It has long been a mystery among PT owners as to how and where to get new patients. I have claimed for many moons that I can get more new patients as easy as turning a faucet on or off.
All it takes is that PR personality and knowing that this is a marathon, not a sprint. You and your staff must be dedicated to putting in the work necessary to get the number of new patients you want.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- All businesses live and dye by their marketing strategy. You need to first know who your customers are, and you need to know what their expecations are. How many past patients were referred by doctors and allied health professionals?
- In terms of advertising, when it comes to tv commercials, a sale is made or lost within the first 3-5 seconds. When it comes to print ads? 75% of the buying decision is made at the headline alone. Finally, in a sales presentation the sale is made or lost in the first 3 minutes.
- The pillars of a successful marketing strategy include: the demographics, or knowing who your customer is (the marketplace reality); and the psychographics, or why they buy (the perceived marketplace reality).
- Find a perceived need and fill it based on these expectations. The challenge in marketing is learning the our customers’ language – we need to speak it or they will pass us by.
- Learn this information by surveying your customers to get their demographics like age, gender, where do they live and income level. Psychographic questions could include where they shop, brands they buy (research their ads and what messages they are using).
- You the owner must always start out by aksing marketing questions such as “what must our practice BE in the mind of our customers to choose us over everyone else?”
Brian Gallagher, PT is the founder and CEO of MEG Business Management, LLC. He has more than 27 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation and 19 years in business and specializes in Physical Therapy practice management and executive coaching nationwide. As a licensed business management consultant, Brian has helped hundreds of business owners nationwide improve their business operations through proper restructuring to achieve improved systems of efficiency and productivity as well as marketing and sales with effective public relations which have proven results for double-digit growth year-over-year with businesses around the country.
