How To Ask For Referrals

In this episode Dr. Danielle shares why asking for referrals is important, who to ask and how to ask for a referral without feeling salesy.

What is The Health & Wellness Practitioners Podcast?

Welcome to The Health & Wellness Practitioners Podcast! Dr. Danielle and other guest experts talk about everything from getting your practice started, developing your clinical skills, growing your practice YOUR way, and dealing with the real stuff life burnout and work/life balance. Whether you’ve been practicing for decades or just started your journey, you’ll find something here for you!

Welcome to the Health and Wellness Practitioners podcast. I am your host, Dr. Danielle Angela. In this show, I and my guest experts will talk about everything from getting your practice started to developing your clinical skills, growing your practice your way, and of course, dealing with the real stuff like burnout and work life balance. Whether you've been practicing for decades or just started your journey, you'll find something here for you. So take a deep breath and enjoy the show.

Is this episode two or is this episode 235? Well, I guess it's kind of both . Okay, I promise not to do that to you every episode moving forward, I am your host, Dr. Danielle Angela. Welcome back to the Health and Wellness Practitioners Podcast. In today's episode, I am sharing with you a how-to from 2019, if I'm not mistaken, and I do say it in the audio recording, which you're about to hear soon. This particular how-to is something that I recorded for my membership, Aligned Women, when it was specifically for women in chiropractic, but I wanted to share this how-to with you today because this information is so relevant to your practice. No matter if you work as a chiropractor, as a massage therapist, a reiki practitioner, a pelvic floor therapist, an acupuncturist, et cetera. So essentially, if you're a service provider in the health and wellness industry, but really for those of us that work hands-on with our patients and clients, this how-to is going to be really relevant for you.

HOW TO ASK FOR REFERRALS IN YOUR HEALTH & WELLNESS PRACTICE
One of the things I know about our community, myself included, is that we don't wanna spend time at screenings and health fairs. We don't wanna spend thousands of dollars on Facebook ads, and we don't want to spend all of our time wasting a lot of time on social media trying to get new patients or clients. So then what do we do? In today's episode, I'm sharing with you How To Ask For Referrals. So this is for you if you have an established practice, you have a base of patients or clients already, and you want to grow, this is the fastest way to do it. This is the fastest way to see more new patients or clients. Okay?

So a couple of disclaimers before we get into the how-to. Number one, I sound out of breath through a lot of the recording, and I'm not sure what's up with that. Those of you that are really into energetics might have a theory. I'm not sure. Maybe I was just nervous. I don't know. I didn't look nervous as I watched the recording, but maybe I was feeling it. So bear with me as you listen to the recording, because you do hear me kind of catching my breath sometimes. Secondly, there are some things that I say that I would definitely say differently now, but I also didn't want to stop that stop me from sharing this information with you. Okay. So just keep that in mind. There are some things that I say that I would say differently now, and that's okay. Lastly, I also want to share with you that as you listen to the recording of this, how-to, I could hear for myself how I've grown as a, um, teacher, as a leader. And I know that the way that I teach now is in a much more structured and organized fashion, although there was, there's organization to what I share with you in this recording. If there wasn't, I probably wouldn't repurpose it this way, but I just thought, well, this is really interesting to see how far I've come and also how far my team has come in creating content, if you will, to share with our members, our students, and our clients. All right, so on that note, then we're gonna dive into this how-to, from 2019, still super relevant today, How To Ask For Referrals In Your Health and Wellness Practice.

