E481 | How To Increase Your Show Up Rate

No-shows and cancellations happen to everyone. It can be frustrating but it is almost a guarantee that it's going to happen to you. Today, I am talking about strategies to drastically reduce this from happening and how you can prepare for this now. Enjoy!

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Podcast Transcript

Danny: So there's all kinds of hidden fees within your business that are just part of doing business. One of those is credit. Processing and for us, we didn't even realize how much we were paying in credit card processing with the first management software we were using for our practice. And when we switched over to PT everywhere, we just realized we were saving literally hundreds of dollars a month with credit card processing with their partner with Card point versus who we were using with our prior.

Software. This has made a massive difference. It's more than paid for itself. It allows us to decrease our overhead. It allows us to have more cash flow to reinvest in our people, in our technology, in our facility, in marketing and everything that's gonna drive the business. So don't get abused by credit card processing companies.

Make sure you're paying what you should pay. And if you're looking for a management software, highly recommend PT everywhere directly integrates. Processor makes it very easy and their rates are super, super competitive. So it's saved us a ton of money and it probably will do the same for you if you don't know what you are getting charged.

So head over to PT everywhere. Take a look at what they've got. I think you really like it. So here's the question. How do physical therapists like us who don't wanna see 30 patients a day, who don't wanna work home health and have real student loans create a career and life for ourselves that we've always dreamed about?

This is the question, and this podcast is the answer. My name's Danny Matte, and welcome to the PT Entrepreneur Podcast.

Going on guys. Doc Denny here with a PT Entrepreneur podcast, and today we're talking about increasing your show up rate for new patients. This is one of the most frustrating things that can happen is that you get somebody on your schedule that's a new patient and they either nohow or they just cancel on you.

They're supposed to come in to see you. This happens. It happens to everybody. It's something that, you're not gonna have a hundred percent show rate. You want it to be as close to that as possible, but you're definitely gonna have times where people just, they don't come in, and they make an appointment, they don't show up, they make an appointment, they cancel it last minute via email, and they just let you know, oh, I found somewhere else, or whatever.

The reason might be. So I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about a couple ways that you can decrease this. New evaluation cancellation percentage because getting this right and getting more of those people that, express interested in working with you to actually come in for the first visit.

Like we, we know that we can really help people and if we get 'em in there, For their first visit, they're gonna love it and we're gonna be able to really help change their life and get them back to the things that they want to do. But getting them there is is challenging sometimes. And every new patient is important in these cash-based practices in particular because our volume of new people is just not nearly the same as insurance related practices, especially if there's super strong hospital or physician referrals where they're just getting force fed people all the time because they're within the same system.

First thing, And probably the most important thing is clear expectations and and clarity on why somebody wants to be seen and what they can expect. With your facility. This happens at the initial, phone contact when you're talking to somebody. This could be you if you're the provider and you're a single provider by yourself.

It could be your admin, office manager, whatever. That is handling office related tasks or taking inbound calls. It's either one. It has to be the same though in terms of really getting clear on understanding what it is that they're trying to solve and why it's important to them to, to be able to resolve their knee pain or back pain or whatever, based on what they're trying to get back to.

And it's a couple things you wanna be clear on. Number one, what have they already tried? Cause most people that have seen us. This isn't their first thing. We're not the first people they call. They've already tried a number of other things that haven't worked. They're typically frustrated and they've had a good chunk of their time already allocated towards this, that it hasn't actually it hasn't worked out.

So they're frustrated and they wanna ultimately make sure they're not making the same. Poor decision or wrong decision, I guess a better way to put it by coming to see you. So getting very clear on what they've already tried, what they're working towards and really like, why is that important?

Because if you just talk to people about superficial problems and talk to 'em about we do dry needling and blood flow restriction training, and our people are Mackenzie certified and all this it doesn't make, they don't give, they don't care. They don't even know what the hell that means.

They really just want to get their problem resolved because it's stopping them from doing something they like to do. Simple as that. So the more you can even get clear on what is the thing that they like to do, they can't do, and get them to realize that you can help them get back to that. And keep that at the root of the conversation the more likely it is that they are going to have some trust with you, which you're pH a stranger over the phone.

Keep that in mind. So you have to build some trust with them before you can build that really strong trust in person and. Being clear on what they're working towards and why, and the frustrations that they've already had and, being empathetic towards that. That's gonna go a long way.

The other part of that is clear expectations as to how your clinic functions and what it is that you are actually gonna do with them. So one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Is not being clear about the fact that you are either at a network practice, hybrid practice, or a cash-based practice and how that works.

And being able to explain that to somebody. Because if they show up and they think that you are in network with Humana or whatever it is that they have, and at the end of the visit they give you the, their insurance card and. You're like, yeah, but we don't take this like we're, a fee for service clinic.

