Referral Ignition – Part 1

We know the importance of building a strong relationship with patients and referral sources, but how do we go about building a system that is seamless and automatic? The entire process of building a brand can be broken down 3 steps.

STEP 1
Educate a stranger (in need of therapy) about the benefits of physical therapy, and convert them into a prospective patient.

STEP 2
Provide outstanding care to the patient and transform them into a powerful referral source

STEP 3
Empower and remind the referral source to educate ‘prospects’ about your practice. THIS is where most practices need to step up their efforts.

The top of this cycle represents the ‘funnel’ for prospective patients.

The bigger and wider your ‘funnel’, the more patients you can reach.

Community outreach is one method. The more community outreach you engage in, the greater the number of ‘prospects’ that learn about your practice, largely due to word of mouth publicity.

In a growing practice, this cycle repeats itself several times and becomes progressively larger in scope, as it involves more patients and myriads of physicians, patients and other referral sources.

Here’s a little secret.

The principles are the same – they don’t change.

The scope of execution does.

For example, I still write this blog today like the day I did when I had 2 website visitors (myself and my mother – thanks mom – hope you still read my blog).

This takes a little time, but should not take forever. It does NOT take time to build a practice, it takes the right measures, and the right timing.

With the right words and language, you can expand your ‘funnel’ of potential patients, feeding the cycle till it becomes a frenzied branding activity.

From day one, every single patient in your practice should be conditioned to refer other patients. The first time a patient meets with you, they are filled with hope and anticipation about what you can do for them. This is an ideal opportunity to seek referrals and instill the importance of ‘word of mouth’ publicity. You literally want to form a ‘referral engram’ in the patients mind. Your goal is to provide the patient with the highest standards of care and remind them about your expertise and the power of their referrals.

Each patient has a significant sphere of influence and is an underutilized referral source.  Remind them about the importance of referrals over and over again during the treatment process and transform the patient into a human billboard for your practice!

Make sure your staff says the same thing (or follows a similar script) you use. Reminders are the secret to referrals.

This is the 3 ‘R’ principle in my upcoming course on Referral Ignition -

1. Request
2. Remind
3. Refer

This strengthens ‘step 3′ in your marketing ladder and becomes a seamless, automatic way to boost referrals.

Note - These are strategies from my upcoming “Referral Ignition” home study course and the “How To (Re)Launch Your Private Practice” DVD series, complete with scripts, tools and specific templates you can use to boost referrals in your practice.

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Tags: Grow Your Private Practice, physical therapy business, physical therapy marketing