Excerpts from “How to Turn the $5,000
Patient into a $100,000 Referral Source”
When we speak to study groups or consult
with individual practices, Daugherty
Consulting is frequently asked “what can we
do in our practice to build and sustain the
pipeline for consistent, steady growth?” In
other words how can we “bullet proof” our
practice from competition and have a
sustainable flow of starts. We feel it
starts with the vision, leadership, and
practice culture that the doctor
establishes. Equally important, we promote
elevating the team members to the level of
Valued Partners™. The Valued Partner™ kind
of team is the defining difference in the
success of the world class practice. World
class practices sustain high quality,
growth, and profitability. Today I am
presenting a brief summery of ten action
points for achieving high internally
generated referrals.1. Keep ‘um coming — Ask them what they want
and give it to them.
Have a simple system of finding out what the
patients,parents, and referring practices
really want, and then give it to them. Let
them know that you have heard them and
seriously plan to deliver what they want.
Ask, Hear, Deliver!
Examples: Simple 5 question survey, focus
groups, practice enhancement retreats.
2. Systems, not just smiles. Do it right the
1st time and good systems help!
Use simple systems that insure that we do it
right the first time, whether it is
technical, administrative, or
communications. It is right to smile and
apologize when things aren’t right, yet it
loses its charm if you fail to prevent
mistakes going forward. Insure that it
doesn’t happen again through smart systems
for preventing mistakes and
miscommunications with patients, parents,
and referring doctors. Tracking features in
Ortho II ViewPoint make it easier to get it
right from the start.
3. Under promise & over deliver. Don’t just
keep your word, exceed it.
When people choose your practice, there is
an implied promise of some level of quality
and service; it’s your promise. Find out
what their expectations are! In the process
of delivering it, be sure that you
constantly come up with elegant ways to
greatly exceed their expectations. World
class practices consistently do what
unsuccessful practices aren’t willing to
do,or aren’t organized enough to deliver.
Examples: Patient care cards, loose tooth
clubs, celebrity smiles program, and other
creative fun and games, and interactive web
sites. The ViewPoint/Microsoft Word merge
allows you to create personalized cards, and
VP WebAccess allows patients and parents to
check appointments and accounts on-line.
4. When the patient asks, the answer is
always YES.
That’s right; if you want to be great, not
just good, the answer is always YES! Have a
system to regularly enhance your services
and service. Add value to all that you do
for them. Develop a practice culture of
serving people at a very high level! No team
member is exempt from giving a super effort.
Guess what? The patients will be less
demanding of the practice because they trust
that you have their best interest at heart.
You are their friend and partner in the
process.
5. Team members must have authority to
handle patient concerns.
Don’t you hate it when you need a question
answered or a decision and the person says,
“I will have to ask my manager (doctor)”? As
doctors we need to develop what I call a
teach, train, and then trust style of
delegating decisions. This insures that
patients get the answer immediately. It
makes your team more competent and instills
high confidence in the minds of
patient/parents. This takes some of the
“hats” off of you!
6. No complaints?
Then something’s wrong! Encourage your
patients to tell you what you are doing
wrong, or how you can improve. Again, a
simple well constructed survey system (and
asking directly) will give you feedback on
what’s wrong from the client’s viewpoint…
and there are things wrong. Listen for
potential areas of concern, because most
patients don’t go out of their way to
complain. They just don’t refer others or
worse, tell several others of their
dissatisfaction. ViewPoint’s customizable
features such as Stacks, the Notepad, and
Patient Etc. allow you to easily record
concerns and highlight them for solutions.
7. Measure everything!
I do not mean micro management, which is an
enemy to our success. I mean using simple
methods to measure how you, your team, and
whole practice are doing. One example is
using simple practice benchmarking of key
stats we call it The Practice Dashboard™. It
keeps everyone informed and engaged and
makes us all responsible for how the
practice is doing. At least annually look at
key areas of practice to see what can be
done better, easier, more patient friendly.
It allows us all to step up, improve, and
make a difference. It’s a fun platform for
celebrations and rewards too!
8. Salaries are often unfair. Pay people for
their contribution to the practice, and
that’s not always just money.
Tie some compensation or perks ($’s, time
off, etc.) to productivity of the practice.
There is no universal answer to this issue,
yet the general idea is to find a way to
retain your Valued Partners™. They must know
clearly what has to be done to make the
practice profitable. They must also know it
has to make sense for the practice
economics.
9. Your mother was right. Show people
respect… It works!
Start with your team members, because they
will mirror the respect that you show them
to the patients. Patients and parents will
cooperate, comply, and refer many times
better if the entire team communicates
respect for them. Use sincere and
strategically applied words (and actions) to
make patients and parents feel important in
your practice. A patient who feels important
in your practice will pay big dividends. Now
a seamless request by the team for referrals
will be simple, natural, and will greatly
accelerate the growth of the practice. There
will be less stress, better cooperation, and
higher profitability.
10. Study the best! Borrow ideas and improve
them!
Take a certain amount of time to network and
study practices that can help you in
becoming better. I recommend having retreats
(2-4/year) for Practice Tune- Up’s. We apply
a system for addressing the aspects of the
practice you want to improve upon, what
works in world class practices that you can
apply. Whether it is do-ityourself or a good
consultant… just do it! Ortho II, not only
exemplifies, but creates solutions that will
greatly assist and simplify your journey
from good to world class. Patients, parents,
and referring dental practices love being
involved with people (practices) that aspire
to be truly special.In the world class
practice culture, the team causes them to
feel cared for, attended to, and served at a
high level. If you meet these criteria your
patients, parents, and referring practices
will refer a greater number of patients to
your practice.
Don’t be “lulled to sleep” by the
compliments that your orthodontic teams gets
regularly! Every practice gets that because
of what we do, not necessarily how elegantly
we do it. It’s nice, yet it can create a
blind spot. The enemy of being world class
is simply being good enough, causing us to
not “dig deep” and see how much better our
practice can really be. I frequently say,
“Don’t just make a good impression, make a
real Impact”.
Dr. Terry Daugherty received his Orthodontic
degree from UMKC, was an associate professor
at Baylor- Dallas, and practiced in the
Dallas area for 25 years. In 2000 he
co-founded Daugherty Consulting. He is a
full time speaker, author, practice coach,
and consultant. His time is spent helping
leaders get the most out of themselves,
their teams, and the practice. His
inspirational approach targets practice
mastery from the inside-out, with a focus on
simple practice growth systems, and an
emphasis on developing teams of Valued
Partners™. He is happy to send other
articles if you contact his web site at
www.daughertyconsulting.com or contact him
at 843 837-7770.
|
Page last updated on
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 12:21 PM.