Why They Buy

Get Creative

By Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA, ATC, CSCS

Appeal to your client’s imagination when it comes to your practice.

Any marketing professional will tell you that the imagination is key to the success of a product or service within the market. Imagination allows consumers to understand and place a product or service within their own storyline. They envision themselves as somehow improved by the use of the product or service being sold.

When we purchase laundry detergent, for instance, are we buying a chemical product used to clean our clothes, or are we buying freshness and cleanliness, something that will lead us to a more fruitful and pleasant existence? When we choose a soft drink, is it because this particular liquid substance will keep us hydrated, or are we identifying with a product that represents who we are or, even more, who we want to be?

Physical therapists provide services that change lives through movement, and while this exists in the real world (and not just in the imagination), we are wise to leverage the power of the imagination in order make simple to the client what can be a very complex and confusing service offering.

Think about it this way: Do your customers come to you for exercise or to improve their quality of life? Do you provide balance training or do you help prevent falls, broken bones, and hospitalizations? Do you specialize in athletes, or do you specialize in keeping athletes on the playing field?

Answers to these questions and others may be just the tweak needed to engage your clients’ imaginations—the realm where we all want to be.

Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA, ATC, CSCS, lives at the intersection of physical therapy and entrepreneurship, spending his time helping physical therapists build and operate successful practices through his company, Vantage Clinical Solutions. He specializes in marketing, finance, and business planning, and authors and speaks regularly for the APTA and PPS. He can be reached at tannus@vantageclinicalsolutions.com.