Breaking Into Medical Tourism: My First Reality Check

When I landed my first clinic partner for our medical tourism platform, I thought the rest would come easy. Spoiler: it wasn’t that simple.

How it started:

I wrote an outreach message (with a little help from ChatGPT) and set a goal to contact two clinics every weekday.

I focused on Alanya, a city I’d visited twice for dental work. Fewer clinics than Istanbul or Antalya—seemed like a good place to start.

Made a shortlist of dental clinics, filtered by strict criteria, and messaged them on WhatsApp (numbers from their websites, Google Maps, and social media).

The Reality Check:

The first few days—total silence. My messages weren’t pushy, just a no-strings-attached meeting offer. Still, nothing. My ego took a hit. How could they not want the “best” medical tourism system?

Persistence Pays Off:

I didn’t give up. I rewrote my message, tried new versions, and finally, clinics started to reply.

First Win:

While still in Alanya, I managed to set up a meeting with a clinic—and they agreed to partner! That was a real breakthrough.

The Numbers:

Contacted: 41 clinics

No Response: 30

Responded: 11

Meetings Held: 3

Agreed to Partner: 2

Declined without Meeting: 1

Considering After Meeting: 1

It felt like a good start, but as soon as we moved to product implementation, new problems popped up. More on that in my next post!