Category: Blog

Patient retention is crucial in healthcare. When patients consistently return, it builds trust and improves health outcomes. High retention lets providers deeply understand patient history, leading to personalized, preventive care, and ultimately, a healthier community and a more stable healthcare environment.

At Perform Practice Solutions, we help healthcare providers implement proven strategies to boost patient retention and streamline operations. From front-desk workflows to targeted communication and reputation management, our tools are designed to keep your patients engaged and loyal. Let’s work together to build a stronger, more consistent practice—schedule a consultation today.

Developing a robust set of patient retention strategies allows you to scale your business and reach profit milestones quicker. Knowing how to get more patients is an essential step. However, it’s equally important – if not more so – to find effective ways to keep patients returning to your practice rather than choosing a competitor for their healthcare needs.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the importance of patient retention in healthcare and provide you with 13 great patient retention ideas that you can use in your practice.

What is patient retention? 

As a metric, patient retention is typically expressed as the total percentage of people who return to your practice multiple times. Typically, 60-70% of patients stay with their current practitioners. You can use this percentage as a benchmark for your own patient retention.

As a physician, your overall goal is to heal people rather than keep them coming back. However, most patients will need assistance with various injuries and ailments over their lifetime, and many physicians work in fields that involve multiple treatments or conditions that require regular monitoring, evaluation, and follow-up. Proper physician retention strategies ensure these patients stay with your practice throughout their healthcare journey.

Why is patient retention in healthcare important? 

Developing strategies for patient retention is essential because research shows it costs 90% less to retain current patients² than it does to attract new ones. Plus, with long-term patients, the trust you accumulate over time usually translates into a higher spend per visit compared to first-time patients. Cost is a significant factor for all healthcare providers in today’s competitive environment because practices and hospitals are under increasing pressure to cut costs³, which reduces profit margins.

Financial considerations aside, retention strategies in healthcare can also boost your brand image and professional reputation and bring in more new patients through word-of-mouth referrals. Modern-day patients conduct considerable research before selecting or switching their primary healthcare provider. Google receives over 1 billion health-related searches per day, and review sites like Yelp, ZocDocs, and Web MD empower patients with a wealth of information. So developing healthcare retention strategies that ensure a steady stream of positive online information about you and your practice is vital.

12 patient retention strategies

So, how to get patients to return to your practice? If you’re unsure where to start, this list of top patient retention ideas will help. You don’t necessarily need to use all of them, but it’s a good idea to utilize as many strategies as possible to ensure maximum retention.

1. Train your front desk staff

Your front-of-house staff is often the first human touchpoint for your patients. To keep them coming back for the care they need, your front desk staff needs regular training so they can provide a warm welcome, ample reassurance, and be able to answer patient questions thoroughly. Key topics for training should include customer service, complaint resolution, and product and pricing knowledge.

2. Streamline appointments and scheduling

According to our recent survey, 14% of physicians think making it easy for patients to book appointments is a key patient retention strategy. Doing so ensures patients can seamlessly schedule the visits they need. Making sure your website is fully functional on desktop and mobile is essential. You should also consider investing in scheduling software that allows you to send:

• Welcome emails
• Appointment reminders via email or text
• Information about which insurance policies are accepted, and the documents patients should bring to their appointments, etc.

This shows your patients that you are professional, organized, and up-to-date with the newest medical practice technology, making it more likely they will return to your practice.

3. Create a positive first impression

Dissatisfied customers tell twice as many people about a negative experience as they do about a positive one. So your patient retention strategies should include providing extra touches that make patients feel at ease from their first visit and comfortable about returning in the future. Examples include:

• Providing a welcome drink.
• Offering a practice orientation.
• Make your waiting room as relaxing as possible by incorporating comfortable seating and tasteful artwork.
• Providing free Wi-Fi and phone charging facilities.
• Making exam rooms light, airy, and welcoming
• Providing on-site parking.

4. Reduce wait times

Having patients wait for their appointment is unavoidable, but minimizing wait times goes a long way to reduce anxiety and maximize retention. In fact, 36% of physicians believe reducing patient wait times is one of the most effective retention strategies.

