The Achieve Podcast - Grant Cook (Innovative Injury Solutions)

Welcome to another episode of the Achieve Podcast, the show where we highlight leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs, those who are shaking up their industries, having an impact. And today we're excited to be joined by Grant Cook, the CEO and owner of Innovative Injury Solutions, and you can find them at innovativeinjuriesolutions.com. Now Grant, For those getting to know you, give us the backstory a little bit on how you got into this space and who you're currently serving.

Yeah, thanks, Taylor. So I started, I started in this, in this kind of space in 2016. Prior to that, I was in medical device sales and management, and I kind of had an epiphany one day that I just did not really want to spend the rest of my career working for the large companies, even though at the time it was, it was, I was in a really good situation. So one of my actual customers at the time was a pain physician who was finishing his fellowship and starting his own practice. And, um, we had started kind of working together, um, you know, when I was supporting some of his patients in his practice. And he told me about wanting to start his new practice, and one thing kind of led to another, and I ended up starting the practice with him and, and became his CEO at that time. And since then, we, we have grown kind of two sides of, of his business, but the main business, Innovative Injury Solutions, we have been able to build and grow. And now we are a multi-specialty, very large private practice that focuses on personal injury all over the Valley in Phoenix. Wow.

And how big is the team right now?

We have about 60 employees. We have a full executive management team, including myself. And then we have kind of two layers of a, of a management team underneath us. So yeah, and actually we just continue to grow. It feels like month to month, which is, which has been fun.

I'll bet. Now, what would you say has been the biggest factor in driving growth for you guys right now?

Yeah, great question. You know, I think what I would say is just the need for patients to receive care. You know, I think there, there are a lot of patients that, that are in, you know, whether it's an automobile accident, a slip and fall, um, every day, and those patients need help and they need treatment. And a lot of those patients fortunately find their way to us, and they receive a really complete plan of care through our practice. And I think that the, the word of mouth regarding our practice and the type of care that the patients are getting has spread pretty rapidly throughout the valley, and that's led to more patients for us, which has been great.

That makes sense. Now, what would you say, Grant, looking back, what turning points have had the greatest impact on how you run the organization?

Yeah, I would say two things. The first thing is we have actually done a lot of clinical research specifically on this population of patients in this personal injury space that we treat. And so because of that, we've been able to present that to a lot of the law and legal firms in the Valley, and that has created awareness and the fact that we are able to treat these patients and use this clinical evidence to do so. And while doing that, the second thing I would say is we've been able to add other specialties to our practice, whether it be physical therapy or chiropractic care, traumatic brain injury. We have a neurosurgeon on our staff, an orthopedic spine surgeon. So we're really able to treat these patients really the way that they deserve and need to be treated. Following these accidents.

That makes sense. Now, this next question is kind of a two-part. When it comes to your outreach, your messaging and marketing, besides the word of mouth, what's been working well to get clients and keep them?

We have a full, we have a full marketing team, so we have boots on the ground. I think we have now a total of 3 marketing representatives out kind of pounding the pavement. They've developed relationships with firms in different, different geographical areas in the Valley. So that's one piece of it. And the other piece is we have kind of continued to increase our spend, you know, in Google AdWords campaigns. And we've, we've started to kind of, you know, beef up our digital platform where we're actually in the process of revamping our website. We have invested in a new AI platform that will allow us to become much more efficient, like in our call center side of the business too, which will then allow us to put more money into marketing.

Awesome. Now, when it comes to sales and marketing, where do you feel like there's still opportunity or money on the table?

Well, I think there— the, the patient population that we treat is so large, and I think even though we have grown at a very rapid rate, there is a large percentage of that population that we have not touched. And so I actually think the majority of the opportunity is, is still in the space that, that we are working on. And I think the more and more awareness we can create, whether it be through our website our digital ad campaign or our marketers on the ground. I think continuing to create awareness on what type of care that our practice is providing will then lead to more and more growth and us being able to help more patients.

That makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. Now you talked about AI. Where have you guys, with all the buzz and talk around AI, where have you guys found ways internally to utilize it?

Well, you know, for us, I think the biggest The biggest advantage for us using AR, I mean AI, is to help with, you know, follow-up phone calls, right? Like, so we have a lot of patients that are scheduled for appointments or procedures that we miss, right? We call them, they don't answer, they call us back, it goes to some sort of, you know, answering service. So that's helped us a ton. You know, we now have, you know, quite a few AI bots answering the phone. And the truth is, And I've said this myself, if you call, you wouldn't know that it's AI compared to a human. And it's a big advantage to the patients too, because they're able to receive care a lot faster than they would if we were playing phone tag, right? Or if we were trying to find a time for the two of us to connect. So that's been the biggest advantage with AI for us is just being able to, for us to actually reach more patients, whether it being on the phone or through text message or what have you, both confirming appointments, but then also getting patients scheduled for follow-ups and follow-up visits.

Yeah, like I said, being very valuable, especially after hours and just on busy seasons or busy times.

Yeah.

So where are you guys still exploring it, and where do you still see your team doing things manually that could be automated?

Yeah, so kind of the next step with Austin AI, I think, is going to be somewhat of data entry. Um, and I— and what I mean by that is, you know, we still have a lot of people just that are simply just like inputting data into, you know, EHR systems or tracking systems, that my goal will be to have AI to be able to do that. And so, you know, I think that'll kind of be the next layer of AI that we add to our, to our business. And it's not necessarily to eliminate human jobs. It's more so to allow us to become more efficient so we can grow even, even more rapidly.

That makes sense. And then there's an element there you talked— you touched on there, the human element you can't replace. Yeah, you're going to need humans, but to give them the staffing support they need, the tools, they can do so much more.

Yeah, I think it's a balance with AI, right? I mean, and I think that we're trying to find that balance too. I think it's necessary and I think that it needs to be embraced. But I also don't think it's, it's an end-all be-all for our business or really any others, especially businesses where you're in the service industry like we are.

Yeah. Now, Grant, if you had to pick one constraint to focus on and solve over the next 90 days that would have the greatest impact for the trajectory of the business, what would it be?

Manpower.

Okay.

Yeah, I think that we are limited in growth at times by, you know, just manpower, finding additional employees to open new clinics. You know, it's hard to find providers, good providers, right? So, you know, we've probably added about 3 or 4 providers over the last year, and it took us a while to find those people. And so I think that's the one thing, really the biggest limiting factor right now for us in growing even more rapidly than we are now, is finding the right people.

Gotcha. And as far as people you're looking for, is it the clinic providers or like everybody in the whole lineup?

Yeah, every kind of everybody in the whole lineup, you know, from from front desk representatives to referral coordinators to medical assistants to physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, you know, and then we have, you know, quite a few nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, physicians, chiropractors. So it's really everyone. I mean, you know, these clinics really require a little bit of everything, and, you know, most of the clinics have, you know, 80% of those positions I just mentioned. And so, you know, we'll continue to have to build those clinics with the right team, which is not easy to do.

So yeah, you guys branching out, out of the Valley into other places?

We have started to branch out. Yeah, we expanded to Tucson, you know, last fall. That was kind of a big deal for us, even though it's only a couple hours away. I think, I think our probably next targets will be either Colorado or Utah or both. We kind of like this Southwest pocket we're in. I think it's reasonable and realistic that we can grow in this pocket. I think to expand outside of that is probably still a little bit, a little bit of a ways off of where we are now, out of where we are now. But that's kind of our— those are kind of our next goals.

That makes sense. I can see that. And yeah, my wife's going to school right now, become a nurse. And so it's interesting to see what's going on in that space.

There's a huge need for nurses, you know, and I— we, we have, we have procedure suites and surgery centers as part of our business. And, you know, You know, when you ask like one of the— what's one of the hardest and most important positions to fill? It's a good nurse, honestly. And so it's smart for her to be doing that because there's a big need for that.

