I like to think of every new patient as a referral, even the ones that come in from direct advertising – I find it’s an easier way to build a new-patient strategy. Here’s a way to break down your referrals into 5 categories. You can break each down into sub-categories as required, and track each using something as simple as a spreadsheet or notebook.

Patient Referrals
Still ranking as the best source of new patients in my book, existing clients tend to refer other people who will also find success with your approach. And they’re so easy to market to – it’s a captive audience whose contact info is (or should be) at your fingertips.

Professional Referrals
These are the clients that come to you via your colleagues – other naturopaths, chiropractors, RMT’s, homeopaths, MD’s etc. – as well as related professions like health food stores and personal trainers.

The best part about many of these referrals is that they’re in similar industries, so they tend to refer people that may already “get” what you do.

Personal Referrals
This is a catch all for the friends, family and acquaintances who come to see you because they know you. Also includes anything you generate from networking.

Promotional Referrals
Anyone who finds you via traditional advertising, phone directories, newspaper and magazine articles, signage, the internet, etc.

Purchased
I use this 5th P to refer to files/patients acquired by buying a practice or buying patient files.

Each of these referral sources has its own strengths, and requires a unique approach. For example, the flyer that you direct mailed to 1000 households may not be effective at generating referrals from the MD down the street.

If you use this as the top-level breakdown of where your new patients come from, you’ll easily be able to see over time where to best spend your marketing time and budget.