Patient referrals are one of the main sources of new leads for many Physiotherapy Clinics.
At the Paul Gough Physio Rooms (PGPR) we’ve recently launched a fantastic referral letter campaign for new patients, across all 4 of our clinics.
Amazingly we’ve been able to celebrate success already… after instantly securing our first referral from the letter, and the front desk team have been receiving lots of calls from patients asking questions about the offer and how they can use it.
We can really see how, over time, this campaign is going to be incredibly successful and it’s going to be an exciting journey.
Your marketing assistant should be tracking what activity they are doing, and where all your leads and customers are coming from, both weekly and monthly. From this campaign, the end goal is to see an increase in leads and customers from referrals / word of mouth.
At the Paul Gough Physio Rooms, we report on the referral letter and create all the materials and the front desk / physio team are responsible for handing it out. Let us take you through exactly what we’re doing and why, plus we’ll show you how easy it is to implement this campaign in your own clinic…
The benefits of referral marketing
Referral marketing is one of the more powerful cost-effective strategies that will help you grow your business and expand your customer base.
A referral campaign allows your customers (past, existing and new) to become your company’s advocates by recommending your brand / service to their network of friends, family and colleagues. It encourages your customers to refer you to their network, by offering them an incentive or reward.
Ideally you should have a range of referral campaigns and offers running in your clinic at any one time.
Examples of referral campaigns: referral letter for new patients, referral letter for patients finishing their plan of care, referral for rewards prize draw, golden tickets, competitions for clinic check-ins on social media, and referral campaigns wrapped around your monthly campaign topic, such as friends and family month.
What’s the PGPR referral letter and offer?
To thank our patients for referring someone to us using this referral letter campaign, we will reward them with two free sessions of physiotherapy (that’s £140 worth of free physiotherapy treatment) – one free session for them, and one free session for the person that has been referred (for example, the friend or family member).
We’re encouraging our patients to refer within 30 days – having the offer valid for a limited time period creates urgency.
At PGPR, the complimentary session for our patient (the person that referred), is a 30-minute treatment session of their choice.
The complimentary session for the new referral, is a 30-minute assessment / evaluation.
When do PGPR hand out the referral letter?
At their first treatment session.
That is a great time to ask for a referral – we hand out the referral letter to all new private pay patients during the first session of their plan of care.
We explain how amazing the irresistible offer is face to face and how easy it is for the patient to get the offer by simply referring someone within the limited time period.
We use a blue dated stamp, to stamp today’s date at the top of both the referral letter and card, and we explain that the offer is only valid for 30 days from the stamped date – it’s important to stamp the date on both materials, in front of the patient and explain the urgency, as it draws attention to the offer only being valid for a limited time.
6 Steps to Get Started With Your Own Referral Campaign
- Write your own patient referral letter to suit your clinic – think of an offer that would be appealing to your perfect patient, and make sure to tell your story. Explain to the customer why you’re giving them this amazing offer! This should only take a couple of hours.
- Print 100 copies to get you started. TIP: You could even buy some envelopes and a dated stamp like us to really make a statement.
- Launch the campaign to your full team via a meeting and with a clear process.
- Start handing out the letter at the same point for every new patient. TIP: tracking can be a really simple process – each week leave 10 letters in the clinic, and then see how many are left at the end of the week vs how many patients should have received a letter. That will tell you how many referral packages are being given out by the team.
- Start tracking any referrals in your lead tracking process, so you can measure the success of your campaign over time. You’ll start to notice an increase in leads and customers from “Referral” / “Word of Mouth”
- Share your campaign and its success across your marketing spokes. (i.e. via Facebook, Instagram, Email, etc).
How to Add $100,000 in Cash Pay Revenue Within the Next 12 Months
Do you struggle to compete with other insurance-based clinics in your area and are tired of having trouble maintaining a predictable flow of patients?
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