Doctors: The value of a word of mouth referral

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Title:  Doctors:  The value of a word of mouth referral by Paul Bradley Smith

Is there vacancy in your plan to increase practice revenue by leveraging word of mouth referrals from your existing patient base under your current strategy and plan?  Word of mouth referrals are the lifeline of any private medical practice.

Analyzing many Dentists, Plastic Surgeons and IVF practices from around the country here are some common shortfalls and challenges doctors have when when it comes to increasing practice revenue using their existing patient base.

• Doctors often put temporary employees or junior staff members on important tasks related to marketing the practice and generating practice revenue
• Being creative with your existing patient base and how to properly ask for word of mouth referrals
• Getting online references and reviews from happy patients who are willing to write a review
• Offering those who give you referrals something in return for their efforts
• No clear strategy or plan to harness the potential of your patient base for generating more word of mouth referral
• Rely on many traditional ways of generating word of mouth referrals (vs) focusing on creative efficient ways which work in a competitive modern world
• Miscommunication between the doctor and the staff
• Asking for referrals without offering your patient something in return
• Bombarding your patients with sales material
• Using the correct ratios for sales and non-sales related value content

Finding the proper consultant or agency which focuses combating these shortfalls can significantly improve your online reputation and increase practice revenue.

The real value of a word of mouth referral is seen when there is no vacancy on the schedule for months and the doctor is doing more of their preferred procedures.

Learn how you can turn your patients into strong evangelists of your services creating more word of mouth referrals filling up your practice vacancy.

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