{"id":15067,"date":"2017-06-26T09:30:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T14:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/about\/?p=15067"},"modified":"2023-10-30T13:49:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T18:49:43","slug":"how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first installment<\/a> of our four-part series on patient referral programs, we examined how to take some easy first steps into incorporating this marketing strategy into your dental, optometry, or health care practice. Put simply, a patient referral program\u00a0utilizes your existing patient base to recruit new business: Implementing it can be as easy as asking to be recommended to a friend or family member in need of care.<\/p>\n

To really maximize the potential of a patient referral program, however, you\u2019re going to need to take a more targeted approach. To isolate what separates a good program from a great one, we consulted with Kevin Tighe, managing director of Cambridge Dental Practice Consultants<\/a> and a dental business marketing expert. Take a look at some of the best practices\u2014or patient referral program hygiene\u2014your office should maintain in order to make the most of your efforts.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Let the Right Staffer Ask the Question<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first stumbling block encountered by patient referral organizers is deciding who in the office is in the best position to solicit a referral. Is it the hygienist? The doctor? The front office receptionist?<\/p>\n

    The answer is that it depends on who the patient has the best relationship with. \u201cSome patients bond with their hygienist,\u201d Tighe says. \u201cOthers might bond with the person at the front desk. It depends on their personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

    While doctors might get value out of stepping outside their comfort zone and asking for a referral, Tighe says that they can sometimes make an awkward pitch. Patients often have the best relationships with staff members\u2014that\u2019s why doctors who buy into practices are usually advised not to make any major staff changes right away. Capitalize on those established connections and patients will be more likely to pass your business card on.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Determine What New-Appointment Incentives Will Work in Your Area<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Providers can be limited in offering incentives to referring patients, since it could be construed as \u201cfee splitting,\u201d or giving a third party a reward for recruiting new patients. Know that there are\u00a0legal limits, but it\u2019s generally acceptable to offer that new patient an incentive to come in for a first appointment. Tighe says that $50 off a first visit is a common enticement that works, but your specific region may have more success offering whitening treatments, free x-rays, or other discounted services instead.<\/p>\n

      There\u2019s also no rule that says you have to stick to just one offer. Try \u201cpiloting\u201d a different incentive to different prospective patients to see if one nets a better response than the others.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Get Personal<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        There\u2019s going to be a significant difference between handing out a generic business card with the hope a patient will pass it along and giving them a card with a name written on it. \u201cGive them the card and then ask if they can think of anyone who would be interested in your services,\u201d Tighe says. The patient now has a responsibility to hand an item of tangible value to their friend or family member as opposed to trying to decide who might be a good candidate. That\u2019s one less barrier to getting your number in the right hands.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Get Creative<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Business cards are certainly sufficient, but there are several ways you can create a bigger splash when your patient leaves the office. Handing them an oversized card will help the referral request stand out among their belongings and may prevent a fate of being stuffed in a wallet or purse and forgotten. Some providers order debit cards with their business logo pre-printed on it so it comes to mind when the card is being used. Tighe says businesses like Practice Caf\u00e9<\/a> can also assist in ways to think outside of the box.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Use Every Opportunity<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            While your best chance of securing a referral will be a face-to-face with an existing patient, most offices have a paper outflow that makes piggybacking a viable back-up plan. Stick referral cards into hygiene bags or drop one in bills mailed to patients. \u201cAnything that goes out, you can put a referral card on there,\u201d Tighe says, citing patient surveys as another good venue. \u201cIdeally, they\u2019re happy with your service, and that\u2019s when you can hand them a card.\u201d The more outflow, Tighe says, the more inflow that\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Engage Your Staff<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Your practice might be a tight-knit community of employees who want the best for the office. On the other hand, they might be eager to do their job but not totally invested in what they might consider \u201coptional\u201d conversations with patients. One workaround, Tighe says, is to offer incentives to employees who gather the most referrals in a given time frame, provided such incentives are lawful in your state. Regardless, it\u2019s good to have a huddle where a specific employee is tasked with asking a patient (or two, or five) for referrals in a given day. Have a staffer really looking to help? Have them carry cards in their off-hours to hand out if the timing is right.<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. Know Your Ratios to Form Your Goals<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                There is no blanket, one-size-fits-all number that practices should be targeting when it comes to recruiting new patients. That goal will likely be a percentage of the number of current patients or chairs your office is trying to fill. \u201cA practice with four chairs probably needs 30 to 40 new patients a month to keep growing,\u201d Tighe says. Figure out your number and you can figure out your goal.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Hold Someone Accountable <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  While most everyone in the office should be expected to solicit patient referrals at one point or another, Tighe says that it ultimately needs to come down to one staffer who can track the number of referrals requested against the number coming in, as well as other metrics of success. \u201cMost practices don\u2019t have a system in place to make sure it gets done day in and day out,\u201d he says. \u201cYou need to assign function of the program to one employee for accountability. Do that and you will have a program that works.\u201d<\/p>\n

                  In part three<\/a> of our five-part series, we\u00a0examine how physicians can take advantage of referral programs by using physician liaisons<\/a> to build provider relationships.<\/b><\/em>\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  In the first installment of our four-part series on patient referral programs, we examined how to take some easy first steps into incorporating this marketing strategy into your dental, optometry, or health care practice. Put simply, a patient referral program\u00a0utilizes your existing patient base to recruit new business: Implementing it can be as easy as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[23,73],"class_list":["post-15067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-insights","tag-early","tag-referral-programs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A patient referral program guide to the best practices that will help you get the most out of this low-cost, high-reward marketing machine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A patient referral program guide to the best practices that will help you get the most out of this low-cost, high-reward marketing machine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Practice Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-26T14:30:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-30T18:49:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"thescript\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"thescript\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/\",\"name\":\"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-26T14:30:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-30T18:49:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/b1a18498f7008ea20e9b7b8fb4e5c3ae\"},\"description\":\"A patient referral program guide to the best practices that will help you get the most out of this low-cost, high-reward marketing machine.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"Practice Resources\",\"description\":\"Useful insights, advice and resources for running and growing your practice from Zocdoc.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/b1a18498f7008ea20e9b7b8fb4e5c3ae\",\"name\":\"thescript\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/author\/thescript\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program","description":"A patient referral program guide to the best practices that will help you get the most out of this low-cost, high-reward marketing machine.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program","og_description":"A patient referral program guide to the best practices that will help you get the most out of this low-cost, high-reward marketing machine.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/","og_site_name":"Practice Resources","article_published_time":"2017-06-26T14:30:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-30T18:49:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"thescript","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"thescript","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/","name":"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg","datePublished":"2017-06-26T14:30:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-30T18:49:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/b1a18498f7008ea20e9b7b8fb4e5c3ae"},"description":"A patient referral program guide to the best practices that will help you get the most out of this low-cost, high-reward marketing machine.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1518735415.jpg","width":1200,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-maximize-your-patient-referral-program\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"8 Ways to Maximize Your Patient Referral Program"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/","name":"Practice Resources","description":"Useful insights, advice and resources for running and growing your practice from Zocdoc.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/b1a18498f7008ea20e9b7b8fb4e5c3ae","name":"thescript","sameAs":["http:\/\/thescript.wpengine.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/author\/thescript\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}