How To Set Up A Referral Program For Your Online Business

Hi, welcome to the Pelvibiz Podcast.

Are you a pelvic health PT or ot? Struggling to start your own practice? This podcast helps pelvic health PTs and OTs get out of debt, gain the income they desire, be able to treat patients without insurance restraints and learn how to create time freedom for yourself and your family. I'm your host, Dr. Kelly Alhui, founder of Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy, Pelvic Health Business Grower and Pelvi Biz. Over the last two years I went from a solo entrepreneur to a seven person team in counting. I'm here to help provide a clear path to grow your pelvic health business as fast as possible so that you can gain the time freedom, decrease debt.

Increase income and live the life that you desire.

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Now let's get into today's episode. Welcome guys. The Pelby Biz Podcast. I'm your host Kelly Alhui. Today I have a big question for you. Are you struggling to get doctors to refer to you to have a constant referral source that is coming into your clinic? That is the big question. Most of you that are listening would probably say yes if I had to guess. So this is why we are going to make a podcast about it. So number one, how to get a constant referral source coming into the clinic from doctors. I'm not saying that doctors are the be all and end all. Just FYI, when having a very successful practice it can help, but it's not a must. Just so you guys know. So that being said, let's get right into it. When you start to think about, okay, what doctors in my area that will refer to me, number one, I need you guys to make sure that you are niched down. So for us at Orthopelvic, our specialty, yes, is pelvic health and orthopedics, but really our target audience is crossfitters that actually have leakage. That is our target audience for you. Maybe it's chronic pelvic pain, so maybe it's a yogi that has endometriosis and I see for many, many years and goes to yoga to not solve a problem but to help to alleviate some pain. Maybe that's your target person. Maybe it is a postpartum mom that is trying to get back into her fitness routine without leakage. Maybe that's your target population. Whoever it may be, you have to know that first. You will definitely have to know that and you're like, really? I have to niche down even more than pelvic health. Yes. Because if you don't know that, then the messaging can be a little off. So when you go and do marketing, then the marketing can be off based on, you know, who you're actually trying to target. So with that said, what I do is I go to my phone, I go to Google Maps, and I search for doctors that serve my audience. So if I want to target leakage, I need to search for urologist, I need to search for obese gynos, I need to be searching for maybe endometriosis specialist. I need to be searching for, what do you call it, nurse practitioners that are maybe in the area, maybe some functional medicine doctors, a urogynecologist I can look at. Those are the people that I'm going to be searching. So once I search for those people, I'm going to make a list of those people. Then you can send out an email to them. But the likelihood of them responding is very, very slim. But it's worth a try, so why not? So send an email to them saying, hey, this is Dr. Kelly Alhuey at Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy. Just wanted to see if you guys would love to set up an in service or connect over a Zoom or a FaceTime or an Instagram Live or an IG Live or whatever it may be. Okay. Because I know we have similar patient populations and we would love to put you on our referral list. This is what I say to them in the email. Okay, I sent the email. They didn't respond. Shocker. Okay, so now I'm going to go into the office. In person is always way better than online. Okay, so I'm now going to go into their office. I go to their office. The front door first says, stop if you have Covid like symptoms, don't walk in the store. Or stop if you are not a patient, don't walk into the store because we are a very busy office. Okay. Ignore that sign and walk into the office. Walk into the office. And all I would bring in the office is actual, like either flyers that you have or your card that you have. And I would walk up to the front desk very confidently and say, hi.

Is your office manager here?

Ask them that. Okay, Once you ask them that, wait for them to respond. Maybe the office manager's in. So say, hey, can I speak to.

Your office manager since she's in today.

