INSIGHTS PATIENT CARE WORD OF MOUTH How to build a thriving referral practice BY GEORGE B. ROTH I was recently treating a patient who had significant health challenges from a life-altering injury that threatened to end her career. Specialist after specialist had been unable to provide answers, or had told her she would have to live with her condition. This is a story I have heard so many times before. During our session she shared with me that she had chosen to see me because I had successfully treated a colleague of hers years ago with a similar condition, when all others had failed. It was because of this recommendation – from someone she trusted – that she took the initiative to seek treatment with me. Developing good patient relationship by providing excellent patient care and treatment outcomes make for a good referral program. THE SUCCESS-CONFIDENCE CYCLE As I reflect on my relationship with my patients in general, I recognize that the vast majority has been referred by someone who has experienced the benefits of my treatments. They are not just random individuals. They seek out my services based on a personal relationship with someone they trust. This type of interpersonal dynamic creates a level of confidence in the choice of any product, or service, that no marketing program could ever hope to match. As a result, my practice has evolved through an ongoing success-confidence-success cycle, based on the profound results of my treatments combined with the natural desire of my patients to share their experience with family and friends. CREATING A WIN-WIN-WIN SCENARIO word-of-mouth referral is very humbling and inspires me to rise to the occasion. This is both a challenge and an opportu-nity to meet, or exceed, their expectations and motivates me to continually advance my knowledge, to question my best practices and test them according to rigorous outcome meas-ures. When I encounter a situation that is not responding as well as I had hoped, I let my patient know that I am committed to finding out why, and to look for a better solution, even if it means re-assessing them at no charge. I consider this an op-portunity to innovate and research new applications and methods to provide even better results. This helps me grow as a practitioner – win number one. As a result of the underlying dynamic of my referral prac-tice, each patient is the recipient of this higher level of health care – win number two. And finally, each person that refers someone they care about, to receive the benefits of my ser-vices, also receives a tremendous amount of gratitude for helping that person overcome a health challenge – win num-ber three. Recognizing this level of trust and expectation, I also experience a heightened sense of responsibility to do my utmost to provide the highest level of care possible for everyone that comes to my office. The fact that a patient is in my office as the result of a DR. GEORGE ROTH is the developer of Matrix Repatterning, a gentle, clinically-proven form of structural therapy. He is the president and director of education of the Matrix Institute. For more information contact him through his email at [email protected] or visit www.matrixforpractitioners.com. 12 Canadian Chiropractor October 2017 DIFFERENTIATE YOUR PRACTICE As I recall, I once put a small ad in the newspaper (yes, people actually used to do that in prehistoric times!) when I opened my practice in 1978 – almost 40 years ago. Since then, I have never advertised my services and I continue to enjoy a thriving practice that is fulfilling and fun. People seek out health care services in response to certain basic principles that have very little to do with a slick ad cam-paign. One of these is the knowledge and skill of the provider. www.canadianchiropractor.ca Photo: Fotolia
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