The clinic I ran for the hospital beat its marketing projections 5 times in the first year alone. I was very proud of our team. Unfortunately, management got greedy and really began pushing the numbers so far north that the clinic was no longer fun. I thought it would be great to go out on my own as a private practitioner. I mentioned my interest in going into private practice to my staff PT who had worked for that POPTS practice and she thought it would be great if we did it together. She became my partner in the new endeavor.
At first it was fun as new private practitioners. My partner’s relationship with the orthopedists she had worked for made for an easy-to-expand practice for us. Our greatest problem was hiring clinicians fast enough. My partner truly added much value to the clinic because of this fantastic orthopedic connection.
However, by the second year it was no longer fun. We were not getting along well. We both had different directions we wished to take the practice. We made the decision to end the practice and we did.
I LOST 68% OF MY REFERRALS BUT THAT’S NOT THE WORST OF IT!
Right off the bat I lost 68 percent of my referrals as our main referral sources were the orthopedist group that my ex-partner used to work for and they remained loyal to her and not me.
“I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I’LL NEVER
SEND YOU A PATIENT FOR AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.”
I was in a 4,000 sq/ft clinic and I had just lost 68 percent of my referrals! I knew that I needed to go out and knock on a few doors right away. I went to visit a top referral source to my former clinic to get him to refer to my own. I thought it was good news that he did not have me wait in the waiting room but rather had me brought right back to see him. This physician did not shake my hand but simply said to me, “I want you to know that I’ll never send you a patient for as long as you live.” I was speechless. I asked him why and he said that my ex-partner went to visit him last week and she didn’t have anything good to say about you. I didn’t know how to respond and he wouldn’t tell me what was said. My heart sank. I tried to dissuade him from his point of view and how incorrect it was but he would have nothing to do with it. I walked away dejected.
I HATED TO KNOCK ON DOORS AND ASK FOR REFERRALS
I don’t imagine that I have to tell you but I was a bit gun-shy about going out and visiting physicians after that poor reception but unfortunately I didn’t know of anything else to do. I didn’t have to find time to knock on those doors as unfortunately, time is what I mostly had on my hands.
I had about four or five doctors that I went to visit who gave me the same unkind welcoming with the promise to never refer to me. This shook me so hard I was nearly terrified to visit ANY physician for fear I would hear this again. My “marketing plan” largely consisted of staring at my telephone and checking it periodically for a dial tone so that I would know that a patient could reach me if they tried. I definitely was doing what others did to build a practice but I seemed to have started out with a few strikes against me.
I just hated to knock on doors and ask for referrals. I knew of five doctors who liked me more than my ex-partner and I counted on them for my referrals and would visit them perhaps too often. I visited them because they liked me and were friendly to me. One of these five doctors represented 80% of my remaining referrals, so of course, I liked him best.
I went to visit this doctor because he had moved into a beautiful 10,000 sq. ft. facility and he was the only physician in the practice. I was curious as to his “secret” for success. I asked him how he could afford a place like that. He said that he did trigger point injections and that Worker’s Comp paid him $100 per injection and he did 10-11 a visit and he sees his patients three times a week. That’s 30+ injections a week at $100 a pop! I was shocked. I said, “You’re a criminal.” Unfortunately, that statement cost me 80% of my remaining referrals. I definitely did not win any friends or influence people there.
I was struggling. I wasn’t drawing a paycheck, my mother-in-law was working for free and my receptionist (my only paid employee) mostly read magazines. I so wanted to quit private practice and work for someone else.
YOUR SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN YOUR
LIFE OR BUSINESS IS YOUR OWN DOING!
I got a phone call one day and I answered. My receptionist must have been too busy reading magazines to pick up. The guy on the other end of the phone invited me to a seminar on practice management. It was something like $199.00 and ran from 6-9pm. I thought, “What have I got to lose,” and decided to sign up.
I went with my wife (also a PT) and my unpaid mother-in-law. There were about 40 business owners in the room. There were Physical Therapists, Chiropractors, Dentists and CPAs all assembled. We all liked what we heard and were interested in receiving their help with our practice. Everyone in attendance filled out surveys relating to their practice. At the end of the seminar we were ready to talk to someone. Unfortunately, no one wanted to talk to us. I honestly believe that we were the biggest losers in the room.
After some polite begging, I was able to get an interview with a consultant to get some advice for my practice. This consultant asked me a painful question. She asked, “Why aren’t you successful?” I didn’t think she was serious so I didn’t answer. She asked again, “Why aren’t you successful?” I got a bit upset. I told her why I wasn’t successful. I told her I had 26 competing practices within a 3-mile radius with 14 on the same street within those same three miles. I told her that although I was in the same physical location as my prior practice, I couldn’t seem to get on the insurance plans I was once on. I told her that my ex-partner was somehow alienating the physicians around me and harming my potential to get new patients. Once I was finally done she said, “I’m going to say something to you that you may not want to hear. Your success or failure in your life or business is your own doing and the sooner you really understand that you’ll be able to take your practice precisely where you want it to go.”
