May was a strong month with 17 additional referrals, building on a solid April. June is currently running about 9% below pace, equating to approximately five referrals — manageable given that Dr. Ferriol's June 9th office visits have not yet yielded their full 30-day impact. The referral dashboard shows a notable number of green providers now dormant over 90 days, representing the highest-priority segment for outreach over the next 30 days. Jayme recommended Austin focus the next month on three dashboard columns: activation, dormancy, and providers trending down.
On June 9th, Austin, Dr. Ferriol, and assistant Bella conducted a coordinated outreach effort, visiting 11 offices and delivering summer survival kit goodie baskets. All offices were receptive with no negative feedback, and one office already sent a thank-you card. This outreach was a productive use of Dr. Ferriol's open afternoon and a positive step toward rebuilding visit consistency. These visits should be logged in Referral Lab under a June 2026 marketing event for Dr. Ferriol, with each provider visited listed individually.
May 2026 marketing event entries were created but providers visited were never added. These need to be updated retroactively, including Dr. Kreitzer's May lunches. Going forward, each provider should be logged under the correct doctor's monthly event — log providers under the doctor they refer to most frequently. Austin successfully identified this gap and will correct the entries before the next meeting.
Dr. Kreitzer has not logged his May outreach notes in Referral Lab. Austin will send him a reminder to ensure his lunches and visits from May are entered. Consistent logging from all providers is essential for accurate ROI tracking and dashboard analysis.
For any new referring provider, the doctor must be the first point of contact — not Austin or the office staff. If the office is local, the referring doctor should visit in person. If the provider is non-local or too far to visit easily, a handwritten thank-you card signed by the doctor should be mailed promptly. Austin can draft the note; the doctor signs and it goes out. The key message: new referring partners need to feel acknowledged quickly, or the relationship fades. Jayme shared a real example where a referring doctor stopped sending referrals simply because the doctor never came to visit — and said so directly when asked. Austin will keep blank thank-you cards on hand so this process can happen without delay. Once the doctor has made the first impression, Austin can take over ongoing relationship maintenance. Jayme will send Austin a six-month new provider visit cadence document for reference.
An influx of patients with insurance plans requiring mandatory pre-determinations is contributing to open schedule time. Patients are willing to schedule but are being booked further out as a result. This is an insurance-driven constraint — not a referral or conversion issue. Austin may want to flag this pattern with Heidy for guidance on workflow adjustments.
Both CareCredit and Proceed are offered to every patient. Jayme recommended leaning more on Proceed for larger treatment cases, as it tends to have stronger approval rates. Austin noted Proceed's minimum has improved from $2,500 to approximately $1,500. Austin will verify whether both platforms use soft or hard credit pulls, as soft pulls remove a common patient objection. Note: frozen credit reports will prevent approval regardless of pull type.
The team is already presenting phased treatment options to patients facing financial constraints — splitting treatment across appointments and, when appropriate, across insurance benefit years. This approach is effective for keeping patients moving forward and will continue as a standard part of financial conversations.
A mixer happy hour event at East Side Brewing — located approximately five minutes from the office — is being planned for mid-to-late September. The format is a casual 4:30 to 6:30pm open house with food, beer, wine, and outdoor games. August was initially considered but was pushed to September to avoid the back-to-school window (local school districts return August 20th). Austin will contact East Side Brewing for pricing, food options, and availability. Drink tickets (maximum two per guest) will be used to manage alcohol responsibly. All current green providers and yellow-tier providers within a targeted radius should be invited — all green providers must be included regardless of radius.
The current event budget is $5,000, but Jayme confirmed flexibility to go above that if the venue and scope warrant it. Austin should not limit the event scope based on the $5,000 ceiling — gather all pricing information first, then a budget decision will be made together. This is the practice's one major event for the year and should be treated as such.