We are in the business of helping customers feel better. If we can make them feel better faster I believe they’ll pay us better. I decided to do a charity day at the Naturopathic doctor’s office last Thursday for the benefit of Sunshine Acres Children’s home here in Mesa, AZ. All proceeds from that day of therapy which I largely focused on stress and quick pain relief went to them. I had a great time and people were quite generous.
My best friend back in Illinois who visits a chiropractor from time to time told me of his chiropractor, “I’ve he’s in the room with me for two minutes it’s a long time.” I believe there’s a happier medium if one learns from the experts and practices the right skills. I did mainly 15-20 minute treatments focusing on using reciprocal inhibition and some other related techniques I’ve learned recently to get maximum pain and stress relief. It was really a blast to hear “wow” and “incredible”. Taking the time to listen to the peoples problems was part of the solution. I wore a lab jacket with my logo along with a nice collared shirt because the people there didn’t know me at all. If they did know me I might shed the jacket. One never gets a second chance to make a first impression. Make it a good one.
Best Phyiscal Therapist Attire: I will be checking this out in the near future but I’m pretty sure none of the full time cash practice PT’s I interviewed in the course wore a lab jacket. I spoke with Alison, a PT in CA who does cash Pilates/PT this a.m.. She wears yoga attire but thinks a lab jacket is a pretty good idea for the first visit. She’s had ashes coming down on her car from the forest fires though she’s in no immediate danger. Let’s pray for rain.
If you really want to do a cash PT practice there is a place for you. Today I spent a very pleasant afternoon with a doctor who has a cash practice. He needs help with his overhead. I’m pretty sure we can help each other. Stay tuned!
Today as I came in to see one of my cash paying customers (in a small care home) my cash paying customer’s wife was already waiting for me with payment in hand. She wasn’t able to stay (as she usally does ) and observe / assist her spouse’s treatment as she is flying out of town to be with family for 10 days. She had already paid me through the second of three visits we plan for next week and she wanted to be sure I got paid in advance as we usually schedule it. I thanked her and got her number so I could keep in touch with her with updates about her husband.
When do you want to get paid? In advance works for me. At the top of MY patient statements is the money the patients have paid. I use a declining balance system and at the bottom I write, “Balance $0.00. Below that I write, “Thank-you very much for your business. It is a pleasure to serve your family member. In the Cash Practice Secrets home study course I and other contributors share not only how we charge but how we keep track of it. For my cash patients my fees have never been lowered by any third party.
Have you heard about the coming 10% Medicare fee cuts? Are you ready to Get Ahead Now?
Hello Valued Reader. I promised in a previous post that I would tell you about measurable results of my own marketing.
This week every evening I’ve been playing the part of the “King” in a vacation Bible School at our church. The sketches are different every night and are done from memory. I’ve really been rehearsing. We’ve had a great time! Maybe I’ll post a picture on of me in my “royal robe” but you’ll have to come back to see it. As soon as I stop practicing and am finished performing one sketch it begins to fade from mind. It’s no longer needed. Why do we therapists beleive that our marketing efforts should be any different? When we do great therapy for a patient and “discharge” them they unavoidably begin to forget us. With patients (best referral sources) and other referral sources it is no different. We must stay in touch with our customers and potential customers!
I made a few calls person to person visits a couple of weeks ago and got great responses from all those I visited. I also got one new referral for a patient from a new referral source. Since that patient wasn’t initially appropriate for cash based therapy I referred him to an agency I’ve known and dealt with for many years and who also pays me a commission.
Here’s the Key: I didn’t JUST leave my marketing at that but in the last two weeks I’ve kept in touch with those referral sources via newsletters, cards, and postcards. Stay in touch with your referral sources and previous patients or your will “forget your lines” (what’s important to THEM) and they will begin gradually forgetting about coming back to you or referring to you. I’ve got to get in the minivan to go to my throne! Really! Have a GREAT weekend!
It’s an honor and pleasure to write for you. REALLY!
To boost your endorphin level listen to this 16 minute video with Pat Croce (PT). It will make you laugh and think! To hear the $40 million dollar advice Pat has for PT’s today go to http://www.cashpracticesecrets.com and “opt in”. Yes I know it’s a process. You’ll have to go back and check your email to get the link to the interview, but I value your privacy and don’t spam.