That was more truth than I had ever heard in my life. My wife and I sat back in our seat and said, “Wow!” My consultant asked if I was good at what I do. I said yes. She asked, “How do you know you are good at what you do? I said, “I am well trained.” I told her that I teach at two universities, go to eight continuing education courses a year and have advanced degrees. She said, “That’s great. How much management training do you have? That was where she got me.
IF YOU KNEW HOW TO RUN YOUR PRACTICE AS WELL AS YOU
KNOW HOW TO TREAT PATIENTS, YOU WOULD BE MORE SUCCESSFUL!
My consultant told me to focus on being the best manager I could be and my practice would be fun once again, become more viable and that I’d have much more free time to spend with my family. She said, “If you knew how to run your practice as well as you know how to treat patients, you would be more successful.” That made sense to me. I was off to the races, learning as much as I could on practice management.
I learned many things in my management training but one thing that I found fascinating was a
2-sentence management “law” which I learned how to skillfully apply that simple law and it caused my practice to grow by 9 fold!
I learned that marketing a practice was a simple thing when armed with the basic fundamental building blocks in the subject of marketing. I learned how to apply the first sentence of the 2-sentence management “law” and grow my practice, capture the referrals from those doctors who vowed never to refer to me again AND do so without ever having to visit doctors again! I decided to be as professional in management and marketing as I was a physical therapist and the rest became easy.
MY STAFF BOILED DOWN THE 2 SENTENCES
TO JUST 3 WORDS AND IT WORKED EVERY TIME!
Getting new patients was no longer a big strain or stress nor did it require much of MY time. Eventually, I had my new receptionist (after firing the one who read magazines) taking full charge of the practice marketing efforts. It was the best job she ever had. She drove the new patients in and she didn’t even have a marketing degree or any college degree for that matter. I was busy hiring the best team I could find and managing the growth. I saw patients 10 hours a week and ran the practice on only eight hours a week.
I CREATED A METHOD BASED UPON TRIAL AND ERROR THAT WORKED!
I kept refining the application of the 2-sentence management “law” into four key “buttons” that when we pushed on them our referrals would then rise. I figured out something I called, “The Marketing Pyramid” that we followed which solidified our reputation as THE BEST in town. It was all part of the method I had developed in my practice.
When I would go to continuing education courses I would hint at my “Method” of getting new patients into my practice and would have other private practitioners fly me to their office to show them how I did it. I would go for two days to train the owner and his staff at $5,000.00 per day. Those practices would soar.
OTHERS TRIED MY METHOD AND FOUND IT WORKED!
These offices I visited and trained on my method of getting referrals, without having to personally visit physicians, now have a powerful new tool in their arsenal. They too were able to see the simplicity of marketing once they understood the 2-sentence management “law” and how to use it. You only have to know how to push on the four key “buttons” and how to position your practice as the best in town. As of this writing, just 1800 private practices have learned these necessary tools to become known as the best in town.
$10,000 TO LEARN THIS METHOD IS WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!
I have to admit that going to visit PT practices is a lot of fun. I learn things on every visit I make but it can be a bit challenging to live out of a suitcase. I decided to distill the data that I would usually train others at an on-site visit into a less expensive solution. I wanted to make this method available to any practice that delivered high quality physical therapy services and would like to become a magnet for new patients but couldn’t afford 10K for me to come to their practice. The solution I developed is called the, New Patient Course.
The New Patient Course can be yours for only $1995.00. We deliver the course over 2 days in our corporate office in Clearwater, Florida. If you are cheap and getting new patients isn’t really that valuable to you or important, you just might be able to find a less expensive course that doesn’t work. You can go to 20 continuing education courses on treating back pain at $300.00 a pop and your practice may never grow. A $1,995 investment, once applied, has made many practice owners millions. If I could do it you can do it.
THE NEXT 50 NEW PATIENT COURSES SOLD
ARE REDUCED BY $500.00 TO $1,495.00!
I am selling the next 50 New Patient Courses for $500.00 off bringing the total price down to just $1,495.00. It is my sincere hopes that this letter finds you well, your practice expanding and yourself having the freedoms that practice ownership provides. But why not take your practice to the next level by taking advantage of this discount? Create your own prosperous economy in 2011. In the words of my consultant who 18 years ago changed my life, “Your success or failure in your life or business is your own doing and the sooner you really understand that you’ll be able to take your practice precisely where you want it to go.” Sign up for the New Patient Course today before this discount ends!
Sincerely,
Shaun Kirk, MHS, PT, MTC
President and Co-Founder
Measurable Solutions, Inc.
