[00:00:00] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Hey everyone. Today I wanna talk about something that’s hitting way too close to home for a lot of group practice owners right now, and that’s the referral slowdown. If you’ve been feeling like your phones have gone a little too quiet lately, like inquiries have dipped, or that once reliable referral source is just not sending clients over anymore.

[00:00:18] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: It’s not just you. You’re not doing anything wrong. The rules have just changed. No one told us, and most of the old advice isn’t working anymore. So I wanna dig into what’s actually happening, and more importantly, what you can actually do about it. Welcome to The Group Practice Exchange Podcast, where we talk about all things related to group practice ownership.

[00:00:41] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: I’m your host, Maureen Werrbach Hermann.

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[00:03:04] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So one, referrals are down, but demand isn’t. Here’s the thing. Client demand is still really high post covid. People are still needing therapy, of course, but referrals have slowed down for a lot of group practices, and it’s not because you’re doing something wrong, it’s just because that the entire landscape has shifted.

[00:03:21] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So we’re playing in a different field right now. There’s market saturation. So many new practices have opened, especially post covid. And that just being open for business isn’t enough anymore. Pre COVI, you needed to have a brick and mortar and post covid. We’re seeing practices be able to start without a brick and mortar.

[00:03:41] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: It’s a much lower cost investment to start a solo or group practice, which just means that there is less visibility for each individual practice. Secondly, there’s the insurance takeover and tech takeover. Big systems, think hospital networks and telehealth platforms. They’re keeping referrals in-house and dominating Google ads because they have the budget to do it.

[00:04:02] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: And then let’s not forget integrated care. I. Primary care providers are often referring internally or to their own networks, meaning those outside referrals are just getting a little bit slimmer and add to that outdated marketing methods. And we’ve got a perfect storm of invisibility. So the real drop off isn’t just external, it’s also internal too.

[00:04:23] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So even when someone does inquire, there are so many places along the way that potential clients can drop off. From the first client contact to retention, there are, I think, five potential failure points within a practice. Once a client makes an initial inquiry where a drop off can happen, so one is they reach out, but no one responds fast enough.

[00:04:47] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Maybe you don’t have an intake person. Maybe you’re still the person that’s answering intake calls in between client sessions. Two, you’re responding, but the scheduling process is really clunky or it’s confusing. So think you have 800 different ways for them to schedule an appointment, and it’s just really complicated for them.

[00:05:05] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: And people want ease. Three is a schedule, but they don’t show. And that’s a really easy fix because our technologies that we use now have so many ways to automate the check-in process to ensure that they know that they have an appointment coming up and that they’re gonna show up. Uh, four is that they show, but they don’t come back.

[00:05:23] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: And so there’s a few things that can, can play a role in that, whether it’s your intake person making poor referrals to the wrong fit therapist or therapists not having a good intake process for ensuring that the client does come back. And then lastly is they stay, but the dropoff happens before real progress actually happens, meaning they leave before they’re actually retained.

[00:05:46] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So this isn’t just about marketing or networking, although those can be issues. It can be about systems. It’s about your intake flow, your follow up process, and your conversion from inquiry to client. So here’s something that I dive deep into in this upcoming workshop. Marketing and networking are not the same thing, and people like to interchange these two things.

[00:06:06] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Marketing is about visibility. It’s making your practice findable. Networking is about connection. It’s making your practice a place that is recommended by others. So both are necessary, but most practices will lean way too hard on one and ignore the other. You need to be able to blend both marketing and networking into your process for getting new clients.

[00:06:29] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So that means SEO ads and social media, but it also means intentional relationship building. So with networking is being really intentional about building relationships with people who are already connected to your ideal clients. One method that I find to be really helpful comes from Mike Mitz. In one of his newer books, he calls it the Dad Marketing Method, and dad stands for differentiate, attract, and Direct.

[00:06:54] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So differentiate what makes your practice stand out. Right. What’s different about your practice from the other practices in your area? Attract is grabbing their attention, potential client’s attention in ways that actually speaks to your ideal clients. And it needs to be different, right? It can’t be the same ways.