Great, let me get her. The other scenario is she's not in today. Okay. So ask for her number, her name and her email so that we can email her on the back end and ask when she will be in. That's very important. When will she back in? Oh, okay. Tuesday at 10 o'. Clock. Great, I'll come back then. Okay, Tuesday at 10 comes around, you go back in, you have a meeting with the office manager and all you say to the office manager is the same thing you put in the email. Hey, we're actually right down the road. Would love to actually collaborate with you guys and just have a quick chat. Whether or not that's on the phone, whether or not that's on Zoom, whether or not it's over social media, whatever that may look like for you guys, whatever you have time or over your lunch break. But would love to have a chat with you and the docs so that we can cross collaborate, share patients and help each other create better results with these patients. Okay, Something like that. That's what I'd be saying to them. And we would also love to put you on our referral list that tons of our patients go to for who is the best OB in town or who is the best gyno in town. We, we can send them to. You would love to set up a meeting. How does that sound? Great, actually. Yes. Okay, so now I'm in. Okay. And now we're going to set up a meeting. So if personally again, I like in person because you get better results with in person, not just because I like it, it's because you get better results. So if I'm going person, I am not going to bring them lunch. Now that being said, maybe you have to bring them lunch to get into the office. Maybe that's just it, you have to. Because I'm happening a little bit lately, so maybe you have to. So let's say you do. Okay? I'm not going to go in there and say, hi, my name is Kelly, I'm from Orthopellic Physical Therapy. This is my company. This is why you should like my company and you should just send your patients to me. Okay? No, they don't care about your company name. They don't really actually even care probably about your name too much to be honest. All they care about is can you help their patients so that they look good. Why is it a benefit that you're coming into their office? Why is that a benefit for them? Number one, you can help get their patients better so you can help make them look better. That's number one. Number two, you can also provide education for Them. Not one medical school that I'm aware of gives any pelvic floor educational training to any object I know. Anyone that I know. They do not have any muscular skeletal training of the pelvic floor. It's shocking. I know. So we are the premium people to provide education to other doctors, to other nurse practitioners, to whoever, because we are the experts in this. So guys, please do not feel intimidated by going into these doctors offices because we actually know more than they do. Okay? So that is what is the benefit of us going in there. We're going to actually teach them something, they're going to learn something and be able to provide more information to their client and they're going to feel good, they're going to look better in front of their clients. Don't us, as PTs and OTAs and PTAs, don't we want to feel good and like, feel confident about what we're doing and provide the best knowledge to our patients? The same thing works for them. So this is why it's a benefit for us to go into their office. Okay, so when I give a presentation to them, it's almost like I'm doing a workshop for them. I have them interact. I have. Okay, everyone. Everyone stand up. Okay, now touch certain things. Where's your pelvic floor?

Who knows where your pelvic floor is at?

