Referral Health Snapshot
Referral Trend — Previous 90 Days
359
▼ -1.91% vs. prior 90 days (366)
Referral Trend — YTD YoY
1,038
▲ +6.57% YoY (+64 vs. 974)
Active Referring Providers — Previous 90 Days
97
▲ +2 vs. prior 90 days (95)
Key Discussion Topics
- Outreach Pause And Restart: Staffing absences over the past month limited in-person visits. Brandi stayed in touch with referring offices by email and handwritten notes, and visits have now resumed, with a push planned for October ahead of the holidays.
- Tracking Outreach Consistently: In-person visits will continue to be logged as one marketing event per month, with outreach expenses (treats, lunches, materials) recorded on each event. Emails and handwritten letters currently go only into provider notes. Going forward they'll be logged as a separate event, such as "September 2026 – Email Campaign," so that effort is counted too.
- July Outreach Results: Comparing the 90 days before and after July's visits, the practice is down a net 25 referrals and about $5,800 in revenue (the full 90-day window closes in about a week). In-person office visits usually deliver the strongest return, so the likely cause is the inconsistent outreach cadence rather than the visits themselves.
- Outreach Capacity And Scheduling: Brandi's role is hybrid. She handles treatment plans when new patients are scheduled: Dr. Mears' new patients fall mostly in the afternoons, and Dr. Dent's are spread across the day. Many area offices close early on Wednesdays and are closed on Fridays, so Wednesday mornings are the best window for visits. Brandi estimates 8–10 visits in a morning in Augusta and 6–8 in Aiken. Kerry suggested using Fridays for in-office marketing work, since the practice is moving away from scheduling new patients on Fridays.
- Lunch And Learn Definition: A Lunch and Learn is an educational session hosted by one of the practice's doctors. The recent lunches, including McDuffie Dental on September 9, were hosted by Brandi. They covered the practice's services (sinus lifts, biopsies, same-day extractions) and the referral process, so they'll be logged as staff-hosted office lunches instead. Neither doctor plans to host Lunch and Learns. Given the practice's year-to-date growth, consistent office visits are the priority for now.
Marketing Initiatives Discussed
- Weekly Wednesday Office Visit Goal: Brandi will visit 8 practices every Wednesday morning, which comes to 32 visits across the 4 Wednesdays before the next meeting. This is a 30-day trial. Next time we'll decide whether to scale it back or add more visits.
- Friday Prep Day: Fridays are set aside for in-office marketing work: planning the next Wednesday's route and preparing treats and materials so visit days can focus fully on the offices.
- Four-Week Targeting Rotation: Each week focuses on one group of referring offices. Week 1 covers new and reactivated referrers, plus a prospect office if there's room. Week 2 covers offices with no referrals in 90+ days, starting with green and yellow providers. Week 3 covers offices trending up (thank-you visits). Week 4 covers offices trending down. The list updates constantly, so each group will look different when it comes around again.
- Staff-Hosted Office Lunches: These lunches continue as a way to introduce Dr. Mears and Dr. Dent's services and walk offices through the referral process. They'll be logged as "Office Visit, Lunch & Discussion" with Brandi's name on the event.
- Email And Handwritten Outreach: This remains a useful low-cost touchpoint. It will now be tracked as its own monthly campaign so the practice gets credit for the effort.
Wins & Opportunities
Referrals are up 6.57% year to date (1,038 vs. 974), active referring providers rose to 97, and the last three months have been strong. Several green referrers are trending up, including Johnny Murphy, Bob Turner, and Lori Harrell, which makes them good candidates for thank-you visits. The biggest openings are two green providers with no referrals in over 90 days, yellow providers who can most easily move to green, and green providers trending down, such as Palmer Westmoreland and Dr. Newell. Steady weekly visits should help turn the recent 90-day dip around.
Action Items
| Action | Owner | Due |
|---|
| Visit 8 referring offices every Wednesday morning (32 total before the next meeting) | Brandi Rodriguez | Oct 28, 2026 |
| Use Fridays to plan the next Wednesday's route and prepare drop-off materials | Brandi Rodriguez | Weekly, starting Sep 25 |
| Work the four-week targeting rotation: new/reactivated → dormant → trending up → trending down | Brandi Rodriguez | Ongoing |
| Log monthly in-person visits as a marketing event, including outreach expenses | Brandi Rodriguez | Ongoing |
| Create a separate monthly event for email and handwritten-letter outreach (starting with September 2026) | Brandi Rodriguez | Ongoing |
| Relabel staff-hosted lunches as "Office Visit, Lunch & Discussion," including Brandi's name | Brandi Rodriguez | Ongoing |
| Use Dr. Mears' days off in October for additional outreach | Brandi Rodriguez / Kerry Santucci | October |
| Confirm whether provider-profile notes are needed in addition to event logging | Jayme Monroe | TBD |
| Review the July outreach results once the full 90-day window closes and dig into what's driving the decline | Jayme Monroe | TBD |
| Review visit capacity and results; adjust the weekly goal as needed | Jayme Monroe, Brandi Rodriguez, Kerry Santucci | Oct 28, 2026 |
