There are roughly 60,000 practicing physiotherapists in the UK that are members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. About 11% work in private practice.
Private practitioners have a lot of freedom and flexibility to run their clinics, but they also have to handle the business side of things.
They have to manage finances, marketing, and patient services. That’s on top of the typical business responsibilities.
If you’re struggling to grow your physiotherapy clinic, you’ll want to keep reading.
Discover the top physiotherapy business advice so you can get more patients and grow your clinic.
1. Know Your Sales Pitch
What do you tell people when they ask you what you do? You might just tell them that you’re a physiotherapist.
That’s fine, but you’re missing out on an opportunity to deliver a sales pitch.
This is a business statement that tells people what you do, who you do it for, and the key benefit.
For instance, you can say something like you help elderly people manage chronic conditions with a specialized pain management plan.
Another example is to say that you help weekend warriors recover from injury faster so they can get back to doing what they love.
You have to know who your main target market is and what they need most from physiotherapy. You’ll communicate that at every opportunity.
That lets people know the type of client you work with. It’s specific enough so they’ll remember your physiotherapy clinic and recommend people to your clinic.
2. Centralize Your Website
Your website is often the first place people go to learn about your physiotherapy clinic. It’s the first impression they get of your practice.
Make your website the centralized point of information for new patients. You can include an article about what to expect at a first treatment session.
The design and performance of the website are also important. Keep the site clean and easy to navigate. Make sure the site loads quickly on mobile and desktop devices.
3. Invest in SEO
Search engine optimization is a marketing strategy that you should use. It’s what helps your website get to the top of search results.
Google is said to use more than 200 ranking factors to determine search results. You can control many of these factors on your website.
High-quality content that targets search terms is the place to start. Website performance is another. You also have to have the right HTML code throughout your website to allow search engines to scan your website.
That lets the search engines know what each website page is about and how it should get indexed.
Be sure to fill out and update all of your directory listings. That includes Google My Business and Bing Places.
4. Improve Business Systems
When your marketing starts working, you’re going to get a host of new patients. That’s a great thing until you learn that you’re struggling to keep up.
At that point, your business isn’t scalable. That means you have a capacity limit as to how many patients you can serve at a time.
Whether you’re a sole practitioner or you have a team of physiotherapists at your clinic, developing repeatable systems is essential to scalability and growth.
With the right systems in place, you’ll be able to do more with less. What kind of systems do you need?
Start with practice management software. This is a single system that has all of your clinic’s information in one place.
Such programs manage accounting, scheduling, appointment reminders, and patient health records. They also help you remain compliant with patient privacy laws.
5. Use Video Marketing
People don’t want to go to a physiotherapist unless they have to. They might have a nagging issue that they try to solve themselves.
Where will they go to learn more about their medical issue? YouTube and Google. Fortunately for you, they’re owned by the same company.
Leverage the power of video to educate your audience about common issues and treatment methods.
This does two things for your physiotherapy clinic. The first is that it makes you seem relatable. The second is that it shows off your expertise.
That appeals to viewers so when they search for solutions, your videos appear. They watch them and book time at your clinic because they feel like they know you.
6. Pay Attention to the Patient Experience
The patient experience determines if someone will return to your physiotherapy clinic or not. Most physiotherapy business advice focuses on getting new patients.
The best plans for managing a physiotherapy clinic focus on keeping patients. The patient experience happens with every phone call, email, social media message, and visit.
The better the experience for patients, the more likely they are to return. Look at every single part of the patient experience and find ways to make it better.
7. Always Follow Up
It’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day running of the physiotherapy clinic, you don’t follow up with patients.
This is a key part of the patient experience. Find out how they’re responding to treatments and remind them to return for another visit.
You can also follow up with them to ask for reviews and referrals. Make these follow-ups a critical part of your business system.
The Best Physiotherapy Clinic Advice
Physiotherapists are trained to know how to help people restore their range of motion, recover from injury, and reduce pain. They’re not always trained to run a physiotherapy clinic.
While you want to focus on treating patients, you simply can’t afford to ignore the business side if you want to earn a good living doing what you love.
The physiotherapy business advice in this article showed you several business and marketing tips to help you scale your practice. Put them to use and you’ll have a thriving clinic in no time.
Are you ready for more tips to grow your practice? Head over to the home page for more business and digital marketing insights.
