Ask a new physical therapist to reach out to a local doctor and introduce themselves and you’ll likely get a panicked response: What should I say? What if they ask a question I don’t know the answer to? What if they’re busy and annoyed that I’ve called? Shouldn’t I be focusing my time on my own patients instead of talking to other clinicians?
While many practices identify quality customer service as a strength, few appropriately leverage this strength as a marketing tool to grow their practice. The goal of this article is to outline four steps to systematically create and leverage customer service to grow your practice. These steps include: empowering your staff, creating meaningful relationships, measuring customer service, and leveraging Promoters.
I think it’s safe to say that, from a consumer’s perspective, the health care industry is a little lacking when it comes to customer service. I’ve never heard a patient boast that their doctor’s staff greets them with a song and dance, à la Southwest Airlines. And have you ever heard of a practice that takes a page out of the Ritz-Carlton handbook and gives staff the green light to spend up to two thousand dollars on the spot to solve any patient complaint?
Emotion matters in marketing. We often talk about emotion’s role in terms of connecting with audiences: being authentic, telling stories, creating experiences. But let’s rewind a bit further, to focus on your emotions—and your mindset—as you approach the work of marketing itself. Are you stressed out and anxious about this important part of your work? Do you approach it with dread? A lot of physical therapists I know and work with do exactly that. I used to be just like them.
Many physical therapists think that if they provide great care, the patients will come. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. While word of mouth and great care will get you part of the way, growing your patient base also requires good, consistent marketing.
