You have just delivered this amazing lunch and learn in-service, and you have asked them for a trial period to send you your referrals. So now you cannot neglect the account, and you have to go back there and ask them for the business. But instead of walking into your accounts and just saying, hey, do you have a referral for me, you need to help create a picture in their minds of the people that they are working with right then and there that they would be able to send you as a referral.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Maybe you’re going to go in under the umbrella of something else. So you’re bringing them a nice treat, maybe you’re bringing them a thank you card, maybe you are congratulating them because they just had their anniversary year. And so while you’re there, you may say something like, remember when I was here a couple of weeks ago and we did the lunch and learn in-service on the fall prevention program. While I’m here, I just wanted to check, are you working with anybody right now who is in the hospital as a result of a fall?
Something else you may say to them, are you working with anyone right now that you are worried about the lack of support once they are discharged back home? If so, I can talk to them. That’s what our services are for.
Another thing I always like to say when I was talking with my referral sources would be, is there anybody that you are working with right now that you wish you could provide more care to? We can help.
The other thing you can say, when you talk about your lunch and learn in-service, you are explaining all about your readmissions and how you helped to reduce those readmission rates. So perhaps you say, is there anyone you’re discharging in the next couple of weeks that you feel could use some additional support over the next 30 days so they don’t end up back in the hospital? Our services are for them.
The last way that I’m going to share with you is if you’ve done the fall prevention program, you can ask them, is there anybody that you’re discharging in the next couple of weeks who you feel might be at risk for a fall once they get back home? We are here to help.
So the whole time you are in there building the relationship with people and you are painting a picture of that person that could be in the hospital right now that they’re working with. It could be the one that they’re going to walk down the hallway to after you have been there and say, oh my gosh, this is exactly who Jen was talking about. And they will then think of you and call you to make that referral.
I hope you liked this episode of Coaches Corner. For more information and if you thought this was helpful, stay tuned. Episodes two and three are coming soon. Happy referral asking!