If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. 

Are you ready to finally crack the code behind successful PT referrals? It’s easier than you think, and it doesn’t require a complicated (or expensive) marketing plan. 

For a lot of PT owners, generating referrals feels like a puzzle they just can’t solve. So many practice owners I talk with are putting out a lot of time and effort in exchange for uncertain and underwhelming returns from their referral sources. It’s not a comfortable place to be, feeling like you’re never quite on solid ground with people and organizations you’re relying on for income that is critical to your bottom line.  

Referrals aren’t an impossible mystery. But generating a steady, diverse stream of referrals does require a change from the approach most PT practice owners use. The first and most important change to make? Stop thinking about the people who refer patients to you as sources. Start thinking about them as relationships. 

What’s the difference? A source is a one-way street. You go looking for a source exclusively to give you something you want. Relationships are about mutual interest and mutual benefit. Instead of focusing your attention (and stress) on what your referral outlets can do for you, start by thinking about what you can do for them. 

Your number one job in cultivating lasting, profitable referral partners?  Do the work to understand the problem your partner is trying to solve and show them how your practice can be part of their solution. Then invite them to do the same for you. 

Why are referral relationships so successful? 

You’re not just a name on a call list
Instead, your practice becomes a collaborator, a co-equal investor in a dynamic partnership that benefits both entities. Engaging in true partnerships with other organizations activates a whole other team that’s working on your behalf. As partners, you leverage your knowledge, resources, and expertise.   

You build stronger, more diverse referral streams
Someday, you’re going to want to sell your practice. Prospective buyers evaluating your clinic will care a lot about the strength and the diversity of your referral sources. Practices with a range of strong, well-established referral partnerships are worth more money in a sale. 

They help you find your target audience
Partnering with providers and groups in your community who help the same people you want to help doesn’t just get you more patients—it gets you more of the ideal patient whom you are most interested in treating. There’s no more effective way to build a thriving practice than by identifying your target market. Take the PT Practice Quiz for the chance to uncover the proven strategies that help you find your target market—and get those people into your clinic. 

Patients are partners, too
Don’t forget, that you’re in partnership with your current patients, too. You’re providing a service that solves an important problem in their lives. Are you giving your happy patients the chance to refer new people to your clinic? Activating that two-way street can actually deepen patient engagement, and lead to greater patient retention at the same time you’re expanding your impact in your community.