Touch it. Okay, great. You know, but you don't know. Like, people touch all kinds of different. They touch their butt, which is the pelvic floor. They touch their pelvic bone, which is not the pelvic floor. So it's really interesting the responses you get. And you can go off that, but you have to make it interactive. All right, who knows where their bladder hangs out? Go ahead and touch your bladder. They're going to look around the room going, what? And they do that because they're like, where's my bladder? I don't know. They don't know. Okay, so start to educate them in a really fun way. That's a whole other podcast about how to do that, but in a really fun way to get them involved so that they actually remember you. It's an experience. I don't walk in there and give a PowerPoint presentation because that's so boring. And they're going to just be way more interested in their lunch and you to just be done with your presentation so that they can talk to their friend or play on their cell phone or whatever. And because they're not interested in hearing you go off of a PowerPoint. Okay, so that's if I were to get into the office. That's what that looks like. Okay, let's just say you've tried to get into this office one or two times. Most of you that reach out to me, most of you have, like, probably emailed about four or five times and probably have gone to the office one or two times max. And then you're like, kelly, I can't get into these offices. No one wants to come. They don't want to connect with me. I need a referral source. Okay, well, you haven't planted enough seeds and you haven't done it enough times. Just recently, we literally got into this office that I've been trying to get into for two and a half years. Two and a half years. And they are a high, high volume office. That's an OB office. And we're finally having a meeting with them. But two and a half years later, okay, and what have I done in that? Two and a half years of trying to nurture them. I've literally connected with them every single month. And when I first connected with them, I hit them really hard. So what I did is this. I'm going to give this to you guys. So I emailed them first saying, hey, I'm coming in. Just FYI. Okay, I went into the office. They didn't respond. Okay. Went into the office. No, no, no. We're so busy, no one has time to talk to you. All right? I left that day, came back in, came back into their office a week later. Just a week later. Hey. Then that's how I learned. Hey, can I speak to the office manager? Okay, well, she has like two seconds. She's really busy. Okay, great. So I talked to her. Hey. And I brought her my cards. Hey, I just want to bring you my cards. I want to connect with you guys and you to be on our referral list. Okay, great. Just give me your cards and I'll hand them out to the doctors. That's what she said to me. Okay. And then I walked back out the door. Okay, next month comes around, Went back in. Okay. Went back into the office. Now I have the contact information of the actual admin or of the actual clinical manager. I go back into the office now, I'm going to bring her things of value that's going to actually help the doctors out. What did I say? The doctors want. They want to look good for their patients. They want to feel like they know what they're doing and they want to be, you know, educated. So what did I do? I made them handouts on the top five positions for birth. And it had Orthopelvic's name at the top. It was, you know, these pictures, and it had, like, words connected to it. We had a QR code on that. So if someone's like a video person, and all this is made in canva, guys, just so you know. And then if someone's a video person, they learn by video. Then they just scan the QR code goes right to my YouTube video of it. And we brought this in so that the providers can actually hand it out to patients so that they can get better care and that the provider then doesn't have to explain what birthing positions are. Great. When a patient is concerned about their health, their overall health, another way they can approach this, let's just say, yeah, we're at an OB's office. What do people that are pregnant basically complain about? You guys got to think about this. What do they complain about? They complain about their pelvis and their hip pain and maybe sciatica and pubic symphysis dysfunction. So if that is what that target population, going back to the niche, what I first started with is what is the niche population? So if my niche population is training pregnant women, okay, then what problems do pregnant women people have? Then I need to target an OB office because I'm treating pregnant people. Okay, and then what does that doctor, what questions do those doctors repetitively have to answer? It's the same questions that you get that you have to repetitively answer when someone's pregnant coming into the office, or whether or not you're going to their home or whatever that is. The question is, how can I sleep better? How can my hips stop hurting? How does my pubic bone pain? I can't walk up and down stairs. I can't bring my legs apart. I can't turn over in bed because I have so much pain in my pelvis. Solve that problem, you'll start getting a lot of referrals. So for that example, you make a sheet of how to turn over in bed without pubic pain. And you take pictures, you make videos, hand it to the doctor, and then it has your name up top and it has your email and it has your phone number. Make sure that's on there for sure. And then they hand it out to the patients. And they don't have to educate the patient. It just saved them time. We all know the doctors are very, very busy, very busy. So aren't we doing them a massive service if we can save them time? We are. So then we Hand them these papers, say, hey, I would love it if you could hand these out to, you know, your patients that are pregnant and really concerned about their pelvic pain. This could really help. And also, we would love to see them in clinic. And then you hand them that sheet, and they hopefully hand it out to the patients. And then that's how you start getting referrals. And then that patient starts to come back to that doctor because of course she's pregnant, right? And she's like, oh, my God, I went to this physical therapy place, and they were awesome. And then the doctor hears that, oh, okay, what place is it? Oh, it's Orthopelvic. Okay, great. Another person comes in the door, hey, orthopelvic was great. They showed me all this stuff, and now I feel so much better. Great. Now the doctor doesn't have to deal with that. And she just has to, like, be like, okay, good, great. You know those pregnancy checkups, a lot of times anyways are like two seconds. So it takes a lot of pressure off of them when they're able to provide this comprehensive