Awesome Pro-Tips to Get Your Own Clinical Rotations

Hey there NP Students!

We put together the video below to share the best practices we’ve used for years to get better email response rates from preceptors and office managers!

I can’t count anymore how many Nurse Practitioner students that we’ve spoken with always say that their emails and messages go unanswered. Try this technique we outline below and I promise you’ll see you response rates from potential preceptors increase.

The reason is simple as well: People get way too many emails. Inboxes are full of clutter and are noisy. Adding the disclaimer described below allows the reader to see additional information before opening the email. These days, most emails aren’t read. Let us know how this tip has helped you! :-)

I wanted to share today a really good pro tip that we use, that I’m actually stealing from my AT&T days. But this is a tip that our team uses all the time, and I use every day when I send emails.

Whether it’s to preceptors, nurse practitioner students, universities, other entrepreneurs, or startups, I use this technique all the time, and it’s really simple.

When you send an email, in the subject line, use [brackets] to give a little disclaimer on what you’re sending. If I’m writing a really short email and I want whoever it is viewing it to respond or to at least open it quickly, I’ll say, “30 seconds read”. I don’t lie. I make sure it’s a 30-second read. Or I say, “One minute read”. Or I say, “Quick response requested,” or “Super quick question”. Something like that. And this is a great tip you should use when you’re emailing your office managers about getting your paperwork done.

Examples:

• Subject Line: [30 Second Read] – NP Student Looking For a Preceptor – 120 hours
• Subject Line: [Fast Response Needed] –
• Subject Line: [Urgent] –

A lot of times students when they’re finding a rotation on their own, they will email their office manager or they’ll talk to them on the phone and they’ll say, “Yeah, you know, get this sent, we’ll get this done for you. Don’t worry about it, we’ll send it back to you.”

And then what happens?

They forget. It’s not because they’re bad people, I promise you. It’s only because they’re super, super busy. So you have to stay relevant on their minds. And the best way to do that is by sending them a super short email that says:

• Subject Line: [Quick question] – Have you had a second to look at the paperwork?”
• The body of the email: “Hey, Following up because of the paperwork. I reattached it so it’s super easy for you. You can fax it, you can send it. You know, if you want, I can come and pick it up in person.”

Something like this is much more likely to get a response than just a regular email follow-up, “Hi, I want to see if the paperwork has been completed?” >>> THIS IS BORING

The reason is that in that email, there’s a good chance it won’t be looked at and that’s the biggest issue. Sometimes you just have to send creative emails to make sure your emails get opened.

At the end of the day, you have an inbox yourself. How many emails do you actually look at in a day? Maybe 10, maybe 15? Compared with how many that you get sent a day? Hundreds? It’s just about staying relevant, it’s about being creative, and making it easy for the viewer to open the email.

And I promise you, use this bracket trick, it will work. It skyrocketed our response rates upwards of 30%. I’m sure it’ll help you too.

Have you tried using this?