But, what if reducing wait times proves difficult? Research shows that 80% of patients would be less frustrated if they knew how long their wait would be. So, even in situations where patient wait time is longer than ideal, you should consider using digital signage with updates on queue status. This has been proven to reduce perceived wait times by up to 35%. If patients feel their wait time is minimal, they’ll be more likely to come back to your practice next time they need medical help rather than risk waiting longer at a competitor’s office.

5. Personalize patient experiences

Patients want to be seen as individuals, not as an extension of their medical needs. With 44% of physicians noting that a higher level of personalization is key to patient retention, creating experiences that recognize patients as people is essential. Once you’ve invested in the relevant software that allows you to automate and streamline your appointment and scheduling processes, 24% of physicians believe that making a point of personalizing your welcome emails is a top way to improve communication with patients. 30% of survey respondents believe the same is true of personalized appointment reminders. If possible, provide patients with access to an online customer portal where they can view all of their account information. Consider sending out birthday greetings by email or text.

You can also personalize your patients’ in-person visits. Take the time to get to know them on an individual level by asking questions about their lives and memorizing key pieces of information. Always provide a thorough explanation of what you are doing and why, pay close attention to patient needs and questions, and avoid side conversations so they know they have your full focus.

6. Make payments easy

Paying medical bills can be stressful – especially when treatment is urgent or unexpected. Make it clear how payments should be made, and provide full details on how patients can pay using various methods such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs). If patients are confused about what’s covered under their insurance or how to pay, make sure your staff is familiar with how to check policies and provide the relevant advice. To maximize retention, consider offering monthly payment options so people aren’t tempted to put off their healthcare needs due to financial concerns. Currently, only 56% of our survey respondents noted their practice offers payment options to patients. Clearly, this strategy has room for growth.

7. Ask for feedback

Asking for patient feedback is one of the best patient retention strategies because giving customers a voice shows you genuinely care about their opinions and experiences. Though the feedback requests you send out can take many forms, questionnaires like net promoter score  (NPS) surveys work well for businesses in the medical sector because they allow you to identify indifferent and unhappy patients that may be at risk of leaving your practice in favor of a competitor. By proactively reaching out before these customers ditch your services or leave a negative review, you can resolve their issues and turn them into loyal return customers. NPS surveys also identify happy patients you can reach out to, knowing referrals and positive reviews will be guaranteed.

8. Improve your website

You might not think your website is relevant to physician retention strategies, as you probably assume that repeat patients wouldn’t need to visit your website after their initial visit. However, it’s unlikely they’ll have your contact details and business information saved after just one consultation. So they’ll likely revisit your website to check your phone number, email address, or hours of operation, etc. Ensure your website is warm, welcoming, and easy to navigate. Where possible, include all of the essential information above the fold (the section showing on the screen when the site first loads) to avoid frustration that could cause website visitors to click away from your site in favor of a competitor website that is more visually appealing or easier to use.

9. Make Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improvements

Because your patients might not remember your website URL, it’s essential they can find your website and business details easily online. To improve your Google rankings and ensure your practice details show up ahead of your competitors, it’s prudent to:

• Have an up-to-date Google Business and Bing listing.
• Update your web copy to include more keywords and improve metadata and alt tags, etc.
• Capitalize on local SEO by including location-based longtail keywords (ex. Chicago IL pediatrician)

10. Respond to reviews

In a Sermo survey, 27% of physicians admitted that they never reply to reviews, and an additional 22% admitted they rarely respond. However, if you want patients to return to you, responding to every review is essential, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Our best practices for review responses include:

• Personalize your responses instead of ‘cut and pasting’ generic replies.
• Never include information that could violate privacy laws.
• Consult your legal department for advice if you’re ever worried about violating HIPPA by responding to a review.

11. Offer incentives

Patients who feel like they are getting something for free are much more likely to be loyal. Offering an incentive to reward patients for their repeat custom is a tried and tested way of getting people to return to your practice. Survey respondents view the following incentives as most important (listed in order):

• A complimentary annual check up
• Cash or percentage discounts
• Exclusive access to healthcare information and advice through your patient portal
• A free trial of one of your products or services

12. Build professional networks

Joining an international professional network provides you with easy access to the global medical community, where you can have discussions with like-minded professionals and seek advice from tenured physicians who have already succeeded in growing their practice by utilizing effective healthcare retention strategies. Sermo’s dedicated physician platform gives you access to more than 1 million verified physicians across 150 countries, many of whom may be able to help with your patient retention strategies.

