Referral Partners Versus Marketing

If you are like most therapists, you probably feel really uncomfortable marketing yourself to others in the community. And the thought of trying to sell your services conjures up images of the proverbial sleazy used car salesman. As a result, you avoid marketing altogether or only put in the least amount of time and energy into this aspect of your business. 

What if I told you that there is a way to make connections with other people in the community who truly need what you have to offer? And, what if these people were also in a position to send you new clients on a regular basis? Sounds a lot more appealing, doesn’t it?

There is a huge difference between establishing solid relationships with other providers in your community and what people think of as marketing. Having these solid connections is what I strive for because building these relationships can take your private practice to the next level. 

Referral partners are other professionals in the community who also see your ideal client in a different, but related capacity. It is a two way relationship that consists of sharing valuable resources to better serve the clients. 

So you might be asking yourself, how do I make these connections? Form these relationships with other providers in the community?

It’s not as hard as you might think. The key to making these connections is to help these referral partners solve a problem they have by offering a valuable resource. Yourself.

This is the part where we can think outside of the box a little bit. Let’s say you work with children and specialize in treating ADHD. One of the best referral partners would be the pediatrician. 

Why? Because they also see your ideal clients but in a different capacity. You can imagine all of the questions pediatricians get from parents looking for resources on how to help their children. Physicians don’t have the time to sit down with their patients for an hour to develop strategies to help manage ADHD. But you do. 

You can offer the pediatrician a valuable resource guide for parents on how to help their children succeed in school. Parents would love this information and the pediatrician would appreciate being able to give such a helpful resource to their patients. 

Can you see how this works? You are helping your referral partner solve a problem. This helps them get to know you and when they are thinking about referring their patients to a therapist for counseling, they are going to think of you.

There is so much you can do here to help establish a solid relationship with other people in the community who also see your ideal clients. 

Examples of this would include: 

• Coordination of care letter or treatment summary letter given to the other provider

• Sharing of valuable resources, such as offering a depression rating scale

• Offering training to staff to better understand a specific presenting problem

• Providing clear and easy scheduling to their patients referred to you

This is different from marketing. Marketing is more of a one way relationship. Meaning that you offer business cards and brochures to other providers in the community so that they can be aware of your services. But there is no sharing of patients and no coordination of care. 

Examples of this include:

• Community education

• Speaking engagements

• Open house

• Newsletter

• Facebook ads

• Blog writing

• Psychology Today listing

• Website

As you can see, both of these approaches are important. The goal is to move from the marketing aspect of letting people know about your services to establishing a collaborative relationship with other providers who also see your ideal client. This is what really increases new client referrals and allows you to specialize in seeing the clients you love to work with.

In the end, establishing these relationships with referral partners is very similar to the work we already do, establishing rapport, identifying problems, and offering help on how to manage these issues.

So I ask you, who are your referral partners in the community?

As a Psychologist with an insurance-based private practice, I have seen first hand how important it is to have a consistent stream of new clients. And establishing these solid relationships with referral partners has allowed me to have a thriving, six figure insurance-based private practice. For more tips on how to create your dream practice, join my facebook group

Wealthy Therapists Take Insurance.

If you have questions or need help creating your own practice, contact me at Robin@DrRobinMyers.com. I offer Coaching and Consulting Services.