ReSound Regional Sales Manager, Jeanne Schneeberger, was waiting to pick up lunch for a customer at a local diner, when she overheard a conversation among a group of six men.
One man spoke about the difficulty he was having hearing, especially in noise. He said commercials were too loud and people talked too fast on TV, and he had a problem in reverberant rooms. He said he bought hearing aids for $6000 at an office (not selling Resound at that time) 2 years ago and they were no better than his old ones. A few shared their problems, but the focus was on this one gentleman.
Jeanne noticed that the one man wearing hearing aids was not saying anything. Suddenly the man wearing hearing aids, pulled out his wallet, took out a “referral card” and told this other man to go and see Audrey Freeman at Best Hearing and he gave her the card. He then raved about her services.
This is a testament to the importance of getting the referral cards into the patient’s wallet. If he didn’t have it, the referral would not have happened (or the man would not have remembered the name/location).
A formalized referral program is designed to help you ask every satisfied patient to refer their friends and family members to your practice. It provides you with the tools to empower those patients to refer new patients to your practice in a very cost effective manner.
Things To Remember:
- The true success of this program stems from asking every patient for their referrals. Remember, satisfied patients are the key to growing your business.
- Patient referrals are one of the most cost effective ways of procuring additional sales.
- Patients who refer once will likely continue to refer time and again, so keep them supplied with referral cards.
- It’s human nature to want to help someone who has helped you.