Strong relationships are the basis of personal and professional success. We have many different types of relationships. People from all walks of life can look at their own lives and see that family, friends, coworkers and business associates all have played a role in their success.
Deliberate relationships are typical in the business world. Both parties involved in a deliberate relationship are motivated by self-interest ("How will this relationship benefit me?").
All dentists have deliberate relationships with patients, specialists, salespeople and other business owners. The deliberate relationships with patients are the most crucial for long-term practice success.
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SELECTING DELIBERATE RELATIONSHIPS
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Deliberate relationships can make a tremendous difference in patient referrals to a dental practice. I am asked often about how to increase the number of patients referred to a practice. The answer is not simple. There are many forms of marketing, but most are erratic in their results. If marketing were 100 percent predictable, anyone could apply a certain approach and attract all the patients he or she desired.
One of the best and most predictable methods of increasing referrals to a dental practice is through the deliberate relationships established by the dentist and the team. The dentist can identify certain key patients who have the highest potential to refer others to the practice. These people often have informal networks and, with the right incentive, the ability to refer new patients over time.
Before selecting any patients as likely candidates for deliberate relationships, the dentist and the team should establish a system for handling these relationships. This could include
- – thank-you notes and/or telephone calls;
- – ways in which to express appreciation for referrals;
- – convenient appointment times;
- – evening follow-ups by telephone.
Once a system has been put in place, the dentist and team then can begin to develop certain deliberate relationships. The obvious relationships to cultivate are those with prominent patients in the practice, which may include people such as a company president, a bank manager or a person well-known in the community. Also consider patients who routinely come in contact with large numbers of people, such as personal fitness trainers, community center workers, stay-at-home parents (who often network with other stay-at-home parents), store clerks, human resources employees—all of whom potentially can refer many patients to the practice. If the care the dentist provides is excellent, he or she will find that these patients usually will gladly refer friends, family members, neighbors and acquaintances.
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MAINTAINING DELIBERATE RELATIONSHIPS
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Dentists whose practices comprise, for instance, 2,000 patients should seek to develop deliberate relationships with between 1 and 3 percent of those patients. A dentist could strive for an even greater number of such relationships, but he or she must be mindful of the fact that maintaining a strong focus on these patients takes a considerable amount of time and effort. My observation is that over time, patients with whom the dentist has a deliberate relationship have the ability to refer 10 to 20 times more patients than does the average referral source.
It is important to add new deliberate relationships to the established ones through the years. Even dentists who know many people gradually will run out of referral opportunities unless these practitioners are in a situation in which they constantly have contact with new people.
Maintenance of the deliberate relationship is important. As it matures, these patients will become loyal to the office and refer a steady stream of new patients. In reality, this is how most practices are built in the startup phase, as patients are acquired and refer other patients. Deliberate relationships allow this word-of-mouth concept to continue on a regular basis, by focusing on the patients who are the most likely to refer others.
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CONCLUSION
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Deliberate relationships can make a tremendous difference in the overall number of referrals to a practice. Obviously, dentists should provide all patients with excellent customer service. However, if the dentist and the team take special note of patients who have large networks or the opportunity to meet many people and they apply a deliberate relationship system to these patients, patient referrals can increase significantly. In some cases, patients who have deliberate relationships with the practice will refer others for certain services that they themselves have received, such as cosmetic dentistry or implant dentistry.
One of the best ways to build a practice is by word of mouth. Deliberate relationships take this strategy to another level, by focusing on patients who have the potential to refer others to the practice and motivating them to continue doing so. The concept of deliberate relationships has worked extremely well for a number of dentists and helps to build a desirable number of patients and referrals over time. This is an inexpensive, relationship-oriented method of increasing patient referrals. And it can be a great way to practice.
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SELECTING DELIBERATE...
MAINTAINING DELIBERATE...
