Posted on January 20, 2021 in General
How to Get Referrals from Patients
Patient referrals are one sure-fire way of attracting new patients and growing your practice. If you’re looking to expand your patient base, you can utilize the following creative and robust strategies to boost patient referrals.
Build Patient Relationships
The importance of cultivating strong relationships with your patients cannot be overstated. With 83 percent of consumers across the globe saying they trust recommendations from family and friends, you would be hard-pressed to find a more credible form of advertising than your very own patients. Thus, it’s imperative to ensure you are top of mind when your patients have the chance to recommend a healthcare provider.
You can do that by investing in a management software that enables your staff to add notes to patient files and remember important events regarding your patients. For example, if your patient shared news of their recent promotion at work, you can send them a congratulatory gift following their new appointment.
Investing in getting to know your patients is the secret to establishing strong relationships and increasing your patient retention rate. The better your relationship, the more likely your patients will be eager to share their positive experiences with family and friends.
Over Deliver
This means providing more value than you can take in money. It’s essential for your practice to go over and above for your patients. You and your team should offer more than what patients would expect to find in any other practice. That way, they will feel they’re getting more than they are paying for.
When your patients perceive that you offer more in service value, you earn their trust and loyalty and keep them coming back—bringing their close contacts.
When your patients arrive, greet them with a smile and, if possible, address them by their name. Basically, give them VIP treatment from the time they walk through your front door to the time they leave—the goal is to create an exceptional patient experience. This will position you for increased patient referrals.
Don’t Shy Away from Asking Your Patients for Referrals
If you do a fantastic job of looking after your patients, it’s perfectly fine to ask them to refer you. The trick lies in taking advantage of the moment your patient praises you. For example, if your patient thanks you for getting them back on their feet, you can receive the compliment. Then, let them know you’re passionate about helping your patients, and should they ever have friends, family, or colleagues who are in need, you would love to help them as well.
Consider training your team to talk along those lines. All you need to do is come up with an easy to remember line. So, if a patient says they are impressed with your services, your staff will know exactly what to say.
Provide A Referral Incentive
Usually, an incentive will go a long way in boosting referrals. For instance, when a patient refers someone else, you can offer discounts to thank and motivate both your existing and new patients. As such, your patients will be encouraged to refer others to you. Besides, increasing your patient numbers will make up for the discounts, and then some.
It’s important to remember that medical practices are guided by strict ethical rules that limit gifts and payments for patient referrals. Issues like referral fees and fee-splitting are something you should review and check with your local jurisdiction to ensure compliance. That said, offering rewards such as discounted services as an appreciation for a referral is within the confines of proper ethics.
Streamline Your Workflow
Today, patients have too many options. As a result, slow scheduling processes can make patients look for health care elsewhere. The key to enhancing patient experience starts with efficient scheduling. It’s important to minimize the time your front office staff spends on the phone with patients to about 2 minutes. More than that and you risk losing out on new patient referrals from unanswered calls.
Patients don’t like getting an answering machine or being put on hold. They would rather hang up and find another alternative. Having your patients scheduled fast improves their experience, and happy patients are more likely to send their friends and family to you.
Grow Your Practice with MDprospects
The number of referrals you receive is a reflection of the experience you create for your patients. MDprospects has helped hundreds of practices boost their patient numbers with their best in class lead management software. Once you have your prospects list, the next step is conversion. With these few tips, you are well on your way to growing your practice exponentially. To find out how MDprospects can help you, please schedule your demo today.
