I firmly believe that when a Chiropractic practice is build and run correctly, the primary source of new patients--far and away should come from referrals--both from patients and even from non-patients in your community. You must have a referral strategy and your referral language must be embedded in every aspect of your daily procedures. I cannot tell you how many times I have read articles from practice management gurus on the subject of referrals and they always say the same thing just ask for them--well that works for about a week, but then what. How many times can you hit Martha and Bill up for new patients--it gets weary after a short time--both for them and for you. The key to an effective referral system is to teach people how to refer, why to refer and give them the tools to refer--and all referrals should begin with the sharing of information--not a prompt to get them to send somebody to your office https://vimeo/107839264 Another huge factor in having a solid referral system is to be sure that YOU, the doctor are doing your share referring (sharing information) out in your community on a one-on-one basis. You do this by talking with people-every single day just in your normal routine. My goal it to always speak or connect with five new people every single day. So how do you do this---what you DO NOT want to be is the person who walks into Starbucks in the morning and everyone grabs their cell phones and pretends to be on a call in order to avoid a Chiropractic Chat with you. I have seen people do this--mostly out of passion and good intentions, but it’s a huge, huge mistake. Just talk with people you cross paths with--forget you are a Chiropractor--just think of them as people--not prospective patients---engage them in conversation--start with Hello or Good Morning---it will shock you how that breaks the ice. There are tons of ways to start a conversation, but the real secret to getting them to engage (ie, open up and trust you) is very simple…..you talk about them--whatever interests them. Side Story: Years ago, I ran a regional investment division for a Fortune 500 Bank. We had a rep named Paul, who was struggling badly to earn a living. He was a nice guy and though he did not work for me, I agreed to accompany him on one of his appointments to see if I could help. As we were riding to the clients house, Paul told me he had seen the client (a retired man in his 70s) on three occasions and he refused to buy anything and claimed he did not want or need anything from the bank. We walked into his house and began small talk and the conversation turned to this mans antique bottle collection ( he had several of them on display in this home) I spent the next hour learning the entire history of antique bottling and looked at all kinds of pictures--he even took me out to his garage to show me his most prized pieces We finally ended the bottle conversation and were sort of packing up to go and the man looks me in the eye and said So, what kind of interest rates are you all offering on muni bonds these days? We had a signed contract within fifteen minutes and about two weeks pay in commissions for Paul. We got into the car to leave and I thought Paul would be thrilled-he had just made more in the that day than he had probably made in the less two months combined, but he seemed bothered. I asked him what was wrong and he shook his head and said Keith, I could never do what you just did to get that sale--you sat there for over an hour and pretended to be interested in his bottle collection I said, Do you really think I was pretending to be interested? And he said Cmon, you cant tell me that his collection was interesting I said Well, I was not pretending, I was very interested--NOT in the his collection, but in the PASSION he had for his collection--that is what was interesting. Paul never got it and quit the firm the following week. Just about everyone has a passion, a pursuit, something they hold dear to and LOVE to talk about--could be their work, their family, their hobby--it may be RIDICULOUS to you---but it may be the most important thing in the world to them---- Take an interest in what is important to them and they will endear themselves to you and open up a trust channel so that when its time to talk Chiropractic--and yes that will come up most of the time, you can then talk to them on a very favorable basis--they will listen because they trust you---and the chances are almost 100% that either they or someone close to them is struggling badly with something that Chiropractic could help with. I have seen it thousands of time. Once the health issue comes up--I let them talk..I offer no solution, but just keep asking them about the issue--how is it affecting their work, their family, their recreation, what have they done in the past to resolve it---and has it worked--if not, why. I just keep asking them questions and the more they talk--the more they are being DRAWN to you…...finally when its time to talk Chiropractic----I will ask for their permission to tell them about Chiropractic ( it’s a classy move to ask permission) for example. Mrs. ______, that is quite an issue you are dealing with it ( or our aunt is dealing with--whatever) now, I work with Chiropractors and we see a lot of that--maybe I take two minutes of your time and explain how Chiropractic actually works, because its probably different than what you have heard your entire life…(Never been told no) tell the story in 90 seconds or less--if you have done this correctly, they are going to be drawn to you…..that is what you want-- Imagine having these conversations just a couple of times each day--what would that do for your practice--remember I said you can get non-patients to refer----it comes from these types of conversations--they trust you, you gave them some powerful information and you did not come across as a used car salesman, but rather a confident, trustworthy professional. I hope that helps someone KW https://vimeo/107839264
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 18:12:19 +0000
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