, you probably chose this field because you wanted to support people in navigating challenges and finding personal growth. But many mental health care providers end up spending almost as much time on billing, insurance, and other documentation as you do in sessions with clients.
That’s where Alma can help.
Alma supports clinicians in building rewarding private practices—with simplified insurance credentialing in under 45 days, enhanced reimbursement rates, and guaranteed two-week payback.
Plus, a free profile in their searchable, filterable directory—making it easy for clients who are the right fit for your practice to find you.
Learn more about how Alma could support you in building a thriving private practice at helloalma.com/joe.
Meet Melinda F. Emerson
Melinda F. Emerson is a small business expert, entrepreneur, and internationally recognized speaker known as “SmallBizLady.” She is the founder of SmallBizLady University and host of the SmallBizChat Podcast, where she teaches entrepreneurs how to start, grow, and scale profitable businesses. A bestselling author and trusted voice in small business development, she specializes in sales strategy, branding, and practical systems that help business owners convert interest into revenue while delivering meaningful client experiences.
Visit Melissa’s website and connect on Instagram and LinkedIn. Listen to her podcast here.
In This Podcast
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It’s not a sale, it’s a service
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What every private practice should know about sales
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Training your staff for success with sales
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Essential skills your sales staff need
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Melinda’s advice to private practitioners
It’s not a sale, it’s a service
The most important mindset shift that Melinda wants you to make is to not think about it like a sale, but like a service: you are making someone aware of this product or offer that could genuinely improve their lives.
You’re not selling anything, you’re helping people, right? And it’s fair for them to pay you for your services. So, I think that the first thing we’ve got to get out of is the idea that it’s a sell, because it’s not. You’re actually helping them. You are providing them a service that they cannot do themselves. (Melinda F. Emerson)
So, once you fix your money mindset about sales and view it as a service, you will make it easier for yourself to showcase your business and market your practice unabashedly.
Secondly, building up your confidence will help you tremendously. You have to believe in yourself first, and for you to believe in what you are offering your clients.
At the end of the day, you’re providing a service, and you’re providing a service that people need, and that’s going to help them live longer, happier lives. When you think about it from that standpoint, that’s not sales. (Melinda F. Emerson)
What every private practice should know about sales
When it comes to what every private practice should know about sales, whether they are insurance-based or private pay, is that you need to know what your competition is doing.
You need to do a competitive analysis to see the other practices that specialize in your area, and what they are charging … You’ve got to make a decision on what your stance is going to be in your practice and how you take payment. (Melinda F. Emerson)
Some best-practice tips that Melinda recommends is to:
- Raise your rates every year
- See what your competition is doing
- Hone in on what you do differently
- Decide whether you take insurance along with private pay, or one over the other, to help you figure out your approach to hourly rates and marketing, etc.
- Work with referrals in a respectful way
You’ve got to think about ways, without being obnoxious, to ask people if they know of anyone else [who] has a need … There’s all kinds of reasons why people need therapy. (Melinda F. Emerson)
Training your staff for success with sales
Your staff – particularly your front desk staff – are the front lines of your practice. They can both build your brand, or accidentally destroy it.
Some basic training that your front desk staff should definitely have includes:
- Customer service
- Tracking KPIs and seeing how long the client funnel from first-contact to conversion is
- Maintaining a cancellation schedule to bring in clients on the waiting list who are ready to jump into a cancellation slot
- Electronic training, such as signing and emailing forms to clients, which saves time before or after sessions with the therapist
What can be done to make the client experience better? And that’s something that everybody needs to be focused on. You don’t train once on that, you should be training [your staff] quarterly, your team that’s answering your phone, because the person that answers your phone has the ability to make or break your brand. (Melinda F. Emerson)
Essential skills your sales staff need
1 – Create a thorough onboarding program for the person who is going to be your intake coordinator or part of the front-desk staff
2 – Talk with the client and make them feel welcome and comfortable before jumping straight into business-talk, such as what their insurance is, etc.
The first question [should be]: “How can we help you?” We want to make sure that we always ask, “How did you hear about us?” So if you are running online ads or you spoke at a church event … You find out how that referral came in the door. To me, that is the most important thing that those people need to be asking. (Melinda F. Emerson)
3 – Ask the client how they came to find the practice to track conversion tunnels and which part of the marketing strategy is working thus far
4 – Figure out whether the services offered by your private practice fits serving the needs that the client has, because if they don’t, refer them out to your network so that the client gets the help they need
Melinda’s advice to private practitioners
What you do is necessary, and people need it!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Visit Melissa’s website and connect on Instagram and LinkedIn. Listen to her podcast here.
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- Early Stage Business and Burnout with Ari Gootnick | POP 1371
- Practice of the Practice Network
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- PoP Group Practice Owners Facebook Group
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- Practice of the Practice Network
Meet Joe Sanok
Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners who are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.
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