You cannot dig yourself outta that hole. It's, you're done. Like you, you have to have clear expectations and understanding. There can be no surprises with this because you're gonna look like you are trying to trick them if you do not. Clarify this on the front end, you have to tell them what it is that, you guys charge, how it works you know how it works with their insurance, whatever questions they have.

You have to be very clear and get good at having these conversations so that people know that there's no surprises and that they're not gonna get a bill from you down the road for a few thousand bucks three months later or something like that. Like it is very transparent. Here's how it works.

This is what we do, but we do not directly. With insurance because we're not in network with them. So you have to let them know what's going on, what they can expect from a visit with you and how that works. Cause if they show up and that happens, like it's terrible for your reputation. And it's unlikely that person is gonna come back and actually work with you because they just feel like there's the trust has been breached by not letting them know.

The other thing that is gonna help quite a bit is a detailed follow up email that's going to. Really summarize what you talked about, what it is that you're working towards, who it is they're working with. If it's your office manager and like the next steps associated with working with you.

So it could be filling out an intake form. It could be, Hey, here's the here's the location. This is what the office looks like. This is where, you can park and this is all the things that are gonna help put them at ease. Where there's not as much friction associated with coming and being very clear about that.

Just think about. Good customer experiences that you've had in healthcare, which there's few of those that typically happen, but the best ones typically, there's a lot of clarity, transparency and they're essentially taking care of the questions that you're gonna have on the front end before you have them.

That's the ultimate goal is to really resolve whatever problems people are gonna have. You take care of those on the front end proactively. Versus actively. There's a difference between customer service is taking care of problems after they exist. Customer success. Is taking care of problems before they happen.

We want customer success more so than customer service. So we wanna be reactive, we wanna be proactive. So try to give them as much clarity about what the process looks like going forward. And the third thing, and especially if you have the resource to have somebody else do this is very helpful is to reach out.

24 to 48 hours before a a visit via text or a phone call. You can automate some of these within platforms as well with a text, but if you don't have that, you can text or call just to confirm and see if they have any other questions and to confirm that they're gonna, that they're gonna be there.

As well, that's gonna help with your show up rate. And if somebody has a problem, you can at least try to address that over the phone for I don't know if I can make it. Now you can jump back on another call and get an idea of what they're of what they're dealing with now, and see if there's a problem that you can resolve versus them just not showing up on you.

So those are the three big things. The number one is getting very clear on expectations and why they're actually coming into work with you. Number two would be following up with them, making sure that they're clear on that with a summary and detailed. And that's something they may show their spouse as well, keep that in mind.

A lot of times people will just be like my spouse. They don't wanna do it, so I can't. And that sucks. That's a bummer. So this may help with that as well, just with clarity with a spouse. And then follow up with them 24 to 48 hours before the visit via text or phone call and just verify that they're coming in.

And this should help increase your show rate on evals so you can get more of those people through your door so you can help those people get back the things that they left to do and grow your practice. So hope this helps guys. As always, thanks so much for listening and we'll catch you next.

Hey, Pete, entrepreneurs. We have big, exciting news, a new program that we just came out with that is our PT Biz part-time to full-time, five day challenge. Over the course of five days, we get you crystal clear on exactly how much money you need to replace by getting you a. Ultra clear on how much you're actually spending.

We get you crystal clear on the number of people you're getting to see, and the average visit rate you're going to need to have in order to replace your income to be able to go full-time. We go through three different strategies that you can take to go from part-time to full-time, and you can pick the one that's the best for you based on your current situation.

Then we share with you the sales and marketing systems that we use within our mastermind that you need to have as well. If you wanna go full-time in your own practice. And then finally we help you create a. Page business plan. That's right. Not these 15 day business plans. You wanna take the Small Business Association, a one day business plan that's gonna help you get very clear on exactly what you need to do and when you're gonna do it.

To take action if you're interested and sign up for this challenge is totally free. Head to physical therapy biz.com/challenge. Get signed up there. Please enjoy. We put a lot of energy into this. It's totally free. It's something I think is gonna help you tremendously, as long as you're willing to do the work.

If you're doing the work and you're. Information put down and getting yourself ready to take action in a very organized way, you will have success, which is what we want. So head to physical therapy biz.com/challenge and get signed up today. Hey, real quick before you go, I just wanna say thank you so much for listening to this podcast, and I would love it if you got involved in the conversation.

So this is a one-way channel. I'd love to hear back from you. I'd love to get you. Into the group that we have formed on Facebook. Our PT Entrepreneurs Facebook group has about 4,000 clinicians in there that are literally changing the face of our profession. I'd love for you to join the conversation, get connected with other clinicians all over the country.

I do live trainings in there with Eve Gigi every single week, and we share resources that we don't share anywhere else outside that group.

So if you're serious about being a PT entrepreneur, a clinical rainmaker, head to that group. Get signed up. Go to facebook.com/groups/ptentrepreneur, or go to Facebook and just search for PT Entrepreneur. And we're gonna be the only group that pops up under that.