LEVERAGING INFORMATION AND REFERRALS

By Keith Wassung

A fantastic way to reach more people with the message of Chiropractic is the use of a lecture feedback sheet after each and every lecturing opportunity. By incorporating this procedure into your regular new patient orientation workshops, you will almost instantly produce a great number of new patient referrals as well as increased lecturing opportunities in your community. This form is given out at the end of any lecture, but it is important to properly “pre-promote” the purpose and importance of it during the introduction to the lecture. "Folks, I am going to cover a lot of facts and figures, lots of research...and if you are like me, you probably want to know where I am getting this information from--well at the end of the class, I will hand out a feedback sheet which will allow you to request complete copies of all the information we cover tonight-- it's really interesting stuff---but just sit back, relax and focus on the concepts we are covering.

Give the presentation At the end of your talk, hand out the forms (with clipboards and pens) and say something like this 'I am giving you this form for a couple of reasons--number one, I want your feedback--I want to know what is important to you and what I can do to work and improve my message. The second reason is that I mentioned a lot of research and data in my talk and if you are like me--you want evidence--you want proof that what someone is saying is backed with hard data or you just may want to read more on your own time. I have information packages available that I can give to you--so just take a few minutes and let me know what type of information you are looking for.

An effective teacher is not necessarily the one who is great at conveying information--but one who can get the student/audience interested and engaged in the topic so that they will go out and investigate for themselves. This is exactly what you are doing with the follow-up.

At the end of your talk, hand out the forms (with clipboards and pens) and say something like this:

'I am giving you this form for a couple of reasons--number one, I want your feedback--I want to know what is important to you and what I can do to work and improve my message. The second reason is that I mentioned a lot of research and data in my talk and if you are like me--you want evidence--you want proof that what someone is saying is backed with hard data or you just may want to read more on your own time. I have information packages available that I can give to you--so just take a few minutes and let me know what type of information you are looking for.

You need to explain the lecture feedback sheet as they are filling it out. They put their name and email (all of your follow-up data should be sent electronically)

The first question asks “what was the most important thing you learned in this workshop? That question is just feedback for the presenter to ensure that they are grasping the concepts you are sharing.

The next two questions “How important was this information to you” and “Would your family and friends benefit from this type of information?” is the starting point of building a large referral pipeline via the sharing information. To do this, you have to teach people how to refer, why to refer and then equip them with the tools to refer.

If you share some information with a patient ( or even a non-patient) and they are engaged and you turn right around and say "Now, who needs Chiropractic--well they might think of two people--one lives in Alaska, and the other is a dead aunt--you just crossed the line and are now begging for patients----at least that is the perception--even if they say, Oh give me some cards and I will pass them out--inside they are saying "he /she is desperate) But if you share the information and then say "who needs to KNOW or have access to this information--there is no barrier

The next space gives them a chance to put down groups that they are involved with that might benefit from a similar lecture. It is not uncommon to pull 15-20 speaking leads from an audience as small as ten people. Once they list the organization and contact, you ask their advice on the best way to approach the group.

The next session is for them to request more information. This can be in the form of handouts, videos or other types of multimedia. I would strongly encourage you to send out everything in a digital format. You will want to do this because A. it is less expensive than print copies B. It will not end up under the car seat or in the trash C. It has a very good chance of being electronically shared with their family and friends.

The last place on the feedback sheet is for the audience to make a list of people that might benefit from the information that was shared. You are not trying to extract names and emails of their contacts to use—in fact make a point of telling them to NOT put down an email or a phone number. You are not going to contact the names on the list. But you are going to ask the person who wrote down the names the best way to share information with the names and then you are going to equip and assist the person accordingly.

Some of you may have been sitting here tonight and you thought of someone -a relative, friend or co-worker and you said to yourself--I sure wish Jim and Betty was here listening to this, so the bottom part of the form is a chance for you to list some folks who you think would benefit from this information--just jot them down if you want and then we can talk about how to get this information to them.

We are not going to call them tonight or anything like that—in fact, what will do on your next visit is talk about your list and what we can do to get them this message—we may just want to invite them to our next orientation—we may want to send them a DVD of tonight’s class or some health education literature—that decision is going to be up to you—but here is how I look at it—imagine going down the road and you see a sign at a gas station that says GAS 1.99 TODAY ONLY—and you rush in and fill up your tank—you can’t believe your good fortune-would you tell anybody else—or would you keep it to yourself—you are probably like me in that I would want to share it with my family and friends—now when I call some of them they may not believe it or even bother to go fill up—and that is ok, it’s their loss, but at least we gave them the chance.

NOTICE--I did not say "NOW WHO DO YOU KNOW WHO NEEDS CHIROPRACTIC CARE" NO, NO, NO….that is such a huge barrier that you throw up when you say that--what you are doing is teaching them a very effective referral process--one that is without pressure or confrontation on their part.

I have done this thousands of times and I have NEVER had anyone question my motives. I routinely get more opportunities to do additional lectures than I can handle--and most everyone will request follow up information and I would say 3/4 of the audience will at least list 4-5 people who need to hear the information. (Inside a Chiropractic office it’s much higher) Don’t worry about getting "new patients" per se--they will come, because you are positioning yourself as a health expert in your community.

Once you are done with the feedback form, you can do, I am going to stick around as long as people

want to talk and have questions- Thank you very much for attending tonight’s class

FEEDBACK FOLLOW-UP

Collect the feedback sheets from the participants and spend some time reviewing them. There are so

many different methods to closing the class and following up and lot of this is up to the individual clinic..

You will also need to personalize the feedback sheet to reflect the services of your clinic. In advance,

prepare packets for each of the areas of follow-up information and be prepared to either give them

out on the next visit or e-mail them within a few days of the class.