Whether you are a sole therapist or have a larger business you will likely be starting to reflect on the past year, which has certainly had its unexpected challenges, and looking ahead to the next year and what you would like your business to look like by this time next year.
How to grow your therapy business
Whether you are a sole therapist or have a larger business you will likely be starting to reflect on the past year, which has certainly had its unexpected challenges, and looking ahead to the next year and what you would like your business to look like by this time next year.
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Whether you are a sole therapist or have a larger business you will likely be starting to reflect on the past year, which has certainly had its unexpected challenges, and looking ahead to the next year and what you would like your business to look like by this time next year.
In this article, we will give you some thoughts on how you can plan now, to achieve your business goals next year.
1. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”
As therapists we know this very well, in fact we measure our patient’s performance and outcomes all the time. But how good are we at managing the metrics within our businesses?
The first thing to understand is - what are the metrics that are important to your business? Not all businesses work off the same business model and so not every metric is right for you to track.
Here are some metrics that might be relevant to track and measure for you:
Average client/patient ‘episode of care’ value – i.e. How much revenue do you receive on average, from each referral or episode of care?
Why track this? It is likely you know the revenue you need to break-even and to achieve a profit in your business, but how does that translate to how many patients you need to come through the door?
By calculating this metric, you will be able to establish your patient number targets.
Therapy software programmes such as Rehab Guru enable you to gather this information with just a few clicks which saves the creating and imputing time-consuming excel spreadsheets.
Referral source and demographics – where do your clients come from? And who are your clients? Have you got a narrow referral source or a wide one?
Why track this? If you understand where your referral base arises from you can target your marketing to these areas and enable you to assess if there are untapped opportunities within your local area.
Net Promoter Score –Simply ask, ‘On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend’. Then disregard the passives, detract the detractors and the percentage left determines your Net Promotor score which can be from -100 to 100.
Net Promoter Score
Why track this? this is a simple to use metrics that gives you an indication of your client satisfaction. It also enables you to capture one of the most important, yet often overlooked, marketing metrics ‘word-of-mouth’ which is so valuable to businesses with a physical location.
It is also a very easy metric to measure; no lengthy surveys, it’s one question and it can even be sent directly to your clients via Rehab Guru’s patient forms.
2. Establish your business goals for the year ahead
So now you have established your business baseline and have a good idea of what your business looks like now, it is time to set your goals for the year ahead.
Once again, as therapists we are skilled at setting SMART goals for our clients, but how do we do it for our businesses?
Most of us have financial goals for our business but where we often fall short is understanding what steps, or goals we need to achieve that specific figure. Here are some ideas to help you to achieve your revenue targets:
Increase new patient referrals by X% each quarter – breaking down your referral goals per quarter enables you to set milestones and targets a few months at a time which means you can review and modify your marketing strategy if you are not achieving your goals. It also enables you to understand seasonal variations in your practice.
Increase average client value by X% - many of us, as therapists are not natural salespeople. But how many of us have thought ‘if my client just had XYZ sessions then they would reap the benefits’. By coming up with ideas and concepts where you can add value to your current clients can increase your revenue without you having to increase the number of new clients coming through your door.
Up-sell equipment such as massage balls, rollers or tape, either via your website or within your clinic rooms
Unlimited asynchronous messaging with you for a fixed fee (this is a feature that the Rehab Guru client app enables)
Establish one new partnership agreement per quarter – partnership agreements can be valuable sources of new patient flow. By getting out in your local community and meeting sports clubs, schools, etc you may be able to build a relationship with a group which increases your source of new patients.
Your goals might even include upskilling yourself in areas of business that you are unfamiliar with such as:
Marketing – do you know how to create a marketing strategy for your business so that you can plan your quarterly strategy rather than taking an ad hoc approach. If not, there are many free resources available to you. We think that Hubspot is a great source of marketing information (note that we added a new Hubspot integration this week – you can find more information on that here)
Digital transformation – with so many clinics offering digital exercise programmes and convenient booking and payment platforms, digitised services is something that we all expect these days. So, what are the best platforms for you to use in your practice? Rehab Guru offers you all the features you need for you to build and grow your practice and has excellent integrations with additional software (such as Stripe for all your payment needs).
3. What do you need to grow your business?
Sit down with our business planner tool and conduct a SWOT analysis of your business. You can use your local competitors as your point of reference when considering your strengths and weaknesses.
But always remember, you don’t have to be everything to everyone. If your business niche is focussed on one client sector and you are doing well within that sector then do consider how you can become a deeper specialist in this area, becoming an authority in your niche and attracting a wider audience and customer base within your specialisation.
Outsource administration tasks to a virtual assistant – Our most limited resource is time. And it is likely to be the most common answer when asking someone what they most need in their business (closely followed by money!).
So how can you claw back some time in your busy schedule to allow you to work on your business and not so much in your business? Let’s look at an example:
If marketing activities take you 5 hours a week during which time you could either be out networking and creating partnerships or earning £60 per hour treating your patients, but you could outsource this activity for £30 then it makes much more sense to outsource it.
There are many great platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr where you can find freelancers to create social media assets, or run your paid adverts or even do your book keeping.
Identify the ‘tech stack’ you need to run your business – first of all, what is a ‘tech stack’? Simply put it is the group of technology platforms that create efficiencies and digitise your business. Here are our favourites:
Rehab Guru – far more than exercise prescription software, Rehab Guru really does offer all the functionality you need to run your therapy business. From clinical notes to an extensive and diverse exercise library and a state-of-the art client portal, it is packed full of features.
Xero or quick books – these are two accounting software platforms that can assist you with the financial aspects of your business and save a huge amount of time for you.
Mailchimp – it is often said in marketing that your email list is one of your most valuable marketing assets as it enables you to let your clients and customers know what you and your business is up to. With a free version for smaller businesses, it is worth trying out.
Canva - we are sure that you would have heard of Canva. If not, it is a free (with paid upgrades) platform that enables you to create attractive graphics for use on digital and print marketing materials. They also have handy infographic templates to enable you to create informational material for your business.
These are our top tips for how to supercharge your practice growth in the next year. For further tips do follow us on social media and don’t forget to sign up for your FREE trial of Rehab Guru today.
A former Exercise Rehabilitation Instructor (ERI) in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He went on to compete for Great Britain in Modern Pentathlon. He is now an RAF Training Officer. As the CTO he leads the engineering team at Rehab Guru.