As always it’s an honor and a pleasure writing to you. Have a GREAT Day! Lance
P.S. I told you I’d share a little more about the good PT marketing results I’m having but this is a special day. The key is follow up. Develop a simple system for following up with your potential customers. To get regular encouragement kindly try out “subscribing” (see the link at right) to this blog. It will be good practice for how you might keep in friendly touch with YOUR customers and potential customers.
At 9:40 this a.m. I was 10 minutes behind schedule to my customer who has paid me at least $3000 for his physical therapy. His wife was sitting in his wheelchair. He was still in bed. They are super nice folks but thanks to his wife he gets every second of good out of my therapy for her husband. I give it my best but knew I was late. Striding up to the bed of my seriously ill client, I gave him a smile and before I could say anything he told ME,…. “Happy Birthday!” He got it right! He turns 83 late next week on a day I’m not scheduled to see him. Guess who I’ll call and wish if not sing Happy Birthday for. I’ve already programmed my phone to remind me to call him. He made MY day and I sure hope to make his. I can’t figure it out but the patients that pay directly for therapy really seem to be the most appreciative. In fact that one made me feel like a million dollars!
If YOUR day was at least half as good as mine it was great! Very good things happened today related to what you might call relationship marketing. It is 10:40 p.m. so I’d better tell you about the method and results next time.
If I had an angel behind me I would have a good time. I’d probably take a few more risks knowing that my protector was right there. I’d probably have already tried skydiving, would have flown an ultralight again, and would have taken interested family and willing friends on the adventures so I could have plenty of people to share the memories.
For the last few years in the winter we have had and an “Angel” behind us. She, Angel Harvey, and her husband Paul attended our church sitting about 8 rows behind us to the left and rear. When I greeted him one week I said, “Thank-you, Mr. Harvey, for all your GREAT radio broadcasts.” Still speaking to him but making sure his wife could hear I continued, “I think my wife is just like yours [he called her “Angel”]!” When a state of the art sound and video system was installed in our church it was Angel who had shared very very generously. Of course we sent a thank-you card. Several weeks back we got the news that the Harveys were returning to Chicago and probably wouldn’t be back. Angel’s leukemia was ravaging her frail frame as it had been for a year. We offered special prayers but she succumbed to the disease at 92 years of age. Our pastor and his wife flew to Chicago where he delivered the memorial. It sure was a lot more fun writing the thank-you than the condolence card.
What about you? Do you have an “Angel” ? Make sure you treat your spouse like one. Though my live in angel can’t protect me from the law of gravity she is the wind beneath my wings. She encourages me to do what I love even if it means taking a risk. She has helped me touch the lives of many more than I could have touched on my own. She put up with my long hours of editing and compiling the cash practice secrets home study course. Another question she is good at asking is “What do you really want to do”? What’s your angel saying to you? What do YOU really want to do?
At 4:21 p.m. today my cell phone rang the pre-programmed “home” ring. Instead of my beautiful wife’s voice I heard, “Hi Daddy “. ” It was one of my little ones! “I called you because I knew your number”! My children are young and of course exceptional in every good way but this was a first for me. They’ve known my number for a long time but this was a first time for one of them to actually dial and speak to daddy without my wife’s having dialed the number. Children have such an eagerness to learn to do new things.
If we physical therapists renew our eagerness to the eagerness we had as PT students or even 10% of the eagerness we had as children we will realize our dreams and goals. If you know professionally and business-wise what you must do, do it. Stretch. If you could need some leaders to follow check out our website . You can achieve your goals! Email subscribers at our Cash Practice Secrets course website can get the same phone number my little one called by the way. I and my team love to be of help.
By the way my little one wanted me to get home soon (which I did) so we could have a swim (which we all did)- at the timeshare resort. The water was nice!
Have you ever wondered how a timeshare company can sell an annual or semi-annual week of ownership of a condo at a resort for tens of thousands of dollars, assess ever-increasing maintenance fees and have customers that actually come back to buy more ownership? Though many people have bought, repented of, and lost lots of money via timeshare ownership I have a different story of my timeshare ownership that will benefit you and your PT practice should you wish to grow it.
I recently called our timeshare company, Westgate Resorts, to reserve our floating week. The operator didn’t ask, “Who’s calling please?”, he asked, “With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”. He was very kind over the phone and made sure to ask, “Is there anything else I can do for you”? After I could think of nothing else he didn’t say, “Thanks for calling, goodbye”. He said something MUCH nicer that made me feel so good I wanted to call again just to hear his and their phone etiquette! To make sure I got it right, I just now called Westgate reservations again. I got a lady operator on the phone and had her go over her ‘good-bye” with me. She says, “On behalf of Westgate Resorts it was an honor and a pleasure speaking with you. Have a great day!”
