The Most Important Question to Ask Your Referral Partners | Podcast Ep. 353

Foreign hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. On today's episode we're going to review the number one question that you can ask a medical doctor or a future referral partner. I found that going into meetings can be one of the most challenging aspects of relationship building for so many docs out there. I early on was absolutely nuts, no exception to that rule. But I've learned a lot along the way about what are the power questions you can ask in order to really start and stimulate a conversation. We're going to review that and more on today's episode. Before we get started, I want to say a few words about the smart chiropractor. Smart chiropractor can power your patient journey to provide you with more new patients, better patient retention and more consistent reactivations without paid ads. If you want to see everything that we are up to and how we can help you do that, you can hop on a demo at your own convenience@the smart chiropractor.com again that is at the smart chiropractor.com but as I said at the top on today's episode, we're talking relationship building. And if you are on the Evidence Based Chiropractor email list, you probably have seen me share some items over the last week or so. A research brief, the MD Meeting guide, five Secrets to MD referrals. And I'm doing that because I see so many docs out there are in one of two boats. They either want to build relationships with other healthcare providers in their community and when I say that that's where I don't. I say MD marketing because sometimes it's easy and short to say, but it's really about anybody who has your ideal patients in their practice, whether they are an md, whether they are a do, whether they are a mid level provider. That is really what this is about is relationship building. And relationship building transcends degree. So regardless of what the medical or healthcare degree or non degree is, it's about who has your ideal patients in their practice that is within the health and wellness spectrum. Midwife Doula, MD do whatever it might be. Second component to that, where I was going is there's really two things. There's a ton of younger docs and more experienced docs that are looking to build relationships but just don't know how to do it. And then the second component of that is there's a bunch of docs out there. I'm going to say that maybe it's not Your number one thing on your agenda to get out there and build these relationships. But I can tell you it should be because when you build relationships, you get to reduce the money spent on ads. You get to reduce a lot of your other advertising because once you're able to generate 5, 10, 15, 20, I have docs within the evidence based chiropractor that consistently have 30 referrals per month coming into their practice. For many listening, that could be most of your practice and that could really take care of itself. And here's the beauty about a relationship. When you build a relationship now, you're able to have long term patient acquisition as opposed to an ad. When you turn it off, it's like it didn't exist, you know, the day after it was turned off, it's like it, it didn't exist to begin with. But a relationship, when built properly can last an entire career. And that's such an important component of this. Is it a little bit harder to build a relationship than to just pay somebody to run discount ads? Yes, it absolutely is. Is it way more worth it? Absolutely. Is it a better way to build a business and your practice is a business? Yes, it is a better way to do it. And do you need to have a little bit of patience and a little bit of grit and a little bit of determination? You absolutely do. But what you don't need is you don't need to be salesy, you don't need to be unbelievably extroverted and charismatic. None of those things matter. But you need to have a little umph and a little grit over the course of the evidence based chiropractor. And I say that because over the course of the evidence based chiropractor over the last 12 years, I probably worked with well over a thousand docs and the system that we've developed. And we're gonna discuss the most important question you can ask a medical doctor in just a moment. But I wanna set the stage appropriately. The only time the system has not worked is when the doc has not taken action or they've quote unquote tried it for 30 days or 60 days and then moved on to something else. Their system of relationship building works 100% of the time when you put in a little bit of time, a little bit of effort and a little bit of energy. And it kills me when I see docs come back and they've been a member for 30 days and they're like, I'm gonna do something else. You haven't even gotten enough touch points yet you have to remember the average time that it takes for somebody to recognize even an advertisement is minimum six to seven times. And that's before digital. So you need to give it a little time and it will work 100% of the time. Relationship building is relationship building is relationship building. And this ties to where we're going today, which is some of the. I'm gonna say the most important question that you can ask the now, when I think about MD meetings, again, it could be any healthcare provider. I do not think about them at all in the context of selling chiropractic. I don't even really think about them in the context of selling your practice. What I think about them in the context of is learning about their practice and understanding whether they will be a good referral partner for you. That mind shift is very, really important, especially if you're more introverted or you have a little bit of fear and apprehension of going into these practices. Shifting your mindset to what I'm gonna call the truth is really, really important because it takes the pressure off. When you go in there and say, hey, I'm, you know, in your mind, I'm trying to find people that I want to refer to, refer business to, and I'm gonna ask questions to understand where they're at. Now that takes all the pressure off. You are in the leveraged position, not the deleveraged position, which is the truth. And this is really, really important. You do not, especially if you're a younger doc. You do not want to be one of these docs that's been in practice 20 years, referred somebody down the street, or never been able to make an accurate referral. And hundreds of your patients have gone to a, quite frankly, a really crappy bad doctor in town. And ignorance is not an excuse for this. So this is where relationship building becomes really practical. Understanding where you're sending your patients is