• 0:00-Celebrating 100 Episodes: A Journey of Growth
• 0:39-Understanding Your Unique Value Proposition
• 1:59-Recession-Proof Your Business in 7 Steps
• 2:38-The Be-Do-Have Principle for Success
• 5:34-Marketing Basics: Setting the Foundation
• 7:42-The Importance of Budgeting for Marketing
• 8:30-Connecting with Clients: Show Your Face
• 9:24-Team Spirit and Profit First Accountant
• 9:39-Introducing Annette and Profit First Accounting
• 10:08-Foundational Bank Accounts and Client Engagement
• 10:46-Client Re-engagement Strategies
• 12:01-Understanding Business Numbers
• 12:29-Direct Conversations and Consultative Selling
• 12:49-Marketing and Money Mindset
• 13:21-Celebrating 100 Episodes
• 15:33-Consistency in Business
• 16:15-Childhood Memories and Business Analogies
• 17:22-Tenacity and Visionary Roles

Treat Your Business Podcast EP100

Celebrating 100 Episodes: A Journey of Growth

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Welcome to the hundredth episode of the Treat Your Business podcast. Can you believe it? We’ve made it to this incredible milestone, thanks to you, my amazing listeners. Over the past hundred episodes, we’ve shared valuable insights. We’ve given expert advice. We’ve had fabulous guest speakers and actionable tips to help you grow and elevate your clinics and your businesses.

[00:00:26] Katie Bell: Today we’re celebrating by bringing together some of the best moments from our journey so far. So I’d love you to sit back, enjoy, and let’s revisit some of the highlights that have helped shape this podcast.

Understanding Your Unique Value Proposition

[00:00:39] Katie Bell: The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe in what you believe. So if you think about your product and your service that you run, there’s probably, in fact there’s barely a product or service out there that your customers or your patients can’t buy or get from somebody else for probably around the same price, for probably around the same quality, and for around the same level of service.

[00:01:12] Katie Bell: Lots of business owners that we talk to comment on feeling that our industry is saturated.

[00:01:18] Katie Bell: I probably need to YouTube some exercises for my back or maybe I need to go and see the GP. Probably, I probably should get an x ray. I’m probably going to need to take some pain relief. Maybe I could use a hot water bottle on it. Most people in that queue are not going to say, Ah, what it is that I need is mobilisation, soft tissue therapy and some dry needling.

[00:01:42] Katie Bell: By a physio. They don’t know the what and the how. They are just in their zone of pain. They’re in state A and our job is to get them to state B. But we can’t just sell the what and the how. Okay. We have to be focused on the why we do what we do.

Recession-Proof Your Business in 7 Steps

[00:01:59] Katie Bell: I decided to drop in an extra special recording and a podcast to go through something that I think is really relevant, that we’re hearing a lot about in the media. And when I talk to our clients that we coach on a daily and a weekly basis, this is something that comes up a lot. Things that people are really worried about right now.

[00:02:19] Katie Bell: So this bonus episode is how to recession proof your business, your clinic, your studio. in seven key steps. So I’ve pulled out the really important things that I think as a business owner you should be aware of, you should be working on, and we’re going to go through those bit by bit.

The Be-Do-Have Principle for Success

[00:02:38] Katie Bell: So you want to think about, as a result of doing XYZ, what feeling will that bring up? Are you going to feel more confident? Are you going to feel more satisfied? Are you going to feel more at peace? It’s about thinking about the principle, be, do, have. Who do I need to be? Therefore, what do I then need to do so that I can have that thing in my life?

[00:03:05] Katie Bell: And many of us think the other way around. Many of us think, have, do, be. So you say, yeah, but Katie, when I have that many clients, then I’ll have enough money to invest in marketing. And then I’ll be really happy because I’ll have a bigger income. Or you’ll say, yeah, when I’ve got loads more clients, then I’ll get another staff member and then we’ll make more income.

[00:03:26] Katie Bell: And then I’ll feel really enthusiastic or I’ll feel really confident about my business. And it makes no sense because if you always wait for the half, you’ll be forever waiting to create it.

