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The Customer Factory

Tag: Management

Anything related to practice management or improving systems to help a practice run more efficiently.

  • From Stress To Success: How Million Dollar Practice Owners Do It

    From Stress To Success: How Million Dollar Practice Owners Do It

    I have seen dozens of practice owners build their practices to the million-dollar level and well beyond while living a low-stress lifestyle which most would envy.

    Several generously shared with me how they set and achieved their practice growth goals.

    All of them stressed that attaining goals requires a clear strategy and consistent action. Here are the steps these top-producing practice owners recommend:

    1. Set exciting and realistic goals: As the practice founder, it’s your responsibility to establish big, exciting goals that will motivate you and your team to overcome obstacles. Ensure these goals are ambitious, yet achievable.

    2. Work on goals daily: Goals are not suddenly achieved at the end of a year. They are achieved minute by minute in your daily actions.

    3. Celebrate wins and learn from setbacks: Too many people use setbacks as an excuse to shy away from their original goals. It’s better to acknowledge and celebrate achievements along the way and convert every setback into a learning experience. No single win makes you, and no single lost breaks you.

    4. Ensure goals are personal and meaningful: Make sure the goals you set are truly your own and not influenced by external expectations. Goals should be fulfilling and aligned with your values. Envy is not a good basis for your goal.

    5. Share your goals with others: Publicly sharing your goals is courageous as it will create a sense of accountability. This can help you stay committed and focused on achieving your objectives when the going gets hard.

    6. Communicate more, and advertise more. Almost every practice growth goal involves reaching and helping more people. That means building an ever-expanding marketing program.

    Of course, there are many more things to know in order to create a consistent flow of qualified new patients for your practice.

    To save time, many practitioners choose to partner with my agency, The Customer Factory.

    To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call.

    Find out more at:

    TheCustomerFactory.com

  • (Research Results!) How New Patients Expect A Healthcare Practitioner To Dress

    (Research Results!) How New Patients Expect A Healthcare Practitioner To Dress

    Most practitioners try to strike a balance with how they dress somewhere between comfortable and professional.

    New research indicates that most practitioners get this wrong and in doing so erode the trust they could otherwise have with new patients.

    In popular culture and in business settings the trend has definitely been toward a much more casual dress code.

    Whereas in the past business people had a mandatory uniform of a business suit we’re going to work this is much more relaxed now.

    And of course, those working from home can sometimes work in sweats or yoga pants (or less) and no one cares.

    However, when it comes to in-person meetings business attire is still held to a higher standard.

    So how does this relate to the practitioner’s new patient relationship?

    What most practice owners are not going to be happy to hear is that the public still associates a white lab coat with competent healthcare.

    A polo shirt, button-down shirt, or similar casual option does not give the same subconscious reassurance that an old-school lab coat gives.

    New patients reported that they are less likely to trust advice coming from someone who is underdressed. It is clearly the result of more than a hundred years of cultural conditioning and is not likely to change quickly.

    Realize that people will see you long before they hear you and often there’s a snap judgment made on the value of your information based on how you present yourself.

    As a practice owner, it’s your decision on the dress code you want to establish for yourself and your associates.

    I’m just sharing this research which indicated that if you care to wear a lab coat when meeting with patients, you may see a rise in care acceptance and compliance.

    Besides appearances, one important thing to have in any practice is, of course, new patients. There are many things to know in order to create a consistent flow of qualified new patients for your practice.

    To save time, many practitioners choose to partner with my agency, The Customer Factory.

    To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call.

    Find out more at:

    TheCustomerFactory.com

  • How To End New Patient No-Shows (Hint: It’s Not Your Marketing)

    How To End New Patient No-Shows (Hint: It’s Not Your Marketing)

    Joy! The prospective new patient responded to your marketing and set an appointment but when the time came they were nowhere to be found.

    What went wrong and more importantly how do you reduce or eliminate no-shows in the future?

    Detailed research shows that even with identical marketing campaigns one practice can achieve an 80% or 90% show-up rate with new patients while another might only see a 5 or 10% show-up rate!

    With paid marketing the initial relationship is based almost completely on the skill of the person doing the scheduling.

    The most effective new patient schedulers accomplish the following when scheduling a new patient:

    1. Hope.

    Empathizing with the patient and assuring them that they have made the right decision in contacting the practice and that there’s a good chance something can be done to improve their condition.

    2. Authority.

    The scheduler talks up the credentials and reputation of the practitioner so that the prospective new patient views them as a type of celebrity and feels fortunate to have an opportunity to meet with the doctor.

    3. Scarcity.

    By offering limited appointment slots, they increase the perceived value of the appointment and thus the likelihood of patients attending and keeping them.

    4. Curiosity.

    This is established by carefully not answering the person’s questions on the phone call but rather assuring them that all their questions will be answered during the office visit. Psychologically, the need to have questions answered is a powerful motivator.

    5. Friendliness.

    By generating sincere rapport with the prospect so that by the end of the scheduling conversation the prospect feels that they have a new friend already at the practice.

    It’s all taught in the New Patient Scheduler’s Course put out by The Customer Factory exclusively for clients.

    Of course, there are many more things to know in order to create a consistent flow of qualified new patients for your practice.

