Try as they may, healthcare practices will only grow so much by using traditional marketing and advertising alone. After all, with so many highly credentialed and well-established practitioners to choose from, why would patients single out a practice just because it exists and claims to offer the best care?
Studies have shown that up to 83% of patients will book appointments when their primary care physician refers them to a certain specialist. Not only that, but these referred patients are more likely to pay their bills on time.
The critical factor in ensuring your practice’s success is having an effective referral marketing strategy that solicits and maintains the recommendations of other physicians. It is, by far, the best way to have a systematic approach to growing a sustainable, profitable practice.
Let’s talk about how to grow your practice using successful doctor-referral marketing strategies:
Laying the Groundwork
First, determine what your marketing goals are. Of course, you want to attract new patients. But you also want to keep those patients and further drive the success of your practice – while continuing to increase receiving referred patients from other physicians.
Next, identify the methods you need to use to reach your goal. There are numerous ways to market your practice to referring practitioners, including the following:
- Introduce yourself to new doctors or medical providers in your local community with either a friendly note or a personal visit. If yours is the new practice in the neighborhood, send a personal letter or email, or have a member of your staff or team drop by their practice. (Choose someone with a friendly and affable demeanor.)
- Develop a monthly e-newsletter promoting your practice, and send it to potential and existing referring physicians.
- Participate in events and groups that enable you to network with potential referring physicians (e.g., conferences, educational events, and medical associations).
- Send thank-you gifts to referring physicians (e.g., personalized plaques, gourmet baskets, or medical professional ornaments). Not only do you need to court potential referring physicians, but you also need to get those who are already referring their patients to your practice to continue doing so on a consistent basis.
- Rely upon a reputable and dedicated referral development specialist to establish relationships with referring practices for you – and maintain those relationships and processes so you don’t have to. Doctor Referral Institute is the nation’s number-one healthcare referral company, providing successful, condition-specific patient referrals to help your practice flourish.
There are four keys to developing a successful doctor-referral marketing strategy:
- Communicate who your clients are to a reputable and dedicated referral development specialist.
- Educate your referral development specialist on the types of medical cases your practices want to see.
- Provide consistent representation to your referral development source.
- Share detailed information showing the effectiveness of the referral marketing process.
Test the Methods and Analyze the Results
Track your new methods for several months to see whether they’re generating an increase in new patients. If it’s working, be sure to collect data on the referrals by simply asking all of your new patients how they heard about your practice and from whom.
In time, analyze the data to determine what worked best and what didn’t result in an increase in new patients. This will help you determine how to proceed with your doctor referral marketing strategy going forward.
Also, be sure to share the information you gather with your staff. They will play an important role in the referral and retention process based on how they interact with referring physicians and with your newfound patients.
If you’ve chosen to work with a referral development specialist like Doctor Referral Institute, they will keep track of the results and analysis for you. This way, you can focus on what’s most important – caring for your patients!
Your Most Effective Doctor Referral Marketing Strategy
Of all the marketing strategies your practice can implement to gain new patients, referral building is proven to be the most valuable – i.e., marketing yourself to other doctors. And the best way to implement an effective physician-referral system is by relying on the expertise of experienced professionals in the field.
Doctor Referral Institute is the nation’s premier healthcare referral company. Our experience provides us with a tremendous advantage in developing new referrals for your practice, as well as managing and maintaining your existing ones. We can provide face-to-face representation of your practice with referring physicians, and this can result in maximum benefits for your practice. Plus, we do it all at an affordable price.
Working closely with your practice, our referral development specialists will not only ensure that the referrals you receive are ideal, but we will market your practice specifically to the providers who are best suited to refer the types of patients you serve. We will implement a referral-building strategy that boosts you to the top of their call list.
To learn more about our specific patient referral services and how they can be personalized to your own practice’s specific needs, call Doctor Referral Institute today at (888) 703-9167. Let us help you breathe new life into your medical practice!