On this Physical Therapy Profit Academy Master Class, we’re going to show you how to use the power of follow-up (a.k.a Nurture Systems) to turn ice cold prospects into life long paying patients, even if they say NO to your services at the beginning.
This is perhaps one of THE most important topics we’ve ever covered on these articles.
Why? Because most people when they are browsing on websites or even inside of stores, are NOT READY TO BUY NOW.
They’re simply STARTING to make decisions.
Even if they inquire about cost or insurance – and they don’t like the answer – it doesn’t mean that’s the end of the relationship it simply means they make a quick, snap shot decision that they didn’t like or maybe understand proposition.
As humans beings – when we hear something we don’t quite like the sound of – or are unsure of – or that is confusing – we say NO by instinct.
It doesn’t mean they DON’T value their health.
Big difference.
And all it means is that YOU haven’t done enough to see the REAL VALUE in your services yet.
On the blog so far we’ve covered things like:
– How to fill up your in-house workshop events with a 9 step strategy
– How to keep discharged patients coming back for life
And,
– How to get more new patients to land on your clinic’s website
ALL of which tie in with the topic of providing VALUE to potential new patients – THE most important thing to get across in your clinic’s Marketing and sales!
But in today’s article, we’re going to take an even deeper look into how you can provide value to prospects at every stage of their journey, until they say ‘YES’ to paying you for PT.
It all comes down to just this one thing. Following up.
Following up on an inquiry EVEN IF they said no.
It’s so important that one of my favourite sayings in business is this:
“The Fortune Is In The Follow-Up”
I’ll explain more about that in just a moment.
But first, as a business owner you’ve probably heard this (in one way or another) several times before:
– Sell value, not PT skills
– Emphasise value, not cost
– Build value to build relationships
– Provide value with everything you do
But what does it mean to “provide value?”
What exactly do prospects care about?
And how can you deliver it to them while growing your clinic at the same time?
The answer is simple:
“With a powerful follow-up system in place”.
Question:
Imagine all of the people who have made an inquiry at your practice by an email or a telephone call, and all of the people who have landed on your website but didn’t book…
How many people do you think that is?
On a Master Class with my group of PT Entrepreneurs the other week I asked this exact same question, their response?
“Oh jeez!!!”….
That’s always the response I hear whenever clinic owners imagine how many people they’ve let slip away because they don’t have solid follow-up systems in place.
Just imagine if you could take even just 30% of those people who have made inquiries and turn them into paying patients…
Where would you be in your life right now?
One of the answers from a PT in my Next Level group?
“Retired, in a second home in Charleston”.
That’s how much not losing his prospects mean to him.
So what exactly do I mean when I say “the fortune is in the follow-up”?
This:
Right now, there’s more people checking out your practice on your website, making inquiries, thinking about coming in to see you… than actually DO (pull the trigger and come to see you).
So if you could take 30% of those people – who would normally just browse your site or see an ad and not take action – and turn them into patients…
…then think about the compound effect of them coming back and even referring friends, do you think it would add up a lot of dollars to your clinic?
And, would it be worth your time to set up a few simple “follow up” systems?
OF course it would.
Success in business comes down to just one thing.
Proving value.
Upfront.
And usually BEFORE you get paid.
But the thing is, a lot of business owners (not just PT owners!), live in a world where they think prospects that didn’t buy “just don’t see value”, or they’re “tight, cheap and don’t want to pay” – which couldn’t be further from the truth.
If you think that to be true – you’re almost labelling yourself as “tight and cheap” too.
Let me explain:
I know that every single one of us goes through the same “in-decision” making process each and every day…
We go to a website, or walk into a shop, and if the guy comes up to us and says “Do you need some help?”
Our first reaction is almost, always “NO”.
But here’s the thing, if I’m shopping for a new “suit” for example, I’m in there making a decision about what suit I want to get – and traditionally what will happen is I’ll walk out of a store telling myself “I’ll have a think on that”…
And I genuinely am “having a think”…
But then I just forget!
Life gets in the way.
Something else comes up, or I walk into another store, or the girlfriend has already spent the money, or whatever it will be…
But if that guy in the store had approached me and asked something different like – “Sir, I can see you’re thinking about buying this suit, are you going to a Wedding soon?
Or have you got an event or something special to go to?”
Instead saying “no” right away, my reaction would have been completely different – I’d start to engage with him and he’d have a much better shot of potentially getting my email or telephone details so that he can follow up with me – just incase I forget to return.
This behaviour is exactly the same for people who inquire at your clinic by email, telephone or by visiting your website.
Everyone goes through the buyers journey (a series of steps any person must make before they buy):
– Awareness
– Consideration
– Decision
In the awareness stage, people are inquiring at your clinic to seek a solution to a problem they’re having (a twinge in their back, pain in their ankle that’s stopping them from running, an un-diagnosed shoulder problem…)
In the consideration stage prospects have come to an understanding about what they need to do to find the solution to their problem, and they’re thinking about it as they want to be certain you’re the right clinic to pay for PT with before they buy.
And finally in the decision stage, prospects have chosen their solution (to pay for PT), and are evaluating what clinic to do business with.
So it’s your job to help guide them, give them information that helps them confidently say “yes” and to connect and help them make the best decision – so they choose you!
Which is exactly what I’ve trained my staff to do at The Paul Gough Physio Rooms…
As soon as someone inquires – if it’s via email we respond within 24 hours, and if it’s by a phone call or if someone walks in we never talk about Physical Therapy first – we make it all about THEM.
(Not what we do!)
We find out things like what’s been going on, what they’re suffering with, what their pain is stopping them from doing and what concerns them most so we can help guide them into making the best decision.
That way, after 3-4 days where life can get in the way and people forget about inquiring in the first place, when my team call they usually say they’re so happy we did because they completely forgot, but know they need to do something about whatever is going on before it gets worse.
If you follow-up regularly with leads and nurture them, you stand a much higher chance of converting that person into a paying customer than you would if you dived in with talking about PT right away, or doing nothing at all and having no contact details to keep in touch!
Because it’s true – people forget, we all do!
People aren’t “cheap”
They’re not “tight”
And they don’t “de-value their health”
They just don’t see the value in what you do until you SHOW them. And after you’ve got their business – no more nurture systems are needed because you’ll have their business for life!
So you have two choices…
You can either blame people for not booking an appointment, or you can blame yourself for not guiding them (which you can do something about).
You can train staff, put better systems into play, get better success stories, increase the experience people have the moment they touch base with your practice.
The person just needs to be given more information first before they make a decision.
What world do you want to live in?…
A world that you can’t control, or a world that you can?
It’s much more profitable to live in a world that you can – and there’s no competition when you do this because nobody else in your town wants to change the way they do things.
They’re all stuck in the past worrying hard enough HOPING and PRAYING that change and progress will pass them by.
Unfortunately NONE of us – the writer of this article included – is immune from the winds of change.
The PT Industry is most definitely NOT, either.
To sum up:
Keep showing up, and you’re going to get more business.
It’s that simple.
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