Retain more patients with Sermo

Boost your professional physician networking efforts and tap into more patient retention ideas by signing up for your Sermo account.

Built by physicians, for physicians, our platform fosters impactful peer-to-peer collaboration and discussions about issues that are important to you and your patients. So you can provide a better overall service, boost your professional reputation, and increase your patient retention simultaneously. Plus, you can showcase your expertise and experience by solving cases and participating in medical studies and surveys – all of which will propel your patient acquisition and retention efforts forward.

Long-term patient relationships don’t just happen—they’re built through intentional strategy and consistent care. With Perform Practice Solutions by your side, you’ll gain the tools, systems, and support needed to turn first-time visits into lasting loyalty. Reach out today and discover how we can help your practice grow through smarter patient retention. Our expert consultants can help you implement strategies to improve patient retention and revenue.  Schedule your free consultation with Kevin Rausch to get all your questions answered. Book here.

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Reference: [https://www.sermo.com/resources/patient-retention-strategies/]

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Opening a medical practice involves significant costs beyond medical knowledge. Sufficient initial capital is also vital for sustainability. Understanding these financial aspects is key to planning and securing funding for your practice. Read on to explore the main costs of starting a medical practice.

At Perform Practice Solutions we can help guide you in dozens of ways. We have seen all your challenges before!

Perform Healthcare Billing Solutions is just one example of ways we can save you money — and your precious time. We created Perform Healthcare Billing Solutions because we saw so many of our practice clients getting burned by either their in-house biller or worse: their medical billing agency. You work so hard treating patients and running your practice, count on us to get you paid and fast. Our team of expert healthcare billing experts works around the clock to maximize your claims, get solid info from your front desk, and bill daily! We average a 3-week bill to paid time! Let us show you just how fast you can get paid — and how we can save you your hard-earned money. This is just one of our many supportive services. Book with us and let’s talk!

Starting a medical practice from scratch can be exciting, but to invest in a practice that has healthy cash flow and can scale and grow, you need to identify and plan for your medical practice start-up costs – so you can avoid as many surprises as possible.

There are many costs to consider when starting your own medical practice, and it might seem overwhelming at first, trying to plan for every contingency. Even if you know what costs you will be facing, it can be difficult to know how much all the costs will really be once you start implementing your business plan.

Medical Director’s new guide,  ‘Calculating the cost of starting your medical practice’ offers a range of practical tips to help give you a clearer picture of what common costs you need to factor into your financial plan when starting out.

Through conversations with leading healthcare and financial experts, the guide offers tested and instantly practical advice about how to:

• Budget for expenses when starting out
• Cut costs with cloud software
• Calculate your set-up costs
• Manage your finances
• Finance your new practice.

Common medical practice start-up costs

You’ll get the full picture in the guide, but here’s a snapshot of some of the costs you need to consider if you’re thinking about starting a medical practice:

1. Business plan development
2. Preliminary accounting and legal advice to help you set up your new business entity
3. Insurances and licenses, including medical malpractice insurance, workers compensation insurance and property insurance.
4. Tenancy/lease bond agreements and property advice
5. Design and fitout
6. Telephone/internet installation
7. Statutory requirements and legal advice
8. Power connection
9. IT infrastructure plan
10. EFTPOS infrastructure
11. Medical equipment/materials/machinery, office space, basic office equipment, fixtures and fittings
12. Medical supplies and consumables
13. Software, including practice management system
14. Staff recruitment costs, training costs and wages
15. Market research, marketing material, signage, and a marketing plan.

Medical Director CEO Matthew Bardsley explains the importance of a sound financial plan for any successful medical practice. “A future-thinking, smart financial plan for any medical practice needs to start with the premise that every dollar spent in healthcare needs to contribute to the most efficient and effective way of providing ideal levels of patient care,” says Bardsley.

“Investing in the smartest, most innovative clinical practice management methods from the start will help empower your practice to scale and achieve a competitive advantage, while adapting to the needs of your patients now, and in the future.”

