Referrals to Pedodontists

[kittycat090198]

Hello,

I'm an incoming D1 this fall, but for the last six years have been working at a pediatric dentist's office so I'm posting in this forum on behalf of the dentists I'm working for!

In the past we have sent baskets of goodies to pediatricians with desserts/donuts/coffee/muffins/referral pads/business cards/chapstick with our office's info on it/etc etc and it's been great.

However, we were thinking of doing something similar for general dentists in the area, perhaps again something to eat and referral pads, for example.

My question is this: How, as a general dentist, would you take this? Thankful? Offended? We don't want to come off as we are trying to step on anyone's toes, obviously, but rather we just want it to be known that we are an available resource if they should have any pediatric patients that they would rather refer out.

Thanks in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Munks]

That's completely fine, and is pretty normal of a specialist-generalist relationship. I don't see any way they would be offended. They may have another office they refer to, or they might just be open to trying you guys out. And yeah, referral pad if they want one and some kind of snack or food for the staff is super normal.

 

[Marmalade]

Hello,

I'm an incoming D1 this fall, but for the last six years have been working at a pediatric dentist's office so I'm posting in this forum on behalf of the dentists I'm working for!

In the past we have sent baskets of goodies to pediatricians with desserts/donuts/coffee/muffins/referral pads/business cards/chapstick with our office's info on it/etc etc and it's been great.

However, we were thinking of doing something similar for general dentists in the area, perhaps again something to eat and referral pads, for example.

My question is this: How, as a general dentist, would you take this? Thankful? Offended? We don't want to come off as we are trying to step on anyone's toes, obviously, but rather we just want it to be known that we are an available resource if they should have any pediatric patients that they would rather refer out.

Thanks in advance!

It's routine at every place I've worked.

PD

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[Str82th]

Sending the baskets to pediatricians is a great idea.

 

[TanMan]

Hello,

I'm an incoming D1 this fall, but for the last six years have been working at a pediatric dentist's office so I'm posting in this forum on behalf of the dentists I'm working for!

In the past we have sent baskets of goodies to pediatricians with desserts/donuts/coffee/muffins/referral pads/business cards/chapstick with our office's info on it/etc etc and it's been great.

However, we were thinking of doing something similar for general dentists in the area, perhaps again something to eat and referral pads, for example.

My question is this: How, as a general dentist, would you take this? Thankful? Offended? We don't want to come off as we are trying to step on anyone's toes, obviously, but rather we just want it to be known that we are an available resource if they should have any pediatric patients that they would rather refer out.

Thanks in advance!

Send food, don't be cheap, have enough for the whole staff. The gift baskets provided are more for the staff than myself. Food + referral pads are nice, but you should also provide a reason why we should refer to you. If I hear bad things about your office, I'd intervene and tell the staff not to refer to x office.

I guess we're very entitled in that we expect free stuff from the offices. I get a lot of gifts besides food, and some are more meaningful than others. If its something that I can't use, it's probably forgotten. Orthos are great at sending me stuff, pediatric dentists sometimes, OS is usually cheap.

Sending stuff with your logo is useless to my office because I usually have higher quality stuff with my logo on it. Those just go to waste. I did get a set of Mont Blanc pens one time. Not too shabby.

I don't know if other offices do this, but I screen my specialists. My main question is why should I refer to you? From there, I try sending a few patients, see the results. If patients are happy, I continue referring. If not, then they are out. I stop referring when patients start complaining.

Anyway, summary:
1. Yes, send free food. Staff will appreciate it more, increase your chances for referral. Send high quality food that the staff will like (usually not health food). If you send terrible food, you're less likely to get referrals unless your services are superior. If you're just an average specialty office compared to another average specialty office, you'll get less referrals.
2. Give good gifts. We're more likely to remember you if you send nice things. Don't send me useless things. Cheap/thoughtless gifts are negative points.
3. Make our patients happy.
4. If your office doesn't give good food/gifts but your competition does, it will be noted.

I seem very shallow when I discuss this, but we are a higher volume office with the capacity to significantly boost a specialty office. I guess this is how we have leverage and are able to cater these types of expectations. For smaller offices, the expectations may be different. Also important, send me patients, and I'll send you patients. If I find out you're sending more patients to another office, I'll probably cut you off or if you're taking my patients and doing work that you're not supposed to, that's another reason we will stop referring (i.e endo doing a crown)

 

[kittycat090198]

That's completely fine, and is pretty normal of a specialist-generalist relationship. I don't see any way they would be offended. They may have another office they refer to, or they might just be open to trying you guys out. And yeah, referral pad if they want one and some kind of snack or food for the staff is super normal.

It's routine at every place I've worked.

PD

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Sending the baskets to pediatricians is a great idea.

Send food, don't be cheap, have enough for the whole staff. The gift baskets provided are more for the staff than myself. Food + referral pads are nice, but you should also provide a reason why we should refer to you. If I hear bad things about your office, I'd intervene and tell the staff not to refer to x office.

I guess we're very entitled in that we expect free stuff from the offices. I get a lot of gifts besides food, and some are more meaningful than others. If its something that I can't use, it's probably forgotten. Orthos are great at sending me stuff, pediatric dentists sometimes, OS is usually cheap.

Sending stuff with your logo is useless to my office because I usually have higher quality stuff with my logo on it. Those just go to waste. I did get a set of Mont Blanc pens one time. Not too shabby.

I don't know if other offices do this, but I screen my specialists. My main question is why should I refer to you? From there, I try sending a few patients, see the results. If patients are happy, I continue referring. If not, then they are out. I stop referring when patients start complaining.

Anyway, summary:
1. Yes, send free food. Staff will appreciate it more, increase your chances for referral. Send high quality food that the staff will like (usually not health food). If you send terrible food, you're less likely to get referrals unless your services are superior. If you're just an average specialty office compared to another average specialty office, you'll get less referrals.
2. Give good gifts. We're more likely to remember you if you send nice things. Don't send me useless things. Cheap/thoughtless gifts are negative points.
3. Make our patients happy.
4. If your office doesn't give good food/gifts but your competition does, it will be noted.

I seem very shallow when I discuss this, but we are a higher volume office with the capacity to significantly boost a specialty office. I guess this is how we have leverage and are able to cater these types of expectations. For smaller offices, the expectations may be different. Also important, send me patients, and I'll send you patients. If I find out you're sending more patients to another office, I'll probably cut you off or if you're taking my patients and doing work that you're not supposed to, that's another reason we will stop referring (i.e endo doing a crown)

Thank you!