What “Spiderman” Has To Do With Marketing Your Physical Therapy Clinic

by · 30th July 2015

Rate this post

True story:

So every Wednesday morning my clinic shuts down for a couple hours to ensure our “con-ed” gets done, uninterrupted.

My front desk staff have their own version of it too.

And yesterday, an issue got brought to my attention about a patient who after his first evaluation with us, proceeded to book a further 9 visits – then “no showed” for his second one.

He was in his early 20’s.

An age group I identified a while back that I DON’T really want to attract to my clinic (unless there parents are paying!).

Why?

Not enough sustained motivation to want to hand over $1000 to restore their health.

Sure, at the time, they tell you they do.

Even think that they do.

Hence why they leave the first session and book aaaaaallll the future visits they’ve been told they need.

Makes them FEEL good about themselves (a drug called “serotonin”).

But more often than not, I find this age group to be the “hassle” ones.

Who repeatedly “no-show”, or who we have to “drag” to their session with tons of reminders and persistence.

(Not my idea of running a business).

But here’s the thing:

My secretary said she was “surprised” about “this one”.

Because the guy in question was a “personal trainer”.

And when she reminded him of the “no-show” fee (and our strict clinic rules), he said “he’d NEVER do such a thing because he has his own clients”… and “he knows how painful it is if one of his clients doesn’t show up for one of his sessions”, too!…

Apparently, his “story” about why he would DEFINITELY show up, was long!..

And so “Steph” (my secretary) was sure, that THIS guy, would be ok.

That he’d be different and show up for all the visits he booked out.

My reply to hearing this “cock and bull” story?

“The bigger the story,
the bigger the dragon!”

I’ll explain what that means, like this:

Ever watched “spider man”, and noticed how no matter who his arch enemy is, it’s always 10 x bigger than he is?

Why?

Because his story is HUGE.

His story is “saving the world”.

So the “dragon” he has to destroy, just HAS to be bigger than him!

It’s the way it goes in all stories where the prize is BIG.

And in this case, our “no-shower” already had a big, well worded and crafted story about why he would DEFINITELY show up.

Which means there is likely to be a big old “dragon” in the back ground.

Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>

The relevance for PT’s?

This…

Nearly all of your potential prospects have their own STORY…and therefore a HUGE dragon lurking in the back ground.

Their story includes having been “let down” by chiropractors, told by doctors that “nothing can be done”, to just take “pills”, “accept it”, friends or family who instantly dismiss what a PT can do, just because they had a bad experience at some crappy corporate hospital somewhere, lacking in any love and devoid of any real attention.

The “dragon” in their story?

Quite a few.

Called “fear”, “skepticism”, “nervousness”, self-doubt”, “uncertainty” and “angst”.

Something else…

It’s those dragons which are currently getting in the way of higher profits at your PT clinic.

Something else-else…

And unless you work out a plan to defeat them, you’re at the mercy of referrals from doctors to keep your clinic alive.

Not ideal.

Not as big hospital systems move into small towns, everywhere.

The answer?

Easy, peesy…

Deploy “Lead Generation” style marketing in everything that you do, hence forth.

It’s the small clinic owners version of having “Spiderman” show up to save New York City.

No matter how big the dragon, relationship building by lead generation marketing, will defeat it.

The only question is, “spidy”:

Are you ready to throw a “web” around 100’s of NP’s every week with a new style of marketing?

If so, go.here.next:

– Show Me How To Create A Marketing Strategy That Works ! >

Sincerely,

Paul Gough.

P.S Note to physical therapist looking for Marketing Ideas:

Sign up to Pauls email list and get Marketing ideas and strategies for your pt clinic sent to you by email:

Click Here to Subscribe to Paul’s Marketing Tips Email List >>>

About Paul Gough

PAUL GOUGH is one of the top Marketing and Business Coaches in the physical therapy industry and his Systems are helping clinic owners all across America run more profitable clinics. He is a published Author, Newspaper Columnist and before his stunning success in business was hired by top professional soccer teams. HIS SUCCESS STORY is one that inspires many pt's around the world - at the age of 26 Paul QUIT a high profile job in professional soccer to begin his own clinic. He had NO money, NO business or marketing skills and NO experience - and yet now owns and runs 4 pt clinics and has a proven track record of growing a physical therapy business from 0 - $2m in record time.
Want more referrals from direct access at your physical therapy clinic? Download PDF now