Factor in one-time expenses versus ongoing costs

As you develop your financial plan, be sure to identify which costs will be one-off, and which will recur monthly, quarterly and annually. This forecasting will help you manage and set up your budget realistically, and better organize your cash flow from the outset. It’s important to operate this way from the very beginning, so you don’t get caught out in the future.

No one-size-fits-all financial plan

Your exact start-up costs will depend on the type of medical practice you are starting, and the region in which you are operating. Costs in the different categories can also vary across industries and regions. For example, a specialist practice may need to invest in specialist clinical management software, while a larger general practice would need to invest in a larger IT package tailored to a bigger team of medical professionals and support staff.

Setting realistic expectations

It’s better to err on the side of caution, overestimating both the time and money it takes to start a medical practice. Some experts recommend adding at least 10% on top of your total costs to cover any miscellaneous expenses or unforeseen fees and charges.

Meanwhile, how long it takes for your private practice to open its doors to generate revenue can make a huge impact on your cash flow and costs. Don’t set unrealistic expectations and never rush. If you get the timing wrong, costs, fees, charges and even penalties can escalate quickly – and you can find yourself under pressure to comply without enough of an income stream. This could have a significant impact on not only your practice as a business, but your professional reputation in the industry.

Where to begin?

Do as much research as possible to get a clearer picture of your budget requirements and set expectations of your costs versus cash flow when starting out. There’s plenty of great advice at your fingertips.

• Industry associations, like the RACGP, offer valuable advice for practitioners ready to start their own medical practices.
• Industry solution providers, like Medical Director, can offer support and advice on IT infrastructure costs for software that will scale and grow with your medical practice.
• Government bodies often offer tax and other incentives to help you when you set up your own business.
• Financial institutions can offer tailored financial advice and guidance as to how best to structure any loans.
• Tax and legal advisors can help you make sure you’re complying with all relevant legislation.
• Our free guide can step you through all the calculations involved in starting a medical practice.

A final word from Bardsley. “Investing in the right efficient and scalable tools and systems when setting up your practice, will help pave the way for you to grow your reputation as a leader in your industry, while balancing your work and lifestyle in a way that suits you and your family best. I wish you the best of luck in setting up your new medical practice, and helping more Australians find better patient-centric care.”

Dreaming of focusing solely on patient care in your practice? Our expert consultants can help you implement strategies to improve efficiency, patient satisfaction, and revenue. Let us handle your medical and dental billing. Schedule your free consultation with Kevin Rausch to get all your questions answered. Book here today. Follow us on IG.

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Reference: [https://www.medicaldirector.com/news/starting-a-practice/new-guide-calculating-the-cost-of-starting-your-medical-practice/]

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Developing a business plan is a standard practice for any medical venture. This structured document serves as a framework for outlining objectives, analyzing the local healthcare market, and projecting financial considerations. To gain a more detailed understanding of the key components of creating a business plan relevant to medical practice, continue reading below.

Perform Practice Solutions is the secret weapon for successful practices all over the U.S. We simplify the most challenging and resource-draining aspects of managing a healthcare organization, including industry-specific marketing, billing, sales consulting, virtual staffing, front desk support — and more.  We can help you run your business with more efficiency and less stress. Let’s talk.

 

If you’re planning to start your own practice, or you’re taking over someone else’s medical business and want to run it effectively, it’s a good idea to spend some time working out the details and putting together a formalised plan first. You may also want to get professional advice on your business planning, and any other aspects of running your medical practice you’re not sure about. In the meantime here are a few business planning basics to get you started.

Why have a business plan for your medical practice?

While it can be tempting to just dive right in and start setting up your new medical practice, a business plan can help you get prepared and make sure you stay on the right track as your practice grows.

A solid business plan is the foundation of any successful medical practice. With a business plan you can identify potential issues upfront and devise a strategy to avoid them. You can also set realistic goals for your business to help you keep moving in the right direction. If you’re looking for funding at any stage, you’ll also need to have a business plan. Most medical practices will struggle to get a business loan without a solid business plan in place.

What to include in your medical practice business plan

Your business plan should include the following:

• A summary of your business, including the medical services you provide, your location, and the history of the business.
• Financial information including projected cash flow, outgoings like medical equipment, marketing and practice management software costs and projected turnover.
• Operational factors like trading hours, fees, staffing and potential suppliers
• Risk identification and management – details of how you will manage the biggest potential risks, e.g. malpractice insurance, other insurances, data security and your credentialing process.
• Marketing – how you will get new patients and retain the existing ones.

