Patients Make the Best Referrals - Weekly Tip, Week 1

Your patients are your best source for building referrals. Here’s are some simple tips for this week to help you get the most out of the relationships you have with your patients:

1- Ask your patients to rate their overall experience at your office. Remember, people want to feel included. By taking a proactive approach and requesting feedback from your patients, you will be able to make minor adjustments to better serve your customers. Also, when your patients feel more engaged, they are more likely to refer business to you. Remember, when somebody takes the time to fill out a survey or tell you how they are feeling, do not discount their opinions. Even if it is something simple, make sure that your patient knows you care enough to do acknowledge their concerns.

2- Get to know their names. It’s the simple truth that people love to hear their names. This does not just apply to you knowing the names of your patients but also to your staff. Have a policy that every person who walks into your front door is to be greeted (hopefully by name) within 15 seconds. You know how you feel when you walk into a restaurant and nobody greets you. Worse yet, especially when there is somebody standing behind the counter that refuses to make eye contact. Make a point of NOT being like this. Get to know your patients, make them feel special and remember to address them by name.

3- Thank your patients. Sounds easy enough but when was the last time you thanked your patients for their business and/or their referrals. One idea is to have a box of thank you cards printed and ready at all times. Have your staff place a thank you card with your patient’s chart. Every person that touches the chart signs the card. All cards get dropped in the mail at the end of every day.

These are just a few quick, easy and extremely inexpensive tips for you to build better patient relationships. Remember, you would not have a practice if you didn’t have patients.