Yeah! You got your first in-home care referral from a doctor’s office…now what?

You have done the hard work. You got your first referral from a large doctor’s office and now you set up your meet and greet at the patient’s home. 

It goes well, and you get a patient signed on for 24 hours of care a week. This is great news. Now, you have an opportunity to get more from this same account.

You have to go back to the doctor’s office, in-person if possible, and thank them for the referral. Personally, I like to write a handwritten thank-you note to each person I have meant or want to meet.

I usually write something like:

Dr. Jones,

I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to provide care to Mrs. Female Patient. We were thrilled to receive her referral for services on Monday 1/3 and we were able to meet with the patient and family the next day. She will be receiving services starting Monday the 10th by one of our dementia-trained caregivers.

I would love to discuss any other patients that look just like Mrs. Black to evaluate them to receive help in the home. Don’t worry about knowing if they can pay for the services. We have so many options to help get the care paid for. My cell is ###-###-####, and if you have any other patients that may need help feel free to call me anytime. My email address is [email protected]. Looking forward to helping you help others.

I make sure that every nurse practitioner and physician that practices at the account has a thank-you note. You never know who in the practice has influence over referrals and you don’t want to miss an opportunity.

Now, when I leave my note, it is in an envelope with the doctors’ name on it, and the word “confidential.”  This piques their curiosity and they will most likely read it.

Understand this: I bought a watch recently and had the watch for a day. I was already thinking about another watch. I bought a Cadillac XT6 and by the time it got delivered I told my assistant if they follow-up, to ask them what it would cost to get a black one. 

As a consumer, I’m literally thinking to reinforce the first purchase with a second purchase. Have you ever been to a furniture store? I recently went in, bought some furniture, and on the ride home thought, “Why didn’t I buy that side table? I wish we had grabbed that lamp… Why didn’t we get the matching bedding?” This happens to everybody.

People who make the decision to refer will say to themselves, I” should have given them Mr. Jones too.”  If you follow up, you will get Mr. Jones if you are asking for him to be identified and you are sharing how easy it is for them to give you the next referral. It’s that simple.

What if the account that gave you a referral is outside your selling area? 

I get that question all the time. I would call and leave a message for the physician updating him/her on the situation. I would also write a note that same day with an update and deliver it right away, so I could get them to quickly see if they have another patient that I could service. 

If you think you need to help your sales representative to develop better sales skills or you yourself are being tasked with selling you need to check out how we can help.  We have a product that can help you get to the next level.  Just go to www.homecaresales.com and check out our products or email [email protected] and set up a product demo today. 

Go change lives and be a solution to someone’s problem, TODAY.

Cheryl Peltekis, RN “The Solutionist”