Getting Patient Referrals, But They're Not a Good Fit? Try This.

If you're getting patient referrals, but most of them are not a good fit, I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way.

And in fact, there's quite an easy fix.

We'll look at the symptoms, causes, treatments, and prognosis regarding this issue so you can start seeing the right patients for your practice and start disqualifying the wrong ones even before they contact you.

Because no one wants to waste time on pointless intro calls that go nowhere.

You want compelling conversations with soon-to-be happy patients.

As a health education specialist with many years of experience inside the marketing world, this is an issue I've seen multiple doctors want to address in their own practice.

So, don't sweat it.

Let's see if you're in a similar boat and lay out a simple treatment plan for you to fix this.

Symptoms of Poor-Fit Patient Referrals

Starting with symptoms, let's unpack what you might commonly notice after you meet with the potential patient that was kindly sent your way.

You could feel like:

• This was a waste of your time and theirs because, for whatever reason, you're clearly not the right provider for them.
• The vast majority of these calls just don't become patients.
• They tend to discover some detail about your practice during the call and that turns them away. (e.g., cash-only, subscription-based concierge, you don't treat their specific case)

And if you experience any one of those symptoms, there's something wrong, right?

But again, it's not uncommon.

This typically has at least one of two causes.

Causes of Misaligned Referrals and Unqualified Leads

If you spent time thinking about this, you may have found that:

1. Your messaging is unclear, or
2. Whoever's referring people to you doesn't really understand your practice

Which ultimately is due to unclear messaging.

Unclear Practice Messaging

When you don't consistently promote your practice with the same concise and clear messaging, everyone starts to have their own idea of what you do.

All of a sudden, there's like a hundred different versions of you floating around in the minds of the public, which is why you can't get the same type of person who's a perfect fit for your practice when you take those referral calls.

This is how messaging becomes unclear:

• You don't have a one- to two-sentence elevator pitch that you've refined for people. So, you just say whatever comes to mind when discussing your practice.
• You generalize your practice and don't disqualify anyone. (e.g., “Your unique path to wellness begins here” or “Get the best personalized integrative medicine healthcare.”)
• Your website, your directory listings like IFM, your social media—all those platforms send a different message.
• Providers have to rely on memory based on your unclear messaging when they refer you.

With those causes in mind, let's look at the most effective treatment protocol in your arsenal with little to no side effects.

Treatments: How to Fix Your Referral Problem at the Source

First and foremost, you've got to create that elevator pitch.

This is something you'll hear me talk about all the time, and I call it your core clinical promise, which simply is a one- to two-sentence story of the patient journey.

Let's break it down with an example.

Your core clinical promise contains these four components:

• Who you help
• Their main health problem they're concerned about
• What outcome they desire
• How you get them to that outcome

And you'll notice you can't be abstract here, and you can't really speak to multiple types of patients or conditions.

So, you have to pick the ideal patient your practice treats.

This doesn't mean it's forever.

It doesn't mean you can't treat other types of patients that will occasionally slip through the cracks and get in touch with you.

But the beautiful thing when you define your core promise is that you flip your problem on its head.

You go from being frustrated when the majority of your calls aren't the right fit to then getting excited when you have the opportunity to take on a unique case because it's no longer common.

It's important to note that you could have 30-plus of these intro calls every single month, and they could all take up about 30 minutes of your day.

So, optimizing these saves time and makes more money—something we all want!

Example: A Strong Core Clinical Promise

Here's an example of a solid core clinical promise.

This is for a longevity doctor. Let's say his name is Dr. Van Frankenworth, lol.

Who he helps are people at risk for dementia or Alzheimer's.
Their main health concern could be early brain changes.
Their desired outcome is to reduce their risk.
And how he helps them is through advanced testing and personalized prevention plans.

Here's the core promise written out:

"We help people at risk for dementia or Alzheimer's identify early brain changes and reduce their risk through advanced testing and personalized prevention plans."

Now, that's clear messaging.

And when Dr. Van Frankenworth is at a dinner party or a networking event or at the dog park, he's got a clear, concise answer to everyone's favorite question:

What do you do?

Now he's controlling the narrative about his practice. And those referrals are going to improve.

Reinforce the Message Everywhere

So, consider your experience, your expertise, and your passion to develop your core clinical promise.

And then the rest is easy.

Update every place you're located online to reflect this core promise:

• Your website homepage
• Your bio and directories
• Business descriptions such as on your Google Business Profile
• Social media accounts

This reinforces your messaging.

And marketing is all about making your message stick. It just takes consistency and repetition.

Support Referrers With Physical Materials

The next thing to do is have business cards and brochures available for providers and professionals who might refer you.

This way, they don't have to rely as much on their memory.

Even though, if your messaging is good enough, they will know exactly what you do.

But when they have something tangible to refer to, they'll be less likely to send someone your way that's not the best fit.

Use FAQs and Objections to Pre-Qualify Patients

And for the final element of your treatment plan—which is especially useful if nothing else works—is to create a living document that makes note of common questions and objections that are raised during your intro calls.

This can be a game changer when it comes to disqualifying patients.

You don't want to get through 14 minutes of your call and then they tell you it's a deal breaker because you don't work with insurance.

You also don't want to spend every call answering the same questions over and over again.

So, identify those FAQs and common objections and address them front and center everywhere your business is present online, and add them to the brochures you hand out to your partners, too.

Adjust the Practice If Needed

Here's something to consider.

If you find that there's a detail about your practice that's a deal breaker for many potential patients who would otherwise be a great fit, you might consider updating your practice to accommodate them if possible.

For example, if they're not comfortable with the subscription to start and would rather pay per visit, it might be a good idea to build that doctor-patient relationship first on a pay-per-visit basis.

Then try to convince them of the benefits of your membership plan.

Then everyone wins.

Now that I've laid out a treatment protocol, let's look at how long it should take to overcome this ailment.

Prognosis: How Long Until Referrals Improve?

Depending on how prevalent you are online and in your community, you can greatly improve your referrals in about 4 to 8 weeks.

Here's a typical timeline:

• Week 1: Define your core clinical promise
• Weeks 2–4: Update your messaging online and create new print materials, such as business cards and brochures
• Weeks 4–8: Take note of FAQs and objections and update your messaging and practice accordingly

That's all it takes to transform your referrals. You got this!