Mailbag: Referral Networks, Cancellations and Waitlists

We answer three tough practice questions that hit both the heart and the bottom line: how to build referral partners as an introvert, how to handle cancellation fees without guilt, and how to think clearly about wait lists and ethics. We share simple language and practical rules that protect cash flow, strengthen your reputation, and help more clients get the right care faster.

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Transcript

Mailbag Setup And Big Questions

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Hey, I'm answering some questions in a special mailbag episode. We're going to dig into building up referral partners and networks, how to charge cancellation fees, and whether you actually should. And then also, what about these waiting lists? Are they a good thing? Are they ethically okay to put people on a waiting list to work with you, or should you be releasing them out to other therapists? My name is Craig, and I'm the owner of Daisy Financial Coaching. Our team is on a mission to make your therapy practice permanently profitable. If you own a solo or group practice, we're here to help you build a business that creates more time, makes more money, and serves more people. This is the Therapy Business Podcast. These mailbag uh episodes are some of my favorites because I get a chance to answer some of your questions. Now, before I do, I want to ask you a question. And that is, are you willing to subscribe if you haven't yet? Whether you're watching this on YouTube or you're listening to this on one of your podcast platforms, subscribing and leaving a review tremendously helps our outreach and gets us in front of more therapists who are looking for that support. We are wanting to put this out and just help as many physical therapists, mental health therapists, occupational therapists, all and beyond with their practices to get support in the finances and growing their practice. It would mean a lot if you could just take a couple minutes to do that. The support is greatly, greatly appreciated. Now back to what we're really here for, and that's to answer your questions. Now, these mailbag episodes, you can always submit questions to me.

Subscribe And Send Your Questions

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You could just email me at craig at craigdacy.com at any time, or you can go to therapybusinesspod.com and submit questions to us for these episodes. So if there's something burning, uh they're anonymous. I never say who submits these questions. So if there's something you've been wanting to know, something that's been on your mind, drop a question. There's nothing that's too crazy or too niche. I would love to answer them here on one of these episodes that we we release about once every quarter. All right, let's start with referral networks. So a question about building referral networks as an introvert. How can I build my referral network as an introvert? I'm trying to reach out, but I'm struggling. The few people I've reached out to aren't responding. How do I do this without being annoying? This is finding people who you can get clients from who are going to send people to you. And then, of course, referral partnership means you're reciprocating and sending it the other way. It's one of my favorite marketing tactics, uh, simply because the industry that we're in, whether it's again physical therapy, you're gonna need some people to refer doctors, hospitals, all those different people referring to you. And on the mental health side, you have different referral partners as well. And it could be other therapists who specialize in something different than you do. Having somebody who you're connected with who,

