Whoever Answers the Phone Wins: The Hidden Cost of Missed Calls Featuring Erika Sanchez, EP 264
Five missed phone calls. That's all it takes to quietly drain $5,000 to $10,000 a month from a healthcare practice — and most practice owners have no idea it's happening. In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski talks with Erika Sanchez, CEO of Healthcare Call Center, about the hidden gap between marketing spend and practice growth: the front desk.
Erika's team is built almost entirely of stay-at-home moms working from home across the country, and they've helped healthcare practices triple their lead-to-new-patient conversion. For independent practice owners trying to run a profitable medical practice without burning out their front office staff, this conversation gets at a problem that rarely gets named directly: clinicians are excellent at healing, but most were never trained to run a business, let alone manage the speed-to-lead demands of modern healthcare marketing.
Whether you're a practice owner wondering why your ad spend isn't converting, a clinician feeling stretched between patient care and operations, or someone exploring time management for healthcare practice owners, this episode offers a clear, practical look at where the money is actually being lost — and how to fix it.
Key Takeaways
Missed calls are missed relationships, not just missed dollars. Erika reframes the cost of a missed call from a sterile number into what it actually represents: a prospective patient who needed care and didn't get a response.
Nearly half of new patient interest happens after hours. Roughly 46 percent of inquiries come in outside business hours, which means a practice that only answers 9-to-5 is missing a huge share of potential patients.
Speed to lead is everything. Prospective patients who don't get a response within about five minutes are roughly four times more likely to go to a competitor instead.
Front desk and lead follow-up are two different jobs. Asking one person to handle in-office patients and respond to new leads in real time sets both the role and the practice up to fail.
A simple three-question framework builds trust fast. Asking what's going on, how long it's been an issue, and whether the patient has seen another provider can build real trust in under two minutes.
Q&A
Why are independent practices losing money even when their marketing is working?
Most practice owners are clinicians first, not business operators, and the disconnect usually shows up at the front desk. Leads come in from marketing campaigns, but if no one follows up quickly — especially after hours or on weekends — those leads go to a competitor who answers first.
How much revenue can a missed call actually cost a practice?
Erika shares that with an average patient value of a few thousand dollars, missing just a handful of calls over a single weekend can leave $5,000 to $10,000 on the table — money the practice already spent to generate through advertising.
Why don't patients want to talk to an AI bot when scheduling healthcare appointments?
Even as practices lean on automation for administrative tasks, patients consistently want a human on the other end of a healthcare conversation, particularly for sensitive topics. Erika notes that trust, more than efficiency, is what determines whether a caller becomes a patient.
What makes stay-at-home moms particularly effective at this kind of work?
Erika has built her team almost entirely of stay-at-home moms because, in her experience, empathy and the ability to multitask are qualities she can't easily teach — but the technical and process side of the job, she can. The flexible schedule also lets her offer meaningful part-time work to women who want it.
Episode Highlights
Erika's path from healthcare marketing into building a call center built for medical practices
Why front desk staff and lead follow-up are fundamentally different jobs
The real dollar cost of a missed call, explained in plain terms for non-business-minded clinicians
Why nearly half of new patient inquiries come in after standard office hours
The "speed to lead" principle and why five minutes matters so much
Why patients still want a human, not a bot, when it comes to healthcare
The simple three-question framework that builds trust in under two minutes
How Erika trains her team using an AI role-play bot so new hires practice on simulated patients, not real ones
Erika's advice for overwhelmed practice owners: find people you trust and build real partnerships
Memorable Quotes
"Whoever answers the phone wins." — Erika Sanchez
"It's a speed-to-lead game. If you don't answer a text or call within five minutes, they are 400% more likely to go elsewhere." — Erika Sanchez
"I will not treat patients and you will not do marketing. Everyone just stay in their lane and do what they're really good at." — Erika Sanchez
"It's really important when you're spending money on marketing, you're missing so many opportunities that you're already paying for." — Erika Sanchez
"Find the people that you trust, find the people that you want to partner with, and we can grow together." — Erika Sanchez
Erika Sanchez makes the case that the biggest leak in a healthcare practice's growth often isn't the marketing — it's what happens, or doesn't happen, after the phone rings. For practice owners who've felt the frustration of paying for leads that go nowhere, this episode offers a clear, actionable place to start looking. If this conversation helped you see your front desk differently, share it with a colleague who's wondered why their ad spend isn't converting into new patients.
Guest Bio:
Erika Sanchez spent over a decade in restaurant marketing before a move into healthcare marketing introduced her to a problem she couldn't shake: practices were generating leads they weren't equipped to convert. That insight eventually led her to Healthcare Call Center, where she's now CEO and has built a team of stay-at-home moms who consistently out-schedule what most practices manage in-house. Outside of work, Erika homeschools her three daughters and recently celebrated 16 years of marriage.
Find Erika:
Website: HealthcareCallCenter.com
Connect With Us: