Rinse and Repeat

It may take a number of follow-up visits to an office before it starts to pay off. Do not worry if you do not receive a referral from an office in the first three months that you are visiting. Keep at it. Your referral is right around the corner.

If you have met with the doctor, have been visiting with an office for four months, and still have not received a referral, you need to take a step back and analyze what is prohibiting them from referring to you. In this case, get in touch and we will talk about it.

Even in a slow internal medicine office, four months is long enough to come across at least one or two potential patients for referral. Does the doctor have another therapist that she refers to? If so, is that person related to her? How about the staff? Is there someone on the staff that you have not won over yet? Find out and target your efforts on that person.

After three or four months, you will begin to see your marketing efforts pay off. Visit after visit, you will begin to notice that receptionists start to greet you more warmly, that jokes begin to be shared between you and the staff, and that walking into the offices of your prospects is no longer frightening, but natural, relaxed, and routine. It is likely that the referrals from different offices may all come in at once initially, so be prepared for that to happen. Keep steady repeated visits to your prospects’ offices and you are sure to begin receiving referrals.

Summary of Stage III

Outreach activities are things that you do to engage your prospects and further develop the referral relationship that you have already established. Outreach activities are designed to keep you at the front of your prospect’s mind so that when it is time for them to make a referral, they think of you first. It is best to engage your prospects with outreach activities in such a way that you leave them talking about you.

Remember that when using outreach material, the material is a reflection of your brand. If you implement sloppy design and use cheap paper, this will give your prospects the wrong impression about you.

Perform outreach activities repeatedly to turn your initial connections into mutually beneficial relationships.

Checklist for Stage III

1. Prepare your outreach material.
2. Go on follow-up office calls with engaging material.
3. Meet with physicians and other important decision makers.
4. Repeat these steps on a regular basis with all of your prospects.