Referral Networks For Introverts

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when a patient or a client comes to them and they can't take them on, you're the first person that comes to mind. Or if somebody just had surgery on their knee and they asked their general practitioner or the surgeon, who do you recommend for physical therapy? They have you on a short list that they send them so that they can come to you. If you're listening to this, you probably know this is a huge percentage of how a lot of therapists receive their business. And it's a pretty controllable one. So a lot of times when it comes to marketing, we're sitting back and we're going, you know, our SEO isn't performing, uh, we're not getting leads coming in as much as I would like to. What can we do? This is actionable versus, you know, instead of cold calling patients, it's how do I maybe I reach out to some referral partners? And so pinpointing in your area, different people who you could connect with is a great place to start and doing some outreach. Now, the specific question here is you're this person's been reaching out and they're not getting responses. So, how can we do this? They don't want to be annoying. And that's what I found a lot of people do is they just email once, they ask once, and then it's they're done. They they never come back and tap their shoulder again for fear of being annoying. Well, let's let's go into this because I do have a few thoughts. The first thing is whenever we're reaching out to referral partners, I always recommend leading with what's in it for them. They're busy. You know, uh, I'm sure I I get this all the time in my inbox, is a bunch of people marketing to me. I get a lot of emails about you know my payroll softwares and uh marketing, getting more leads and 10xing my my client base. And so I've just become desensitized to it. And a lot of times it just gets deleted, deleted, deleted. If somebody were to reach out to me and say, Hey, Craig, I'm this kind of business, I would love to get clients from you. So would you please send people my way? That's that doesn't resonate. However, approaching somebody and saying, Hey, I see that you are this specialty. So let's just say uh I'm gonna use physical therapy. Maybe maybe you are specializing in rehabilitation, whereas you see another business that does more sports, uh athletes, and optimizing all those things. So you reach out to them and you say, I see what you're doing over there. You know, we don't specialize in that, but sometimes we get people reaching out to us looking for that. I'd love to connect to see if you are somebody that we could send, feel confident sending uh potential clients to or potential patients to. We're setting it up in that way. Now, I'm not saying to lie. So if you're not going to be sending, looking to send them people, then of course we're not gonna say that. But typically with these referral partnerships, it is a two-way street. It provides value to you because you are becoming somebody who can then direct people, still help them, even if you're not working with them. But by leading with that, now it's I'm looking for somebody I can send business to. Are you that person? They're more likely to respond and connect. Now, when you get on a call, you know, you could do a virtual coffee, you could go meet them in person. When you do, you know, that conversation's gonna go two ways. They're gonna ask what you specialize in, and then there's an opportunity for you to say, you know, this is what our specialty is. If you ever happen to have this, and usually they're gonna volunteer it, but if you ever happen to have people coming in looking for X, Y, and Z, we we would love to help them. So reaching out with what's in it for them. Now, I know on some of it is there's gonna be some ethical guidelines of we can't promise uh kickbacks. So we're not again not what we're doing. Uh for doctor's offices, if you're trying to work with uh general practitioners or something, it's just getting into there where you can really shortly show them that you specialize. If it's a surgeon who does this type of surgery, it's we specialize in helping people rehabilitate from this exact surgery. So it's giving them that idea that this is what we do, and we could really help support your people. It's about that. So whether you're offering them business or you're just offering to support their patients better, there's always opportunities there. The the second thing is don't just try for one person and then never give up on them like that, or you get one and they're like, Yeah, sure, we'd love to be a referral partner. And you're like, Cool, check. I've got my my uh doctor, I've got my uh my couples counselor that is gonna refer to me. No, that's not where we want to stop. It I always recommend having two, three, maybe even five different referral partners from each industry. So whatever different types of people you have referring to you, have multiples. And for the other reason is the inverse. If you're gonna send somebody out, it's no longer you get somebody coming to you for again, couples counseling. Maybe you don't work with couples, so it's not here's one person that I recommend go to them. It's here's two or three different people, or what area do you live in? Okay, great. There is a here's one or two fantastic uh therapists over in this area that you can connect with. I recommend reaching out to them, interviewing them, see which one you like best. So having multiples, not only does it now I have five people in this one industry potentially referring clients or patients to me, but now I have options to send people when they come to us and we can't help them, or we're trying to refer them out to something different. So, what's in it for them? Have more than one, and then it's okay to be annoying, right? I'm not saying pester people. And if they tell you to stop, if they say, hey, we're not interested, then stop. But people are busy, people delete emails, people might see it and be like, oh, interesting, and then they move on. That's happened to me before, and it's not until somebody followed up again that's like, ah, actually, I was interested in that. I just was busy when I saw the email and I never got back to getting back to you. So tap on their shoulder uh a handful of times. I would say over the course of a few weeks, maybe three to five emails. Uh pick up the phone, call them, uh, pop into their office if you're feeling ambitious, and you can drop off some donuts for their team and and introduce yourself and what you do. And there's again, you're not selling them anything, so it's just genuinely I am this therapist or this physical therapist, this OT, whatever you are. And I just wanted to pop in, introduce myself, bring bring you guys a treat, and just see what you're all about. I don't know. So lots of different ways to do it, but you're not going to be annoying. I know, as introverts, the idea of going into somebody else's practice is terrifying. So uh you don't have to do that if you don't want to, but really the key here is just be persistent, be persistent. If you want to build those referral networks, step out of your comfort zone a little bit and you'll be amazed at what can happen. All right. And then last thing, one last thought that just popped in my head was nurturing those. When you do develop those relationships, send people to them. Uh don't just sit back and expect them to send people to you. The best way to get them to send you business is to start trying to send them business. Don't turn away your own business, but again, it's if you have people in mind, people maybe who came to you a month ago, that when you didn't have uh this sports therapist, now you can reach out to them saying, Hey, I just connected with this person. I thought of you. If you haven't found anyone yet, uh they're they're great people, and I think they could be a good fit. All right. Second question is cancellation fees. I always feel guilty charging a cancellation fee, so I usually don't. Uh other people I've talked to told me I should be charging. I don't know what to do. So this is um a question from actually one of my clients. Uh, we've gone through this uh with their cancellation fee. They just feel bad when somebody cancels last minute or they get sick or something comes up. And so what we find is that they rarely are charging cancellation fees. Now, I get that. So I want to come in from the empathy side, but then also just the business side, especially if you have a team of therapists or PTs working under you. When somebody cancels last minute, if you're paying them for that time, so you know, if they're a no-show and or they call in an hour before saying

