January Newsletter - Market insight, ethical retention, customer service and more

I hope that January has been good to you all. We have not had a great month in terms of weather in the northern hemisphere but seemingly (and unsurprisingly) much better in the southern hemisphere.

For those of you who have read previous editions of this Newsletter my house move is still on go slow. ?It is often said that moving house is one of the most stressful things that we can do (particularly in the UK), and it is so true. This is part regulations, but in large part due to poor service from solicitors dealing with the process. I am pleased to say that as physios, our customer service is WAY better.

The positive is that in the last month I have managed to find a good rhythm of productivity and so now have a new template for a client follow-up system, the framework for our new Foundations Programme for clinics earlier in their development, which we hope to launch in March and an upcoming webinar on customer service (yes possibly influenced by my house move). All of this and more to come in our aim of supporting you all to get the most from your physio business in 2025!

On with the newsletter.

Market Update?

December was as expected a weak month. However, overall, it was up on the same period in 2023. There was in many cases, a lesser drop than could have been expected. Although the first couple of weeks of January were also slow, the signs are that we are getting back towards the busy period that we would expect, and so the expectation is that we should now be entering a strong period for new patient bookings.

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When we look back at 2024, most clinics that we work with have reported an above inflation year on year growth, at around 10%. It is also clear that solid profits remain achievable, with many of the clinics we work with achieving net profit for 2024 of over 20%. The biggest challenge is controlling clinical staff costs. Where clinical staff costs are above 50% this level of profit is almost impossible, unless your business is super-efficient in other areas, and at max room occupancy. Businesses that can maintain clinical staff costs in the 40-45% range are typically the ones seeing a healthier profit margin.

Client Follow-up

The area of client follow-up is something that has been a focus for me even when I was a therapist and running clinics myself. To be clear, I am not talking about re-engaging old clients, I am talking about when a client has an active case of treatment and they drop off prior to discharge, either because they don’t have their diary, cancel, miss an appointment etc. Mostly, there is no system in place and clients slip through the cracks far to often. I have though also seen it that systems can become too complex, and it creates overwhelm that prevents action.

The things that I believe are important are:

• Early follow-up – The idea that if someone cancels on a Monday and a clinician gets a list of people the following Monday that they perhaps do not get to for a few days, is simply not good enough. In my experience, if we are not back in contact with a client who requires an appointment within 10 days, then our chances of rebooking diminish significantly.
• Not just once – when a clinician tells me they have left a message for a client and then discharged them it p*^$es me off! Life is busy and people forget and prioritise different things. We advise 3 points of contact within a 10-14 day period.
• Multiple methods – My wife simply will not answer the phone or ideally make phone calls. I know people that have 10k plus emails in their inbox. The point is that no one method can be guaranteed to work for everyone. Consider a variety of phone/text/email/WhatsApp and find the best for your client base.
• Clinician responsibility – If you were a solo operator and your mortgage depended on your income from clients then you would of course look after each one and only discharge them when they were better, or if they really did not want further treatment. We need to instil this same ownership on all our clinicians. Some have it already, but many do not. If we know a client still needs help, then we must make every effort to ensure that they get this help if possible.?

If you would like a copy of our Client Follow-Up System, please email [email protected] and I’ll be happy to share it with you.

Work Less – Do More?

We talk a lot about the 2:2:3 work week. This simply put is 2 days IN the business, 2 days ON the business and 3 days OUT of the business. This should be the goal for any business owner who is not already doing this or less, or someone who is simply still passionate about treating clients.?

However, I am a realist this is not simply something that you click your fingers, and it happens. The first step is to be efficient with the time that you are spending away from treating.

Firstly get rid of your admin tasks. You are (or should be) paid too highly to do admin. You need systems, processes and people to take care of that for you.

?Secondly, you need to be efficient with how you work. There are all sorts of books and guru’s out there on time management. The single best book and system I have ever come across is Getting Things Done by David Allen.

Thirdly, you need to have a plan of what you are going to do with any chunks (minimum 90 mins) of time working ON the business. This should be tasks like process improvement, marketing, KPI review etc.

Ethical Retention?

One of the biggest challenges I hear from clinicians (and occasionally businesses owners), is that they don’t like the term client retention/retention rate/patient visit average. This is because it appears to focus on revenue generation over client care. Essentially it becomes salesy.

This is simply not true.

We have tracked these metrics for many years, and consistently senior clinicians in clinics the world over who deliver exceptional outcomes and have a list of loyal and satisfied customers, have this average number between 6-8 sessions and often above.

The key point here is that it is about delivering optimal clinical outcomes and having customers that are extremely satisfied. If we believe, as most clinics that we work with do, that our goal in private practice is to provide a gold standard of treatment that includes resolving pain, removing causative factors and reducing the risk of recurrence, then 2-4 sessions simply does not cut it. If clients see through a full course of condition appropriate treatment, they are more likely to have a successful outcome and to be satisfied.

We must instil that gold standard mindset into our clinicians, explain the link between this and the outcomes and customer satisfaction that we all aspire to.

Typically, when this is not happening it is either through a lack of skill or mindset, including self-limiting beliefs such as perceived value, confidence and money. To build a thriving practice, we must face this conversation head on. Then we must help our team to understand the importance and have the skills and mindset to deliver consistently. ?

Workshop - Enhancing the Patient Journey: Improving Customer Experience in 2025

This is going to be the first of a series of online workshops we host in 2025.

As you know providing an exceptional patient experience is more important than ever for physiotherapy clinics. In this online workshop we’ll explore practical strategies to refine every touchpoint of the patient journey. Gain insights into the tools, systems, and approaches that create meaningful and lasting connections with your patients. It has been designed to ultimately help you elevate your service standards through actionable guidance to help lift that customer service to the next level.

For more information and to register for this workshop please visit this page: https://physiobusinessgrowth.com/customerserviceworkshop/

Finally, my first quote of 2025…

"Good customer service costs less than bad customer service." — Sally Gronow

Have a great month!

Michael