what's in their best interest. Patient first. It's also in your best interest because it prevents them from walking into somebody that doesn't say, don't go back and see that crazy chiropractor. And that happens. So the offense and defense here, and that stuff happens every single day. Unless you get out there and know who's in your community and you drive to the heart of understanding what they think about chiropractic, what their experience has been, and you understand what their office flow is like. If it's impossible to meet a doctor who you've co managed patients with, I mean, they could be fairly busy in some instances, but Most of the time, if they're a primary care internal medicine doctor, a gp, whatever it might be in your neck of the woods, and they're unable or unwilling to meet you, that's a sign. If you go in and their front desk staff are total jerks. Do you think that that probably comes from the top down? Absolutely. With rare exception. So really understanding how the practices operate helps inform you when your patient is asking you, hey, do you have a recommendation for who I should see about this? Or. I was thinking about seeing somebody for this. Now you get to guide and direct them. Hey, I'd really recommend going to see Blank. We work fantastic with them. I know their team is awesome. That's a really, really empowering conversation to have with your patients. Instead of just referring somebody down the street and never having met that person, never understanding what they think about chiropractic or what you do. They don't have to be chiropractic lovers, quote unquote, for you to refer down there. But, but they need, they should be good doctors and good people, in my opinion. So driving to where we're going today, which is really about the most important question you can ask. In everything we do at the evidence based chiropractor, I outline everything about how to set up a meeting, scripting and templates on, you know, how to make those phone calls, how to track it, how to go through a meeting. And I outline three important questions and they're about understanding what the practice is about. Are you currently seeing a lot of people with neuromusculoskeletal issues? Making sure you're in the right place? Number two is what are you seeing more of? Are they seeing a lot of old people? Are they seeing a lot of young people? Are they connected to a school? Are they connected to a nursing home? Right. That helps you understand who they're seeing day in and day out. And then the third, what do you like to do for it? We know that comes down to three things each and every time, which is typically referral to physical therapy, medication or referral to a specialist, especially if it's a GP or a primary care doctor. That's basically their toolkit. So we go through those, how to come back on every one of those answers, how to process and understand how to position your own practice with all of those. But there's one question that I think is the most important and when I say it, it's gonna sound like the most challenging question. But we'll break down how you can approach this. And that question is, have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor before? Now that might stop you in your tracks right there of like, oh my gosh, what kind of answer am I gonna get back, right? Have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor? I love that question because it drives to the heart of who they are, what they do and what their experience has been. And it gets to the point, which I think is one of the most important things. I recommend asking that question after you've asked the other three. So you build a little bit of rapport, you build a little bit of trust and then just ask them straight up, have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor in the past? And when I go through an implementation call with evidence based chiropractor members, I speak to every evidence based chiropractor member one on one to get started, address any questions, concerns and make sure you're set up for success. I go through an exercise where I say, what's the worst response you can give? Pretend I'm the chiropractor and you're the medical doctor. I'm just asking you, have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor in the past? What's the worst, most cringeworthy response you could ever imagine? I love to go through that process because whether it is, I'd never refer to a chiropractor, they're lunatics. Whether it is, I referred to a chiropractor once and my patient had a neck injury while a disc herniation happened all at the same time as a result of that chiropractor. They hurt a patient, they charged a patient too much, insert whatever cringe worthy response you can get. And chances are the worst you can think of is not what somebody would say back to you, they're going to temper it, especially if you're face to face. But you get the point of what I'm saying. You might get some challenging responses. I love it when they give a challenging response. Why? Because it's not your job to defend the profession. It's not your job to defend another chiropractor. It's your job to defend, to be there and provide their patients with the best solution. And you can't defend the entire profession even if you wanted to. There's so many different people, nooks and crannies, technique things, there's a million variables. You can't defend another chiropractor's practice. Again, million different techniques approach, you don't know the story. Even if they're telling you the story. It is a version of what occurred and probably there's a lot missing from it. So what do I recommend in this case? I. I love asking that question because it gives a chance to what I say. Step back and step to the side. I'll say that again. When you ask the question of have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor in the past, it gives you an opportunity to step back and step to the side. I'll make an easy example, a straightforward one that's not very nuanced. But I referred to a chiropractic. Have you ever words referred to a chiroprecher? I referred to a chiropractor 20 years ago. My patient got hurt. I just don't want to do it again. Step back. This means don't lean in and feel like you need to defend anybody. You don't know any of the facts at that point in time. But what you can do is be a human being and step back. I'm really sorry to hear you had that experience. That is a human reaction that is disarming and it pulls the stress down instead of pushing the stress up. You're not saying that it happened. You're not saying it didn't happen. You're actually giving an appropriate response to what they said. Hey, a patient got hurt. I didn't