November Newsletter - Physio Market Update and more!
Michael Nicol
?? I help Physio/PT business owners to grow their profit and reduce their working hours. ?? | Business Coaching | Accountability | Business Support | Exit Strategy
Overall, I am keeping to the monthly newsletter plan, and it has been great to have several positive messages after each of them! There is no question that I had this on my list for last week and it has been a busy month. This has been in part me falling into the trap of taking a week off but squeezing that week of work into the week before and the week after. Definitely something for me to improve on next year.
However, that crazy period (however nice the week in the lakes were) has given me the motivation to reflect and reprioritise which is great. Something I think we could all do more of. For those of you who read previous months the house move is going ahead which is crazy, spontaneous and exciting!
On with this month’s newsletter… ?
Market Update?
It seems that the numbers are relatively flat from October. Neither significantly up nor down compared to September. There is a feeling that things are a touch up and down and that new patients' numbers are not as strong as many of you would like them to be. There are definitely up year on year, but not a strong as August and September would have suggested.
The positives are that there is still good profitability in many of the clinics that we work with. 20% profit is still the benchmark that we look for, and many of you are achieving.
AI Notes!
This seems to be one of those areas that is developing faster that we thought possible. I am not your typical early adopter as I tend to stick to what I know until others have refined it but I do believe this is worth checking out NOW.
What is it? Simply put the software will listen to your conversation and not just transcribe it but turn the clinical part of your conversation into notes based on your templates. It will also produce GP letters, patient summaries, reports and much more.
Outside of clinical applications this can also be used for recording meetings, 1-2-1’s, mentoring sessions and much more. 3rd party examples of this are Hedi and Patient Notes and then I know that Nookal for example are working on a Beta of their own built-in version.
Certainly something that is worth looking at because it can save you and your team hours of admin time if used effectively.
Protocols
Typically, when I mention protocols to people, they either think of surgeon's post-op protocols or some sort of negative recipe-based approach to treatment. I actually prefer the term clinical frameworks as I think they can be perceived less negatively.
Whatever you call them, if you do not have them in your clinic then you are missing a key feature of creating a consistent team. What we need to know is that the team all work in a comparable way and ideally that is in a way that you or your senior clinical team would treat. I always worry about giving specific examples here at the risk of upsetting someone but what the hell. You are trying to avoid someone using ultrasound on a disc problem or giving people plyometrics in week two of an MCL tear or giving someone some exercises for significant sciatica and rebooking them in 3 weeks.
The aim here is to create a 1-2 page reference document with information such as: phases, key tests; objective markers, frequency and duration, home exercises and so on. This forms part of what we call our Elite Service Model which ultimately serves to define what gold standard practice looks like for your business.
Selling your business
I speak to businesses regularly who are either looking to sell or considering the path towards exiting their business. There is simply nothing worse than hearing a story of someone who has got to the point that they are willing to give their business away or even just sell it for a nominal fee. These are people who have put blood, sweat and tears into their business over many years.
In simple terms your business is worth a multiple of your profits, typically somewhere between 2.5 and 4 e.g. a 1,000,000 turnover at a 20% margin and a multiple of 4 times, would have a sale value of 800k. To maximise this sale value there are two things that you need:
1)??????? A profitable business
2)??????? A high multiple
I have spoken about profit before so I will not go over old ground here. In terms of maximising multiple there are many factors, but these include systems and process, diverse revenue streams, reduced reliance on the business owner.
The difference between a low profit and multiple and a high profit and multiple can be huge. You currently have an asset so PLEASE do not let it go to waste. Make sure you have an exit strategy and that you are working towards the factors that will maximise that.
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It is worth noting that there is significant investment in the industry at present and this is likely to continue over the coming years. So, getting yourself in the right position even if you are not currently looking to sell is important. If you would like a chat about this area please drop me an email.
A new stat – ‘One hit wonders’, ‘One and done’
KPI’s, KPA’s and numbers in general are something I really enjoy getting my teeth into. So, when someone gives me a new statistic that makes sense to me, I love looking into it. The KPI that I am talking about is ‘1 hit wonders’. This is the number of clients who only attend one session. Typically, we look at this as a percentage of the total new patients seen in that period.
The benchmark I am currently looking at for this is under 10%. Of course not all clients need further treatment due to reasons like onward referral, minor issue, visiting family etc. However in the clients we are looking at the high performing clinicians are typically under 10%.
What I really like is that retention rate/PVA is something we consistently look at as an overall measure of performance. This new metric gives us another specific insight into why someone might have a low retention rate, which allows us to help that practitioner to improve.
As the saying goes “Measure to move”.
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Accountability
I was asked by someone last week what were the main reasons why someone would leave a coaching programme. I am pleased to say that this is not something that happens regularly, but to be transparent the reasons I gave were:
I could talk about each of these individually but the one I reflected on was the results. It made me think what do the clients who get exceptional results do better than others. What I came up with is that they seek out the accountability that comes with business coaching and use it to get s*^t done.
It seems a bit crazy that as clever adults who built businesses, that we would need accountability, but it is a fact. We all need it, and we all benefit from it. So, whether it is with a business coach or not, seek out someone to help you stay accountable.
Therapy Expo
One for the UK readership. I am going to be supporting Nookal on their stand at the Therapy Expo on the 26/27 of this month at the NEC in Birmingham. If you are going to be there at the conference and would like to catch up for a coffee or a beer please drop me an email or come and say hi at the Nookal stand.
That’s it for this month. If you liked this content, please comment, like or email back. If you hated it feel free to tell me also. Most importantly if there are things you would like to see in this Newsletter moving forwards, drop me an email or message me on Messenger/LinkedIn/WhatsApp/email.?
Next month I’ll include, models of paying your staff, practice versus business manger versus PA amongst other things that pop into my head from interactions with clients and colleagues.?
Finally, as I have mentioned, I love a good quote so here is one for the leaders amongst you (yes that is all of you)!
"If you are going to be a leader, you’re not going to please everybody. You have to hold people accountable, even if you have that moment of being uncomfortable." – Kobe Bryant
Have a great month!?
Michael