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Physiotherapy clinics · Referral marketing

The surgeon refers again once he sees what happened to the last patient.

Most physiotherapy clinics are built on referrals from orthopaedic surgeons, physicians and gyms, and most of them never send the referring doctor a word back. GullySales sets up the progress note, the introductions and the record of who refers, and sets out where paying for referrals becomes a question for your council.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

Realistic editorial illustration of physiotherapy clinics at work in India

What referral marketing means

Referral marketing in a regulated practice is being the one a physician, a colleague or a former patient names, without being paid to, because paying for a referral is restricted in most of these professions. GullySales builds the ask into the moment a patient is satisfied and into the note that goes back to the referring doctor, and it never involves a fee.

Also for physiotherapy clinics

Sales and marketing for physiotherapy clinics, the overview.

Last updated 5 Oct 2026. Rules for this trade differ by state and professional body, and they change. We describe restrictions in general terms, so check the current position with your own council or adviser before you publish anything.

For physiotherapy clinics

Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.

  • “The progress note back to the surgeon is the entire referral programme”

    A one-page update on a patient's range of movement and attendance tells the surgeon his recommendation worked. Send that and the next referral comes. Send nothing and he assumes the patient drifted, and he starts naming a different clinic.

  • “Paying for a patient referral is a restricted area”

    Arrangements involving fees or commissions between practitioners around patient referrals carry restrictions, and those differ between councils and states and change over time. Take advice from your own council before any such arrangement. The progress note costs nothing and raises nothing.

  • “The gym trainer sees the limp before the doctor does”

    A trainer watching a runner favour one knee, or a yoga teacher seeing a student wince, needs a name to give that afternoon. Neither will give yours unless they have met you and know what conditions you handle.

What we do

What we deliver for physiotherapy clinics.

Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.

  1. A one-page progress note for the referring doctor

    A short standard format covering attendance, current range of movement and the plan, with the patient's consent recorded before anything is sent.

    Result: The surgeon sees what his referral produced.

  2. A referral source recorded on every patient

    One field naming the doctor, gym, clinic or patient who sent them, so you can see volumes by source rather than guessing.

    Result: You notice when a reliable referrer goes quiet.

  3. Introductions to nearby clinics and trainers

    A shortlist of orthopaedic and physician practices, gyms, sports clubs and yoga studios in the area, with a visit arranged and a note on the conditions you treat.

    Result: The people patients ask first have your name to give.

  4. A patient referral ask at discharge

    A direct, specific ask at the end of a completed course, worded so it invites a recommendation without making a claim about results.

    Result: Finished patients send you the next one.

  5. A written position on referral arrangements

    A plain summary of what your clinic will and will not do around referral incentives, with the recommendation to confirm the current rules with your council.

    Result: Your team gives the same answer when a proposal is put to them.

How the result is measured

  • Referrals received
  • Referral conversion rate
  • Cost per referred customer

Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.

Read the full referral marketing page

How referrals reach a physio clinic

Most patients arrive on a doctor's word, and the doctor stops sending when he hears nothing back.

The orthopaedic surgeon
Send a note after the first assessment and again at discharge, stating the findings, the plan and the outcome in clinical terms. A surgeon who is told what happened to his patient has a reason to send the next.
The physician, neurologist and paediatrician
Each of them sees a different kind of patient. Write to them separately, stating the conditions you treat and the kind of patient you do not, so they know what to send and what not to.
The gym trainer and the yoga teacher
A trainer sees the limp before a doctor does. Offer a short talk on when to stop training and see someone, and give him a card to hand out. Do not make it depend on a fee.
The patient at discharge
Ask whether a relative or colleague has the same problem, and write the name of whoever is referred in the patient's record. Do it at the last session, while the improvement is obvious.
What never to do
Never give a doctor, clinic or trainer cash, gifts or free sessions for sending patients, or offer patients a reward for bringing others. Rules differ by state and body, so check with your own council.

Who it is for

This is written for these physiotherapy clinics.

