Quest Collections – A Waste of Time

Heard from the field: Bill Baumgartner has some interesting insights on how to view Quest Collections.

Bill shares: I’ve heard people comment that Quest collections are a waste of time. Not worth the $10 for all the hassle involved. While I’d agree that I’d much rather have us working on a more profitable test in any given 10 minute time period, Quest is paying me $710 in March.

I’ve been trying to maximize my Quest collections and one thing I’ve been doing is “mining” my chains of custody and sign in sheets for nearby companies and chains. Whenever I notice a worthwhile business, I try and drop off some maps and introduce myself to the HR person. I made up a flier that bills us as a “Quest Diagnostics’ Preferred Patient Service Center Serving the Inland Empire.” It also has our logo, Quest’s logo, and a map.

Most recently, we spoke to a couple of employees from the Hilton who told us about a new location being built in Fontana. I dropped off some of fliers at the onsite construction trailer, and got 24 collections out of it.

Idea: Each location should compile a list of the larger companies in their areas that use Quest for collections. There are lots of chains out there: TGI Fridays, Beverages and More, Rite Aid, Redbox… I’m sure the list goes on and on. Especially when you add hospital groups, staffing chains, unions, etc. And many of these chains own other companies too. Hilton, for example, owns DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites among others.

If we all work together to put this list together, we don’t have to leave it up to chance that a donor chooses our offices out of all the other choices on Quest’s website. Plus, if we nurture these relationships with their local HR staff, we can use them as references and be there if and when they realize Quest isn’t meeting their needs.

The average Quest Collection takes from 6 to 10 minutes. I’m going to try to get that time down even more by making a rubber stamp to fill in all our site info on the chains of custody.

If we could fill our lobbies with Quest collections and that was all we did, that could be 6-10 collections an hour. That’s $480 to $800 a day or $124,800 to $208,000 a year with no cost of the sale, other than staff! Ok, I’m getting out of hand, but you get the point. Quest isn’t so bad, so let’s get this list going!

Bill is thinking innovatively. It is a good idea. What are your ideas? This is on the agenda for the CAMPA Brainstorming Meeting on May 7th at 12 pm.