Double and Triple Your Business with Patient Referrals by Tom Hopkins

1. Listen when your patients talk about their families and their lives in general.
2. After you’ve served their needs, bring up the different groups of people they’ve mentioned – family members, soccer teams, volunteer groups, and so on.
3. Ask your patients who in these groups might enjoy the same benefits the patient has.
4. Ask why that person in particular came to mind.
5. Ask for that person’s contact information.
6. Ask the patient to call and introduce you to the referral.
7. If the patient shows nervousness or refuses to call, ask if you can use the patient’s name when you contact the referral.

• Who do you spend your time with most?
• What are your favorite hobbies?
• When will you go out to dinner next?
• Where are you headed after this?
• Why did you choose our office to take care of your dental needs?
• How will you spend your next vacation?

Those are just a few quick examples. I’m certain you can come up with more. The goal of the questions is to get your patients talking about who they know. Their hobbies might cause them to be involved with clubs. They might dine with friends or relatives. Or, they might be part of a club where luncheons and dinners are common occurrences. They might be headed out to a volunteer opportunity after having their teeth cleaned. Vacations are often spent with family members or close friends.

Be careful not to use all of the questions during a single visit with patients. They would probably get the feeling that you’re grilling them. Practice being casual with the questions and speaking naturally. For example, you might ask a question this way, “Mary, you certainly seem like a very sociable person. I’m curious. How do you spend your free time?” With some people you will need to be prepared with another question to gain control of the conversation. As you probably know, some folks will tell you their life stories if you open that door. Keep in mind that your goal is to not only get to know your patients better, but to learn who they know and can refer to you.

Step 2: Bring up the groups of people they know.
Most business people, when asked how they do with getting referrals, shrug their shoulders and say, “Only OK. I ask but don’t get many. So, I stop asking.” That’s because they are not using the right approach. Never say: “Who else do you know that might like to come to us?” because 90 percent of the time the reply will be, “No one comes to mind.” That’s because you didn’t help them “see” the people they know in their mind’s eye. You gave them their whole world to consider.

When you ask for referrals, you have to give your patient a group of faces to focus on. You do it like this: “Jane, you’re all set for today. Thank you for coming in. What’s next on your agenda?” Now, Jane will think very specifically of her next stop – work, school, visiting a friend or relative, whatever. Those people will literally pop right into her mind. Now that you know where your “catch” is, use your net to gather them in.

You would then steer the conversation to getting a name, or two or three. “It sounds like you have a busy day ahead. Thank you, again for fitting us in. I hope you enjoy your quilt club meeting. By the way, who comes to mind in that group who might enjoy the convenience of our early hours like you do?”

You would, of course, mention the benefit that each patient enjoys most about your practice: convenient location, hours of operation, efficiency of your staff (little or no wait time), nice environment, pain-free, excellent work, great people, whatever. You’ll never get referrals if you don’t ask. And you’ll increase your chances of getting referral business by asking the right way.

Step 3: Make note of the names.
When your patient comes up with the name of someone who might benefit from your service, make a note of the name and how the patient knows him or her. “Carol Statler – Jane Parson’s quilt club.” (Be sure to ask how to spell the names of the referred people.)

Step 4: Ask qualifying questions.
You want to learn what the patient knows about these people as it relates to your solicitation for their services. The basics of qualifying include finding out what part of town they live in; if they have a dentist now; if they are happy with that dentist’s services or have mentioned making a change; and what benefit they would prefer in a dentist. While Jane is busy answering questions about the referrals, jot down notes to help you remember specific things about them.

People know things about each other that they might not even be aware of until they’re asked. Jane might have mentioned to Carol in passing at their last meeting that she would be having her teeth cleaned prior to the next meeting. Carol, in turn, might have said, “Good for you. I hate going to the dentist; too painful of an experience for me. See you next week.” And that could have been the extent of the conversation. Jane would probably never remember it – until you ask what brought Carol to mind. Now, Jane cues right back to that conversation and has good information to share with you. All you did was ask for it.

When you get in touch with the referrals, you’ll be able to address your letters or begin conversations with them based on Jane’s answers to your questions. When you’ve taken a few notes, move on to the next step.

Step 5: Ask for contact information.
The information you require will depend on your marketing campaigns. If your staff members call people, you will want phone numbers. And, of course you will have to check those numbers against the Do Not Call Registry. The better move is to get an address and send a letter. If the patient is referring a relative or close friend, they’ll probably know the address. Ask them to jot it down for you. If they open an address book or the contact list in their phone, this is an excellent opportunity to increase the number of referrals you get from one to many. Try this: “Jane, during our conversations, you’ve mentioned all the things you’re involved in. I notice that you keep track of them in an address book/contact list. You wouldn’t mind taking a quick moment to run through your list to see if anyone else comes to mind, would you?”

If you’ve never asked for referrals in the past, this might seem a little pushy to you. I encourage you to just memorize that line and use it as naturally as possible. Make a commitment to try it a minimum of five times. You can do that in a single day. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised at how helpful people will be when asked properly. I know of sales professionals who have received upward of 30 referrals from a single client with that method. No one was offended. No one felt pushed. A simple request was made. The answer might be “no” and that’s OK. In most cases, “no” just means “not now.” It could just be poor timing for your patient to do that now. Ask again the next time you see her.

Step 6: Ask your patient to call the referral and set up the appointment.
If the last step created some hesitation, this one is bound to make you want to put the brakes on, but please, bear with me. This step is where most novices balk. They won’t even try it. But those patients who will make the call will help you comply with the Do Not Call Registry. If the referral’s name is on that list, you can’t call them without their permission. Your existing patient can at the very least get that permission for you.

Also, keep in mind that this question is simply setting the stage for the final step. Those patients who are uncomfortable calling for you will be so relieved when you offer them step 7 that they’ll jump on it. If you had gone directly from step 5 to step 7, you might not have received the same response. Here’s how it works: “Thanks so much for the referral, Jane. You know, since I don’t get to go with you to the quilt club to meet your friend, would you mind calling her and telling her why you are a satisfied patient of ours and asking permission for us to contact her? Then we can work on arranging a time for me to talk with her.”

If your patients are fine with that, then good, start dialing. But if they hesitate and act uncomfortable, take the pressure off immediately by moving on to the next step.

Step 7: Ask to use the patient’s name when you make contact with the referral.
Your patients might not know the referral all that well, or they might feel uncomfortable making the call. If this is the case, let them know you understand their hesitation, but ask if you could bother them for one more favor. Ask for permission to use their names when you contact the people they referred to you. They’ll probably be relieved to be let off the hot seat and be more than happy to give you permission to use their name.

Those are the steps for getting referrals. Never let patients leave your office empty-handed. Don’t just give them a toothbrush. Give them three of your business cards and ask them to give them to others who come to mind before you see them again. If you have your staff conduct follow-up calls on patient services, ask them to ask patients who they gave their cards to. Once again, help them focus on small groups of people they know and ask qualifying questions as to the needs those people might have. If they haven’t given the cards to anyone yet, thank them for their business anyway and repeat your request on their next visit.

It might take you a few tries to get this pattern down to where it flows naturally. However, it’ll become a natural part of every contact once you see the phenomenal results it generates. Many of my students have gone from getting one or two referrals from five or more patients to getting five referrals from every patient. Don’t you think it’s worth a try?