  • Sports injury and orthopaedic rehab clinics
  • Post-surgical rehabilitation centres
  • Neuro-rehabilitation clinics
  • Prenatal and postnatal physiotherapy practices
  • Geriatric and home-visit physiotherapy services
  • Paediatric physiotherapy clinics
  • Chronic pain management clinics
  • Corporate ergonomics and workplace physiotherapy consultants

How it works

From your first message to the first report.

No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.

  1. First

    Your brief

    You tell us what you need in a few short steps: your business, what you want, where enquiries come from and how they are handled.

  2. After the brief

    A conversation and a written scope

    We read it, then talk with whoever handles your enquiries. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come in writing, and nothing starts before you have read them.

  3. Before work starts

    Baseline recorded

    The numbers this work is meant to move, such as enquiries, quotations, orders, visits or renewals, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.

  4. After the baseline

    The first fix goes live

    The fix we agreed to start with is put in place and measured against the baseline, whether that is a reply, a follow-up, a page, a listing or the handover between marketing and sales.

  5. As agreed

    Report against the baseline

    What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.

  6. At renewal

    Renew on the numbers

    The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.

How the referral marketing work runs

  1. 1

    Understand your margin and customer relationship

    We agree what reward is genuinely sustainable and appropriate for your business and customer type.

  2. 2

    Audit existing informal referrals

    We check how much word of mouth already happens, to size expectations for the formal programme realistically.

  3. 3

    Design the offer and mechanism

    A specific reward and an easy sharing method are built and tested.

  4. 4

    Implement and promote

    The programme is surfaced at the right moments in your customer journey.

  5. 5

    Measure and adjust

    We track referrals and conversions, adjusting the reward or promotion if uptake is low.

Proof

What happened when owners fixed this.

Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.

All case studies

  • Kerur Pain Clinic

    Situation
    The clinic had no website setting out its services, so a patient weighing it up had nothing to read before deciding to come in.
    What we did
    • Competitors mapped
    • A website that answers the patient
    • On-page and local search work
    • Link building and technical fixes
    Result
    No numbers were recorded for this engagement. The work is described in full in the case study.
    Read the case study

Also worked with

Chord Road Hospital · Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Felicity Inn · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · SB Engineering · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios

Why us

Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.

  • Marketing and sales, as one job

    Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.

  • The person on the first call does the work

    No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.

  • A baseline before anything starts

    Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.

  • The fee in writing, split three ways

    Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.

  • No guarantees we cannot keep

    The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.

  • One office, and we say so

    Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.

#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.

Your brief

Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.

Tell us what you needor call +91 80958 58589

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
Can we pay a doctor for sending us patients?
Do not assume you can. Restrictions on fee sharing and inducements around patient referrals exist, they differ by council and state and they change. Speak to your own council before agreeing anything. A regular progress note is the arrangement that actually keeps referrals coming.
How do we start a referral relationship with a surgeon we do not know?
Go with something concrete. Your conditions treated, your therapists' qualifications, the note format you would send back, and your availability for post-surgical cases. A surgeon is deciding who to trust with his own reputation, so the first meeting is about your clinical process, not your marketing.
What should a progress note to the surgeon contain?
The reason for referral, what you found, the plan, how the patient responded and what happens next, written in clinical terms and signed by the treating physiotherapist. Keep it to one page and share it only with the patient's consent.
A gym trainer has asked for a fee for every member he sends. What do we do?
Decline the fee politely, and offer what you can give freely: a talk to his members, a note on when to refer on and a clear route to you. Rules on payment for patient referral differ by body, so ask your council if unsure.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
It depends on the trade, the channel and what is already in place. After we have read your brief and spoken to you, we say what we would expect to move first and how it will be measured against the baseline. Nothing here is guaranteed.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
Your brief, and a conversation. After that, access to whatever this work touches, such as your website, your accounts or your enquiry record, and time with the people who handle your enquiries.
What if we are not happy with the work?
Tell us and the plan changes. Everything is reported against the baseline, so a number that is not moving is visible to both sides. The term is in your written scope, and the refund and cancellation policy sets out the rest.

From the blog

Further reading for physiotherapy clinics.

All articles

More for physiotherapy clinics

Everything else we would do for you.

Closest to this: customers after the sale

Also for physiotherapy clinics

Or start from the overview: sales and marketing for physiotherapy clinics.

Your next practical step

Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.

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