    To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call. You could have new patients coming in as soon as this time next week.

    Find out more at:

    TheCustomerFactory.com

  • Using Einstein’s Method To Evaluate Your New Patient Campaigns

    Using Einstein’s Method To Evaluate Your New Patient Campaigns

    When asked, “Is your marketing working for you?” the most common response from practice owners is a sheepish, “I’m not sure.” Who can blame them for being uncertain when there are so many factors and potential confusion about how to evaluate a new patient marketing program?

    Here is a simple framework that has been used to estimate the success of thousands of new patient marketing programs in order to determine if they are being financially successful for the practice owner.

    This evaluation framework is called the “Einstein Method” because it involves modeling the campaign as a thought experiment. This is much the same way that Albert Einstein could sit in his office and tease out the secrets of the universe.

    If it was good enough for him then it should be good enough to help us with our new patient marketing!

    Start by determining the average case value for a patient in the first 90 days or on the first visit. Next, calculate the cost per lead and the number of leads generated per advertising spend. Estimate the percentage of leads that will become patients.

    For example, if the average case value is $2,500, and $50 per day generates 30 appointment requests with a 30% conversion rate, that would result in nine new patients worth $22,500 in gross revenue.

    The monthly ad spend would be $1,500. If you pay a marketing company an additional $2,500, the total investment would be $4000.

    The monthly ROI (excluding operational costs) would be $19,000.

    Adjust the numbers to estimate low, medium, and high scenarios.

    Then run all of your new patient marketing campaigns through the same process.

    If after this evaluation a campaign is profitable, continue running it. If it’s not then modify or cancel it.

    Of course, there are many more things to know in order to create a consistent flow of qualified new patients for your practice.

    To save time, many practitioners choose to partner with my agency, The Customer Factory.

    To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call. You could have new patients coming in as soon as this time next week.

    Find out more at:

    TheCustomerFactory.com

  • Why Practice Owners Regret Using a 3rd Party Scheduling Service

    Why Practice Owners Regret Using a 3rd Party Scheduling Service

    Outsourcing appointment scheduling to third-party services may initially appear as a convenient and cost-effective solution. However, numerous practice owners have come to regret this decision due to the negative impact on their reputation and patient relationships.

    The most significant issue with third-party schedulers is the potential for misrepresentation of your practice. As the first point of contact, these interactions are crucial in shaping a potential patient’s impression of your practice. Often 3rd party schedulers’ unfamiliarity with your practice’s culture, location, and demographic may lead to misunderstandings, awkward interactions, and an inauthentic experience for your patients.

    For example, 3rd party schedulers don’t know simple details a local would know. “Are you next to the Chic-Fil-A?” is a question that would leave them stumped.

    Patients may perceive these shortcomings as indicators of poor service or unprofessionalism, harming your practice’s reputation before the patient even walks through the door.

    By contrast, investing in your own in-house scheduling staff allows you to maintain control over your practice’s representation and ensure a high standard of service. Properly trained in-house staff will be familiar with your practice’s culture, location, and demographic, providing an authentic and seamless experience for your patients.

    Factually, your own staff will always be more successful at starting that relationship with a new patient.

    Practice owners should focus on hiring and training their own in-house scheduling staff to guarantee an authentic, professional, and consistent patient experience. This strategy not only protects your practice’s reputation but also sets the stage for long-term success and growth.

    Of course, there are many more things to know in order to create a consistent flow of qualified new patients for your practice.

    To save time, many practitioners choose to partner with my agency, The Customer Factory.

    To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call.

    Find out more at:

    TheCustomerFactory.com

  • 15 Minutes To Freedom: How Written Procedures Can Revolutionize Your Practice

    15 Minutes To Freedom: How Written Procedures Can Revolutionize Your Practice

    Practice growth gurus preach that you need written procedures in order to grow. Here’s how you can do it almost effortlessly in 15 minutes a day.

    It is common business wisdom that the key to gaining freedom in your practice is transitioning from working IN your business to working ON it. This is done by establishing written procedures for every important function in the entire business.

    Written procedures eliminate the need for lengthy verbal explanations and repeated training sessions. It makes putting a new staff person on the job a breeze. Just hand them the procedures and let them study them while you go do other things.

    Even knowing this, most practice owners never create procedures because of the sheer amount of effort involved.

    However, there is a 15-minute-per-day method that you can learn.

    A. Locate on your phone any app that makes audio recordings. Get familiar with using it.

    B. Open a Google Docs folder online. You don’t have to use Google Docs, but it does need to be something browser-based.

    C. If you use Google Chrome install the “Voice In” extension – this is an excellent (and free) voice dictation app that lets you quickly voice dictate on your laptop.

    Whenever you find yourself explaining something to a staff person simply open up the audio recording app and record the instructions (procedures)that you are giving.

    Later at your desk, open the online “company policies” folder and create a new document about the topic. Click the Voice-In microphone on the top right of your browser bar. Playback the audio and it will appear as text in the document. Clean it up as needed, date it and you now have a written procedure!

    Now repeat!

    Want to know how to really expand your practice?

    To find out if our marketing program is a good fit for your practice visit our website and book a 15-minute Discovery call. You could have new patients coming in as soon as this time next week.

    Find out more at:

    TheCustomerFactory.com