The Three Step Formula For Patient Referrals

In this special training, I’m going to teach you about the exact system for getting internal-patient referrals. For most physical therapy business, patients represent an untapped avenue of getting new referrals, and this training will help you to take advantage of the ‘low hanging fruit’ in your practice, and the most powerful source of referrals – your existing patients.

You can get a lot of referrals from your existing patients by following 3 simple steps. 

• The 1st step is conditioning existing patients for referrals
• The 2nd step is precise timing of the referral request.
• The 3rd step is the script you use when you ask for the referrals

If you want to increase referrals to your clinic:

 Don’t make it seem that referrals a bonus or an after-thought for patients. Simply tell patients,  In this manner, you condition patients for referrals right from the beginning, the moment they step into your clinic.

Prominently display your testimonials that tell everyone how happy patients have been with your clinic. You can do this in several ways. Use a digital photo frame displaying pictures of happy patients or a letter from a patient framed in your waiting room, so other patients who are waiting to see you are ‘pre-framed’ about your expertise even before they see you. Social proof from other individuals is more powerful than certifications and licenses, which don’t mean much to most patients.

So basically, make it seem to patients as if their referrals, their testimonials are expected. Condition patients  to refer to  give testimonials  right from the beginning, the moment they step into your clinic. You can do this in a subtle, yet authentic manner using some of these strategies.

When is the best time to ask for a referral?

As soon as the patient has had a good treatment session, where they got over a lot of pain relief, when they feel better, when they feel stronger, when they actually tell you they feel an improvement in their condition, that’s the best time to ask patients to ask patients for referrals.

This is the time when you use the “patient referral script”.

I already shared my main patient referral script above. I like the “I’m never too busy for your referrals” and the ” We are a small business and we don’t do expensive advertising, we depend on referrals from valued patients like you to grow our business” hooks.

Whether you realize it or not, patients assume you are too busy to see other patients, which kills your chances of patient referrals. On top of that, people instinctively respond to the word ‘depend’. When you know someone is depending on you for something, you are more likely to respond and take the necessary action so you don’t ‘let that person down’. In this case, when the patient knows that you are depending on him or her for referrals, he or she will take the necessary action (refer friends and family to you) as long as you have done a good job treating the patient.

So there you have it – the THREE step system to increase internal patients referrals.

Condition patients about the referrals from the beginning, make sure to time the referral request, and use the right script.

I hope you can start using these methods to grow your practice, to increase patients in your practice. I’m heading back to my office now to finish up the final aspects of my presentation for the sold-out Private Practice Retreat this weekend. Hope to see you in Vegas!