want to do anything like that. Again, I'm really sorry to hear that's been your experience. That's the step back. The step to the side is. Let me tell you a little bit about our practice and how we do things to prevent exactly those type of things from occurring. We go through a thorough examination and evaluation. We keep you updated on case notes. We're gonna communicate and coordinate the care. If you have any insights for us, please let us know. Because right now, all the Clin clinical practice guidelines show that what we do as chiropractors, some of our core modalities are the best first line treatments. I want to ensure that you are aware of what's going on, that we answer any questions about what we're doing, and that we showcase each and every step of the patient journey so that you can feel super comfortable. That's one. That's a paraphrased answer right there. But you can see it's a step back and a step to the side. And when you step back and step to the side, it really gives you the opportunity to take stock of what's going on, to be true and appropriate to what your answer will be. And to let them know your unique selling proposition. To a certain extent. I know I said the meeting's not about selling, and it's not, but USP is a typical marketing term. Usp, Unique Selling Proposition. So when you step to the side, you get to showcase how you are different. You're not putting anybody else down. You're not making myth and conjecture on something that may or may not happen in the past. What you're giving is an honest response to what they said. Let's go with another example. Have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor in the past? You know, no, I haven't. I don't really believe in chiropractic. You know, probably nobody's gonna say that to you, but I'm being extreme, because once you know, the extreme, you take away all the fear. So have you ever referred to a chiropractor in the past? No, I don't really believe in chiropractic. You know, step back. You know, I'm really sorry to hear that. It sounds like you haven't been up to date on all of the great research supporting what we do and our core modality of spinal adjustments. I'm happy to share of that with you. Now, the way that we do things in our practice is blank, you know, and this gives you, again, an opportunity. You don't have to put anybody down. I don't believe in chiropractic. Well, you don't have. I'm sorry to hear that. You don't need to believe in chiropractic to have it work. Although when patients come in with a positive mindset, we tend to see that they get better results. Right. So you can even have some fun with it if you want. But there's a variety of ways when you can step back and step to the side that you ask the question of, have you ever worked with or referred to a chiropractor? You get their honest feedback. And that is one of the most important, important things when you ask that question. Even if it's tempered, many aren't going to be aggressive with you or super negative, but they might give you, you know, sort of some of those answers. Well, we have a little bit in the past, you know, when it's necessary. And again, you're opening the door now to say, that's fantastic. I'm glad to see that you have, you know, let me tell you a little bit about how we do things in our practice to make sure that referrals are super easy, that you're super informed of what's going on and that our patient first approach makes things as easy as possible for you. Here's how we do that. Blank, blank and blank. Now, you know, you said you referred a little bit in the past. What were some of those, you know, symptoms, diagnosis? What were the patient types that you referred? I'd love to know so I can, you know, let you know how we would take care of those patients typically in our practice. So again, this is all about bridging the gap and starting conversations. You don't need to be overly salesy. You don't need to be overly charismatic. What you need to do is ask great questions. When you ask great questions, it gives you the opportunity and availability to answer the question, to position yourself and to showcase who you are and what you do in a positive way without feeling like you're climbing an uphill battle, without getting sweaty palms, without getting a red face. Hopefully this has helped you and there's some good takeaways here. If this has I'd love your feedback. Hit me up jeff the evidencebasedchiropractor.com I would love to have your feedback. If you haven't left this podcast a rating or review yet on itunes, that helps more and more do so. I would super, super appreciate if and when you have a moment of your time today, if you could scroll down if you're listening on a smartphone, tap how many stars, maybe leave a line or two a text. It's so it makes me feel great when I know that there are docs out there listening. So please leave some feedback or review. Let me know what you think of this framework. I found it to be one of the most powerful frameworks and powerful questions you can ask because again, gets to the heart of what their thinking is, gives you the opportunity to step back and step to the side, and offers a really, really great framework opportunity, however you want to say it, to position your own practice while understanding where they're coming from. And that is where the rubber meets the road. It's not about blindly pitching who you are and what you do. It's about specificity. Before somebody refers a hundred patients, they have to refer one. So you have to really be as specific as possible. Questions like this allow you to do so. Now, before we wrap this episode, I want to ensure that you have picked up your free sample of Power Step orthotics. They are what I use, what my dad uses. They're developed by a podiatrist and they are hooking up every single listener of the evidence based chiropractor podcast with a free pair. Yes that is right. 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And staff turnover is one of the biggest challenges so many chiropractors have. So if you're looking to hire a DC or a ca, have a complimentary conversation, head on over, hop on the schedule Chiromatchmakers.com, hop on the schedule to schedule a call, chat with the placement specialist on our team and at least just get an understanding of what your options are. It will be well worth it. Other than that, I hope you have a fantastic week in practice and I will talk to you soon. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Evidence Based Chiropractor. If you want to grow your practice, come back for next week's episode. If you want to grow faster, visit theevidencebasedchiropractor.com and join our MD Marketing membership today.