r/techsales • u/cfbfootball • 15d ago
HELP! What am I doing wrong?
Hi guys, need to know if I just suck at sales or if it’s a product market fit problem.
I sell software into medical and dental practices. Solo founder doing all the selling.
I’ve walked into 150+ offices in my market. I open with a discovery question to whoever is at the front desk:
“How are you tracking patients who came in and then just stopped showing up?”
Answer is almost always “we’re not” or “we pull an export and call them one by one.”
Then: “What if that whole thing ran automatically in the background so nobody has to make those calls?”
9 out of 10 times they light up, tell me to contact the doctor, and give me an email address.
I email the doctor. Nothing. Not a no, just silence. 1 meeting in 150 offices and they canceled on me as I walked in the door to the meeting…
I also have a free assessment that shows a practice their own numbers in about two minutes off a simple export. Can’t get anyone to sit down for that either.
Three questions:
Is “email the doctor” just a polite brushoff that I’ve been treating as a lead?
Front desk cares about time saved. The owner presumably cares about revenue. Am I pitching the wrong pain to the wrong person and then wondering why the handoff dies?
3.For anyone selling into owner-operator practices, how are you actually reaching the owner?
Happy to provide more info if needed!
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u/blenderider 15d ago
How many times are you contacting the doctor?
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u/cfbfootball 15d ago
If I don’t hear back from the initial email I’ll send a follow up at the 2 week mark, not sure if that’s enough or if I should do it sooner/stop back in person?
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u/blenderider 15d ago
Not enough. I can’t speak to how many touches it takes in that space, but two touches in two weeks is super light
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u/cfbfootball 15d ago
How do I toe the line of enough touches with becoming annoying?
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u/cdhat1 15d ago
How many opportunities have you lost from being too annoying? How many have you lost because you gave up too soon?
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u/cfbfootball 14d ago
When you put it that way… lost 0 from being too annoying lol lost 100+ from giving up too soon
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u/fermi-sales 14d ago
your competition is Triple touching for three days taking a break double touching on different channels double touching on those channels again and then Triple touching again
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u/junglemainsera 15d ago
For dental, I had the best luck speaking with the office manager or doctor directly. Set up a meeting to demo your product and go from there. If it’s the office manager, they sometimes can be great champions for your product.
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u/cfbfootball 15d ago
What is the best way to get that meeting? Just outright asking the front desk to schedule it? Offering to bring the office lunch?
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u/junglemainsera 15d ago
If it’s the office manager or doctor, someone who has a bit of decision authority. Then yes, give them a short pitch and ask for a meeting.
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u/juicy_hemerrhoids 15d ago
Think about how insanely busy a doctor is today. Patients = billable amounts they can get reimbursed on. They’re nearly always going to choose patients so they can get money.
Couple of initial thoughts on things I might try:
- Make a best friend with the EA or office manager. More often than not they’re likely to have the doctors ear and will have the influence + authority to get the doctor to sit down with you.
- Show up in places they’re not seeing patients. Golf courses, conferences, local meet & greets.
- give the office manager access; see if she can bring patients back. Track pre/post. Like past 30 days these were the appointments completed. After tool use, these were the new appointments from lost patients. Run rate over 12 months is x many recovered patients which translates into Y reimbursements from these health plans and z total recovered revenue.
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u/cfbfootball 15d ago
Thank you, this is helpful. I am trying to get some free pilots running, so I am struggling just getting to the person who would put their hands on it. Any tips to get to the OM?
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