Yeah. And so I got some daughters looking at the option as well. And so if you look back at your journey, Grant, over the wins, the mistakes, what lessons stand out to you? And what do you feel like which ones took longer to learn than they should have?

Yeah, I think one is actually really simple. Uh, try to listen more than you speak. Um, you know, I think whether you're having a tough conversation with an employee or you're interviewing a new provider, I think the more, the more you listen, the more you learn, and the more you really learn about a person. And, and more than that, the situation that this person is in, which usually leads to more learning. So I would think, I think that's one of the That's one of the most important things I've learned. The other most important thing is you can't grow too quickly because when you do, it affects other parts of the business and it actually causes you, at least in my experience, to sometimes take a step back or two. I think you need to grow strategically, and I think that the more proactive you can be in preparing to grow, the better. And so what I mean by that is, you know, if, if you feel like you're going to want to open a location in the next 3 months, start recruiting now, start planning the budget now, really, really be specific about what the plan is and, and kind of work backwards, you know, once you have that figured out. Because I've made that mistake. We've, we've grown too quickly at times, and then we had to kind of retract certain things. So growth is great, but it's also challenging, and it requires a lot of work and a lot of planning. And a lot of responsibility.

Yeah, and you need good leadership to pass that responsibility on to.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

The relationships that you have to develop so you can trust them with that. And so, yeah, so last question for you then.

When you—

if you were to look at the business, the next stages, what are you most excited about?

Um, helping more patients, without a doubt. Yeah, um, I just— I think about how many people we help every week, and to be able to help more people That's what gets me excited. You know, I think the, the revenue is a kind of a secondary, you know, great piece of this business. But I think the most important thing is, is treating, treating people. And, and, you know, we, we, when we treat people and we have good results, it creates a really good staff morale too. And so I think there's an indirect, really positive impact on our team the more patients that we're able to help and service.

That makes sense. And do you guys, out of curiosity, do you guys do much with like emergency stuff, or is it just more referral, booked it out lined up?

Yeah, we, we are not, you know, I wouldn't call us like an emergency service or practice. What I will say is we do have patients at times that have a very acute extreme need, and so we, we are able to really treat those patients quickly and get them in same day or next day, um, and at least triage them to, to see what is exactly needed, you know, get them imaging, look at the imaging, you know, typically same day or next day, and then and, you know, create some sort of treatment algorithm for that specific patient based on that need. So yeah, even though we're not technically an emergency clinic, we can treat people pretty quickly where needed.

That's awesome. Well, Grant, thank you for coming on and sharing your story and the insight and the lessons you've learned. Any final thoughts or advice for our listeners and others on a similar journey?

Yeah, thanks a lot for having me. I would just say, you know, I mean, it sounds, it sounds People probably heard this a ton, but follow your dreams, right? If you want to do something different, do it. It requires some risk, but that risk is really worth the reward in the end. And that's kind of been the case for me. I took quite a bit of risk when I left those large company roles in medical device, but the reward has been something that I never could have imagined and I never would have felt if I wouldn't have done it. So that would be my big takeaway from the call.

Awesome. And based on everything you've said, your big— the biggest thing is manpower. So for those who want to reach out, who want to get involved, want to learn more, they can find LinkedIn. They also go to the website innovateinjury.com. Anywhere else you want to send them?

No, I think that's, that's a great starting point. Yeah. And, and feel free to, to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn or message me. And, um, you know, if we can find a fit for you in our organization, we will. Whether you're a patient or a potential new team member for us.

Okay, well, thank you so much again. Reach out if you have any problems, like get on the schedule, go see how they can help you out. And thank you to our sponsors of today's episode, Achieve Fractional, which provides fractional executive leadership for growing businesses. And like Grant said, if you have a dream, reach out, get going on it, just take the action. Like, the reward is worth the risk. So again, Grant, thank you for joining us, and we'll see you all in the next episode of the Chief Podcast.