McMinnville, Tenn.-based S2L Recovery, a 501©(3) organization with a faith-based approach to addiction recovery, is about one hour from Nashville. The agency treats clients in a rural setting but also ensures family members of those under treatment get personalized attention. S2L Recovery has two offerings, a detox program, for drugs and alcohol, as well as a residential program. Marketing is a linchpin for reaching potential clients and helping with recovery.

“I was a project manager, but I found real purpose here and became an intake coordinator,” said Sam Kight with S2L Recovery.

Challenges

Kight’s priority is stewarding calls and helping people who need assistance get into the agency’s programs. Ultimately, says Kight, admissions is a numbers game. According to Kight, S2L Recovery’s team relied on a Google sheet to document dozens of calls coming in at all hours of the day. Anyone responsible for field calls would have to take notes in the spreadsheet, jotting down pertinent information for each caller to facilitate admission. 

Without technology, S2L Recovery couldn’t identify its cost per lead and whether marketing dollars were delivering quality, inbound calls. The agency’s target market is mostly people living just beyond Nashville with an insurer other than the government. Without a way to target marketing, S2L Recovery would get calls from people outside Tennessee or with the Health Insurance Marketplace as their insurer. At other times, the agency would get calls from people looking for physical therapy.

Kight and his colleagues knew the process wasn’t sustainable for growing the organization.

Solution

“One of our leaders met a Dazos executive at a social event and expressed our need for a better way to manage incoming calls and marketing,” recalls Kight.

That meeting led to a product demonstration, evaluations, and, ultimately, implementing Dazos in July 2024. Now, when S2L Recovery gets a call for help from someone, staff can enter the pertinent information for intake and, when necessary, follow up with a client. The system tracks leads and admitted clients to help S2L Recovery effectively deploy and stretch its marketing dollars for maximum impact. For example, if a family member calls S2L Recovery on behalf of a relative, but Kight finds the person isn’t willing to be helped, staff can note that for follow up and see the lead source. Once a client is in the Dazos CRM, staff are able, through a software API, to push the newly admitted client into the agency’s Sunwave EMR.

Although Sunwave’s EMR offers a CRM, Kight says after integrating the software S2L Recovery realized the offering was less comprehensive than the Dazos CRM. For example, the Sunwave CRM offered limited reporting, and Kight and his colleagues couldn’t create their own workflows and automate tasks that Dazos handled. 

“Our team can automate elements of the intake and admissions process; we can create the workflows in Dazos that we use in the agency and generate reports we need to prove marketing is working,” said Kight.  “Once treatment is finished, we bill insurance via our EMR and Dazos keeps the client file as an alum.” 

Kight feels the most effective approach for S2L recovery’s admissions, treatment, billing, and reporting is relying on Sunwave’s EMR and Dazos’ CRM.

Results

S2L Recovery now knows the source of its leads. Once captured, the software populates the lead within Dazos and the disposition of the call (i.e., qualified, non-qualified). Dazos’ CRM can identify when the cost per lead is too high or the marketing spend isn’t delivering quality, inbound calls. 

Measuring Marketing for Maximum Impact

• “Undoubtedly, Dazos’ CRM has helped us measure conversion rates from marketing to admissions,” says Kight. “We’re much more efficient as a whole because we measure marketing.”

• With data from Dazos CRM, staff can see the results of a marketing effort. If someone leaves a positive review on the agency’s Google Business Profile and that spurs traffic for admissions, Dazos CRM can account for this. Once Kight knows what type of media campaign and tool works, he can make an argument for funding the marketing channels attracting new clients. Kight says S2L Recovery can now quantify inquiries they get from Google Ads, conversion rates, and what he’s spent to make that happen. Reports from the system detail the mix of channels (Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, Podcasts, etc.) creating the most awareness about S2L Recovery’s programs.

Using Strategic Marketing to Grow

• “Since we’ve had the CRM, we’re definitely generating more revenue,” notes Kight. “Historically, we’ve been an all-male facility. But in February, we opened our women’s facility, and we were able to do that, in part, because Dazos helped us better manage our finances.”

• Last April, Kight notes S2L Recovery moved into a brand-new 26-bed facility on a 10-acre campus with a two-phase treatment program. Improved marketing, more donors, and better financial stewardship, says Kight, enabled S2L Recovery to build the new facility and renovate its 16-bed facility.

Taking Uncertainty Out of Marketing, Empowering Staff

• “Because of Dazos, we’re not taking shots in the dark when it comes to marketing, and we’re no longer scared about the marketing budget growing,” says Kight.

• Dazos is easy to use, says Kight, which matters when the industry turnover rate, especially among intake and admissions staff, is so high. According to Kight, Dazos CRM enables staff to field urgent admissions calls after hours and run someone’s DOB and insurance whether staffers use their phone or laptop. 

“Getting someone familiar with and using Dazos CRM isn’t hard,” says Kight. “They can listen to incoming calls and focus on a conversation without having to worry about how to juggle the system and document calls.”