A mom calls in tears at 9:14 p.m. Her son overdosed last weekend. She’s been sleeping with one eye open for months. The rep answers, thanks her for calling, and asks for his date of birth and insurance member ID.
You can feel it through the recording – the air just goes out of the call.
My team at Faebl and I have sat inside the accounts of treatment centers all over the country, and listened to thousands of Admissions calls. Every level of care, every price point, every region. I also train Admissions teams directly. And I’m saying this with love and with urgency: most facilities are answering the right phone call but having completely the wrong conversation.
When Admissions Becomes Administration
On paper, the intake checklist makes sense. Verify benefits, confirm fit, move things forward. But here’s what actually happens: the first thirty to sixty seconds determine whether a scared human being is going to trust you enough to keep talking.
Too many calls sound like forms. We jump to eligibility before we build safety. We prioritize throughput over understanding. We treat the caller like a task to be completed instead of a person who’s trying not to fall apart.
And then families feel interrogated instead of cared for. Prospects who already feel like a burden get quiet. People hang up. Or they keep dialing until someone finally listens.
What Callers Are Really Buying
Nobody calls a treatment center because they want to compare amenities. People call because they’re losing hope. The job of Admissions isn’t to sell a bed – it’s to help someone imagine that recovery is possible for them, and then guide them toward the next safe step.
When I train Admissions teams I tell them to remember this: the first call is the first act of care. Get that right and logistics become easy. Get that wrong and logistics become arguments.
What Transactional Language Misses
Listen to the difference in tone.
“Do you have your insurance card?” versus “Can you share a little about what’s been happening that made you reach out tonight?”
“Do you have transportation?” versus “It sounds like you’ve been carrying this alone. What have you already tried to keep him safe?”
One version gathers facts. The other builds trust.
People make decisions emotionally and justify them logically. If you calm the nervous system first, details aren’t hurdles anymore – they’re just details.
From Intake To Insight
The best Admissions people don’t sound like salespeople. They sound like people who remember what it felt like to need help. They know how to slow the conversation down without losing momentum; they know how to name the pain and hold it long enough for the caller to feel seen. Then they know how to move that person toward action.
When I train teams I anchor the shift with three frameworks. I’m not going to unpack all the drills here because I want this to stay focused, but I’ll show you the contours so you can start rewriting your approach today.
Framework 1
Pain, Possibility, Path
This is the narrative arc for every call, every email, every voicemail.
Pain. Understand and name the current experience. “It sounds like the last few months have been terrifying, and you’re running out of ideas.” Don’t race ahead. Stay long enough for the “yes, that’s it” moment – that’s your connection cue.
Possibility. Paint believable hope. “We work with families who feel exactly like this. People walk in overwhelmed and leave with a plan and a team around them. That’s possible here.” The key word is believable. Don’t promise a finish line. Give them a credible picture of progress.
Path. Offer the next safe step. “Here’s what the next twelve hours can look like.” The caller doesn’t need the entire staircase – they need the first step and a hand on the rail.
Use this to rewrite your script. If your questions and statements don’t advance Pain, Possibility, or Path, cut them or move them later.
Framework 2
The 3 Cs That Convert With Compassion
This is the coaching lens I use on call reviews.
Curiosity. Ask to understand, not to qualify. Replace closed questions with open ones. Upgrade “Do you have benefits through your employer?” to “How has insurance fit into the help you’ve tried so far?”
Connection. Mirror emotion before providing information. There’s power in a clean, simple validation. “That sounds exhausting. You’ve been doing absolutely everything you can.” A two-second pause after they share is often the most important moment on the call.
Clarity. End with one concrete action. Schedule the assessment, send the checklist, book the transport. The call should always end with an agreed next step that’s doable today.
Coach your team to tag moments of Curiosity, Connection, and Clarity on their own recordings. If one is missing, script it in next time.
Framework 3
The Facility Story Rewrite
Most Admissions reps are trying to sell a program without a story. That’s why they default to checklists. Leadership has to give them a story worth telling.
In a short workshop, align four things:
Who we serve. Describe the pain people are in when they reach you, in plain language.
What changes here. The transformation you reliably deliver. Not miracles – real change. “Chaos to structure.” “Isolation to connection.” “Hopelessness to a clear direction.”
Why it works. Your philosophy, structure, and approach.
Proof. One success story that captures the journey without violating privacy or sounding like a commercial.
When that story is clear and honest, a rep can tell it in one minute, conversationally. Now they’re not selling – they’re guiding.
What Changes When You Change The Conversation
When Admissions teams lead with empathy, a few things happen quickly.
Callers stay on longer because they feel safe. Qualification improves because people tell you what’s actually going on, not the polished version. Objections soften because the person on the other end of the line no longer feels like a number.
Conversion rates go up – not because you pressured harder, but because you served better.
Inside the team, morale improves. People didn’t get into this work to read from a script. They got into it to help. Give them a way to do that and watch what happens.
A Quick Word On Timing And Benefits
Someone will ask, “But we still have to verify insurance. When do we do that?”
Of course you do. You do it after the caller feels understood and after you’ve agreed on a next step. “Let me grab a few details so I can make this easy for you” lands very differently once safety is established. It’s the same information – it’s not the same conversation.
Hope Is The Real Product
I’m a sober entrepreneur who’s built companies inside this space because I believe in second chances. I’ve flatlined in an ER and rebuilt my life one small action at a time. I’ve also listened to enough Admissions calls to know this: the currency that moves people from fear to action isn’t pressure… it’s hope.
Admissions isn’t about getting someone into treatment; it’s about getting them to believe they can recover, then showing them what to do next. The frameworks above are how you make that belief trainable. Pain, Possibility, Path. Curiosity, Connection, Clarity. A facility story that feels like the truth.
If your team is treating hope like an afterthought, it’s time to change the script.
I’m going to share deeper worksheets and examples of these frameworks in an upcoming piece. For now, take one step: pick one part of your current script and rewrite it using Pain, Possibility, Path. Run a call that way. Listen back. You’ll hear the difference. More importantly, the person on the other end of the line will feel it.
