Referrals are managed by priority (pain priority and by which provider is next at the practice). Referrals need to be booked into the appointment book no later than 1 business day after receiving the referral.
Referrals need to be added into the referral tracker (xxx Silvester) to ensure we manage these well.
In line with our Philosophy, we prefer to attract patients who:
Are not "bargain hunters" looking for the lowest price
Value the quality service we provide
Value the relationships we build and stay with us for years
Refer their friends to us
Over the years we've tried and tested a number of lead generation sources. The ones that rely on people searching for "dentist near me" or "emergency dentist" do not align with the profile above. Nor do the patients who want a large treatment like All-on-4s, and who are not prepared for, nor have the resources for, years of maintenance.
We have found that the new patients who come to us via a referral from an existing patient are most likely to understand our value proposition, and the gap between their expectations and our service is easier to manage.
Therefore, we must promote our patient referral program.
The promotion is as follows:
Reception staff or clinical staff ask existing patients to refer us to their friends, family and colleagues. For each referral who pays to see us (even a NP consultation), the referrer gets a $100 discount on their next treatment. The referred patient gets a $100 discount on their first treatment (not their NP consultation)
How do we manage and track this?
When a NP mentions their referrer, in Exact, make a green pop up note on both records. The note must mention the name of the other patient. In the "Referred by" field in Exact, select "Other / Patient" (not Patient / J BLOGGS". Once the discount has been applied, add "DONE" to the relevant pop up note and turn off the pop-up.
When processing payment in Exact, the Discount description must be "Promo - referral"