Offense vs. Defense

By Paul Martin, PT, MPT, CBI, M&AMI

In typical market conditions, a practice can continue to grow and thrive with simply good defensive strategies: strong operational metrics, financial metrics and tracking, a solid referral generation program, strong leadership, and many other internally driven systems. We are not in a typical market. In fact, the current market has become extremely competitive based on large corporate providers who are acquiring and partnering with local businesses and committing enormous resources in order to grow these businesses into market leaders.

You must not only maintain strong defensive positions, but also in this market you need to go on the offense! Do a thorough market analysis and determine what specific programs you need to have to serve the current and future referral base, consider partnering with your current professional staff to strengthen your organization, and consider doing a few small acquisitions or startups to make sure that you have a strong presence in your market that is convenient to your current and new referral sources.

Paul Martin, PT, MPT, CBI,M&AMI president of Martin Healthcare Advisors, is a nationally recognized expert on health care business development and succession planning. As a consultant, mentor, and speaker, Paul assists business owners with building value in their companies. He has authored The Ultimate Success Guide, numerous industry articles, and weekly Friday Morning Moments. He can be reached at pmartin@martinhealthcareadvisors.com.