Hello, aligned women. Welcome to the April2019 How-to. This month we are talking about how to ask for a referral. Now, I know that if you were already in the habit of asking for referrals from your patients, you might be thinking, do I really need a how-to on this? Because it feels so simple and easy to you. But if asking for a referral is something that's brand new to you, it might feel scary to ask your patients to refer to your practice. What I share with you today will help you to make this process easier, simpler, and a whole lot less scary. All right, so first things first, let's talk about why you would even want to take that step to ask your existing patients for a referral.
WHY YOU SHOULD ASK EXISTING PATIENTS FOR REFERRALS
Referrals are the number one way that a chiropractic practice grows. Did you know that’s what the statistics show us? And the problem with this is that there's a great deal of uncertainty in this practice growth tactic, meaning we don't know when someone might refer a friend or family member to our practice. So it's unpredictable. But if you can make this process a little more active, then you can affect the frequency of how and when you are receiving referrals from your existing patients. Asking for a referral is something that is really quick, really easy, and is very effective when you have practiced this and you get comfortable with it. And it's way faster and way easier than screenings are health fairs. It's a traditional pillar, five kinds of ways that we can go about growing our practice. So if you are a woman here who is raising a family, and as you look at your time blocking, you'll know that the amount of time that you have to spend on marketing each week is limited. Then you know, you've gotta look for ways to grow your practice that don't take a lot of time and don't take a lot of energy.

“Referrals are the number one way that a chiropractic practice grows.”

So yes, you could host a giveaway or have a contest in your office to incentivize your patients to refer to your practice, but you can also keep it really simple and easy, and that's what I'll be showing you in this how to, another reason that you that I wanna encourage you or invite you to take the step of asking for referrals is because when you do that, it is like you drawing an energetic line in the sand or sticking your steak in the sand says, I'm serious. I want to grow my practice and I want to do it in a way that doesn't take me away from the things that I love and the people that I love even more.

“...asking for referrals is like you drawing an energetic line in the sand or sticking your steak in the sand that says, I'm serious. I want to grow my practice and I want to do it in a way that doesn't take me away from the things that I love and the people that I love even more.”

So, before we go further, I'm gonna share a story with you. In my first practice, someone had given me a cd. I believe it was Reggie Gold on the cd, but I could be wrong. I listened to this cd and on the CD was an audio, it was a recording of what I assumed to be a workshop or some kind of presentation where the presenter, maybe Reggie Gold, maybe not, was talking about how to receive referrals in your practice. And the suggestion was to create cards that you hand to your patients on perhaps their second or third visit with three lines for that person to write down three names and phone numbers, and then giving that card to your assistant in your office and having your assistant call those people and get them on your schedule. Now, I knew that that would probably be a really effective way to grow my practice if we did it.Perhaps the audio that I listened to did a great job of explaining how to do this and why it would work and why it was so important to do. And yet I could not bring myself to do it. I could not bring myself to even create the card, much less hand the card to someone and say, could you write down the name of three friends and family members who you think would also need chiropractic care so we can get them under care in our office? I just couldn't do it. But what was missing for me at that time was to take this same strategy and apply a different tactic, strategy being like the big picture and tactic being the smaller, more actionable thing that you do under the big picture. So the strategy was definitely right on, but the tactic needed tweaking for me.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS DOESN'T HAVE FEEL CHEAP OR MANIPULATIVE
After reading the book, The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, I really understood that there's a way that we can go about asking for help growing our businesses that doesn't have to feel salesy, and it doesn't have to feel cheap or manipulative. It can just be you just having a conversation with a person that's right in front of you, and being vulnerable, yes, but being transparent as well.

IS IT OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP?
So let's talk about your feelings. When I suggest asking for a referral on your practice, do you think that you shouldn't ask for help to grow your practice because you are a doctor and you shouldn't have to do that? Ever have that thought? Or how about you think that it's not okay to ask for help, period? Like asking for help is a sign of weakness. Maybe you're afraid that people will think you're desperate or that you're going out of business if you were to take this step, or maybe you're afraid that people will just think that you're salesy or like you're kind of scummy, right? I'm here to tell you that these thoughts are normal. These fears are normal, and the way that you will overcome those fears is by taking action. It's by doing the thing that you are afraid to do.

“...the way that you will overcome those fears is by taking action. It's by doing the thing that you are afraid to do.”

