October 5, 2020 | Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA
3 Minute Read
Blog Series: Step 1 – Cultivate Awareness of PT in Your Community
In this special blog series titled “5 Steps to Attract Retain PT Champions” we will go over five steps that can allow you to enhance your physical therapy value in the community. Each day we’ll share one of the five steps we recommend to consider building physical therapy champions right in your area. Check back every day to learn more about these steps.
The issues are stacked high.
And they’re everywhere.
Whether it’s trying to figure out the endless maze of corporate healthcare rules and regulations, or finding closed insurance panels, one thing is clear: The ability to rely on a steady flow of clientele coming through your door is a changing game at best. At worst, it’s a game that’s getting harder to win and stay on top of. Let’s face it. Without customers, you can’t survive.
Back in the day, building your clientele used to be a breeze. You would greet people, extend your hand, say “yes” often, and before you knew it, your list of clients quickly started to grow. What mattered is that you provided quality care. Doing so allowed people to come back to see you.
Then the game started to change. Generating money in healthcare became hard. It became a volume game, one in which the decisions of the consumer could be controlled, directing them toward services that can churn out profit. Physical therapy landed on the profit radar, and the times when we could turn to referrals from other healthcare providers have poof – disappeared!
But there is good news
The value of physical therapy has continued to increase in the healthcare world, so we can expect our competition to do the same. As we sharpen our competitive claws, our value also grows. Plus, the healthcare consumer, despite the intentions of corporate and integrated healthcare solutions, is empowered and savvy, loving life and those who can help them live it better.
Enter physical therapy
Helping people live with less pain starts with us. And while so many in the healthcare industry are neck-to-neck in our competition space, we can instead turn our focus to building PT champions in the communities.
Here’s a glance of what five steps can help build PT champions in our community:
- Cultivating awareness of PT in your community
- Building personal connections with potential PT customers
- Educating and promoting the value of PT
- Learning how to convert customers
- Looking at five ways to convert customers to PT champions
In this blog, let’s look at the first step of cultivating awareness of PT in your community.
To start, I know what you’re thinking.
- You want to make that sale.
- You want your customers to come back for another appointment.
- You want to be mentioned as a referral to others.
While it’s good that you’ve got your thinking cap on, the truth is, the sale comes later. Before you can sell, you have to be known. Known by others and known in your market.
Creating awareness strategies and establishing yourself as a familiar, comfortable and trustworthy professional is key. So, how can you get your name out there and promote your services? There’s a few arenas you can explore to make this truly effective. Promoting yourself on social media, sending out emails, getting involved in the community and contacting your local newspaper or TV station are cost-effective ways people can get to know you. You can also hire a marketing individual or company to create a savvy and engaging package for you if budget isn’t an issue.
Bear in mind, there is no specific timeframe for achieving awareness, so it’s a bit like baking from a recipe and a bit like baking by smell. Knowing when to change your focus to step two – personal connections – can be quantified by looking at impressions data, but it’s also something that requires an ear tuned to the market and the channels you are using to reach it.
Stay tuned for the next part of this special series where we’ll talk about how you can start driving those personal, one-on-one connections with your clientele. Again, being trustworthy and a reliable professional source others can count on is a surefire way to make new clients feel like they are in good hands.
