A (0:00)

Foreign welcome to Ask Allison. Y' all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can Access that@AbundancePracticeBuilding.com links where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too. If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library. Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. Everything about referrals overwhelms me. How do I build a steady, diverse stream of referral sources? How do I manage my caseload when I'm full? How do I decide when to refer clients out who don't fit my niche? Love this question because I feel like it sounds like you're at the very beginning, but you're thinking about the future, so this is good. Before I get into the answer, I would like to thank our sponsor Therapy Notes. I've talked about them for years. You probably know their features by heart by now, but here's what really sets them apart. First, they genuinely care about your experience. It's not just about troubleshooting. They actively implement user suggested features like Therapy Search, secure messaging, Clinical outcome tracking, and their AI notes feature. Therapy fuel Everyone at TherapyNotes believes in the product and wants you to love it too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep prices fair, to focus on innovation, and to prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven you don't have to compromise success for quality. If you're ready to see it for yourself, try TherapyNotes free for two months with the code abundant@theapynotes.com so this is such a good and very real question. Being anxious about referrals is common whether you're brand new to private practice or you finally hit that golden sweet spot where referrals are coming in steadily, maybe from a colleague, a clinic, or even a single agency. It is tempting to settle in, to ride the wave, to stop thinking about marketing or networking. I mean, who wants to do more? When what you're doing is working, there's a certain amount of scaling back you can do. But if all your referrals are coming from just one place, that is a fragile foundation to build a private practice on. So I'll tell you a quick Story. A therapist I know got completely booked in just a few weeks because a local behavioral health agency lost their only testing psychologist and they needed someone like, like yesterday. He stepped in, he did great work and boom, he had a thriving business almost overnight. Which sounds really ideal, right? Except that agency was never going to go without an in house psych forever. And when they finally hired someone new, the referrals stopped just like that. And he went from full to frantically checking his voicemail and hope something came in within a matter of weeks. So the kicker is during that busy period, he wasn't networking, he wasn't nurturing another referral source, he wasn't building a buffer. And when the first faucet turned off, there was nothing to catch him. And I have seen this happen in so many ways. When someone relies solely on a friend who's a case manager at a local organization and then that friend moves when a colleague is sending overflow because their wait list is six months long and their referrals dry up when a school counselor is referring to you. Until the school hires a school based therapist or starts a contract with a big group practice. The common thread is that these are great sources, but on their own they're not stable. They can disappear overnight. And when that happens, it can feel really pertinent, personal, but it's not. So I'm saying this not to spike everybody's anxiety, but I am saying if your gut is telling you it's time to diversify, and it probably should be, if you only have one referral source, that feeling is worth listening to. Not out of panic, but out of wisdom and kind of getting in front of it so that you don't end up in one of these situations. So let's talk about what diversification actually looks like, particularly in a private pay referral based practice. Start thinking beyond one or two key people. Here are some solid places to build relationships. Depending on your niche. You can think about case managers, you can think about primary care providers, psychiatrists, therapists with different niches, therapists with the same niches, dietitians, school counselors and college counseling centers, local parent coaches, postpartum doulas. Oh gosh, the list goes on and on. So here's the beauty of this kind of intentional diversification. No single referral source has to carry the whole weight. When you build relationships slowly and strategically, you actually get better referrals. People start sending you ideal clients, the ones that you're most effective with, the ones that light you up. And speaking of clients, I'm frequently asked, should I refer out clients who don't fit my niche. This person is not the only one with that question on their mind. And my answer for that is it depends if they are potential clients wanting to come in for an initial session, if you get an inkling that they won't be a good fit on that phone call, then absolutely refer them out. And this doesn't even have to be related to your niche or not. This could be just they don't feel like a good fit to you. Recently in my practice, someone called and emailed six times within 12 hours starting in the middle of the night. Didn't return calls to the number we requested. They call back to the clinician that she'd see there wasn't a crisis. It was more of an impatience because we didn't schedule them at 4am and that's an example of someone I would probably refer out from the phone call. My practice is not set up for that amount of responsiveness. And the boundaries that I set, they were like just railroaded. So if you're doing great work with somebody who is not within your niche or is within your niche, doesn't really matter. If you're doing great work with somebody, it feels fulfilling. Then no, you don't refer them out just because they're outside your niche. Your niche is a marketing tool. It's not a moral imperative. It helps people find you, but it doesn't have to box you in if