How to Stimulate Referrals to Your Medical Tourism Service

By using this approach,  you are acknowledging their value to your business and appealing to their ego. You aren’t asking a favor. You are offering value that they can share with their “tribe”. And you are appealing to their sense of logic and value – they benefited from someone’s referral and now they are being asked to do likewise to keep prices affordable for all concerned. 

Now, let’s take stock for a moment. Since you aren’t a startup, how many patients did you treat in the past three years? Can you use the tactical approach called “reactivation” to leverage these connections to get to their 250-300 tribe members? In marketing and advertising this is called “reach”. 

If you had 300 patients last year who each had a successful outcome or consultation and problem solved, that’s a reach of 90,000 tribe members.  Over the past 3 years, if you had 900 patients who each had a successful outcome or consultation and problem solved, that’s a reach of 270,000 tribe members where you already have an advantage over your competitors. 

Now let’s make a few other calculations. What’s your average transaction value for a surgery?  If only one half of one percent of those 270,000 tribe members, you may have a chance to reach 13,500 new patients who might buy from you multiplied by that average transaction value. Now that’s a medical tourism service to be proud of.  So why don’t doctors and dentists do this simple act of appreciation and reactivation? Perspective! They’ve heard at medical tourism industry association events that facilitators are the way to get referrals. That’s nonsense. How will those new inexperienced facilitators get traction.  Does that suddenly just happen?  

You could offer then a 50% kickback and it still wouldn’t amount to much.  Will you be the ridiculous fool who stands up in a medical tourism industry association event and says “If anybody knows someone who needs orthopedic surgery, then please refer them to  me for a X% cut of what I make.” So then why do it by email or by phone?

How referrals “happen”

All referrals happen through a discussion between two or more people. There are three things that must happen to generate a referral to your service:  The conversation must center on something you do; you must be positioned top of mind and in a favorable light; and the person who knows and trusts you must be willing to introduce you to the people or person with whom they are speaking to solve that person’s problem.  Nobody needs an orthopedic surgeon or cardiologist. They need a solution to their medical dilemma.  

Your ideal customer has a need for what you do and knows the person that knows about you and for whom you’ve already solved a similar problem. When you tap into this influential circle, you aren’t asking your patient to make cold referrals to their whole tribe or asking for connections or contact details of persons with whom you have no relationship or trust established. That’s just not done in medicine and dentistry. 

Sourcing referrals from professional colleagues

Before a patient arrives at your doorstep, which other medical service professionals did they encounter? Whom did these patients trust to guide them? 

Primary care and other physicians and surgeons are a source of untapped profits and growth for your business. Finding the ones who aren’t in direct competition with you and complement your service is an inexpensive source of leads. I didn’t say “free” because you must invest in the relationship with them (time – which is not free; entertainment – which also has a cost) so that you are positioned at the top of their mind and they know enough to be comfortable to make the referral.  This is important because there is a risk of negligent referral that nobody wants to take. In fact, in some countries, there’s a risk of liability for negligent referral. In the USA, this risk is dealt with in lawsuits and settlements or court verdicts. I would sooner say “I don’t know anyone” than risk an accusation and legal consequences associated with negligent referral.  And all those facilitators who contract via email, sight unseen, sans inspections and credentials and privileges verification and reputation research? Risk-taking fools! All of them! And those who are “certified” and still do it? That’s like painting a bullseye on one’s behind and waiting for the arrows! Not to mention what credibility it gives to the  “write a check and attend a seminar” “certification(s)” they hold.

So how might you reward a professional colleague that makes referrals to you so that they look good? First invest time in growing the relationship.  Second, ask for the referrals. Third, give them a gift card or voucher for your products or services that they can share with the person with whom they make the referral. That way, you help them look great in the eyes of their patient. There’s no sales pressure, no conflict of interest, no ethical violation, and everybody wins. It only costs you the amount of the discount “if and when” redeemed.

To do this, you must know your costs and your margins for each service you offer. Price each service, treatment, surgery, or consultation so that you take this percentage only from margins you can afford to sacrifice. If you need to learn how to price your services to use this tactic, I developed the software application to help you. Contact me and I will set you up with a trial account to price 25 services at no charge.

Create Your Professional Brand on a Global Scale

A professional brand is simply the personality of your medical or dental practice, clinic, hospital or ASC. How you describe or express it in messaging, storytelling, imagery, location, positioning, logo, tag line, and staff behavior are all elements of branding. If you need help with branding, call me. Let’s chat and determine the gap from where you are to where you need to be. Then I can either fit you into my schedule to advise you or “refer” you to vetted colleagues I trust to help you who may have more time or quicker availability.

But I am going to let you in on a little secret: Branding is what you do “after” someone has transacted business with you. You don’t induce people to transact with you through branding. Branding attracts attention and grows awareness. Brand equity is the value you build that drives people to choose you over your competitor. It does not “sell” on your behalf. 

In medical tourism, you need brand equity in order to pull in referrals and patients from “across the road” even when there’s a supplier of an equivalent service, treatment, surgery or consultation on their side of the road.

Brand equity grows out of amazing patient experiences that convert your existing patients into raving fans who sing your praises and refer others to your service organically, naturally, and without paying sales commissions.