Cancellation Fees Without Guilt

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they're sick, your PT is likely still gonna get paid, or your therapist is likely still gonna get paid for that session. And so it can really put a cash strain on the business if you're getting a bunch of cancellations, especially during flu season, and you're paying people for revenue that's not coming in. So that's gonna be a reason why I think a cancellation fee is really important. Number two is I think people can sometimes get into a habit of canceling, something better comes up, or uh I've I've had those appointments before uh where it's easy for me just to say, yeah, I'm gonna reschedule this. You know, if I have a dental cleaning, it's easier for me to say, you know, the day before I see it on my calendar, like, oh, I'm so slammed right now. Let me push that back to next week or two weeks from now. We can build that habit. And so what you might see is those kind of recurring visitors who keep doing it. And if you haven't been charging them cancellation fees or had that conversation, then it can feel even more awkward coming up to them and saying, Hey, we're gonna charge you a fee for canceling last minute. And they're like, We've been when when did this start? So I recommend having these conversations and just kind of setting that precedent. And what I say is the rule of thumb is charge, and then you can always let the waving the cancellation fee be the exception to the rule instead of the rule. That gives you the freedom to say, this person, they had a flat tire on the way to the office. They're always they always show up. We're not gonna charge them, we're gonna waive it, we'll cover it. Um, if somebody just happens to call and cancel uh last minute, you can let them know, hey, you know, as a one-time courtesy, we usually charge a X dollar cancellation fee. We're gonna wave it this time for you because this is the first time it's happened. But just know in the future, please try and give X number of hours notice in order to avoid this cancellation fee. So you can come at it from a point of grace and empathy, and you know, we're gonna wave it this time, which I'm sure they're gonna greatly appreciate. But then also setting that precedent that in the future it's gonna be charged. So just know that. And to avoid it, here's what you need to do. Don't feel guilty uh with the cancellations. Uh, I really don't think it's something to feel bad about. I I think most of the time it's um it's warranted. And then again, if there are those few times that it's something that's maybe pulling on your heartstrings or you feel like it really was out of their control and you want to help out, then you can always wave it. Uh in those instances, though, like I said, I would never wave it without making it clear that you're waving it. So letting the patient know we're gonna wave it this time, um, even if it's been waived in the past, but they just had, you know, their dog died. It's we're gonna wave it this time because we know that you're going through a hard time and we we don't want to charge you on this cancellation. So just making it clear we norm we normally charge, but we're not going to. All right. Lastly, is how do you feel about wait lists? Nice, short, and simple. Um, wait lists to me, and so I know there's kind of a another ethical feeling around wait lists. Um, a waiting list is when you're so busy that somebody comes to you, you're saying, Great, we're gonna put you on a list. We're about 60 days out from actually being able to schedule you with someone. All of our clinicians or therapists are full right now, but we're gonna put you out, you know, one, two, three months away. The reason some people question whether it's ethical is they feel like maybe they're holding on, these people are reaching out for help, and we're just holding on to them and not helping them in a time of need. Uh now, you know, the the savvy people, the people who are gonna take the bull by the horns, are gonna go out and find somebody else.