[00:03:37] Katie Bell: You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where it is you’re headed. And back in episode one, we talked about the why you are running your business. And in this episode, I’m going to really dig into getting very clear on what it is you want to create. So as a physio, as an osteopath, maybe a Pilates instructor, teaching lots of classes, doing lots of one to ones, It’s really easy, isn’t it, to lose sight of where it is that you’re going, because business just gets really busy, and we jump on that treadmill or that hamster wheel, and it’s easy to just see clients and patients all day, and the weeks and the months pass, and before you know where you are at, Perhaps that clarity or that strategy that you maybe once had right at the beginning of your business has gone because it’s just been replaced by a survival mentality or just trying to get through one day to the next day and the next week and the next month.

Osteopenia or fractures or osteoarthritis, how they manage their bone health better. So we have three separate little workshops running. We invited everybody to arrive at seven. We worked them through the workshops. We had staff in each room. They got a glass of fizz on arrival. And at the end of it, we did an upsell into a Forever Fit assessment, like an MOT, where they got a bespoke, tailored approach to to them, okay?

When we had an assessment process that we’re going to work through, we gave everybody a QR code, there was a a deadline of when they had to sign up, and that was our upsell. Now what that meant is we had some people who were existing clients, that got value out of the workshop. We had then clients that bought friends, that meant we’ve got new people coming into the clinic and we’ve got people that had never been to us before.

Okay. And we were also dealing with sidewalk, slow lane and fast lane. We’ve got people there that knew what they needed. That was what they needed.

Welcome to our next episode in the Treat Your Business podcast.

Marketing Basics: Setting the Foundation

And as promised, this is going to be all about your marketing, knowing your next move in marketing. Now, before we dive into it and I tell you exactly what I think you should be doing to go and get more inquiries and more customers, more patients through the door, we need to have some basic principles in place first.

And it really it really bugs me, actually, when we dive into marketing courses and we invest in marketing courses and we don’t And people don’t cover the basic principles, because that’s when marketing fails, that’s when marketing feels expensive, that’s when people will say to me, Oh, it didn’t work for me, and marketing doesn’t work for me, it’s really expensive, it’s really hard, I don’t really know what I’m doing.

And it’s often because we haven’t spent the time getting those basic principles in place.

Schedule your time in your diary in advance, so you know exactly when you’re going to do it. And I prefer to batch write. So I prefer when I’m, I know when I’m most creative, it tends to be first thing in the morning, and I will have a specific time where I will batch write my, either my podcast plan, or my blog post, or my long form content plan, whatever it is.

Do you write a blog or do you think you should be writing a blog? Have you written them in the past and then it’s gone off the to do list and you’ve not put one on the website for ages? And what I want you to think about is what position you are in terms of marketing right now. Are you somebody that has a marketing plan, you have a marketing strategy, You have a regular blog post that goes out, you take that blog post and you repurpose it and you use all of the different content in different ways so it bulks out your content creation and your marketing strategy for the week or the month or the quarter.

Most business owners that we talk to feel like they should be writing a blog because everybody else is and that’s what they think they should be doing. Or they write them but they don’t really understand why they’re writing them and what impact a blog has in terms of their overall marketing strategy.

And actually how a blog can then drive customers to towards wanting to book in with them.

Love that one. I love it. Um, right. Next one.

The Importance of Budgeting for Marketing

This is a money one and it’s really simple. I spend money. The amount of clinics that come to us who say we want to do marketing and you say, okay, well, how much money have you got? And they say, well, we’ve never spent money before or they say a hundred pounds.

Don’t even bother. If you are running a business and you are not spending money, you are falling behind because I can tell you now and I can’t mention the names, but there is A giant clinic we work with. And the reason they came to us is because the three man band spent some money and we smashed them.

We got above them in Google on everything. We took all of their patients, potential patients, because our Google ads were running brilliantly.