[00:07:12] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: We can’t attract people in the same ways that other practices do. An example that he uses in his book for attracting is with a real estate company. As you know, every real estate company will put signs on yards of places that they’re selling houses and it has their like logo on it, and it, that’s how the neighborhood knows that their, you know, business is the one that’s selling that house.

[00:07:35] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Now, I. In his book, one example was of a real estate company who instead of using like a static sign on the front lawn, they used one that moved when the wind blew. It would make it kind of blow like a windmill in a way. And just that small differentiator made people’s eyes gravitate to it more. And so there was more visibility to that sign than the regular static signs that every other real estate company has.

[00:08:01] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So just a quick example of attract and then direct. The last D in the DAD acronym is making it really easy for them to take action, right? So a call to action. And a lot of our websites have a hundred different ways that clients can potentially. Schedule an appointment, right? We have text or call or email or contact form on our website, or our EHR has a scheduling system.

[00:08:26] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: And although you think that it might make it more accessible to potential clients, it can also just make it more confusing where they just drop off and say, you know, forget it. This is too complicated. So most practices stop at being informative, and that’s just not enough anymore. You have to be able to differentiate and be really direct.

[00:08:44] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So, moving into the next thing about how you. Build relationships differently from a networking perspective is stop trying to connect with everyone. Pick a few key referral sources. Maybe it’s a couple of pediatricians, a school counselor or a local psychiatrist. Go deep instead of going wide, right? Don’t try to cast your net and network with 15 different places.

[00:09:07] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: I tend to, for every location that I have, is have three to five really core relationships for each locations, and that’s it, right? And then I’m ensure that I have really clear and deep relationships with those three to five places. Ask your clinicians, where are your clients already getting care? Use that intel to build real relationships with value, not just saying, Hey, we take referrals from you.

[00:09:34] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: How can we support your patients more? But really getting deep learning about their business, learning about their offerings, and how that might potentially help your clients. And Psych 1 0 1 says When you engage in getting to know another business, they’re just naturally gonna engage to get to know yours.

[00:09:50] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: So think education, resources, trainings not. Sending donuts or going to a doctor’s office with food. No one needs another box of donuts. So three growth moves that you’re probably not using. One is warm handoffs, so don’t just tell clients to call the front desk. I’m thinking like if you have a therapist.

[00:10:10] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Who maybe sees one person in a couple and they realize, Hey, you actually would benefit from doing couples therapy. Having your therapist learn how to do warm handoff to referring the couple to another therapist in the practice is really helpful and it’s another way to be intentional. So a warm handoff means not just telling clients to call the front desk again, have clinicians personally transition them.

[00:10:34] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: To the next steps that builds trust and keeps them in care. Two is normalize referrals at discharge. So when a client is quote unquote graduating from therapy, that’s an opportunity. There’s another area in their life that they might wanna work on and make sure that you’re looking into not only. Have you worked with a client on the presenting issues that they came in for?

[00:10:55] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Are there other presenting issues that have come up throughout the therapy process now that maybe another therapist in the practice specializes in and that client could benefit from now working on that other issue? I. And then third is internal marketing. Use your team meetings that you have as a referral machine.

[00:11:12] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: If one clinician has a niche and has openings, share that internally. Build internal referral funnels. Your next referral could actually be already in your practice. So. Want to go deeper in all of this? Join Me Live. I’m running a brand new live training called Referrals Reimagined Real Marketing and Modern Networking for group Practices, and you are invited.

[00:11:33] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: We’re gonna dig into everything I just shared, but go way deeper. We’re gonna talk about what’s really changed in the industry, how to audit your own inquiry to retention flow. Specific systems and scripts for both marketing and networking that actually work in today’s market and how to build partnerships that actually drive referrals without having to do the awkward coffee dates to sign up.

[00:12:00] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Head to the group practice exchange.com/live-workshop-open house at the exchange. This workshop is open to all. But members of the exchange get it for free for life, and they get access to all the replays and any of the juicy extras like workbooks and stuff that we have that go with it. So if your practice has been feeling a referral slump, this training is the reboot that you need.

[00:12:24] Maureen Werrbach Hermann: Alright, we’ll see you on our next episode. Thanks for listening. Give us five stars on whatever podcast streaming service you use, and I’ll see you next week.