Secret 2: Be Mindful and Respectful of Their Situation

If you walk into a doctor’s office and the gatekeeper is on the phone, or there’s a bunch of people in the waiting room, understand that you are entering a situation that could feel stressful and out of control to them.

Your attempts at building rapport and bugging the gatekeeper about referrals may not be at the top of their priority list. So don’t lean over their desk while you wait for them to get off the phone. Wait patiently somewhere else.

Then, when the business subsides, say their name as you greet them, and ask this question:

“Am I catching you at a bad time?”

You can also ask if you’re catching them at a “good” time, but ‘bad’ might work better because it triggers the human response of wanting to avoid rejecting someone.

People don’t want to say yes to this, because a part of us feels like it might be rude or offensive or hurtful. It’s a natural reaction to say ‘no’ in this situation, even just to be polite.

But to be sure, you can even follow up with...

“You seem really busy today, is this how it always is around here?”

Again, you are showing that you acknowledge how busy they seem, and that you respect their time.

Secret 3: Ask the Right Questions

At some point, the gatekeeper will ask how they can help you. But remember your goal, especially if this is your first time talking to them. You are not trying to seal the deal. You are simply having an invisible ‘cup of coffee’ with them.

This is just a conversation, and you’re hoping to get some basic information so you will know what to talk to the doctor about if you get the chance.

❌ Don't Ask: Can I be put on your referral list? (Right away)

✅ Do Ask: What do your favourite physiotherapists do that makes you like working with them?

✅ Do Ask: What types of services do you typically refer out to specialists?

You might ask the gatekeeper which kinds of services the doctor refers out, if you want to go that far.

But in this first conversation, you really want to just build rapport. Notice what’s on their desk, and ask a question about something interesting you see. Check out their social media profiles before coming in, and ask about something you saw on there, especially if it’s a common interest you share.

Keep asking questions, and you will keep the conversation going. But don’t drag on forever. Be sure to make it clear who you are, that you run a clinic and are curious about their referral process.

Depending on their answer to this, you can then plan your next step. Because in many doctors’ offices, the doctor doesn’t make referrals. They just have a list of providers they use. In that case, you want to be on that list!

Check out this quick clip on, '7 Things to Say to a Doctor if you Want More Referrals'...

Secret 4: Ask to Get on Their Specialist Referral List 

This is why the conversation and the rapport needs to be good. When the topic shifts to referrals, you want to know their process. You must BE CLEAR about this. If they have a list and if you have won over the gatekeeper, it should be pretty easy to get them to put you on that list.

Tell them your name and your specialty, and confirm they have added you.
Watch this short clip from the same video about this very important topic.

If another person in the office makes referral decisions, find that out and get permission to speak to them. In many cases, the doctor doesn’t even make these decisions, so knowing the doctor doesn’t do you much good. Again – be clear about their referral process, and make the appropriate request to the right person.

Make the appropriate request to the right person.

Secret 5: Don't Lose Any Referrals Sent to You By the Doctor

Once you’ve gotten on their referral list and made a good connection with the gatekeeper, you will start getting referrals. But don’t take this for granted – you still have to book them as patients!

If these patients call you but:

• No one answers the phone 
• Someone does answer but they don’t book an appointment in the first call

How well you treat these patients will eventually make it back to the gatekeeper. Your reputation as a referral source is at stake.

And if you really want to maximize your booking rate from new patients, there are at least 7 types of outbound calls that will dramatically increase your revenue and cost you nothing in your marketing budget. And when you make these calls, you will have a higher success rate if you use good phone scripts like this one.

Using these strategies, you can then track your data –a major advantage of direct marketing over brand marketing– and know how well your marketing strategies are working, including your marketing to doctors’ offices. 

Building systems like these are what Jamey and Rick both teach to the clinic owners who come to them for:

• Help to grow revenue
• Increasing efficiency  
• Improving patient operations

➡️ Get 11 tips for creating an amazing clinic culture HERE ⬅️

Now this is the only part of the framework of marketing to doctor's offices. If you would like to get the full framework that the best clinics use to befriend the gatekeeper and receive doctor referrals, then I'd like to invite you to take the FREE Mystery Caller Audit.

We'll call your front desk and tell you what they did well, what they need to work on, and exactly how to handle the objections they had trouble with to dramatically boost your booking rate from your phones. This way, when a referral from a doctor calls your clinic you know that they will be taken care of over the phones.

We will also give you the phone scripts playbook that contains 9 proven phone scripts to help you turn more of these referrals into patients and confidently handle virtually any objection they’ll throw at you. You can take the FREE Mystery Caller Audit Here

FAQ

1. Why can’t I get past the front desk gatekeeper?