Dr. Jeff Langmaid (Evidence Based Chiropractor) explains how chiropractors can schedule and run successful meetings with MDs and other healthcare providers to build referral relationships. He recommends identifying providers who see the practice’s ideal patients, then using a question-led conversation (not a chiropractic lecture) to learn: (1) whether they see musculoskeletal cases, (2) which subpopulations they see, (3) how they currently treat those cases, and (4) whether they have referred to chiropractors before (and to whom). Answers let a chiropractor properly position their practice and differentiate after poor prior experiences. The video ends with calls-to-action to visit evidencebasedchiropractor.com and subscribe.
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Hey docs, I'm Dr. Jeff Langman with the Evidence Based Chiropractor. And today I want to talk about how to approach medical doctors for meetings so that you have super successful referral relationships. If you are an introvert like me, this can seem like a monumental task, getting out there and meeting other healthcare providers and specifically MDs. And I know plenty of extroverts that are a little timid about getting out there and having conversations. And a lot of this comes down to systems and processes. What do you talk about, how do you approach it and how can you actually make it a successful meeting instead of, instead of a dud? Now, we go through this in extensive detail for all of our members of the Evidence Based Chiropractor. So if you would like to accelerate and supercharge referral relationships, then I would head over to the evidencebasedchiropractor.com to get started. But let's talk down a few of those key points when you get out there and meet MDs in your community. First thing is I'd like to say when I say MDs, it could be any healthcare professional that you want to build a relationship with. How do you identify those people? Simply think, who has my ideal patients in their practice? That might be a primary care physician, it might be a sports med doc, a midwife, a doula, a pediatrician, you name it. I don't care what their credentials are. What I want you to do is identify where your ideal patients go, what care do they receive, and those are the individuals, those health care providers are who you want to bridge the gap with and build referral relationships. Now, when you get out there to start those conversations, the number one thing you have to keep in mind is this is more about asking questions than than telling them everything they never wanted to know about chiropractic. By asking questions, you will uncover absolute gems about who they are, how they think about care. And that gives you the power to then position your practice in the most appropriate way so that you can start bridging that gap in building those referral relationships. So a couple of the key questions to keep in mind are, have you ever referred to a chiropractor before? Might sound like a little bit of a forward question, but it is a great one that can uncover a variety of information to help you as you build that relationship. If they have and they do, who are they referring to in town? Understanding that is critically important. If they never have, then the question becomes why? And if they have and they stopped because of a bad experience, that is a great opportunity for you to differentiate your practice based upon your examination, based upon your thoroughness, and based upon your desire to get out there and build those relationships. So, asking if that doctor, that healthcare professional has ever worked with a chiropractor or referred, It's a great question to ask. However, there are three primary questions I want to ask you to keep in mind when you get out there and start meeting other healthcare pros. Number one is, do you see a lot of musculoskeletal issues? Now, you can fine tune musculoskeletal issues for whatever type of provider they are. Do you see a lot of low back pain? Do you see a lot of spinal issues? Do you see a lot of headaches? Diabetes? Dentist. You see a lot of people with TMJ issues, however you want to word that. But that first question enables you to ensure that your ideal patients are actually in their practice. It's a great conversation starter. It should be an easy gimme and a yes. But when it's a no, now you know that you are not in the right place, which is a great thing to do to save a lot of time, money, effort and energy. Question number two, after you've identified, yes, we do, what are you seeing more of? This helps refine who they see in their practice. Are they seeing geriatrics? Are they seeing pediatrics? Are they seeing a lot of college kids because they're on the sports medicine team at a local college? Understanding what their patient population looks like and feels like demographic psychographics gives you an opportunity then to position your practice appropriately. Later on, instead of just guessing and saying, we serve everybody, which essentially is, we serve nobody. Question number three is, what do you like to do for them? Understanding that doc, and asking that direct question, are they medication driven? Are they physical therapy driven? Are they referring to other specialists in the community? Once you understand what they are doing from a treatment perspective now, you can again, better position your practice. And I can guarantee you, if you ask the question, are you seeing a lot of spine issues in your practice? What are you seeing more of and what do you do about it? And you add on that first question, hey, have you ever referred to a chiropractor in the past? By asking those four questions, you're gonna know more about their practice than every other chiropractor within 100 miles of them. And that gives you the power then on the second half of that conversation to properly position your practice. And when you have a system and a process like this, you could be the biggest introvert in the world and just work through your system and process. Meeting other healthcare professionals, specifically MDs does not need to be intimidating. Keep it casual, don't get super uptight and don't try to just tell them everything about chiropractic first understand what they do, understand who they see, understand how they take care of those individuals and that can inform how you can go about building a relationship in their practice. So I hope this has been super helpful. If you have any questions, of course you can comment down below or email. And if you would like to accelerate the referrals you're getting into your practice this year and beyond, head over to the evidencebasedchiropractor.com hey, what's going on? If you loved that video, be sure to subscribe to this channel. The evidence based Chiropractor puts out videos all the time at the intersection of marketing and research, showing you how to grow your practice while also growing your knowledge base. So if you liked it, be sure to comment down below or hit subscribe and I'll see you in the next video.