So think back to a time that you were afraid to do something. For me, I could think of one thing in particular. I was afraid to start chiropractic school, and the reason why I was afraid was because when I was an undergrad, I struggled to get to 10 o'clock classes in the morning, and it wasn't because I was out partying and up late the night before, just like boozing it up, no, it was because I was struggling with the adrenal fatigue from having already burned myself out working full-time while I was taking 18 to 21 hours of credits and undergrad. I didn't know what adrenal fatigue was then. So I just knew that I felt crummy and it was so hard to get out of bed in the morning. So, I went through my early to mid twenties like this, and then when I wanted to enroll in chiropractic school, I was really afraid because I didn't know if I could be in class by 7:20 in the morning. Yet somehow I made it happen. The only way that I could prove to myself that I could do it was by singing those enrollment forms, committing and doing it. By the way, if you're wondering how that story turned out, uh, went to class most days and graduated. So I think that it was a success .

WHO TO ASK FOR A REFERRAL
Next let's identify who you would want to ask. Think about this.
* Who's on your schedule this week that has had a great results in your practice?
* Who has a progress exam or a re-exam coming up soon?
* Who do you truly know wouldn't mind if you asked them if you could practice having this conversation with them, and they might even feel honored if you said, “Hey, you're one of my favorite patients. I am working on this thing that I feel really uncomfortable with, but I know that you probably won't care. You won't think that I'm stupid or silly if I have this conversation with you. So I wanna just let you know that I'm working on growing my practice, and I would love to have my practice full of more people just like you. The next time that you know someone's dealing with headaches and really, really struggling to get through the workday, will you let her know that I can help her? How did that sound? Did it sound salesy? , and getting feedback from that person?

But that's where you get to practice and that practice moves you through the thing that you are afraid to do. Now, I just said those words to you because I can do it easily because I've done it many times. I've practiced this a lot, both in my own practice and with you. I've practiced role-playing this with you as well. So my advice to you is if you are feeling like, oh, this is so scary, just loosen up, have fun with this. You don't have to make it serious or like, you know, it's not life or death. This is just learning a new skill and that's all that it is as you move forward with the rest of what I share with you and it's how you'll one day look back and go, “I used to be really afraid to talk to people about bringing in their friends and family, and now I don't care because I know that we get the opportunity to help them and it grows my practice at the same time, and it's easy and quick and simple.”

All right, so on that note, the next step here is to help the person in front of you, the patient that you're speaking to, see the opportunity that you both have to help someone else who is struggling. So go back to what brought that patient in for care. Was it low back pain? Was it headaches? Was it neck pain? Was it something else? Lactation issues, whatever. Clarify that the problem is better for them. And then ask for their permission to talk further about what's next. You can share your why; that you're excited about the results that they've had. You're excited about the results that you're seeing in a certain population of your patients. Maybe it is the kids that have sensory issues. Maybe it is the moms who are really stressed out that you want to grow your practice, you wanna make a bigger impact, you wanna maybe hire a new team member or provide a new job for someone in your community. Those are all really honorable ways or reasons to want to grow your practice.

Then next, hone in on your ideal patient avatar if it feels right, and see if you can use your ideal patient statement from the ideal patient's masterclass and frame it into a question. So let me give you some examples. “Jamie, do you remember that when you first came in for care, your back pain was an eight out of 10 on a daily basis? And look, today you've rated it one to two out of 10. That is a huge, huge improvement. I'm so excited that we've been able to help you feel so much better and you have done a great job with your healing. The next time you talk to a friend who's dealing with low back pain, would you let her know that we can help her here?” pause and wait for a yes or a no.

Most of the time, the person will say, oh, sure, and if they say no, that's okay too. Another example, “Sarah, you've been so committed to making breastfeeding work. When you first brought your son here, he was getting formula every day, and now you are exclusively breastfeeding and without any pain. Think of another mom that you know right now who is dealing with the same issues. She's really wanting to nurse her baby. If she's really struggling, will you please let her know that the work that we do here can help her?” Pause, wait for the answer, . All right, one more example. “Hey, Jane, remember when you mentioned that you thought your should be under care here? I'd be honored to help her with her headaches. Have you talked to her yet about scheduling a new patient exam?” Wait for the answer. If they say yes, then move on. If they say no, then suggest that the next step is to get her to do that. By the way, you don't have to offer any incentive here. You don't all have to offer a financial discount or any kind of gift. You get to just say thank you to the person that referred to your practice. All right?