the work you're doing feels draining, if you're not doing your best work, if they aren't making progress, you find yourself dreading those sessions. Whether they're in your niche or not, it is okay to refer them out. It's not just okay, but it's ethical and smart because we want them to get better. It's within most of our codes of ethics that we are making sure our clients are progressing. We're not just sitting in stasis with them. Now let's flip the coin. What happens when the phone is ringing, when you're full or you're close to it? When should you stop marketing? Should you ghost a referral network? The short answer is no. You can slow down when you're full. That's actually the best time to get strategic. This is the moment to look at your referral data, to start thinking like a business owner, not just a therapist. Who's sending you the most clients? Are they sending your ideal clients or a mix which referrals are turning into actual bookings? Take note, you have a couple options here. If you have a smaller caseload. When you're full, you're well connected. You have the bandwidth. You can continue to receive those referrals from these folks and send them to other therapists you know do great work. Then your referrers continue to refer to you without interruption. If you don't have the bandwidth for that, then let those top referrers know you're full right now. But you're happy to stay on their radar and keep them updated when spots open up. Speaking of being full, make it really clear everywhere if this is the way you're going to go. Put it in your voicemail, in your website, in your email, autoresponder, your Psychology Today profile. You can put currently full or next openings in October if you know your timeline. The level of clarity protects everyone's time, including yours. Now let's talk about another situation. I hear all the time people say they're referring to me, but I'm not getting any new clients. This can be so frustrating, especially early in your practice when every potential referral feels like gold. So what's going on? There are a few possibilities. The first is timing. The person they referred just isn't ready to reach out yet. Or maybe they did feel like they were ready, but they got busy or anxious or they talked themselves out of therapy altogether. This happens. Number two, you're not top of mind. They gave out your name but also three or four others. And that's why clarity and connection matter. We want people to remember you. That's where your wrong niche messaging and follow up comes in. Number three, your website might not be resonating. I have seen incredible therapists not filling up because their websites are really generic. If someone's struggling, they are scanning fast. They don't feel that instant connection. If your niche or your voice or your understanding doesn't come through, they're going to move on. And number four, you might be hard to contact. Is your call to action clear? Does your contact form actually work? Do people know how to reach you and what to expect from you when they do so? Honestly, check that stuff off and a broken form link or unclear directions can silently kill a referral stream. Also, are you clearly saying who you serve? Let's say you specialize in supporting young professionals of color, navigating workplace trauma and microaggressions. That is incredibly powerful. But if your website just says I work with adults on anxiety and stress, people aren't going to know you're their person. And if your website's just okay, that's your sign to give it some Love, write copy that sounds like you Add client centered language. Even something simple like a short intro video can help someone feel safe with you before they ever reach out. So finally, let's talk about networking. Should you be strategic with who you meet with? Absolutely yes, but not in a gross or calculating way. In a really sustainable way. Start with therapists and your nature full they're getting calls they can't take. If you're clear about who you help, you'll stand out as the perfect fit for their overflow. Reach out to therapists who serve adjacent populations. Even if they don't work on your exact niche, they might still be seeing people who need your work. Like if you're a sexual trauma therapist, get with couples therapists. Networking is not about collecting business cards. It's about building relationships and community. Yes, it takes time, and yes, sometimes you'll go months before a connection bears fruit. But consistency and clarity always pays off. So let me lay on the plane here. Don't depend on one referral source, even if it's working great right now. Keep refining your niche and making your message clear. Build genuine intentional relationships. Make it easy for people to refer to you and even easier for clients to reach you. And when you're full, don't disappear. Stay present. Keep the lines open. Protect your time and your reputation. You've got this, and if it feels overwhelming, that's okay. It just means you're building something real and you're learning. If you want help organizing all of this, your referral strategy, your niche messaging, how to keep your caseload full without feast or famine panic, DM me the word party or click the Abundance Party link in the Show Notes. We have all of that laid out in there. This week's free worksheet is how to Not Hate Networking. Since I mentioned networking a fair amount and I know a lot of you feel really lost or repulsed by the idea, DM the word sheets and I'll send that to you. You don't have to figure out any of this alone. If you're ready for a much easier practice, Therapy Notes is the way to go. Go to therapynotes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. I hope that helped. If you have questions for Ask Allison or you want to get your hands on the worksheet for this episode, go to abundancepracticebuilding.com Links if you're listening, you probably support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the Show Notes. I'd love for you to follow, rate and review. But I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.