How to sell to medical practices: independents, practice managers and what they buy

To sell to medical practices, list every practice of the specialties you serve inside your territory, separate the independent practices from the ones owned by hospitals or larger groups, and reach the practice manager with one outcome they already measure: staff time, collections, no-shows or new patients. Independent practices can say yes locally; system-owned practices usually can't. Google Maps lists nearly every practice with its specialty, hours, website and reviews, so you can see which ones fit before you call.

What do medical practices buy, and who decides?#

Medical practices buy software, billing services, supplies, marketing, IT and facility services. The practice manager or administrator runs most vendor decisions at an independent practice; the physician owners approve anything clinical or costly.

The market has been shifting toward employed physicians. The AMA's Physician Practice Benchmark Survey found that 42.2% of physicians were in private practice in 2024, down from 60.1% in 2012, while 34.5% worked in hospital-owned practices. In the same survey, 47.4% of physicians worked in practices with 10 or fewer physicians. Small independent practices are still a large market, but a list that doesn't mark ownership will waste calls on offices that can't buy.

Which medical practices should I target?#

Target the specialties your product fits, then the independents among them. Specialties buy differently: an orthopedic group wants imaging and physical therapy referrals, a pediatric practice wants vaccine storage and well-visit recall, a dermatology practice may run cosmetic services too.

Chiropractors and physical therapists are often owner-run with a small team, so the owner is usually the buyer and the cycle is short. Primary care and specialist practices vary more: many are now part of larger groups.

How do I build a list of medical practices?#

Search Google Maps for each specialty term across your territory, merge the results, and mark the ones that belong to hospitals or groups.

1. Draw the territory. A city, county, ZIP codes, or a shape around the area your team covers.
2. Search each specialty. Use the terms in the table. "Doctor" alone is too broad and returns hospitals and departments.
3. Search in pieces. One Google Maps search shows about 120 results; split a metro by neighborhood or ZIP code. See why Google Maps stops at 120 results.
4. Check the category. Useful Google Maps categories include Medical clinic, Family practice physician, Internist, Pediatrician, Dermatologist, Obstetrician-gynecologist, Orthopedic surgeon, Chiropractor and Physical therapy clinic.
5. Mark ownership. Sort by website domain. A practice whose website sits on a hospital or health system domain is usually owned by it. A practice on its own domain is more likely independent, though not always.
6. Remove individual doctor listings if you sell to the practice, not the physician. Many doctors have their own Maps profile at the same address as the practice.

How do I segment practices with the list's columns?#

Filter on the columns that match your offer, so each practice gets a message that fits it.

What should I pitch a practice manager?#

Pitch one number the practice manager already tracks. They run the schedule, the front desk, billing and vendors, and they hear from many sellers.

• Software: staff hours saved per week, fewer no-shows, faster check-in. Say how you handle patient data before they ask.
• Billing and revenue cycle: days in accounts receivable and denial rates. Offer a no-cost review of a sample of their claims, if you can do that within the rules.
• Supplies: price against what they pay now, and delivery reliability. Offer a quote on their top 20 items.
• Marketing: new patients in their specialty and town. Show one observation about their own listing or website.
• Services: reliability and after-hours work so patient hours aren't disrupted.

For agencies, see how to get leads for a marketing agency. For billing and bookkeeping offers, see how to get bookkeeping clients.

When is the best time to reach a medical practice?#

Email any weekday. For calls, try mid-morning after the first appointments are checked in, or mid-afternoon, Tuesday through Thursday. Opening time, lunch and Monday mornings are when the front desk is busiest with patients.

These windows are common practice, not measured results; adjust with the hours column.

The front desk is the gatekeeper. Ask who handles your area ("Who manages your billing vendors?"), ask for the practice manager's email or best time, and keep it short. Never ask for or mention patient information.

What should the email say? A short script#

Under 100 words, about their practice, with a small next step. These templates use Leadraft export columns as merge fields: {{business}}, {{city}}, {{category}}, {{rating}}, {{reviews}}.