How will you speak to your clients and potential clients? We have very good examples in our course by the way. Drop me a line anytime. I frequently speak with subscribers to our email training at www.CashPracticeSecrets.com . They get my personal phone number.
On behalf of www.CashPracticeSecrets.com it HAS been an honor and a pleasure writing to you. Have a GREAT day!
Lance P. Van Arsdell, PT, MSPT email: lance@cashpracticesecrets.com
One night there was a man groping around 42nd Street. “What are you doing?”, a passer-by asked him. “I’m looking for my glasses. I’m almost blind without them,” he replied. “Where do you think you might have lost them?” the helpful passer-by asked. “Back on 40th Street” the now visually impaired man replied. “Why don’t you go and look there?” the passer-by questioned further. Squinting beneath the street light the man stated, “The light’s better here”.
Cash practice physical therapy will work almost everywhere though some locations are better than others. Follow the piles of cash. Several years ago I told the son of one of my cash-paying senior customers that his dad was always worried about how much the [extended “maintenance”] therapy was costing. The son smiled and laughed audibly. When my client’s wife unfortunately died a bit later my client showed me a full 1/2 page tribute to her life and generosity to the University of Iowa printed in their newspaper. In our http://cashpracticesecrets.com home study course I share interviews with PT’s from 13 states running cash practices. The locations were QUITE varied. Not included in the course is the fact that one lady PT started her cash practice in her 5th wheel trailer 55 plus trailer court. By the time I interviewed her she’d moved into her 1.5 car converted garage on horse property and has now expanded it to 1000 sq feet with a going fitness concern and two assistants. Her town is known for having a rodeo, and two(?) stoplights I believe. On the other end of the spectrum PT Phil, who also contributed to http://www.cashpracticesecrets.com runs an all-cash PT and multi-specialty practice overlooking the national cathedral. One of those two locations is an easier place to start a cash PT clinic than the other but having the best instructors will speed your progress.
sitting in his wheelchair. He was still in bed. They are super nice folks but thanks to his wife he gets every second of good out of my therapy for her husband. I give it my best but knew I was late. Striding up to the bed of my seriously ill client, I gave him a smile and before I could say anything he told ME,…. “Happy Birthday!” He got it right! He turns 83 late next week on a day I’m not scheduled to see him. Guess who I’ll call and wish if not sing Happy Birthday for. I’ve already programmed my phone to remind me to call him. He made MY day and I sure hope to make his. I can’t figure it out but the patients that pay directly for therapy really seem to be the most appreciative. In fact that one made me feel like a million dollars!
attended our church sitting about 8 rows behind us to the left and rear. When I greeted him one week I said, “Thank-you, Mr. Harvey, for all your GREAT radio broadcasts.” Still speaking to him but making sure his wife could hear I continued, “I think my wife is just like yours [he called her “Angel”]!” When a state of the art sound and video system was installed in our church it was Angel who had shared very very generously. Of course we sent a thank-you card. Several weeks back we got the news that the Harveys were returning to Chicago and probably wouldn’t be back. Angel’s leukemia was ravaging her frail frame as it had been for a year. We offered special prayers but she succumbed to the disease at 92 years of age. Our pastor and his wife flew to Chicago where he delivered the memorial. It sure was a lot more fun writing the thank-you than the condolence card. 
Daddy “. ” It was one of my little ones! “I called you because I knew your number”! My children are young and of course exceptional in every good way but this was a first for me. They’ve known my number for a long time but this was a first time for one of them to actually dial and speak to daddy without my wife’s having dialed the number. Children have such an eagerness to learn to do new things. 
calling please?”, he asked, “With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”. He was very kind over the phone and made sure to ask, “Is there anything else I can do for you”? After I could think of nothing else he didn’t say, “Thanks for calling, goodbye”. He said something MUCH nicer that made me feel so good I wanted to call again just to hear his and their phone etiquette! To make sure I got it right, I just now called Westgate reservations again. I got a lady operator on the phone and had her go over her ‘good-bye” with me. She says, “On behalf of Westgate Resorts it was an honor and a pleasure speaking with you. Have a great day!”
my glasses. I’m almost blind without them,” he replied. “Where do you think you might have lost them?” the helpful passer-by asked. “Back on 40th Street” the now visually impaired man replied. “Why don’t you go and look there?” the passer-by questioned further. Squinting beneath the street light the man stated, “The light’s better here”. 
