Making yourself referral worthy

Following on last week’s article about getting referrals the obvious question is: “What can I do to make my practice referral worthy?”

I’m glad you asked.

Here are my two biggest suggestions. Please note that they may seem mundane or trivial but nevertheless they are very powerful.

Run on time

It never ceases to amaze me how many dentists run chronically late – the big majority I’d say. Patients won’t complain to you because you are holding the needle but they don’t like it.

If you and your team can honestly say to patients “We run on time. We don’t keep you waiting,” then it is a real positive point of difference between you and most other dentists.

Patients will tell their friends and you will get referrals if you become the “on-time” dentist.

Same day emergencies

Patients love the fact that if they have a problem they can be seen same day and get it taken care of. For so many practices it is “Here are some antibiotics and we’ll see you middle of next week.”

I always had a policy to see any emergencies who called prior to 1.00pm on the day they called. My experience was that virtually no one abused the service.

If you get a patient out of a problem and do it promptly they become very grateful and will refer their friends.