13 Oct How I Lost $10,000+ To Competition
Today I am going to share with you how I lost tens of thousands of dollars and gave a ton of patients to my competitors – Don’t make these mistakes
When I first started my practice, everyone I spoke to from other therapists, mentors and friends said the hardest part is getting new patients and I needed to brand and market myself in order to not burn out and be successful.
I heeded this advice and made it my mission to become a master marketer (still my goal and working on this 12 years later…) I consumed every book I could get my hands on from theory to practical applications.
I stumbled upon a book by a marketer Dan Kennedy which discusses direct response marketing. I didn’t know at the time of how much an impact direct response & Dan would be to my career but I knew the information was simple and seemed impactful.
I started incorporating direct response into my blogs, postcards, business cards and really anything about my practice and customer-facing.
What started to happen?
Well, I got direct responses to book appointments and within about 30 days I was fully booked with a waiting list!
Sounds good right?
I thought so at first.
Then two major issues came up that caused me stress, cost me money and made me look bad to my patients and prospects.
First,
I didn’t filter any of the prospects so I ended up getting a mixture of people with a variety of backgrounds, injuries and goals.
While we as practitioners are trained medically to accommodate all issues in our scope of practice, there are issues I didn’t have much experience with or I really didn’t enjoy doing both meaning the patient would be better working with someone who is specialized in their issue.
What happened?
Some patients didn’t get the best results and some got results but I disliked the process and became less passionate about what I was doing.
Second,
I didn’t have a system in place to handle the new inquiries, rebookings or simply following up because I was so busy with treating the current patient roster I created.
What started to happen was the marketing was bringing me prospects but I was unable to even pick up the phone to book them in so those prospects booked elsewhere, on my marketing spend!
With my patients, I dropped the ball by not following up with how their treatment was and to get them rebooked (often I didn’t rebook because I was back to back) so the same thing started to happen because either I couldn’t get them in for 2 weeks or I didn’t give them the opportunities.
Again loss of patients!
Luckily I learned a strategy by Jay Abraham to reactivate past patients and prospects back to your health practice but this was a few months later after losing out on tons of patients and income.
So as you can see above, a narrow focus might solve one problem but can create a wave of bigger problems in other areas.
I didn’t need new patients, I needed the RIGHT new patients and the RIGHT systems to accommodate them.
Your ability to identify where you are and your singular focus is absolutely imperative for your success at any phase of your health practice.
Your ability to identify where you are and your singular focus is absolutely imperative for your success at any phase of your health practice.
I have invested tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours refining the phases and building a framework that encompasses the RIGHT system, structure and strategies at the RIGHT time which has allowed me to grow 7 figure business and empower my clients to do the same.
It is absolutely crucial to focus on the right RIGHT system, structure and strategies at the RIGHT time and with the changes in the world currently, you’ll need this more than ever in order to adapt and grow.
If you need help getting the right strategy to get you out of your plateau, or grow to the next level comment below and let’s chat 
Posted on 13th Oct 2020
in Marketing
