Building a successful practice requires more than just marketing to prospective patients. It also requires marketing to primary care physicians and other doctors who can refer their patients to your practice for specialized healthcare.
They don’t teach marketing in school, and certainly not the art of acquiring and maintaining a quality physician referral system. Let’s talk about how you can go about it in the most painless and effective way possible.
How to Market Your Practice to Referring Doctors
To ensure that you are receiving as many doctor referrals as possible, you need to be proactive in exercising best practices in professional communications and relationships. Here are several suggestions about how to go about doing that:
Introduce Yourself to New Physicians and Medical Providers
Welcome every new doctor to the area with a personal note or, better yet, stop by their practice offering your support. Do the same if you are the new practice in the area and follow up with each of them every month.
Establish and Maintain Relationships
The thing to realize is that when doctors refer their patients to your practice, they are staking their own reputations on your ability to provide exceptional patient care. If you want the referring physicians to feel confident about doing so, you need to be more than just a colleague.
You need to be a reliable friend as well. That means reaching out to referral sources by phone, personal letter, email, social media, and occasional face-to-face interaction at their office or even over lunch.
Get Involved as a Valuable Member of Your Community
Volunteer some of your time to local events or initiatives, such as sponsoring a youth sports team or participating in a charitable event. You may also consider writing a column in your community newspaper to let people know the latest news and advances in your medical specialty.
Professional colleagues are more likely to take notice of your practice, value your skills, and entrust their patients to your care if you are actively engaged with people in your area. If people feel like they know you, they will feel like they can trust you. Referred patients will say, “Oh yes, I know about that doctor.”
Follow Up Regularly with Referring Doctors
Whenever a doctor sends a new patient your way, make sure you respond with either a phone call or a practice-branded thank-you card. Also follow up with the referring physician on the condition of the referred patient(s) and the course of treatment you administered or prescribed. The referring physician will appreciate being kept in the loop and will bear it in mind when referring other patients to you.
Keep the Referral Process Simple and Convenient
It should be easy for other doctors to refer their patients to your practice. To make it so, be sure that your contact information on your website, social media accounts, and business cards is up-to-date, and be sure to have a user-friendly form available on your website that physicians and other referral sources can easily access, complete, and submit to your office.
Designate a Referral Administrator
There are two ways to approach this. First, you can have a member of your staff represent your practice and handle the time-consuming, day-to-day tasks of marketing your practice to other doctors for referrals. Second, you can outsource your doctor referral system to a referral service whose team performs this specific service for doctors just like you.
Outsource Your Referral Service to the Pros
Doctor Referral Institute is the nation’s premier physician referral service. Our highly experienced medical professionals serve specialty healthcare practices throughout the country, providing face-to-face representation of your practice with your potential and current referral sources. Plus, we ensure that your practice obtains the condition-specific patients it needs to grow and thrive.
To learn more about our proven system and how it can work for your medical practice, contact Doctor Referral Institute today by calling us at (888) 703-9167 or fill out our online contact form now. We look forward to partnering with you and your practice for a bright, successful future!