Are you truly committed to your private practice success?
I know, it’s a silly question really, isn’t it? Of course, you are. You have spent years training to become a practitioner, spent countless thousands of dollars for that training, lived on minimum wage while you did the training and you are incredibly busy getting working on building your practice.
Is it working? Are are you constantly stressing about covering your bills?
I’ve been training practitioners for over 10 years now. In almost 95% of the cases the issue is the same. They just don’t have the clients they need to make their practice sustainable over the long term. Do you want to know why? Practitioners struggle not because they lack skills but because they fail to truly commit to their goal of a successful and sustainable health care practice. There ends up being lots of bluster and activity but when you really take all that away commitment to and completion of task is actually close to zero.
You might be surprised to find that I have found this in practitioners who are seemingly successful. I have seen it in 20 year veterans, international presenters and owners of large multi-practitioner clinics. They might be keeping the doors open but they are always standing right on the edge of failure. In many cases they have a partner that covers the bills or they have another source of income that keeps them from the streets.
Are you this practitioner?
Here’s my list of 10 things you are likely doing wrong:
- You wrote your website content without really thinking about it.
In some cases you just cut and paste some text from another site. You just wanted to get it done, tick that box then move on. If this is what you do then why would you expect a positive outcome. Not thinking about what you are doing is an uncommitted approach. - Your website is up but you have never checked whether it shows up in a search for your modality and your area.
90% of Holistic health practices I have worked with do not show up on page 1 of Google. If your website doesn’t show up in a search it is next to useless. Commitment required. - You have tried marketing but it doesn’t work.
Sorry but it does work what you did however didn’t so is that it? You tried once failed and so gave up? This is not the actions of a never say die committed practitioner. - You post what you like on social media.
Marketing is about communicating with your potential clients not speaking to yourself. Posting information that might be of interest is paramount to your social media having a positive effect. - No treatment plan
Part of your duty of care is to give your clients advice as to what sort of frequency of treatment will be required to get the outcome they seek. Assuming they know what to expect is far from knowing. Commitment fail. - You aren’t being professional
What do you wear to work and why?
What does your work environment say to your clients?
How do you speak to your clients and why?
If you think clients should learn to chill out and these things don’t really matter you are bumbling around in your own paradigm and are flat out wrong. Commitment injection in the buttocks is needed here. - You constantly offer discounts
Discount your services at your peril. You attract the budget client who doesn’t want to pay your full price and either doesn’t come back or squeezes you for cut-rate consultations. My rule is I don’t do discounts the only exception being for people on disability or pensions that are so broken they need a lot of help.
Now practitioners often respond to this by saying but you don’t work where I work. Well in the last 15 years I have worked in 5 different locations all with varying socio-economic status and right through the GFC. I have always been booked out in that time. You don’t need to discount to be successful you need to commit. - Making excuses as to why you aren’t successful.
It’s easy to make excuses and say you have no control but really you succeed or you don’t. There are no excuses. There are reasons and ok they might be valid ones but that doesn’t make you successful. Overcoming the hurdles you face is what creates practice success. My life was a train crash for years and I struggled for a long time but I kept trying and looking at how to improve. Eventually I found my way out of the fog and have achieved greater success than I could have dreamed. I also get to lead practitioners like you out of the mist and into the light of being where you want to be in practice. - You are getting the wrong advice.
Be wary of anyone who says they have the answer and that includes me. There are many different ways to create success in your practice and everyone has an opinion but is their opinion based on actual experience or is it just talk. Take counsel from those around you but make sure you analyse it.
Don’t blindly trust anyone, they do not bear the outcome of that advice, you do. - You spend too much time on the ideas and none on making them happen.
This is the major one from my experience coaching health care practitioners. We all love to come up with an idea but making it come to life is a totally different situation. Have some conviction and follow through with your ideas and take on one at a time, finish it then move to the next one. Any worthwhile outcome takes time and effort.
Whatever your dream practice looks like we are here to help you get there. Megan and I have been successful practitioners in our respective relevant industries and have developed powerful methods to help you do the same. Want to know more contact us or visit our library of useful articles designed with you in mind. Keep up with the latest events and info via our monthly e-news.
Author: Jeff Shearer
