“If everyone knew the results you get in clinical practice you would be more successful.”
– Shaun Kirk, M.H.S., P.T., M.T.C. CEO and
Co-Founder Measurable Solutions, Inc.
The number one way in which private practice PTs build a successful practice is by simply having their patients speak for them when they see the referring doctors or their friends. The results that you make known are those happy patients who are no longer suffering from their condition, know how to manage their condition AND go back to the doctor and say how wonderful you and/or your practice is in helping them get better. The more often your patients go back to the doctor with a similar success story the more your reputation grows and you become known as a facility that gets results. The word of mouth from your patients to your referring physicians and their friends increases and the result is more new patients into your practice.
It is sad to see a hugely competent clinician who is sitting on a gold mine and does not know it.
Now if you’ve been around for a while and have done a better than average job of making your results known you generally begin to “ride the wave” as far as reputation goes but it could be even better. Far better!
Do your patients refer you patients? They want to send you patients. You probably didn’t know that. If you have a great experience with a restaurant, a mechanic or a dentist don’t you say something to someone who is looking for a place to eat, fix their car or clean their teeth? I’d imagine you do. I know I do.
Many practices do absolutely NOTHING to enable their patients to refer their friends even though many of them desperately want their friend or family member helped. When these patients ask for help with a family member, many practitioners fail to effectively handle it so that friend or family member can be helped. Why aren’t more private practice PTs taking advantage of this opportunity? Because they don’t know how.
Most of the time, when a patient is discharged the only thing said to the patient to get them to refer is, “Make sure you tell your friends and family about us.” That successful patient outcome is not, in this example, effectively leveraged to get you more new patient. It could be. The New Patient Course can show you how.
I had one patient send me 26 patients within a 3-month period and I wasn’t even in a direct access state! I had another patient send me 18 patients within a 4-month period. It was easy. Those patients were proud to have helped their friends get better by referring them to my practice. THIS IS WORD OF MOUTH! There is a gold mine in your practice. Are you interested in prospecting for gold? Find out how!
Certainly you would have to get referrals from physicians to really make it. Your patients and their results are what truly opens the door to you getting those referrals. Word of mouth from your patients back to the doctor can be easily directed by you to maximize that “word of mouth” and effectively create a situation where the doctor feels he or she knows you and your practice without ever really meeting you. You have to know how to guide that communication from your patient to their doctor and the doctor will fall in love with you, your results and your practice. Would you like to know how?
In marketing there are only 2 positions worth promoting in any business. One is being the first. If you were the first private practice in your city and you’ve been around the longest you may be able to leverage that into good word of mouth. If you’ve been in practice for years and years but nobody knows your name you definitely should not promote that you’ve been around the longest because you will get negative word of mouth. Doctors would say, “Never heard of him.” You don’t want that.
The best position to be in is being the BEST. Being known as the best in town is only accomplished by effectively leveraging word of mouth. If you are poor at doing this it will take you 20 years to become known as the best but if you are good at doing this it could take less than one year. How much time do you wish it to take you?
You may already be considered as the best in town but believe me someone is gunning for you. This is an increasingly competitive environment and if what took you years to achieve can be ruined in a year or two by your competitor you should be interested in safeguarding your position as well.
I have been consulting private practice PTs exclusively for over 10 years and have seen a steady decrease in reimbursement, an overwhelming increase in PT salaries and a mind-blowing increase in paperwork necessary to get paid. I think there will be some private practice PTs who will not be standing if this condition worsens and it IS worsening. I also consider that those that don’t make it successfully in private practice may likely work for you. You can not legislate physical therapy out of existence but you can make it so that the best executives who run their practice like a healthcare BUSINESS will survive and survive very well. My clients are expanding when many others are crying, “The sky is falling.” It all starts with your effectiveness in spreading WORD OF MOUTH and the speed in which you do it.
Again, if everyone knew the results you get in clinical practice you would be more successful. Our New Patient Course shows you how. Become the talk of the town!
Hope to see you soon.
Best Wishes,
Shaun