As well as all the information about your medical practice and strategy, it’s also important to set goals and targets for your new venture. These should be in your business plan so you can keep track of them and make sure you’re working towards them consistently.

Making sure you have a solid business plan

So how do you make sure your medical practice business plan is solid? It’s very easy to have your plan in your head, but if you don’t get it out, it’s going to be hard for anyone else, especially the other providers and support staff in your practice to implement it. So the first step is to put it down on paper, or in a word document.

Once you’ve got a detailed plan on paper, don’t just put it in a drawer and leave it. Business planning should be a regular task for you and your business partners. Once you have your business plan in place, make sure you review it at least once a year, preferably more and update it as your business priorities change.

Writing a business plan for your medical practice might seem like a time consuming task, but it’s well worth the effort. With a strong business plan, you can grow your practice, achieve your goals and avoid many of the pitfalls that can trip up practice owners who haven’t taken the time to plan ahead.

Focus on patient care, we’ll guide you through the business side. Our expert consultants can help you implement strategies to improve efficiency, patient satisfaction, and revenue. Let us handle your medical and dental billing, virtual staffing, and even marketing. We’ve seen your challenges many times and have 101 tools to support you. Schedule your free consultation with Kevin Rausch to get all your questions answered. Book here.

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Reference: [https://www.medicaldirector.com/news/starting-a-practice/how-to-write-a-business-plan-for-medical-practice/]

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Cycle billing is a financial strategy that can provide both individuals and businesses with greater control and flexibility when managing their monthly expenses. This billing method, while not as commonly known as traditional billing cycles, offers unique advantages that can help you streamline your finances, avoid payment bottlenecks, and reduce the stress associated with managing bills. Here, we explain how it works, its potential benefits, and how you can make the most of this approach to financial management. Questions on billing? We are experts — and have solutions that will save you money — and make you some too!

What Is Cycle Billing?

Cycle billing is the practice of invoicing different customers based on a schedule rather than billing all accounts at once on a single date. Statements are prepared and sent out at varying intervals, spreading out the company’s workload and making it easier for it to keep track of who has been billed.

How Cycle Billing Works

Cycle billing is an invoicing strategy that involves billing a designated percentage of customers each day, as opposed to billing them all together, perhaps at the end of the month.

Companies that apply this technique may do so in a number of different ways. Methods include sending out invoices for the largest amounts outstanding on the first of each month, followed by the smaller billing amount on the second of every month or later. Customers may also be billed based on alphabetical order, the day of the month the account was opened, or the date the customer chose to be billed when establishing an account.

The date at which the cycle begins may depend on the type of service being offered and the customer’s needs. For example, a cable TV provider could opt to set a customer’s billing cycle to align with when that customer began service.

Cycle billing varies from the common practice of issuing all invoices on the same date. Single-date billing is typically used by businesses that have a common due date for services or rent. For example, an apartment complex may send a bill for rent on the first of every month, regardless of when tenants signed their individual leases.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cycle Billing

Cycle billing enables the supplier to flatten the volume of billing work to be completed on any given day, develop a customized schedule, and more easily track which customers have and have not yet been billed. Adopting this particular model may result in decreased selling, general, and administrative expense (SG&A) costs since tracking the number of outgoing invoices becomes simplified and less prone to error.

On the flip side, the cycle billing technique may have a negative impact on cash flows as some invoices might be delayed several days from when they would normally be issued. In addition, a smaller vendor that struggles to keep track of invoices and money owed may find itself overwhelmed by having to keep up with different statements corresponding to different days.

Special Considerations

Businesses using cycle billing may establish different lengths of billing cycles. Vendors might shorten or lengthen the period of time between billings to manage cash flows or to adjust to a change in the creditworthiness of a customer.

For example, a wholesaler to a supermarket chain may need to accelerate receipt of cash flows because the company it leases delivery trucks from has tightened its billing cycle. Another example is a situation where a consumer electronic goods wholesaler has a late-paying retail chain customer. Because this account is riskier, the wholesaler could decide to reduce the billing cycle from four weeks to three weeks.

