A word of mouth referral is absolutely the best advertising you can incorporate into your practice. It is also the cheapest form of advertising you can invest in and requires minimal time and effort.

We all know that the best patient is a referred patient. When a friend tells another friend, family member or colleague about you, that’s gold. They are already pre-sold on you, are not as price sensitive, and are more likely to stay loyal to you.

Word of mouth referrals will increase your closing rates, decrease your external marketing costs, and grow your practice.

But don’t leave it to chance. Sure, you’ll get some referrals from your core group of fans at your practice—every practice has them—but you want them from every happy patient, not just the select few.

Make word-of-mouth referrals a priority in your office, establish processes, and incorporate these word-of-mouth strategies:

TALK TO YOUR PATIENTS

Referrals come from connecting with your patients so they feel cared for first as a person and secondly as a patient.

Use your name and make eye contact with your patients. Ask them questions and then let them talk. The point is to connect personally with them first so they know you care about them.

Spend two minutes on them as a person. Ask them about their family, their occupation, or anything else you find interesting on their patient intake form.

They will relax, open up to you, and talk more about themselves. You can learn a lot about a person by showing that you are interested in them. And you will be surprised what you learn.

Perhaps they are members of the media or are part of a large company that could use their services as an employee benefit. Who knows until you ask.

Think of it this way. Each of us has an average inner circle of about 250 people. That includes friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, etc.

If each of your patients only told one of your inner circle about you, that would DOUBLE the growth of your practice. How does that sound?

Remember, like-minded people, hang out with other like-minded people so you want your “preferred patient” to bring their friends to you.

But don’t take it for granted. Your patients need to know that you want more patients like them and if they refer their friends, family and colleagues to you, you promise to take good care of them.

USE CONTENT TO SPREAD THE WORD

Content is king on the internet so produce a lot for different media channels so your patients can share it with their friends, family and followers.

For example, you can videotape a consultation with a prospective patient talking about liposuction (with their permission, of course) and then upload it to YouTube and Vimeo.

Break it up into small pieces and upload them to an Instagram video. Use the video screenshot in your Facebook banner ads that click through to the full video with a “Click here to schedule a complimentary consultation.”

And there’s more Transcribe the patient inquiry and use it for your blog posts, articles and press releases. Send an email announcing it to your current patient list and add “Share this with a friend.”

The goal is to cross a piece of content to many different media channels to increase your online presence.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOOTH

Make it fun and easy for your patients to share it with their friends on social media.

Request a custom pop-up background with your logo printed on it. Put it in a corner of your office near the exit.

Your patients can take pictures with you and your staff and record a video testimonial and then upload it to your Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat social media accounts.

THANK YOUR PATIENTS

Don’t take references for granted. You want to thank your patients; however, a boring computer generated form is not enough.

Patients want to be appreciated for their trust and recognized for their support, so show them your appreciation.

– Have your staff call them right away to say thank you
– Send a personal note from you to thank them
– Call them yourself to thank them
– Send a thank you gift.

Behavior that is rewarded is repeated, so make a big fuss about how much you appreciate your referral and more will follow.

Better yet, set up an automatic rewards program that recognizes and thanks your patients for helping you grow your practice.

The goal is to get many more patients to share their data with those they know. Implement a referral program, but do so carefully so you don’t get in trouble with medical societies and their fee split rules.

Just so you know, the medical boards say you can’t pay someone to encourage someone else to have a medical procedure. Therefore, there can be no tit-for-tat exchange of money.

That’s a big reason I came up with the KiSS Rewards Club. Your patients get KiSSes, not money, when they refer, review and return, so you stay out of trouble while growing your practice in a fun and organic way.

You can visit http://www.kissbogo.com for details.

TO CONCLUDE THIS, HERE IS THE REMINDER OF THE GOLDEN RULE…

In order to grow a practice by word of mouth, patients need to be genuinely happy and satisfied with their results as well as the service they receive from you in order to brag about you to their friends and family.

Make sure every patient has an “AMAZING” experience every time they’re in contact with you, your staff, and your office, and watch your word-of-mouth referrals grow.