Referrals are important for any businesses, but to dental specialists, referrals are everything. 

On average, 95% of Endodontist's, Oral Surgeon's, Periodontist's and Prosthodontist's practices are made up from doctor referrals.  Orthodontists and Pedodontists are closer to 40%-50% but are still heavily reliant on GP referrals.

Increasing referrals has always been a top priority to dental specialists, but optimizing and capturing each referral given is often overlooked. 

Specialists spend a tremendous amount of time, money and resources, showering their referring doctors with gifts, cookies and golf outings. They have given advice and performed excellent service to past patients. In every way, they deserve each and every referral given to them. 

Yet, 40% of those referred do not even pick up the phone and schedule an appointment. 

I recently asked a specialist what he thought about that lost 40%.  He indicated that he knew that many referrals weren't coming in, but figured that they must have good reasons.   

Most patients are motivated to visit the specialist directly following the appointment but over time lose that motivation for various reasons. 

There are many reasons such as priorities, finances, time, lack of urgency, and not knowing the specialist. Some of these reasons seem out of the specialist’s control, but in reality, there are many reasons that are actually in the specialist’s control, or should I say, could be in their control if only the specialist actually knew about the patient and had the opportunity to talk with them.  

If there is no information given to the specialist about each referral, there is absolutely no control over the capturing of the referral. 

So why not tell the specialist about referrals sent?  

Many general offices call and help the patient set up the appointment. But as you know, many more offices do not. Most referrals come at the end of an appointment. The patient is tired and doesn’t know their schedule. The secretary is in a hurry and has little time to look up the specialists who accept the patient’s insurance. The last thing anyone wants to do is spend a ton of time calling, writing, and faxing information to inform the specialist that a patient is coming. 

So what happens? 

A business card is handed to the patient and with a 

good luck, the General Dentist PUNTS the patient out the door;

Resulting in 40% failure rate.

Let’s take an Oral Surgeon as an example. The average Oral Surgeon receives around 7 referrals a day. The average revenue received from each patient is around $2,000.  Because most referrals are not emergencies or associated with pain, (i.e. Implants, Wisdom Teeth etc..) 40% never make an appointment. 

So in reality, 12 referrals are being sent each day, but only 7 are calling to schedule an appointment.  That's potentially $10,000 lost each day.   

Now, keep in mind, these referrals aren’t just a mention of the specialist's name in passing. These patients were specifically instructed to see that specialist. 

As a specialist, you should know about each referral given. There are a few ways to increase the communication between the general dentist and the specialist.

1) Phone calls. Your secretary can call or text each office, each week and ask them if there were any referrals given. If the office is willing and if they kept a record, they can give you the name and phone number of those referred. With that information, you can figure out who has come in and who has not. A quick phone call to the patient can make all the difference. 

2) Bio-Page / Website. One of the reasons why patients are hesitant to call is  that they don’t know you and haven’t built that relationship of trust with you. Being referred by their trusted doctor is a great start, but for them to see you and read about you, helps them follow through. They begin to see for themselves why you were referred. 

At the close of your secretary’s phone call, she should provide the patient with a link to your website.

3) Reports. As you find out who is being referred and by which doctor, keep track of this information. This information can help you strategize your energies and efforts. You will learn the doctors you need to thank and those who you need to spend more time with. Many directors keep track through basic excel worksheets.  Although this works well, it still requires time and energy.  Automated reporting is preferable.  You will want to have automatic notifications when GPs have slowed down their referring. 

Each referral should be tracked by your scheduling coordinator from lead to scheduled to procedure completed and back to the referring doctor.  Just tracking the patient through the process helps the patient immensely and improves conversion by 30%.

5) Drip system. Those patients that are just not ready to come in now shouldn’t be forgotten. They should be added to a list and called, emailed or text each month. This contact is very soft in nature. It is just to help keep you at the top of their mind so when they do decide to get the procedure done; they come to you.

Making all those phone calls can be taxing on not only your secretary, but on the offices being called each week. 

There are different referral systems that automate these 4 steps making them more simple and effective. A good referral system helps decrease your time and energy, yet creates far superior results. 

One of these systems created specifically for referral optimization is ReferralWeb. ( www.referralweb.info ) .

ReferralWeb not only notifies the specialist, but also sends a text to the patient with driving directions and information about the specialist.

General Dentists are able to share files and always see the status of the patient on the dashboard.