Spring Clean Your Clinic

Spring is here, and it’s both my favourite and hardest season to get through. Why? Well I adore the weather, but I have allergies to pollen so… you get the idea.

The colder months can be hard for clinics to navigate. Often clientele goes into hibernation, appointment numbers are down and morale can dip. But with the warmth comes new promise and an opportunity to dust away any cobwebs and get the clinic ready for the warm weather and swarm of clients.

Whilst everyone is getting back into the swing of singlets and integrating back into society, there are a couple of things you can focus on to be ready for when those clients walk through your door again.

Set some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your Clinic

Yuck! how corporate does that sound? I admit, it’s not the most joyful thing to work on, but setting up some targets and expectations for how your Clinic should be performing can give you and your team (if you have one) something to actually work towards.

• Do you want to see 25 new clients a month?
• Do you want to increase your revenue by 10% month on month?
• Do you want to reduce the Did Not Arrives (DNAs) and Cancellation rates?

Put some numbers on paper, on a vision board or in a suave program like Cliniq Apps and start tracking it! Use the trends to focus your marketing efforts.

Take Stock of the Admin you’re wasting your time on

Just like stocktake for products, you should also take time to do a stocktake on your efforts. If you’re spending 30 minutes a day raising invoices, and that makes you unhappy, make a note to outsource it to someone.

If you’re constantly returning phone calls because you can’t answer them during client sessions and that drives you bananas because most times, you find out you’ve lost money, then outsource it.

Yes, you could think of it as a cost, but let’s think about the future, and growth and what you can do today to invest in your own happiness and the smooth operation of your clinic.

Review your subscriptions – cancel most of them

A $5 per month subscription here and a $9.99 subscription to that other program can eat away at your profits. I liken these subscriptions to the lucrative deals gyms make. You go in there with the best intentions of making improvements and changes, but you end up living life and soon its 2 years later and you’re scratching your head wondering what is this subscription to ClinicABCs that keeps taking $12.99 from your account every month.

Make your life easier

For the clinics out there still managing their business on paper, I both shake my head and applaud you. You’ve got grit to stick in there and do the work (applauds), but you’re missing out on so many opportunities to make your life easier and spend more time doing what you want to do.

Systems don’t take away your freedom, they help to keep you and your clinic on track. Yes, systems sound scary and they certainly don’t sound like fun BUT getting paid, reducing time on managing your diary and getting beautiful reports that show you how much money you are making IS fun, so take the time to look at your options.

If you’re already using a Practice Management system review the setup.

• Are your templates still current?
• Is your team accurately reflecting the times they are available?
• Is your invoicing up to date?

Don’t make spring cleaning just about the boring stuff like sweeping cobwebs, get creative, get brave and get ready for that client stream.