Speed Up Word of Mouth
I have a small clinic in Springville, Utah. I am opening a second clinic next month in a neighboring city. As we all could guess, my practice has grown mostly by "word-of-mouth" advertising. Since I am kind of a penny pincher, I spend very little on actual advertising and focus more on my patients spreading the word for me. It is free advertising, and it seems to work better than any ad I have had in the paper and has had a better financial rate of return that my quick TV appearance.
"Word-of-mouth" advertising, even though very successful, can be very slow. That can be a problem for the new practice owner who needs patients quickly to cover their new expenses. I have found a way to help speed up this type of advertising: I call my patients a few days to a week after they have come in to the clinic. I ask how they are doing and if whatever their presenting diagnosis is getting better. We then talk about what was prescribed, if anything, and what else can be done to help their condition if needed.
I try to personalize the call whenever I can to show the patient or their family that I care. If, for example, the son came in with a baseball injury, after finding out how he is doing, I might ask if he had a game since he was in the clinic, how he did, and if his team won. If you had a mother come in with a sinus infection, you might call back and when checking on her, show empathy about how tough it is to care for kids and keep the house tidy when sick.
The patients and their families are always appreciative that you actually care. They all seem to love the follow-up calls. One of my patients that I see on a fairly frequent basis actually asked during one visit why I hadn't called and checked up on her after the previous visit.
The follow-up calls show I care, but they also remind the patient about their good experience with the clinic, which will prompt them to talk about the clinic to their family, friends and neighbors.
A second way to speed up "word-of-mouth" advertising is to always show the patient you care about them. Be patient when they take an extra five minutes telling you about their brother's-sister's-son-in-law's strange mole. When they call your on-call number on a Saturday morning and apologize for doing so, tell them "it's OK, I have the number to call because I care about my patients." Furthermore, when appropriate, shake their hand, put your arm around their shoulders, give the kid's high five, etc.
Follow-up calls and befriending your patients can take extra time. However, if you are a new clinic owner, you will probably have more time than money until you get your patients established. Use your time wisely. Show patients that you care about them, and they will take care of you.