A billing cycle can also extend past a month, such as with a large corporate customer requesting a 45-day billing cycle for certain services. If the creditworthiness of this customer is sound, the vendor may agree to the longer cycle.

Simplify your billing process and improve your financial management with Perform Practice Solutions. We are dedicated to selling efficient physical therapy billing solutions and helping clinic owners achieve their goals. Give us a call at (833) 764-0178 and visit our IG @performpracticesolutions.

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Reference: [https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cycle-billing.asp]

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A strong online presence is vital for the success of any business, including physical therapy clinics. Here we highlight the importance of cultivating a robust digital footprint with some key insights on how to thrive in the digital landscape. Remember — we have a complete marketing arm that can either consult with you to share best practices and give you some pointers, or you can use our full services to ensure every facet is managed, with excellence. It’s really worth a call! 

In today’s digital age, it’s becoming increasingly common for individuals and businesses to conduct due diligence on each other before entering into a relationship or making a significant decision. Due diligence involves conducting research and analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the person or entity you’re dealing with. And with so much of our lives taking place online, it’s no surprise that a significant part of this research involves examining an individual or business’s online presence.

Your online presence encompasses all the digital footprints you leave behind, from your social media profiles to your website, online reviews and more. It can reveal a lot about your personal and professional life, your values and your behavior. With the increasing importance of online presence, it is vital for businesses to focus on digital PR to build trust, credibility and visibility.

How Online Presence Affects Due Diligence And How Digital PR Can Help

The primary purpose of due diligence is to identify potential risks and uncover any relevant information that may affect the decision-making process. This can include financial, legal, regulatory and reputational risks, among others. By conducting due diligence, organizations can make informed decisions based on accurate and reliable information.

Reputation Management

One of the key aspects of due diligence is to ensure that the business or individual has a good reputation. Online presence, including digital PR, can help to establish a positive reputation and build trust with potential investors, customers or partners by distributing unbiased stories on authoritative news and industry sites, which can help build social proof and authenticity. Conversely, negative information about a business or individual online can significantly impact due diligence, leading to distrust and potential investment or partnership withdrawal.

In my practice, there was a case where we integrated with a European-based payment system. They were genuinely interested in gathering information about our company. Subsequently, an article documenting my meeting with the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, provided valuable support in establishing a positive reputation.

Financial Viability

Financial institutions and investors often conduct due diligence on a business to assess its financial viability. A strong online presence, including a well-designed website, active social media profiles and positive media coverage, can indicate financial stability and a promising business. It can also make it easier for compliance teams from financial institutions to find out more about your business online. This is particularly important for small businesses that may be seeking funding or investment, for example.

A professionally designed and well-maintained website can indicate that a company is dedicated to investing in its online presence, which can suggest financial stability. Furthermore, the content featured on a website plays a crucial role in providing indicators of a business’s stability and growth.

Case studies can serve as valuable tools for assessing the financial viability of a business. By examining real-life examples of a company’s past projects or client engagements, case studies offer insights into its financial performance, success factors, and the impact of its services or products. Not every client I’ve worked with is willing to go public. However, if they are open to it, I always strive to formalize the outcomes of our collaboration in a case study. When you publicly showcase that you have successfully collaborated with large and medium-sized companies (which my company has done and seen success in), it further reinforces your credibility and trustworthiness.

While not directly financial in nature, online reviews and ratings can provide indications of customer satisfaction, which can have an impact on a business’s financial performance. For example, we display all the badges that we received from G2 and Trustpilot on our service pages.

To assess a company’s financial viability, it’s important to look beyond its website. News articles, press releases and industry reports can offer valuable insights into a company’s financial performance, funding rounds, partnerships and other critical financial details, all of which contribute to the overall picture.

This information plays a crucial role in helping potential investors develop a comprehensive understanding of the company’s financial standing. As an illustration, my company consistently publishes press releases highlighting notable achievements, including when we participated in the Native Advertising DAYS event and expanded into the Middle East.

Industry Standing

A business with a positive online presence can help you be seen as a thought leader and an authority in its industry. Digital PR campaigns can help to create a brand identity and position your brand positively in front of your target audience by showcasing your brand’s unique selling points, which can help increase brand loyalty.

