Know-How Exchange : Strategy

You need to interview those that refer clients to facilities like yours to better understand their concerns. Why would they (or would they not) refer clients to your facility? How does the services, value, and price stack up? How can you prove it? What special needs do their patients have that aren't being adequately addressed? In these informational interviews, you're definitely NOT trying to sell your facility. You're trying to understand their needs, so that when it comes time to make a referral you make the doctor look good, take care of their needs, etc. You may be more likely to make a connection with medical case managers, rather than the physicians - if that's how it's done in you region. And if you're unsure how your facility stacks up to the competition, now's a good time to start getting familiar with them - and perhaps learning what their clients need (when someone leaves one of their facilities, where are they likely to go and why?).

Jay's advice is right-on.

Several years ago, we were retained by a client in a project to influence physician decisions and referrals. Like your situation there was not much to go on, so we were in a place not unlike the one in which you find yourself.

What we did was contact as many physicians and medical technicians as we could to conduct information interviews. As outside consultants it was easy for us to "play dumb" and just ask questions, listen to responses and take copious notes. After about two dozen interviews like this, we stepped back and analyzed our notes. Then we actually went back to a few of the people to ask a few additional questions.

By the time we reported findings, conclusions and indicated actions to the client, we probably understood the decision-making process better than anyone in the business. We created a plan for the client that they accepted and implemented. It's doubly gratifying because it worked even better than we expected.

My strong suggestion is that you follow the same "recipe" we did. Or hire us to do it for you! :)

No faulting the above advice.

One key to the issue is "Most referral sources are established/familiar with my company but have not been contacted for quite some time. "

Find out why this is happening - from the side of your business keeping them in the loop to discovering the reasons why they aren't taking any action (following up Mr. Goodman's advice here).

Do you have an email list? Can you set one up? A regular newsletter (4x per year?) would jog their memories. You could also use advertising in magazines, just quietly - or my favorite, the display network where you can target people with a degree of refinement. As a gentle and occasional prod, it will produce dividends.

You say "but it is the doctors that have a staff trained as gate keepers" - I meet this problem frequently and the display network of Google and other search engines is perfect as a medium. It does take time to master, and it does take time to get going, the result will be that your doctors are targeted directly and the minions are not standing in the way.

The other side to this is how do you treat these gatekeepers? Do you speak to them directly or do you treat them like the doctor who employs them? Changing the style of your writing can sometimes soften the gatekeeper into being the top-hatted doorman who gives you a welcome as you enter.