Wait Lists And Ethics

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We all know if you've had a wait list, that by the time you start reaching out to the wait list, that maybe half of them are actually still looking for uh therapy. So the ethical side is yes, am I preventing them from getting help by saying, hey, yep, you're on our list, so we'll work with you in a few months. Um, the savvy ones will find it, but there are going to be people who don't. I think wait lists are a good thing to work towards. However, I don't think there's something you want to keep long term. Uh sometimes it's a vanity metric, sometimes it's a safety net. We feel good when we know that there is a wait list because it's we don't feel desperate for leads. And that can be a good place to be, especially if your wait list is under 30 days. I think that's fine to balance. But usually it's market research, it's showing how demand is in your practice. Do we need to hire more people? Do we need to move into a bigger clinic? What do we need to do to be able to support this demand? Because we're leaving dollars on the table for the practice and we're leaving people out there in the lurch. Maybe you're undercharging. Uh, if you've been trying to go from insurance to private pay, maybe this is an opportunity to start making those transitions. Uh, there's a lot of different ways to approach this when you have a waiting list, but ultimately, I don't think it's ethically bad. I think really it's one you need to check yourself. You know, when it comes down to these ethical pieces, sometimes it's just a matter of what's my intention here? Am I afraid they're gonna go find somebody else? So I'm trying to put them on a wait list, or am I just trying to make sure that we don't forget about them and we're putting them here? And um, you could always give them a couple names of other therapists if they want to reach out to those. Uh, if if you find that you're a couple months out, say we're gonna put you on a wait list. But if you need somebody sooner, here are a couple people we recommend. Luckily, you have done the work to find those referral partners, so you can set that up. Uh, ultimately, it's just if it becomes a vanity thing, if it becomes something that you are holding on to, then that could be something to look at. Now, you might have some, you know, some unlicensed therapists, or you know, maybe you have a PTA or a somebody else who can work with them. Uh, so there's always the option of, hey, we don't have room here, but if you're willing to work more so in the mental health space, they may go to your website, they may want to be working with a certain therapist and you say, They're full, but we have, you know, the this intern one over here that might be a good fit to work with you, they can see you immediately. Or this person who um is amazing, maybe what you're looking at out. So it's do you want to work with somebody else now, or do you want to get on the wait list for the person you're looking for? All I'd say, I don't think wait lists are bad. I think use them to your advantage as far as getting a picture of what is this telling us about the business? If you've had a wait list for months and months and months and months, it might be time to reevaluate. Are we do we need to add a new team member? Do we need to raise our prices? What do we need to do uh to make sure that we can sh reduce this list down and we can actually get to these people? All right, those are the questions. So I've got those three. Again, shoot me an email. Let me know if you have a question that you would like answered in a future mailbag episode. These are some of my favorites to do because it's just fun getting to hear kind of what's going on in in your minds and what you might be struggling with, or sometimes just curious about, you know, things like a wait list. You're just curious, is this okay to have? Uh, maybe you're just kind of internally struggling. So that's why I'm here. I love answering these questions. So submit them my way, and I will talk to you soon. Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a practice owner that you may know. If your practice needs help getting organized with its finances or just growing your practice, head to therapybusinesspod.com to learn how we can help you.