Connecting with Clients: Show Your Face

If you are asking someone who has an acute injury or chronic pain, they’re worried, they’re nervous. They want to see who it is that’s going to be treating them. If they can’t see that, and it’s just a tiny little image on Jane or whatever, it’s not good enough. I want to see who they are. I want to know, do they like running?

What’s their hobbies? I don’t care about where they got their degree from, you know, when’s the last time you You ask your dentist where the degree was from, or do you really care? You don’t. But if your dentist loves running, or has children, whatever, this is all about, um, connecting with people. So showing your face is one of the most important things we will do with any business when they start with us.

Now, showing your faces is done easily. So the first thing, um, I would on the website, throw up a team picture. Go and get a team picture. I don’t care how good or bad it is.

Team Spirit and Profit First Accountant

It doesn’t need to be professionally shot. Go and get a nice picture of the team, all smiling and happy.

[00:09:28] Katie Bell: Now, If you don’t want to spend time figuring this stuff out for yourself, like I get it, I’m that person as well, then go and get yourself a Profit First Accountant. And guess what?

Introducing Annette and Profit First Accounting

[00:09:39] Katie Bell: In a few weeks time, I have a Profit First Accountant coming on the podcast to talk to you. She is incredible. Her name is Annette, uh, from Annette Co.

[00:09:48] Katie Bell: And she runs the Profit First Accounting model. So, um, Hey, you can just go and ask her to implement this in your business and help you do this. But I want to inspire you that if you are feeling like there is never any profit left, there is never any money at the end of the month, then some things have got to change.

[00:10:06] Katie Bell: And that’s what we are here to do.

Foundational Bank Accounts and Client Engagement

[00:10:08] Katie Bell: So we talked last week about your foundational bank accounts, didn’t we? We said that you really can’t just have one bank account where everything’s coming in and everything’s going out.

Warming up your clients, ensuring that when they arrive at your clinic, it’s like they almost feel at home. They know where the entrance is, there is no drama about parking, they know what to wear. We can’t always assume that the people walking through our door are as comfortable getting undressed as we are as physios.

Client re engagement is a game changer, but we do not spend enough time and enough energy on it.

Client Re-engagement Strategies

We are so focused on the top of the funnel that this for many clinic owners does not become a priority and I want you in February to make this a priority because this is going to allow you to move lots of your people that you, that already like you, know you and trust you

Most of the time, when people forget to book an appointment, or they cancel and they don’t re book, very often, the reason is their expectations haven’t been met, and that’s our fault, because we haven’t taken the time to check in with what their expectations are of the session today, and we haven’t warmed them up to set their expectations.

The lifetime value of your client and this value of your client extends far beyond their initial visit by consistently re engaging with them, with existing clients and offering ongoing support or educational resources or personalized follow ups. You can take these on time clients or clients that have come in and they’re not scheduled another appointment or come in and maybe you have got them better and you’ve discharged them but then there’s no other follow up.

Understanding Business Numbers

They also don’t understand the numbers. They don’t get that the net that you charge a client for an hour’s initial assessment or the 50 pound follow up is not what you’re putting in your back pocket. I tell them that. I explain. I show them percentages. I use the profit first model. I explain. So this is how it looks.

This is actually what’s left before your owners even take anything. So it’s really important to protect the business. Because if the business is going to be here to serve you as a employee, it’s got to be profitable.

Direct Conversations and Consultative Selling

So I have those really direct conversations. I up level their confidence. I teach them consultative selling.

And we see the difference day one. The next day they come into clinic, they’re converting, they’re retaining, they’re having direct conversations. And then over the next three weeks, we have accountability calls for me to keep them on track and really to embed those new habits.

Marketing and Money Mindset

[00:12:49] Katie Bell: Often we hear from you, we just need to do more marketing, Katie. I just need to know how to market my business. I just need to have to get more clients. I just need to know like how to improve my retention rate. And yeah, you absolutely need to do all of those things. But this is one of the things that is buried in our subconscious brain.

[00:13:08] Katie Bell: It’s like below the surface that we never look at when it comes to growing a successful business. Your money mindset directly impact how you price your services, how much money you will attract and hold on to.