Having an active social media presence means consistently engaging with your target audience, sharing valuable content and fostering positive coverage. For example, my company has successfully achieved this through webinars with industry experts, which are hosted on platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn. These webinars provide an opportunity to showcase thought leadership, engage with the audience and generate positive coverage.

Conclusion

Having a strong online presence can also help small businesses to open up new revenue streams. By making it easier for customers to find your business online, you can increase your customer base and ultimately drive sales. This can help to generate more revenue, which can be reinvested into your business to drive growth.

A well-crafted digital PR strategy that includes sponsored content and press releases can help organizations to increase their online presence and ultimately drive business success.

Elevate your PT clinic’s online presence with Perform Practice Solutions. We are dedicated to creating efficient physical therapy marketing solutions and helping clinic owners achieve their goals. Give us a call at (833) 764-0178 and visit our IG @performpracticesolutions.

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Reference: [https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/06/12/online-presence-and-due-diligence-why-your-digital-footprint-matters/?sh=33efbdb8184f]

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Running a PT clinic is a challenging task that requires a great deal of skill, dedication, and hard work. It is easy to fall into the trap of perfectionism, striving for flawlessness in every aspect of your business. While striving for excellence is admirable, it can also be a double-edged sword that can hold you back from reaching your full potential. 

“Perfectionism is a symptom of something,” Thomas Greenspon PhD, an expert on the topic and a recovering perfectionist himself, told me. “It’s not the disease.”

At its core, perfectionism is about anxiety — you’re afraid of failing or afraid that making a mistake means that there’s something wrong with you. “Perfectionism is more than pushing yourself to do your best to achieve a goal; it’s a reflection of an inner self mired in anxiety,” he adds.

According to Greenspon, the most highly successful people are actually less likely to be perfectionistic, because perfectionism can leave you overwhelmed by doubt and indecision and make it difficult to bring any task to a conclusion.

So what’s driving your perfectionism? Is it about proving your worth to others? Is it about avoiding feelings of shame or judgment? While you may think you’re trying to impress a boss who seems judgmental, oftentimes we’re proving ourselves to our parents — who may or may not still be present in our lives — or to an internalized critic we’ve learned to hear above all others.

Like a lot of anxiety, perfectionism can become a comfortable habit. If we’ve been leaning into it since childhood, maintaining the self-talk that powers our perfectionism feels like a superstition or an indispensable ritual. As entrepreneur and startup cofounder Sehreen Noor Ali says, “Our self-talk becomes like an old friend that maybe should’ve been ditched a while ago.”

Your perfectionism, your old friend, won’t go away overnight. Nor will exercises alone assuage it. So my goal here is to help get you on the road to recovery by suggesting new ways of thinking. Here are three to try:

1. Find the motivation

Like breaking any unhealthy habit, it helps to feel really motivated before you start to tackle your perfectionism. I find this question really helpful: What are you missing out on because you’re scared to be less than perfect?

For example, my fear of being shamed for public speaking held me back from applying for a TED talk. For years I’d made fun of TED to anyone who’d listen. I even wrote an article about how overrated TED talks are. But in truth, I desperately wanted to give one, because I knew they lend credibility to speakers and authors and help you get to the next level in a speaking career.

Voilà, there was my motivation. I also realized that if I was going to be a perfectionist, I’d never reach that level, so I applied to seven various TED and TEDx talks. I got rejected from all of them. It hurt but frankly, I wasn’t ashamed. It felt like a badge of honor; it became a punch line for me.

And then one day I got an email from the TED team asking me to do a talk. Turns out they had seen my submissions and enjoyed them, even though they passed on them at the time. If I hadn’t found the motivation to “ditch that old friend,” as Noor Ali put it, I would’ve missed my chance to land a coveted TED spot, which opened a lot of doors for me.

So what are you missing out on because you’re afraid to be less than perfect? Identify and name that experience, and you’ve found your motivation.

2. Isolate your inner critic

You wouldn’t be a perfectionist without the thoughts that keep you there. Many perfectionists have common barbs we like to fling at ourselves.

