Continuously adding new laser therapy referral sources is important for the sustainable growth of your center. Your provider team has a large network of colleagues built from years of trust and mutual respect. Leveraging these relationships is an important strategy to help your center grow.
The best way to access these networks is in partnership with your individual providers. The Center Director role is to facilitate this process and to build confidence and awareness of your center’s fantastic patient outcomes!
Chapters
- Understanding the Opportunity
- Step-by-Step Guide to Leveraging the Extended Network
- Getting Started
- Crafting the Right Message
- Stay Connected
- Other Strategies to Build Engagement
Understanding the Opportunity
Building a new referral source can initially be labor intensive but is incredibly important and certainly worth the work. If each of your providers shares a minimum of five colleagues to engage with, the impact to your center’s financial performance can be considerable. When a new referral source adds laser therapy as a pain management strategy, it is an evergreen relationship that, if you continue to nurture, will continue to grow.
In addition, these new referrers will begin to educate their network of colleagues about laser therapy. This is a low cost, high yield, strategy to become the go-to pain management resource in your medical community.
Ideal Specialties
Below are examples of providers with patients who may benefit from laser therapy:
- Primary Care
- Physical Therapy
- Surgeons
- Interventional Pain Management
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation / Physiatry
- Podiatry
- Chiropractors
- High School and Collegiate Athletic Trainers and Coaches
- Wound Care Centers
Step-by-Step Guide: Leveraging the Extended Network
Getting Started
Collaborate with your provider team to strategize expanding your center’s reach via their network of colleagues and personal connections.
Gather contacts and discuss the best approach to each. Connecting directly is ideal, reaching out to a new relationship via their medical practice or clinic front desk is less productive. Your provider’s insights about the nuances of each relationship will be instrumental in customizing your outreach approach.
First contact is made by the provider to set the stage and share the benefits of laser therapy. They can then introduce the Center Director for deeper engagement. For example: “Hi Jim, connecting you with Amy per our discussion so she can give you more information about laser therapy. Keep me posted on how your patients do!”
Once introduced, keep the momentum going by following up quickly: “Dr. Smith asked that I contact you to set up a time to meet for a few minutes to talk about laser therapy.” Continue the conversation by diving into specifics and addressing questions.
Offer to bring breakfast or lunch to their office for a more casual connection. If that’s not an option, ask for a quick 5-minute phone call or virtual meeting. When it comes to scheduling a meeting, take what you can get. An in-person initial introduction is always best when possible. Respect the time frame you were given without going over, maybe your first contact is just a brief introduction and a quick sharing of materials. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and relationships are built over time.
Discuss potential patients and don’t hesitate to ask for a referral: “Is there anyone we can help?” Consider offering a first patient free of charge to build the relationship. This is a great opportunity to review our referral form, and create a process to open the door to continued referrals.
Offer potential referral sources a free treatment package! A passionate testimonial for laser therapy comes from someone who has experienced the benefits firsthand. This is an excellent strategy to engage a provider to add laser therapy to their model of care.
Offer to give a short presentation to a larger group at their clinic, medical office, or hospital. Assess for unique learning needs prior to the event by asking “Is there anything specific I can address with my content?” This allows you to prepare and confidently deliver a great experience. Specific content and slide decks can be found on the OL Knowledge Center.
A potential pitfall is when communication stalls or the contact is unresponsive. Don’t take it personally; it’s not uncommon. These are busy professionals and it may have fallen off their radar. Success comes from staying focused on sharing this incredible treatment option and creating opportunities to keep the conversation alive. The extra effort is worth it to build a new referral source that keeps giving once started.
Crafting the Right Message
When communicating with medical professionals, ensure the content you share emphasizes the science behind laser therapy, which includes clinical studies and highlights specific indications. Use your time together to answer the question: How will this provider add laser therapy into their current model of care as an additional tool? The OL Knowledge Center has many educational resources.
Create an OrthoLazer Outreach Kit including an introduction letter, a paper referral form or access to a digital referral form, educational clinical content, and your business card. Use the OrthoLazer brochure as a folder and clip it with a branded alligator clip! You can find these materials in the OL Knowledge Center and Marketing Webstore.
Share metrics regarding your center’s Patient Experience Data and highlight your Google reviews. This amazing feedback is undeniable and will be an influential part of your work in building new relationships.
Browse the OL Knowledge Center for additional resources and materials to support your outreach to a variety of specialties. If you can’t find what you need, reach out to the Franchise Success Team with a request for materials.
Stay Connected
Now that you’ve had some success in generating a new referral source, communication is critical to nurture these fresh relationships. It’s the difference between a provider sending one patient or becoming a top referral source.
Always acknowledge and reward referrals. Make sure the provider who made the connection with your new referral source is aware of the first few patient referrals so they can thank them as well.
Send a handwritten thank you note or a text (with no Personal Health Information) in the beginning of a new referral relationship. “Hi Dr. Jones, referral for LM received. Thank you so much, we will take great care of her!”
Ask the provider what type of follow-up information they would like regarding the patients’ outcomes and the best way to share it. Good feedback helps ensure quality care and might provide insights for ongoing improvements. It’s important to share positive results of a patient’s experience with the referral source so OrthoLazer remains top of mind as a valuable addition to their model of care.
Periodically check in with your referral sources. Continue sharing information about indications that respond well to laser therapy, ask how you can improve their experience, and keep the communication flowing! This is especially important when a referral source stops sending patients. A good connection can prevent this from happening, but if it does, open communication is more important than ever in understanding what went wrong and how we can repair the relationship.
Other Strategies to Build Engagement
Encourage your providers to invite potential referral sources for a free treatment package and let the treatment speak for itself. Create a white glove experience and ensure that scheduling of visits is smooth sailing. As the Center Director, providing your mobile number for direct access to scheduling and questions is best.
Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) associated with your provider team are a valuable resource for patient referrals. It is important that your owner team sets expectations with their APPs for referring to OrthoLazer and the resources and processes to be followed. Learn more about engaging your provider team’s APPs here.
Order referral pads from the OrthoLazer Marketing Webstore. Share these with your top referral sources to help make it easier for them to refer! You can also share our digital referral form if they prefer a paperless pathway.
Host an Open House at your center. Create an invite list of potential referral sources in partnership with your providers. This is your time to shine! Your provider team should attend and welcome their contacts.
Host a clinical educational session at your center and invite your provider as the presenter. Collaborate to strategize a topic appropriate for your target audience. For example, “Laser Therapy and Chronic Pain” is a topic of interest to a broad clinical audience. Having the provider send an invitation directly to their connections is an effective approach to encourage attendance. Invite your guests to bring a colleague and be sure to capture the contact information of all attendees so you can follow up for further relationship building.
Tapping into your provider team’s network is like mining gold from your own backyard! With systematic outreach, education, and thoughtful nurturing of relationships, the Center Director can drive patient acquisition and revenue growth. The initial investment of time will definitely pay off in long term center performance.
