Nothing beats a good referral
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Welcome to Issue 12 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about a good brand move that helped grow a small business. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I’m at the dentist with my two girls. It’s a pediatric dentist, and it’s my little one’s first time. I’m writing this while the girls lie flat side-by-side. Here, siblings get seen together. They’re both looking up at the ceiling through their eye protectors watching a movie—which they chose—while the dental assistants gently clean their teeth. Here, kids also get to choose their toothpaste flavor. The options are bubble gum, vanilla, or mint. When they’re all finished, each girl gets a gold coin to put into the bouncy ball dispenser. It’s okay if you get a bouncy ball you don’t like, because there’s a trade drawer to swap it out for something you like better. In short: This dentist has thought of everything to make the experience of going to the dentist as seamless, pleasant, and fun as possible. There’s even a sweet therapy dog roaming around, ensuring everyone’s emotionally regulated. As a marketer, I’m in awe of all this service provider has done to stand out from her competition. There are dozens of pediatric dentist offices around here, but few are as lovely of an experience as this one. Here, there will be no traumatized children. There will be no grumpy or stressed-out parents. There will only be good memories that ensure good dental hygiene for years to come. This dentist, Gila Dorostkar, built her practice on the back of a good reputation. I want to share Gila’s story because it's one of the best examples of doing what you do so well that your customers can't resist telling others about it. But it's also about building strategic referral partnerships that actually bring in new clients. Read on for her story (and my system) for getting the right people from your network on the phone, and the one tactic everyone forgets after a coffee chat. (It’s my secret for building lucrative partnerships.) A Good Story As I understand it, the path to owning your own dental practice is pretty straightforward: Go to school, work for someone else, and develop a good reputation to get new clients in the door. Then (if you’re good) you get to open your spot. Gila’s path was no different. When she decided that she wanted to open her own pediatric dental business, Gila was lucky enough to partner with an established dentist who allowed her to use his office and equipment on his days off. She also had the slight advantage of being one of the few female practitioners at the time. (Come to think of it, all my dentists growing up were dudes—you?) Her first few clients came from referrals from this established dentist, as well as friends and family. But other than moms talking at the playground, Gila had few options for marketing herself and growing her clientele. And relying solely on word of mouth from happy customers is a slow build. It was 1994 and Google Ads for “pediatric dentist near me” were not a thing. Gila knew that in order to get to a place where she could open her own space, she needed to vastly expand her referral network and get in with other health practitioners serving families. Naturally, she turned to pediatricians. She picked up the phone and hopped in her car in an effort to build relationships with all the local pediatric offices. She called to introduce herself. She dropped off gifts and notes. She offered to take doctors out to lunch. But, as she quickly realized, pediatricians are a busy bunch. And her attempts at relationship-building weren’t getting her far. She needed a better approach. A Good Approach Gila thought about how she could connect with potential pediatric partners on a deeper level. Most pediatricians get into healthcare because they actually care about kids. Their whole purpose is to ensure their patients are healthy, happy, and thriving. In addition to being a busy bunch, Gila thought, they’re a caring bunch. And having a holistic picture of what their patients are going through allows them to provide better care. So, Gila decided to give them more of what they needed. She created a letterhead with her name and branding and started sending her patient’s pediatricians very detailed patient reports. Whenever a new patient visited her practice, she would fill out a form detailing her findings and the next steps in the child's dental care. This consistent communication not only kept her top of mind when new parents asked for referrals, it built trust and showed her dedication to comprehensive patient care. Over time, pediatricians began referring more patients to her. They appreciated the thorough follow-up and care Gila’s practice was clearly providing their patients. Within a year, Gila had enough business to open her own. And this is when creating an environment that makes kids (and their parents) feel happy and safe at the dentist was her biggest priority. The dog and the bouncy ball dispenser were all a means to that end. Since those early days, Gila has adopted a few new standard marketing practices followed by most brick-and-mortar businesses. She asks for reviews on Yelp and Google and has some ad spend going to show up in local search. But that, she admits, contributes to only 30% of all new customer acquisition—the rest is all referrals driven by her reputation. She’s “that dentist with the dog” and “the one with the bouncy balls.” A local legend, if you will, in her little corner of a crowded industry. A Good Lesson Once Gila got her practice going, it really got going. At one point she had a waitlist to see new patients that was 9 months long. Her welcoming and thoughtful office design, as well as excellent patient care, helped her expand on that reputation. While making kids (and their parents) feel comfortable and safe continues to be her biggest focus, she admits that she’s taking this “accommodating patient’s needs” thing too far. The one time this hurt her business was when she extended office hours into the evening to fit parents' busy schedules. While she knew it wasn’t ideal, she did it anyway. And it ended in a huge disaster for everyone, as children were often too tired and uncooperative after a long day. This led to less effective appointments and more stressed parents. The lesson here is that while it’s essential to consider customer convenience, it's equally important to prioritize the quality of the service provided. Gila learned to stick to what was best for her young patients, scheduling appointments when they were more alert and cooperative, thus ensuring a better overall experience. A Good Takeaway Building a great product or offering an amazing service experience will motivate your customers to bring you new customers. But you can’t rely on this kind of referral system alone. You need strategic referral partners. Gila learned the hard way that cold calling is one of the most challenging ways to build these relationships—especially before you’ve built a reputation. Her attempts to take pediatricians out to lunch are akin to all the “coffee chat” requests many of us regularly field (or ask for) that often don't go anywhere. Because here’s the thing about referrals: When done right, it’s an effective and simple way to land new clients. But you need a system to keep this very effective engine going. This includes:
It all starts with building a list of people in your zone of influence. That means people who serve a similar market with complimentary offers. For instance, realtors build relationships with loan brokers. Accountants build relationships with financial analysts. Pool boys build relationships with landscapers. (You get the drift.) For me as a content marketer, that means having relationships with people who do PR, design work, paid ads, email marketing, and/or social media management for startups and small businesses. These are all folks who provide complimentary services to my content strategy work. We don't compete—we compliment. After you’ve identified these potential connections, you need to put them in a list and start reaching out. This is where you start building your “system.” Because even more critical than establishing a connection is staying in touch. If you want people to refer you, you need to be top of mind and follow up after all those coffee chats (or whatever you want to call them). And unless you have a photographic memory, keeping a tracking sheet is the only way to do it. My tracking system is a simple AirTable spreadsheet where I list:
That last column is the most important. During all of my relationship-building calls (a.k.a. networking), I take note of things that are top of mind for the person I'm speaking with. Maybe they just had a baby. Maybe they bought a house. Maybe they're about to launch a new product or service. I put a date on the spreadsheet for when I want to reach back out and check in with how it's all going. I genuinely care, and having a check-in system ensures I'm following through on building the relationship over time. Next comes pitching a collaboration. Maybe you could work on a joint project, collaborate on content, or offer to co-create a resource for something your clients always ask for that you don’t specialize in. For instance, I don't specialize in paid ads or SEO. (I can do it, but it’s not my focus.) Yet potential clients ask me for these things all the time. So, I’ve partnered with peripheral people to provide a comprehensive marketing audit for potential clients that includes all of our services. This way we can collectively serve new clients and get paid for a partnership while also deepening our relationship as referral partners. Last, but certainly not least, I give lots of referrals. Because I believe (and have personal proof) that giving referrals gets you referrals. I know Gila would back me up on this, too. A Good Resource
Hope you have a good one, |