One of the first things I help my clients do is find a way to talk about themselves so that patients, clients, and team members understand what they do. But as soon as we have that down, the second thing is to help them teach their existing or past patients, clients, team members, and influential professionals in their network how to do the same thing, to easily explain my client's work so that they can easily refer them.
Hi, I'm Toby Goodman from tobygoodman.com.
In principle, referrals are simple. Someone knows what you do, they meet or know someone who needs it, and they make an introduction.
But there are others who would love to refer you, who just aren't that clear on how to explain what you do, what makes you better than the rest, or why you are different.
So, they don't. Because in that moment, the person referring you has to explain you or the work of your practice, or your clinic. What you do, how you work, who it's for, why it's for that person they're speaking with. And if they're not completely clear on that, one of two things tend to happen.
They get it wrong, or they don't refer at all. Neither is ideal. If they get it wrong, it can attract the wrong kind of inquiry, waste your time. And when someone holds back from referring, that opportunity completely disappears, and as my American friends would say, "That is money left on the table." This is where a podcast becomes useful in another way.
It gives the person referring you something accurate to pass on. Instead of trying to explain your work, they can say, "Oh yeah, they've got a podcast. Have a listen to it. " It'll give you a better sense of how they might be able to help you. They no longer feel responsible for getting it right, and the person receiving the referral hears it directly from you.
In your words, in your tone, with the level of detail you would normally use. Referrals carry trust, but they don't always carry that clarity, and a podcast will fill that gap. It helps the person on the receiving end understand what's involved before they make a decision, but it also helps that person referring you feel more confident.
They know they're passing something on that reflects your work properly, that increases their status in the relationship too, because it's nice to be nice. So, here's some business to business examples. Maybe a GP referring you as a specialist, a therapist, maybe recommending you as an additional provider, or a consultant introducing someone in their network. But in your wider network, outside of healthcare, that lady in the gym shares your podcast to a friend. Your accountant makes an intro to a client who happens to be in health insurance. You get the idea.
The power is in using your podcast to enable your network.
In each case, there is a moment where someone has to decide, "Do I feel comfortable recommending this person?" And if they have something clear to share, that decision becomes way easier, and it also improves the quality of the referral because the person receiving it has the information coming directly from you.
They're not relying on that secondhand explanation.
So, by the time they reach out, the conversation starts from a much stronger position, not just a referral, but they know a bit about you. So, that doesn't require loads more networking. It makes the relationships you already have far more effective, and absolutely gives those refferrs status.
Because you're giving people a better way to talk about your work when you're not there. That's usually how I approach this with clients. We go through the networks they have, look at the conversations that would work best, and we target those and
try and make those happen. What do they need to understand? What do they tend to get asked? And we make sure there's something clear they can pass on in the form of a podcast. Once that's in place, referrals tend to feel more natural, they happen more often, and they lead just a better conversations.
Now, in the next episode, we'll look at how all of this connects to growth and how podcasts can support your practice without turning you into a full-time content creator.