Here are some examples of the perfectionistic self-talk I’ve heard in heavy rotation:

• Mind-reading: “If I don’t give it 110 percent, my boss will find someone who does. They’ll just fire me”;  “My parents gave up a lot to send me to excellent schools and prepare me for a successful career, and I can’t let them down”

• Labeling: “The typo in my article wasn’t a careless error — it happened because I’m lazy and didn’t spend enough time proofreading”; “I can’t be mediocre; it’s not who I am”

• Avoidance: “I’m never going to be able to write a good book, so I’m not even going to try”

• Catastrophizing: “I don’t deserve what I have, and I’d better work harder if I want to keep it”

• Should statements: “If I don’t run at lunch today, I’m going to get out of shape … so I should go, even though my knee hurts”

What voice speaks those lines in your head? Is it a specific person? Is it you? Can you take a moment to notice the next time you automatically chime in with a justification for your actions? How do you feel when your inner critic takes over? What emotions precede it? What could help calm your anxiety in the moment?

Here’s one way to calm your negative self-talk, and you’ll love it because it involves a little self-criticism. I say this with love, but being stuck in our heads — ruminating and focusing on our flaws all the time — is very self-centered.

For this method, I have my former therapist Wilma to thank. One day when I was anxious and frazzled about bombing something, Wilma said, “Why do you have to be so special at everything? Whoever told you that?”

I looked at her and said, “I’ve always been special, since I was three years old.”

To which Wilma replied, “Well, who says?”

Who says, indeed? Where did I get the belief that I must be special and outstanding at everything?

Anxiety expert Alice Boyes notes that this narcissism is self-protective. “You end up believing, ‘The only way I’ve succeeded in life or the only way I’m being accepted and loved … is by being excellent, by overdoing everything,’” she explains.

But that’s another thought trap of perfectionism. The truth is that “not being the best at everything isn’t a threat to you. It isn’t a threat to you getting what you want out of life.”

Sometimes when I’m stressing about a looming failure on my horizon, I’ll just tell myself, “Why can’t you do bad work or have a bad day like everyone else?”

Reminding myself that I’m no more special than anyone else is not self-denigrating, and it isn’t a way to let myself off the hook. It’s an act of self-compassion and a way to gently but effectively expose and address the underlying narcissistic tendencies that power perfectionism.

3. Learn to set “enough” goals

Dare yourself to set “enough” goals and practice using only appropriate effort — rather than going all out and putting in extra effort. Appropriate effort is about doing something well but removing undue emotional investment in the outcome; it’s the opposite of our culture’s expectation to always go above and beyond and always do our very best.

Buddhism teacher Sally Kempton writes that appropriate effort is any effort that doesn’t involve struggle. For Kempton, the secret of acting with appropriate effort is to ask herself, “If this were the last act of my life, how would I want to do it?”

How can you bring appropriate effort into your life? Why not practice being a C+ student? I know that probably made some of you gasp, but just hear me out. Not every project demands your best work. What if you gave only 79 percent? What if your next report doesn’t have prose that rises to the level of greatness? The key is to acknowledge the outcome. Will what you do be good enough for your boss? Will what you achieve be good enough for you? The answer to both is, almost surely.

Think about some happy accidents. Was there ever a time when a meeting was canceled or a deadline was extended, and you magically struck upon an idea or a solution that you’d been striving for? When the mind is free, creativity tends to happen. Remember that the next time you’re inclined to overwork and imagine brain space literally opening up as you decide to stop for the night.

To try this, practice on something outside of work. You could use exercise as a stand-in for setting limits on work time. Science shows we need only a certain amount of cardio and strength training every week to achieve our goals. So if you normally exercise for an hour a day, cut it to forty minutes. See what happens. Is the process less stressful? Do you dread the gym less? Here’s a heads-up: if you’ve been conditioned to achieve, as most of us have, this will make you feel like a failure for a short while. But only for a short while.

You may just find that what you gain — more calm, easeful workdays, more unimpeded time and headspace — is worth what you’ll lose in so much anxious striving. And is that such a loss anyway? Of course not. Know that it’s OK to do some things less well in order to have the complete and healthy life you want.

Perform Practice Solutions helps you navigate the challenges that come with running a PT clinic. From selling your physical therapy practice to social media marketing, we are dedicated to helping clinic owners achieve their goals. Give us a call at (833) 764-0178 and visit our IG @performpracticesolutions.

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Reference: [https://ideas.ted.com/3-ways-to-break-the-perfectionism-habit/]

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