care plan or know who to refer to. So this is the value that we can bring in. This is why I don't want you guys to feel anxious about trying to hit up these people constantly. So if you don't get in the door the first time, you have to try. I've tried probably 24 times plus to get in with this one doctor's office, and we finally got in 24 times. Walking up to the front desk or talking to the office manager and then saying, we're busy, we're busy, we're busy, we're busy. Or, no, the office manager's not in or, okay, here's her contact information. Okay, and now contact her. But then she never reached back out. Don't stop there. Keep going into the office. It's the only way that you're going to make that connection. And at some point, unless they tell you to be like, hey, can you stop coming in here? Keep bringing them things. At some point, they have to say, okay, just come on back, let's talk. Because you keep coming in here, and what's the big deal? I think so many of us are so afraid of them to be like, get out of here. If they say, get out of here, okay, great, I'll leave now. Like, what's the big deal? If someone says that to you? Is it your ego that gets hurt? What is it? I don't know. I'm just not. I'm not afraid of it. So don't be afraid of it and just walk in there with confidence and be like, I'm going to tackle this. I'm going to be able to get into this office. So things to do to get into their offices, I'm going to go over that. So clearly just walk in there. Right. Also try to bring them things of value, like sheets. Also see if you can set up some kind of virtual thing where their clients and your clients can kind of watch you guys together, because that's going to position both of you guys as the dominant person in the marketplace. So go on and do Facebook lives with them. Ask them if they want to go live to promote them more. People love to be promoted and blast their face out. Everyone, social media, they love that. So ask them if you can do that. Okay. Ask them if they can be on your referral list. Hey, I would like to know, would you guys like to be on our referral list? Because we actually give this out to all of our patients and, you know, provide recommendations so our patients know to go to the top people in our community. That's what I'd be saying. Same thing with gyms. I do the same thing with gyms. Okay, what else can you provide value with them? Maybe you offer the doctor a treatment session during their lunch break to save them time. Again, hey, maybe you skip your lunch break and I'll just work on you for free. How does that sound? Maybe you offer them that. Okay, what are other ways and things that they need? They need their time. They need self care. Because do you think they get any self care after seeing 30, 40 patients a day? Nope. Okay, like what? They need more education. They like education, can tell you that. Okay, so how are you going to solve that problem when walking into that office? That's the biggest question. And every office may be different. Like one office just to get in with them. We actually were in the same parking lot as them. They wouldn't let us in to their office after going there many times. And what we did was call them and said, hey, we're your neighbors and what cleaning crew do you use? Because we just moved in and we would like to use the same cleaning crew. Oh, is that okay? If we come over and get the contact information? And that's literally how we got into this OB office. What cleaning crew? So if I'm saying one thing and it's not working and they're closing the door on me or pushing me off or ignoring me or whatever that is, what's another thing that I can Say or do that's going to catch their attention. And it may be literally outside the box like that. Also, are you liking these people on Instagram, on Facebook, on LinkedIn? Are you liking them? Are you, like, do you know where they go? Maybe they go. And you see on Facebook, they go to this, like, this restaurant all the time. Well, maybe you just start going to that restaurant and see if you run into them. I mean, seriously, I mean, don't stalk them, but, like, maybe you start doing, like, oh, or they go to this one location a lot to go shopping. Well, maybe you start going to that location. Maybe just so happens you run into them. Okay? So starting to connect with them online and in person is going to be very, very, very important. Also, people will bring them, like, screening tools. Like, if someone is fit for pelvic health, you can also do that. That's another good thing. Is doctors, like, well, I don't know. I don't know who to refer for pelvic health or not. You can do that. That's completely fine. You can also give them a list of diagnoses that you treat. That's fine too, because then they know, okay, someone has tailbone pain. Okay, I'll refer them to this provider. So there's many different ways to approach these doctors, guys, and get in with them. I think the biggest thing is the result. So if the patients go back to the doctor and say, this place was phenomenal, the doctors start to remember that. So start to ask your patients to tell the doctor, hey, do you mind telling your doctor, like, that we're here and, and that we can, you know, help people like you? Do you mind doing that for us? And when it comes from the patient, it's even more of an impact than compared to when we're in there. So if you start, you know, asking the patients, hey, when you go back to your OB next week, do you mind just telling them about this place? And here, I'll even give you a card of ours. But do you mind just telling them that, like, how you know where you're at and then where you're at now and, like, how much improvement you've had and now you're able to walk again? Yeah, yeah, I would love to. Patients love to feel that they are, you know, supporting and helping out, especially a small business. So use them as your marketing tool. Also make sure you're getting reviews from them, video reviews and Google reviews as well. Okay, that's kind of off topic, but yes, that's what you need. So hopefully, guys, this helps. On how to get in a doctor's office. Basically, don't stop if they tell you. No, if they tell you you're busy, you have to go in there. Like, look at my example. I went there over 24 times to a doctor's office to finally get in after two and a half years. Okay? So 12 times is not enough. You got to keep pressing them and go in there and just. Just nicely. Hey, it's me again. Okay. All right, guys. Hopefully that helped, and you guys now can go after doctor's offices feeling more confident and. And hopefully get a continued referral source as well. So hopefully. You guys have a great day. Bye, guys.

If you are ready to change your life, click the link in the show notes to get your ticket to Pelby Biz. Let's go.