2024 Guide to Pipeline Success for Revenue Cycle Companies

Healthcare is growing more complex by the minute, creating an even steeper slope for practices seeking to manage their revenue cycles in-house—that’s why 61% of providers plan to either begin or expand partnerships with RCM vendors.¹ On the surface, this is good news for RCM companies. The real challenge, however, lies in the oversaturation of the RCM market. With so many options available, how can you steer your audience to your brand and consistently move deals across the finish line?

After years of driving engagement and boosting sales growth for leading RCM companies, we’ve identified the top six strategies your company can leverage for success in 2024:

1. Establish Differentiation

Every RCM company boasts reliable solutions that improve revenue. What specifically makes your company stand out? Do your homework to develop a strong identity to set your brand apart in a market where most of your competition promotes the same value propositions—especially if you can tie those benefits directly into your prospects’ pain points. This process may require deeper market research, such as competitor or brand positioning analysis. For example, more RCM companies are investing in software that provides real-time updates to enhance financial transparency. If your company offers these reporting solutions, position those capabilities front and center in your marketing and sales strategy. Others are focusing on specific specialties or customer types.

2. Align Sales and Marketing Efforts

Historically, sales and marketing efforts have been fairly siloed for companies in the revenue cycle space. This is an outdated and ineffective approach that only stalls upward growth and creates leaks in the pipeline. For many, this gap is caused by the abundance of data made available by marketing technology. The key is to gather your sales and marketing teams around one table and comb through the data. Identify areas for improvement and alignment, then recalibrate your efforts to not just work side-by-side, but in unison. Ensure a seamless hand-off by prepping your sales team with a comprehensive prospect profile gathered from your marketing analytics.

3. Think Quality, Not Quantity

RCM clients often come to us with low lead-to-opportunity conversion rates (meaning very few leads become customers) due to poor lead quality. One of our initial areas of focus is to improve this metric by optimizing campaigns, enhancing digital infrastructure, and improving audience building. The second part of the equation is refining your offerings and aligning your efforts to that plan. For example, instead of providing RCM services to all specialty practices, focus on the most profitable types (such as orthopedic surgery practices), and tailor your campaigns to that focus. Specialization is crucial for many healthcare businesses, given considerable differences in coding requirements, fee schedules, and reimbursement rates. A behavioral health practice operates under a substantially different RCM framework than an urgent care center, making it a key point of interest to partner with a specialized vendor to ensure maximum revenue capture and collection.

4. Prioritize Prospects’ Digital Experience

We often see that RCM clients’ largest sales opportunities come through their website. Regardless of the field of medicine, website experience and SEO play a crucial role in turning interest into opportunity. One Jairus Marketing RCM client saw a 20x ROI from their SEO strategy, with a 179% increase in SEO-related opportunities in just one year. These results illustrate the foundational role of website visibility and user experience in driving RCM sales, making an SEO-optimized website a critical tool in the RCM marketing toolbox.

5. Simultaneously Generate and Capture Demand

If you’re wondering which demand strategy your campaigns should focus on, the answer is both. A demand capture and generation model fills the pipeline with both near-term prospects for faster closes and future, long-term opportunities. This is where thought leadership comes into play. Implement a robust thought leadership strategy (white papers, case studies, ebooks, etc.) in conjunction with a lead gen strategy to better educate prospects and prime them for a successful sales conversation. In short, prospects who truly understand your value and expertise are more likely to close faster. Here’s the proof: one of our RCM clients achieved a 34x ROI and $7.2 million in new pipeline revenue in just six months.

6. Maximize Your Conference Investment

Conferences are par for the course in the RCM space. Take advantage of this sea of opportunities by connecting with prospects before, during, and after the event. Instead of limiting your potential leads to the handful of people you talk to on-site, start early and identify prospects who are likely to attend the event. Reach out to them ahead of time to request a meeting during the conference. While you’re there, gather as many names and emails as possible to coordinate effective post-event outreach. Once the conference is over, reach out to everyone you connected with and reiterate your USPs, backed by case studies and thought leadership, to pull them into a sales conversation.

Sources

1. Synchrony. (2023, April 6). Study Finds Healthcare Providers Looking to Outsource Revenue Cycle Management Processes [Press release]. https://www.synchrony.com/contenthub/newsroom/study-finds-healthcare-providers-looking-to-outsource-revenue.html