"Retention" isn't a dirty word

I've been speaking to a lot of newly qualified and soon-to-be-graduating Therapists recently, and I've been struck by something that a lot of them have said about their first experiences of working as a Therapist privately.

Most have commented that their new bosses have spoken to them about "making their patients come back". Firstly, I have an issue with this sentence as this makes it sound like we're forcing our patients to come back. Instead, this sentence should be "making their patients WANT to come back".

That's what ethical retention is all about, getting your patients to understand that they need to come back so that they want to.

Retention is vital for the patients, not just the business

Secondly, all the Therapists that I have spoken to have taken the focus on getting patients to come back (or retention) as an important thing for the business. None have considered why it's important for the patient.

Retention is the absolute key for getting the very best outcomes for patients. If you can't retain them, you will not give them maximum benefit and that means you have failed in your mission to help people!

Imagine I go to see a Therapist with pain across my shoulders because I sit at my laptop writing Linkedin articles, I drive a lot, and my posture is a bit rubbish. If they give me a treatment, and I feel a bit better at the end of it, but they don't make me see that I need to come back, then do I get maximum benefit from that treatment? Will my shoulders hurt again in 3 months time? Um yes! Have I pretty much wasted my money on something that won't help in the long term? Yes.

Compare that to a second Therapist treating me, giving me a realistic amount of exercises to do, and really getting me engaged in why I need to do the exercises and linking it to a very personal goal. Also then explaining why I will need to come back again in a few days time, and then roughly how many other sessions I will need over what time span, spelling out the plan and the outcome (me reaching my very personal goal). I then do my exercises, come back for the sessions, follow the advice, and reach my outcome. I've come for 6 sessions in total but my shoulder pain has gone and I know and understand how to manage it from this day forward if it does come back. Have I got more benefit from this than just coming once? Yes, massively.

Because the second Therapist knew how to retain me, I kept coming, followed the plan and reached my goal. If you can't retain your patients, you don't get your patients to their goals.

Failing to give patients maximum benefit is unethical

A lot of people question whether patient retention is ethical and treat retention as a dirty word. I think the same about Therapists who don't retain their patients. I think it's unethical to see a patient, know that you could help them way more if they came back, and you don't do it. You're taking their money for not much benefit. Retention allows you to work with your patients to get them to maximum benefit. It's your duty to get your patients to their goals so you MUST learn to retain them.

So, if you're just starting out, or even if you've been a Therapist for years, think of retention as giving you the opportunity to give maximum benefit to your patients, NOT just something that is good for business.

Everybody wins

Having said that, if you do get your patients to come back, and get massive benefit from their treatment, guess what...they will tell other people, and then they will come, and then you get to help them too.

Retention does mean your business will perform better as there will be more appointments filled, but it also means an increase in word of mouth referrals, and that means a chance to help more people...and that's what most of us became Therapists for, right?

Be clear on one last thing

To make one last point, at no time should you ever abuse the fact that the patient is engaged and following your advice, by over-treating. If a patient will not benefit any more from further sessions, then it is not ethical to retain them any longer. A key part of retention is knowing when to end the Therapy process and over-treatment is horribly unethical and a very quick way to get a bad reputation.

Get in touch

If you want to know more about retention or just have a chat through your beliefs on this, then message me at [email protected] and I'll be happy to help or debate anything you like!