So think about who you can practice this with. Maybe it's your bff. Um, you can practice in our group Q&A, with a one-to-one coach, with longtime loyal patients, or perhaps it's with someone else. Maybe it's your significant other. Maybe you can just practice with your kids and they'll give you some feedback on what they think about the words that you've chosen.

ADDING AUTOMATION
You can also add some automation to this process. Of course, the, the most obvious way is that in your messages, your texts or your emails that go to patients to remind them of their appointments or to follow up with them after appointments, that you include a spot in those messages that ask for them to help spread the word about your practice. You get to word this in whatever way feels good to you. You could also create an email series that helps to onboard your new patients. And there could be one email in particular in that series that really talks about who, why, and when to refer to your practice. Alright?

So the last thing that I wanna share with you here is to detach from the outcome. Please don't have these conversations with people expecting that they really are going to refer to your practice. You will see referrals, you will, but what really hurts us is when we have these conversations with our patients, we ask them to refer to our practice. They say they will; they'll be happy to. Then we don't see the fruits of that. We feel like we're not doing something right or that we're not doing a good enough job. And chances are very high that none of that is true. That it's really just about you letting go. The universe is way more powerful than you are alone.
* So do the work.
* Make the commitment.
* Follow through unattached from the outcome knowing that this work will pay off.

So on that note, if you love Aligned Women and know another woman in chiropractic who is struggling with a balance of motherhood and practice, or she simply wants to learn how to make more money without seeing more and more and more patients and taking more and more time away from her family, send her to align woman.com/enroll and tell her to become a member today. How's that for asking for a referral for you, ? I don't think that was so much of an ask. It was more of like a dot, because we know that the best way for aligned women to grow is when other women in chiropractic hear about aligned women from you and they hear your experience.

Alright, so that was our how-to on asking for a referral. I hope that it's been helpful for you and I'm excited to hear your comments and ideas and feedback in our Facebook group soon.

Okay, so that was the how-to on asking for referrals. Listen, I have a group coaching program coming up called KNOWN and KNOWN is all about becoming the go-to expert in your area. That could be your local area and it could be more than just local. It could also be virtual or online as well. But if you know that
* you don't wanna do screenings and health fairs
* you don't wanna waste thousands of dollars on Facebook or Instagram ads
* you're tired of tinkering around with a website and trying to optimize it
* you're looking for another way to grow your practice

KNOWN is for you. The truth of the matter is that your website, your email list, your social media following, your Google AD Word account could all be taken away from you without any notice, without any just cause, just because the owners of those platforms decided that you had violated their terms. However, the work that you do to build relationships with people in your local and global communities cannot be taken away from you, and they are the most important way to grow your practice. So if you want to see more patients or more clients, but you want to get those more patients or clients without all of this, never ending social media posting , spending thousands of dollars more than 10, like more than thousands of dollars, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars on ads, and without, you know, trying to learn how to build your website on your own to get it ranking number one in Google without wasting your weekends and your evenings away from your family at health fairs and screenings known is for you. It starts in March. So if you want more information, be sure to DM me on Instagram @DrDanielleAngela. I can wait to hear from you! We will be back next week with another How-to that's going to help you grow your practice. I'll see you then.

“The work that you do to build relationships with people in your local and global communities cannot be taken away from you, and they are the most important way to grow your practice.”

Hey, thanks so much for joining me for today's episode. If you love this podcast be sure to join our free community, The Health and Wellness Practitioner Group over on Facebook where you can continue the discussion and get to know other people in the community as well. We're a group of chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists, midwives, doulas, massage therapists, mental health therapists, counselors, nutritionists, and a list goes on. So come join us, get to know other people and build personal and professional relationships. You can by heading to DrDanielleAngela.com/Community and request to join the group.