Rules of asking for a referral

On Monday we discussed external marketing in regards to asking for a referral. In your daily or weekly huddle you are going to identify which patient personalities you want more of. Once you have identified which patients best fit your population, practice asking for the referral.

Role-play in the huddle using different dialogue in order for everyone to feel comfortable asking for the referral.  You might try saying, “did we do an excellent job today?” They respond with yes. And you say, “fantastic please take a moment to tell a friend about your excellent service today. You want to sound natural and make it a part of the conversation but it may feel awkward at first.

Offer a referral rewards program. For example, a free gift card to Starbucks or entry into a drawing for a free whitening session.  Whatever, your office comes up with advertise it in the office and get patients talking about it.  

You can advertise on your external websites but use caution as there are some regulations in regards to rewarding patients for reviews and liking you on Facebook.  You cannot directly tell individuals that you will offer something if they like you on Facebook or give you a yelp review.

Set a goal number of referrals you are going to ask for each day and keep track of how many you actually ask for. This is important in order to make sure that staff and you are being held accountable. It is easy to say yes, we are going to do more of that but it will build momentum when you have that constant goal you are trying to reach.

Asking for a referral helps continue to build your practice by bringing in new patients. Each individual that leaves your office that you do not ask is a missed opportunity. Be consistent and pretty soon you will find more ideal patients walking through your door.