How long does it take to have a successful practice??

[hubby]

Was wondering how long it takes to establish a full time practice. I am concidering full time to be anywhere from 15 to 25 hours per week. I have been in business for just under two years and I am logging in 17 to 23 hours of massage a week on average. I surpassed 15 hours a week back in October of 2005 and kind of hung out there until February. Then BAM!! A little advertising and I am consistantly getting over 17 hours a week.

I know I am doing well... am I about on target with other new therapists? Or am I ahead of the game??

Ladeeda

 

[Pooperdooper]

Hi,

I think you are doing well. In my experience it is quite possible to have a full time practice in 6 months but.... you have to hit the ground running.

At the start you will do more marketing then treatments but it soon swings the other way. As you know 'word of mouth' referrals are particularly appropriate and effective for physical therapy. So having a referral reward scheme in place is crucial.

One word of advice, as you get closer to your full time hours, do not be tempted to reduce your marketing efforts. If you do you will experience weeks when your client numbers suddenly fall away. Much better to continue to market yourself even when you have a full practice. Clients will wait a bit longer for an appointment at a busy practice and equate a busy practice with being an effective therapy practice.

I hope that helps

 

[Jen[Minarets & Sunsets]]

Good idea!! I was concidering taking a break from the marketing I had planned, but decided to go ahead with my marketing schedule. I am going a different route than my traditional ad in the free paper. Trying the same offer through direct mailings to selected neighborhoods. An idea I got from this site.

I havent recieved a call yet, but I have seen a bump in my website traffic. 30 hits yesterday from 200 post cards sent out on Monday. The calls should start coming in soon.

Ladeeda

 

[Nickoooooooooo]

Ladeeda,
I am curious, what marketing straeforum.xxxies are you using? In my opinion, you are a sucess, Congrats!!

 

[Pompal 09.]

Ladeeda,
I am curious, what marketing straeforum.xxxies are you using? In my opinion, you are a sucess, Congrats!!

Thank you for the compliment.

When I started, I never thought I would be where I am right now so quickly.

Some of the things I do are:

I offer new clients a good price for their first visit (I dont do this all the time, just time to time, especially now, but I keep it regular enough)

I send a post card to clients for $$ off when they send me a referal. I do this RIGHT AWAY, I never let it go past a day or two after the referal came in. I HATE punch cards!! Punch cards dont offer immediate gratification. A post card for $$ off is another way for me to keep in contact with my clients.

I regularly mail my clients something, a post card reminding them of a gift giving holiday, a newsletter, or a special offer for friends and family... something!! It keeps me in their mind. I consistantly get calls after I send out a mailing.

I call my clients to remind them of their appointments. Not all of them... probably about 75% of them for sure tho.

I accept credit cards. More and more clients are paying with plastic. It is great for those clients who say, OOPS!! I am out of checks. Do you accept credit cards?? You bet I do!!

I have a website and sell gift certificates on it.

I make my offerings different than everyone else in my area.

90% of the time I ask clients if they would like to rebook. I dont all the time because I have become good enough to know who will rebook and who wont. I really urge clients to schedule standing appointments. I am consistantly getting booked 3 to 4 weeks ahead for late afternoon and evening hours (3pm-7pm,) and 1 to 2 weeks ahead for everything else. That means, on average I am booked full for next week. Two weeks out I am half full for mornings and afternoons and full for evenings. Three weeks out mornings and afternoons have lots of openings and the pickings are slim for late afternoons and evenings. Four weeks out I have a very open schedule in the morning and afternoon and my evenings have quite a few openings. As this week and next week progress four weeks will fill in because these clients will rebook and fill it up.

I offer packages that compete with the day spas in town. Mine are all massage based and less expencive. While my regular clients rarely purchase these packages, I sell alot of them as gift certificates.

I make my business cards work for me!! I put a lot of info on them. My hours, contact info including email and website address, and also that I sell instant gift certificates on line. I leave them all over the place, when I tip at a restaurant, etc... I keep a few in my pocket, you never know when you will need one.

I have become community minded. I found a church I like, and donate freely to various charities and fund raisers.

I patronize local businesses and talk to the owners. Local business owners know it is important to keep local money circulating.

I have an ad in the yellowpages and list my website. It gives potential clients an immediate look at my business. The way my office looks, my rates, and the way I present myself. Potential clients do not have to call and feel pressured about anything.

I get comments all the time about how well I market myself. I LOVE marketing!!

Ladeeda

 

[Pompal 09.]

Hi Ladeeda,
I think the big difference betwen you and others, between success in marketing and disappointment, is in the fact that you really enjoy marketing.

This is what I found myself. Enjoying, if you like, getting a kick out of marketing because it can be so diverse, is the number one motivation for me and was why I was able to gain a full time practice so quickly. Let's face it, if you enjoy doing something, you will want to keep doing it.

I like the fact that you can bring so much creativity to marketing and your last response is evidence of this.

Well done. You really are an inspiration to others and proof that persistent and flexible/adaptive marketing works!

 

[chasmodeee1]

It sounds like you are on or ahead of target.


Two questions that may help others:

I have an ad in the yellowpages and list my website.

• How much per month does your ad cost and roughly how many calls do you get off of it?

• What size town and/or "combinations of towns" (if small) are you in?
  (I think an answer to this question will give people something to jump off of comparison-wise.)

 

[IWonder]

There are 85,000 people in the county I live in.

My yellow pages ad cost me about $25 per month. It has been out for about 6 weeks. I have recieved one call on it and she comes in two or three times a month.

 

[Gazelle]

There are 85,000 people in the county I live in.

Where I am from, counties can be huge... covering some small states!

Mind with some info on the city itself?


For yellow page ads here, last time I checked it was about $200/month.

 

[Zeb]

The county isnt all that large. The two close cities have about 50,000 people in them together.

 

[STEVEN F]

Thanks. It is a great reference for other people who are trying to figure out where they are in the grand scheme of things.

Nice of you to write out all of your marketing efforts for everyone too.