Email 1: software or services#

Subject: front-desk time at {{business}}

Hi there,

I work with {{category}} practices around {{city}} on
[specific job, e.g. appointment reminders and intake forms].
Most offices we talk to spend [X] on this by phone today.

Is it worth 15 minutes to see if we'd save your team time?
We sign a business associate agreement before touching any
patient data.

[Name] · [Company] · [Postal address]
Not interested? Reply "no" and I won't write again.

Email 1: marketing#

Subject: new patients for {{business}}

Hi there,

{{business}} has {{reviews}} reviews at {{rating}} stars. I
checked how it shows up when people in {{city}} search for a
{{category}}, and found two quick fixes.

Want me to send them over?

[Name] · [Agency] · [Postal address] · Reply "no" to opt out.

Replace bracketed claims with numbers you can back up, or leave them out.

How many times should I follow up?#

Three or four follow-ups over about three weeks, each short and each adding something new. Add a call to the front desk in the middle.

What rules apply to cold outreach to medical practices?#

US commercial email falls under CAN-SPAM: accurate sender information and subject lines, a physical postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days. HIPAA governs patient information; if your product will handle it, expect a business associate agreement. Calls to a practice's business line are mostly outside the National Do Not Call Registry, but the TCPA's consent rules cover autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to cell phones. Healthcare vendors also need to know the federal Anti-Kickback Statute if anything you offer relates to referrals or federally funded care. Google's Maps Platform terms restrict scraping and building lists from Maps content, a contract issue separate from these laws. See cold email laws and get legal advice for your situation.

Worked example: physician practices in Florida#

The Census Bureau counted 19,994 offices of physicians (excluding mental health specialists) with paid employees in Florida in 2023 (NAICS 621111), plus 2,937 chiropractic offices and 4,399 physical, occupational and speech therapy offices. A Google Maps list will not match exactly: Maps adds individual doctor profiles and drops practices without a listing.

Assumptions, for illustration only: you sell to primary care and pediatric practices in three metros, about 4,000 practices after deduplication, about half of them independent, and about half of those with a checked email.

If you go statewide across every specialty, about 27,000 practices with up to 5,000 checked emails a month fits the Growth plan at $49 a month (100,000 businesses and 5,000 checked emails). Accept-all and invalid grades don't use checked-email credits, and practices outside your area are never charged. See pricing.

If you'd rather not build practice lists by hand, Leadraft finds every practice of the specialties you choose inside your territory, with checked emails from each practice's own website. Try it on the free plan, or see the columns on the medical clinic lead list page.

FAQ#

How do I sell to medical practices?#

List every practice of the specialties you serve inside your territory, separate independent practices from hospital-owned ones, and contact the practice manager with one outcome they already track: staff time, collections, no-shows or new patients. Make the next step small, follow up three or four times, and be ready to explain how you handle patient data.

Who makes purchasing decisions at a medical practice?#

At an independent practice, the practice manager or administrator runs most vendor decisions, and the physician owners approve anything clinical or expensive. At a hospital-owned or private equity-owned practice, many purchases are decided centrally, so the local office may only be able to recommend.

What share of physicians are in private practice?#

The AMA's Physician Practice Benchmark Survey found that 42.2% of physicians were in private practice in 2024, down from 60.1% in 2012, while 34.5% worked in hospital-owned practices. That's why separating independents from system-owned practices is the first step in any medical practice list.

When is the best time to call a doctor's office?#

Mid-morning after the first appointments, or mid-afternoon, on Tuesday to Thursday. Avoid opening time, the lunch hour and Monday mornings, when the front desk handles the most patient calls. Check each practice's listed hours first.

Do I need a business associate agreement to sell to a practice?#

Only if your product or service will create, receive, keep or send patient health information on the practice's behalf. Emailing the practice about your product doesn't need one. If you will handle patient data, expect the practice to ask for a business associate agreement under HIPAA. This isn't legal advice.

Sources#

1. American Medical Association, Smaller share of doctors in private practice than ever before (Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, 2024).
2. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 621111, 621310, 621340, by state).
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Business Associates under HIPAA.
4. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business.
5. Federal Communications Commission, Stop unwanted robocalls and texts.
6. Google, Google Maps Platform Terms of Service.