Unfortunately, a lot of practices leave new patients up to chance with real vulnerability, fluctuation, inconsistency and unreliable quality because they don’t know any better.
The key to compounding growth in your practice is tied directly to three indicators of ‘health’ (and I’m not talking about the ‘health’ of your patients, I’m talking about the healthy indicators of your future.
First: the percentage and number of your new patients coming through referrals; either internally or externally sourced.
Second: the 30, 60, 90, 180 day value of those new patients based specifically on the percentage of your treatment value that is completed.
Third: the amount of collected and scheduled treatment as percentage and amount of your total treatment plan value of the comprehensive diagnosis within the first series of visits.
That’s a lot of stuff. Your entire “new patient business” is right there.
Today I want to focus on your team taking control of your number one most important indicator of health of your practice in the future: new patients tied to referrals. And make the commitment to grow your practice from the inside out.
If you will do this, it will change the trajectory of growth and profit in your practice and allow you all to achieve more highly valuable and bundled (larger cases) treatment from your new patients.
There are at least a dozen things that can be done, I’ll give you half of them and then a big surprise bonus that you are going to love…
1st – Phone call invitations with all new patients that encourage them to bring someone with them, casually but in an assumptive way.
2nd – Conduct family member audits for each chart review (patient coming in) today and show concern and awareness over this when exiting your patients.
3rd – That requires that you actually get to know their family member situation at the beginning of the new patient relationship so you can do this.
4th – Engage in theme-based monthly patient games, contests, fun activities so each time your patients come to visit you, you are giving them a different and interesting experience so they will talk more about you.
5th – Surely you already do this (its so basic and cheap), every team member in your practice should have bon-a-fide business cards, not gimmicky referral cards, but professional representation so they can promote and engage others wherever they go…good teams provide at least 30% of the patient referrals each month through their outside-the-office efforts (at least).
6th – Do more to create relationship…more pictures, testimonials, hand written cards; give your patients that extra wow factor (this was covered in great detail in a previous huddle).
Now, before we go to the 6 advanced steps next week, I want to challenge you to do two things, first really assess your refer-ability now.
Are you really wowing people?
Do you have systems in place?
Do patients know you are taking more patients?
Are you creating a culture that invites people to support you and spread the word?
Talk with your team to discuss what you are doing well and what you can be doing better please. At the very least add these 6 into your patient by patient interaction.
Second, are you really serious about this idea of growing your practice through reliable referral structure to create consistency and are you committed to elevating the quality of your new patients?
If this describes you and you believe in the power of referrals, then I have great news … I’m hosting a very special advanced training on the science behind the ultimate system to getting more referral based patients.
I will be showcasing the 2 specific pillars you must master in order to get referrals on demand.
Register Now to Attend the Live Training >>>
