The Front Office

Asking for referrals

Background

When you consider the type of patient you would like to have in your practice, you may have to look no farther than your current patients. Patient surveys show that most new patients find out about the dental practice from friends or family who are current patients. This personal contact is often the best way to advertise your practice.

Methods for Obtaining Referrals

The most effective way to get referrals is to ask patients. Focusing specifically on your most preferred-type of patients for referrals, the entire dental staff can ask for referrals to their friends and family.

To implement this strategy, it’s important to first become comfortable with the prospect of asking for referrals and then bring the staff into the conversation. Together you can make a list of the characteristics you’d like to see in your patients.

Next you should practice ways to ask for

Patient Factors

It’s important to let patients know they are special and valued in your practice. You can tell them that a referral from them would be a compliment to the practice. Patients then are aware that you are open to receiving new patients—something that they may not have considered previously.

Patients usually make referrals based on emotion rather than logic. Therefore you want to appeal to their emotions through the environment, including personal and office appearance. You should also consider the

Discussion

The objective for all patient care is to create an experience that overwhelms the patient with positive feelings. This type of encounter can overshadow any small problems that may occur. Just meeting expectations is not enough to generate the type of referral that you want. You need to show that your practice delivers outstanding and memorable service.