What To Do Say When Your Clinic Is COMPLETELY Booked

Foreign.

What do you say to a caller? Because right now I'm seeing this a lot in Canada and so some Americans is that like just with the COVID restrictions, like there is the volumes, but there's not a lot of appointment slots.

Right.

And so people don't want to wait three weeks for the next appointment.

Right.

So what do you suggest, like that the front desk could say to be able to still book that patient. That when your next slide is in the next three weeks.

Okay. When I saw that initially my big concern was you've got a bigger business issue than front desk, that you got a three week waiting list. So my brain went to are you too cheap? Are you understaffed? All these other bigger issues came to my head when I saw that because I think there's a problem with the business. If that's. Just because you're a three week waiting list doesn't mean you're maximally profitable. Are these people want to see just the owner? Is there a problem with. You don't have a process in place for these people to see other team members? Are they just waiting three weeks to see the main person? So there are, there are bigger issues here, Rick, but I would always, again, what's the person? What's their significant emotional event? What are they calling for? What's the big problem? And then if it is a three week wait, I would be really encouraging the therapist to try and get on the phone to this person before then. I'd be wanting to build a relationship. Look, it's three weeks at the moment, but I'll get my therapist to give you a call and, and they can have a chat about what we can do in the meantime, just to make sure you're okay. So is that a telehealth conversion straight away to someone else? Yeah, and I know there's Covid issues and Lorna, I get your point. Covid restrictions are causing bottlenecks. But that's. Is there a solution to that? Can we do more telehealth? Can we get other people to do a screening, consult, give them some home things before they make it for their initial consultation? I love you.

Just talk about Paul. Because like when I see, like when I see the, like the clinics are killing it. And then like just like most clinics, most clinics are just like, well, yeah, we got three way less.

Right.

But the, but the bigger clinics are taking advantage of this. Like, you know what they're like they're actually opening up slots, meaning like they're opening on seven days a week. They open on The Sundays open on Saturdays open from seven to like, sorry, six to like eight. Two shifts a day, you know, max. Right. And they're still doing telehealth. So I don't think if you run it like in the past where like you blame the bottleneck, you blame like Covid. Like there's other clinics are doing completely opposite. They're actually opening up capacity and it.

Might be a different model. It's time, it's time to recruit. But you know, you see it with specialists. If you have to wait six months to see an orthopedic surgeon, you know that that guy's got limitation on his or girl has got a limitation on their income. There's only so many people they can see that they've got a problem with their model.

Yeah, yeah. Which actually is a next question is that like, you know, like if someone has like, if a caller calls and they're kind of, you sense that they have anxiety about COVID Right. You know, because it's just like a real thing that's happening right now. What would you like, what would you, what would you say in that?

What would you say, Rick, if your grandmother called and she had a back problem and she was also nervous about COVID It's the relationship. It's scary, isn't it Rick? At the moment. But we're doing this at the moment. We've got these things in place. It's the relationship. It's not just Covid that makes people scared to come to a therapist. It's everything about the experience might make them scared. Covid is just, it's just one of the reasons why they might be scared. But we'll think about, think about the risks that someone takes when they come to your practice. Will you be any good? Can you help them? Will you rip them off? Will you pressure them into buying things they don't need? There's all these risks. It's always a risky consultation the first time anyway. Covid is sometimes just, you know, it's just another one of the risks. Another one of the fees. Ally, the fees. Long lost friend. How can you make a long lost friend feel comfortable? That's the role of the admin person. It's no different whether it's Covid or anything else. Rick, it's the same example.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. You know, I think it's a different version of a problem that we've always had in the past. You know, and the core of it is that the front desk haven't been trained to have a Relationship like the grandma or like a lost friend. You know, they treat it like a transaction.

You know, they haven't been trained or they've given too many other things to do that take them away from their key role, filling the appointment book. And if that's the case, then you've got it. You've got a staff management problem. How are you allocating your labor? And you were good at this. You did the call centers. Should someone just be at the back who's just doing the calls? That's all they focus on, other than being disturbed here with this person and this person or taking a payment or it's. What's it costing you? What's it costing you to overload the front desk? That's expensive.

Yeah. And so, you know, I'm putting in my mind about most clinic owners right now, like, have this objection where, like, you know what, Paul? Rick, I know everything you talked about. I need to train my front desk, you know, with phone scripts. I gotta, like, role play with them. But right now, like, with this whole Covid thing, like, and, you know, like, they're overwhelmed. Okay, they're overwhelmed. Someone having mental health, like, issues at home or like, they're just. Like, there's just a lot of stuff going on. Like, there's more cleaning processes. Like, they're overwhelmed. Like, how do I even have the bandwidth to train them right now, you know, when they're just mentally on their. Paul.

Well, what's the alternative? Like, it's pretty. What's the alternative? You don't do anything. Like, you just put up with this at the moment. That's the decision you make. You make the decision any day. As a business owner, I can decide to do something about it or I can decide to just put up with it. Now, if you want to put up with it, then just. That's fair enough. Accept that. But it might take some changes. It might mean increasing staff, increasing prices to cover the increasing staff, changing your diaries. Like, there's changes that will have to happen. Or you just keep it as it is. That's your choice. But there are solutions. You've just got to take some action to do it. Training, allocation of labor. I said to my admin team I was the worst. I think I was the worst boss in the world because I would keep adding things to my admin teams to do list, but that was just my style. I just got them off my desk and onto theirs. But I was very obvious with them and I was very clear. I say, look, if there becomes too many things on this list. Tell me and I'll find someone else. Don't just not do it. But I want you to tell me if there's too many things and I'll find a different way because I'll just keep moving things off my desk onto yours until you tell me. But I wanted. What? I wanted them to tell me if there was too much. That's the deal. Don't keep overloading, expecting that to be a bottomless pit. There's a time where they won't be able to tolerate anymore or they're not doing what you want them to do and it's costing you at the patient service level. Change the business.

Oh my God, I love that. That was so awesome. You know, like you could wait and watch your clinic fall apart or something about it, right? You know, you could wait for the three week, three week wait, three week, three week wait list. Or you could do something to handle that demand because someone else is going to do something about it.

Right?

You know, you could wait to not treat your like, receptionist or your team because you're losing a boatload of like these phone calls. Or you could do something about it now, which might include hiring someone new or like, like or like or adding more hours, you know, but the choice is really up to you.

Owners will say it all the time. I haven't got time for the admin team to spend that long on the phone. But what's it costing you not to have that conversation by not having the manpower or the time for them to develop that relationship? What's that meaning in terms of dropping off of numbers? And it's easy for you and I to sit in our golden chairs and say, this is what you got to do. But if you know your numbers. I know a client, Rick, who's got a full time concierge. It's a meter and greeter. The person is just. That's their job, is to meet the person, greet the person, make the new person feel special. That's their job. They worked out, it's viable for them to do that.

Yeah, I love that.

Paul, people are not coming to your practice to get rid of pain. I'll tell you right now, that's not why they're there. They're there because that's causing something. It's impacting some part of their life. What's the significant emotional event? Find that you've got a client for life.