Consistency in Business

[00:13:21] Katie Bell: Being visible is about being consistent. And you will have heard me talk about consistency before in business. When people say to me, How have you grown such a successful clinic and how are you running another successful business alongside of that? There isn’t a magic pill. Sorry to say that guys. There isn’t a quick route to success.

[00:13:45] Katie Bell: It’s about being consistent. It’s about showing up every day and doing what I need to do. And that’s the same for being visible.

[00:13:53] Katie Bell: And a lot of those money mind, that money mindset and beliefs are around hard work. To make money, you have to work really hard.

Childhood Memories and Business Analogies

[00:14:02] Katie Bell: In fact, when I was little, I used to set up a shop at my Nana and Gran’s house. And I would sell the entire contents of their own house back to them on at least a monthly basis.

[00:14:14] Katie Bell: God bless them.

[00:14:15] Katie Bell: If you didn’t, then where have you been all this time? But as a kid from Stockport growing up, Blackpool was like our local beach. That is where we went. Illuminations every year, and we went to the Pleasure Beach. Running a business is very much like being on a rollercoaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

[00:14:34] Katie Bell: And for those of you who haven’t been to Blackpool, maybe I’m speaking unfairly because I haven’t been for several years. In fact, the last time I went, I think I was, I think I was 21. And I actually went with my uni pals on a day out. But there were roller coasters there that were in existence way before I was born.

[00:14:53] Katie Bell: And they were rickety and incredibly scary and not that safe. And I’m sure that Platypump Beach has now upgraded lots of their rides.

[00:15:03] Katie Bell: I won’t go into all of these because that’s a whole other podcast, which has just made me think I’m definitely going to record one about this.

Tenacity and Visionary Roles

[00:15:10] Katie Bell: So tenacity is somebody that is a complete finisher that gets the project over the line no matter what. Quite often creators and visionary people have got all the ideas, but then don’t necessarily want to be the ones that go in.

[00:15:23] Katie Bell: That’s an enabler. That’s some, that’s the work thing. That’s somebody behind the scenes that does the do, okay? As a galvanizer, I am an inventor. I think about the ideas, I think they’re amazing, I get everybody on board with them, I don’t really want to be the one that implements them. And I also think, as the creator, as the visionary, everything can be done, everything’s possible.

Celebrating 100 Episodes

[00:15:45] Katie Bell: thank you for joining us for this special 100th episode of the Treat Your Business podcast. It’s been an incredible journey. I am proud of myself for being able to consistently deliver an episode every single week. for the last 100 weeks. And I’m so grateful for all of your support along the way. It When you are sat here recording, talking to your own face on the screen, it helps when people like you send me messages to say how much you loved the episode, or when we get on a call together and you tell me about all of the ones that you’ve been binging over the last few weeks and what a difference it’s making to your business.

[00:16:23] Katie Bell: So, , I’m here to ask you a favor. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, I’d really love it if you could leave me a review. The link is in the show notes, and it really makes a massive difference to help me reach even more people, and for them to experience some of these nuggets of advice that are, are gonna Allow them to have more time back in their life, to make more money, to get more clients, to change up their marketing.

[00:16:48] Katie Bell: So please, if you can, leave me a review. I would love that. Now, I’m going to run a little competition this week because it’s the 100th episode. So, any of you that do leave me a review, Or perhaps you might want to tag me, , on Instagram and say that you’re listening to the podcast. Any of that will get an entry into the competition, so you’ll get an entry if you leave me a review, you will get an entry if you tag me on Facebook or on Instagram.

[00:17:13] Katie Bell: , and I will draw a name out. By the end of next week. So when we release the 101 episode, we are going to have a winner and that winner is going to get a clarity session with me. So this is something now people cannot access. I, I’m not available on a one to one basis. So. If you would love the opportunity to chat with me on Zoom to get clarity on your strategy, on your marketing, on your numbers, and what you need to do in what order, then enter the competition.

[00:17:50] Katie Bell: Here’s to the next 100 episodes and to helping you treat your business right.