What’s up, y’all? What you gonna say? Who’s on the phone with that Liz-Andre?
What’s up, everybody? It’s Steve, “The Hurricane” here, and for today’s episode of A Drink With “The Hurricane”, we’re gonna be wrapping up the four part series on getting referrals. Cheers.
As you can tell, I’m having fun. I missed talking about referrals with you. Four weeks straight. Getting referrals. It’s one of my favorite topics to talk about, it’s everything I go over in the Hurricane University program we train our clients on. And, I’m very excited to be wrapping up with this particular part right here.
This is straight from advanced training lesson two, where I teach people how to do this, but the most important thing when it comes to referral source development from long-term sustained referrals, meaning I’ve already gotten into the account. I’ve already done Lunch N Learn. I’ve already referred me here and there. How do I maintain this relationship, so that I can continue to get referrals forever? And, it comes from blanketing accounts, blanketing accounts.
Write that down. The reason why blanketing accounts is so important is because especially in this day in age, where people are constantly changing jobs, people are getting fired, people are getting laid off, people are not happy, people want to retire, people get pregnant and go out on maternity leave. people relocate across the country when their spouse gets promoted, or something happens. People literally die, right?
I have had this happen to me where I’ve had referral sources, people who work at the places where I’ve gone for business, this is way back 2007 and eight. Person that comes to mind is not the only one, but the first person that comes to mind was Joy. One of my favorite individuals that I used to see, she was a front Desk Receptionist at one of my favorite referral sources, and she had cancer and she died in 2007, after two years of me coming to that referral source. And, how do you overcome all of the above that I just said in a referral source?
It’s by blanketing the account. You know, I learned the hard way many, many years ago, way back 2006 I learned the hard way. I did all this work to get into a referral source. I finally got in front of a Social Worker. I finally started getting business from that Social Worker. Three months goes by, she’s referred me, pretty much, a referral every week for like 10, 12 weeks straight. And then, out of the blue, fired. I don’t know what she did, but she was fired. And, I never saw that Social Worker again. And, I was in all the accounts in the area.
So I don’t… From my guess, she probably relocated, and went somewhere else around the country, or if she stayed in the area, ’cause she was already on the outskirts of my territory, she relocated to a position at a company that was outside of my service area, and I never saw that Social Worker again. And, I was so heartbroken, because it took me months to get into that account. And then, I kept seeing that one Social Worker, and just picking up those referrals. And I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
And then, as soon as she left, every referral went with her, and then it took me almost two years to get back into that account, to get in tight with the new Social Worker before I started getting the same kind of referrals again. That sucked! Okay? That blows! And I say it like that, because it does! And, I know you laughed when I said it, ’cause I don’t normally say that kind of thing in A Drink With “The Hurricane”, but I had to say, because it’s the truth!
I’m here teaching this to you, because I learned the hard way! That’s when I realized the importance of blanketing an account! Now, what is blanketing an account? Blanketing an account is when you have a relationship that you’ve developed or you’re developing with every single key contact in a referral source. This is how you can guarantee longterm referrals forever for as long as you’re going there to get business, because you know every single key contact in there. So, this isn’t just about the Social Worker, this isn’t just about the Administrator, but this is also about the Director of Nursing, Director of Therapy, and all of the Therapists! This is about the Activities Director. This is about the Admissions Director. This is about the billing person. This is about the Maintenance Director. This is about the Director of Hospitality and Housekeeping. This is about Concierges. This is about Front Desk Receptionist. This is about every single person who works at that referral source.
Every time you step foot in there, you have to see every single one of those key contacts. This is how… One of my favorite things to happen to my clients, and it used to happen to me, is when I would go to a referral source, I could literally spend two hours there having a five to 10 minute conversation with 15 different people in the referral source. That is properly blanketing the account.
Now, is that a lot of time? Of course it is. But, that time that I spend once, twice, once a week, every week, every other week in a month, so say I spend five hours at a referral source, but those five hours produce five referrals, and we sign on and start three new clients from those five referrals. And, those three new clients… My average client back in the day generated almost 30,000 dollars, 28,800 dollars per client was my average client lifetime financial value that they spent with us during that time. That’s 90,000 dollars from five, six hours worth of time every week spent over the course of a month. Totally worth that time. Why do I blanket? Why do I spend all this time? Why do I want you to spend all this time getting to know all these people?
It’s really easy. Even though the Social Worker discharge planner is the one that makes the referrals, even though the Administrator is the one who holds her accountable for making the referrals, God forbid one of them leaves, and they go somewhere else that you don’t see. Like it happened with me with my Social Worker way back in 2007, right? When you blanket the account, and you have relationships with every single key contact, and then the referring person leaves, or somebody else leaves, a new person comes in, but everybody else in that building says, this is our Home Care company. Steve is the person that we work with for Home Care.
The new person coming in, guess what they’re going to do. They’re gonna refer the company that everybody else is telling him to work with. That’s why blanketing the account is so important! This is why I… And, each key contact you got to talk different things with, but get to know them, get to know them. You know, it was my favorite part. I would love… And, it made my job so much easier. I would drive to 20 places every week, 20, 25 places. But, I would talk to four or five people, in every single one those places. Spend an hour in every one of those places. And then, I’d get my referrals. And, I’d see 10, 12 patients every week, and I would sign on 10, 11 of them for services, and we’d start the care. And, that’s how we skyrocketed and grew our business.
Blanketing the account is the most important piece in long-term referral source development. And when you do that, it gives your company the longevity that you want, and then referrals that you’re after. So, this year 2021, I want you to make this your best year yet. COVID-19 is behind us, all right? Vaccines are being given out, and it’s only a matter of time before you can openly go into an account, and blanket an account again. But, if your business is hurting, if your business isn’t where you want it to be, click the link below.
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