Referral Health Snapshot
Referral Trend — Previous 90 Days
339
▼ -14 referrals vs. prior 90 days (-3.97%)
Referral Trend — YTD YoY
870
▲ +216 referrals YoY (+33.03%)*
Active Referring Providers — Previous 90 Days
44
▼ -2 providers vs. prior period
Key Discussion Topics
- YTD Growth Reflects An Incomplete Baseline: The +33.03% YTD YoY increase (654 to 870 referrals) is flattered by the fact that Referral Lab tracking didn't start until March/April 2025, so 2025's comparison window is shorter than 2026's — worth noting if this figure is shared externally.
- Summer Referral Slowdown Discussed: Both sides agreed the second and third quarters are seasonally weaker, largely due to referring doctors' summer vacations; Debbie and Melanie expect referrals to pick back up now that practices are returning from summer and back-to-school schedules.
- Referral Growth Engine Access Still Broken: Debbie still cannot log into the Referral Growth Engine despite confirming her credentials are correct; Jayme asked to be kept on the email thread and noted she has paused building new dashboards for practices affected by the same login issue.
- Provider-Level Referral Shifts Continue: Dr. Blanchard's referral volume is being absorbed by Dr. Vu, who joined in August 2025 and is now carrying a full day of new patients while Dr. Blanchard focuses on surgery and production — a dynamic that will keep skewing provider-level numbers. Separately, Dr. Stefania is leaving her practice group, which will reduce that referral source going forward.
- 60-Day ROI Snapshot Reviewed: Looking at June's monthly outreach on a 60-day window, the practice netted +9 referrals but earnings were down about $23K; Jayme noted this isn't a full 90-day read yet and the team will revisit it next month.
Marketing Initiatives Discussed
- September CE Event Promotion In Full Swing: Melanie hand-delivered treats, flyers, and printed thank-you-for-the-referral cards to every practice in the Outer Banks, and is covering Elizabeth City and Edenton this week. Four offices have already RSVP'd, and the goal is 25-30 attendees; both agreed hand delivery outperforms email invites (roughly 25-30% open rate).
- Straumann Sponsorship Contact Lost: The event's co-sponsor, Straumann, lost the rep who previously handled this relationship, and neither Melanie nor Jayme has been able to reach a replacement despite going through customer service and the education department. This leaves catering/funding details for the event still unresolved.
- Dr. Vu's Outreach Calendar Expanding: Dr. Vu is booked next week for a doctor's-office lunch drop-off and a brief in-person visit, and in early September he'll host a pizza lunch-and-learn at the ECU Dental School clinic for roughly 10 third- and fourth-year students plus established providers there.
- Website Hosting Vendor Underperforming: The current host (PBHS) still hasn't updated the Meet the Staff page despite repeated requests, and Dr. Vu's bio correction had to be resubmitted after being marked "done" with no changes made. Jayme is pushing to bring hosting in-house for 48-hour turnaround on changes; Melanie is separately trying to recover the login access she used to have to make edits herself.
- Holiday Campaign Spend Being Reconsidered: Referral Lab's analysis across the perio vertical showed last year's Christmas gift drop-offs had little to no ROI, while in-person visits, lunch-and-learns, and last fall's brewery/food-truck event drove real engagement. Both agreed to deprioritize a heavy holiday push and lean toward repeating a fall food-truck event instead.
Wins & Opportunities
Dr. Leslie (Aspen Dental) stood out in the 60-day window with +6 referrals and roughly +$6K in earnings, and the practice is in talks to bring on one of her hygienists. Melanie's proactive hand-delivery strategy for the September CE event is already outperforming email invites with 4 RSVPs before every practice has even been visited, and last year's brewery/food-truck event was a genuine crowd-pleaser the team plans to repeat this fall as a lower-cost, higher-engagement alternative to a holiday campaign.
Action Items
| Action | Owner | Due |
|---|
| Continue troubleshooting Referral Growth Engine login (SSO/password issue) and keep Jayme copied on the email thread | Debbie Lawrence | TBD |
| Track down a new Straumann rep or education-department contact to confirm CE event sponsorship and funding | Melanie Coleman / Jayme Monroe | Before Sept. 18 CE event |
| Finish hand-delivering flyers and invitations to remaining practices within the visit radius ahead of the CE event | Melanie Coleman | Prior to Sept. 18 |
| Continue attempting to recover PBHS website login to update the Meet the Staff page; escalate in parallel via SGA's web team | Melanie Coleman / Jayme Monroe | TBD |
| Submit new invitation design request via the marketing request form for the September CE event | Jayme Monroe | TBD |
