The How

• 00:00:00 – Introduction
• 00:01:53 – Episode 3: The How
• 00:04:14 – You never sell anything to anybody if they don’t really need it.
• 00:06:21 – What is a pay-as-you-go business model?
• 00:08:22 – How can we create ways of working with people that can predict our income weeks and months ahead?
• 00:10:42 – Pilates is something that people should do forever, not just for 12 weeks.
• 00:12:43 – How can you predict your income and how does it impact your business?
• 00:14:37 – If you have a pay-as-you-go model, your conditions for delivery are poor.
• 00:16:30 – The importance of having boundaries to work within.
• 00:18:19 – What’s to come in the future of this show.
• 00:19:13 – Resources

You’re listening to treat your business with Katie Bell, the podcast for health and wellness business owners that want and need to give their business the treatment plan it deserves and needs so that you can create more time back in your lives to give you the income you deserve and work hard for and to create more freedom and flexibility in your lives to enjoy the things you love to do. Whether you are a physiotherapist and osteopath, a sports therapist or maybe a Pilates studio owner, I’m determined to share with you bite sized episodes full of tried and tested tips from my own real experience of growing a successful physiotherapy and wellness clinic and from working with many businesses to do the same. So if you’re tuning in and feel like you’re on a hamster wheel of patients admin, life constantly juggling working and being with the family, and feel like you’re doing a rubbish job at both not making the income you thought you would by running a business and generally feeling overwhelmed with everything that you have to do, then keep listening. The treat your business podcast is sponsored by Jane.  Jane is an all in one practice management software with helpful features like online booking, admin scheduling, integrated payment processing, and charting. But there’s more to Jane than you might think. The team at Jane cares a lot about the problems you face as a practitioner. One of those problems is the prevalence of no shows and late cancellations in practices. So they’ve made it easy for you with a few simple tools built right into Jane. That includes the ability to implement an online booking payment policy, send out unlimited text and email reminders, and enable waitlist management features to fill those last minute gaps that were preventable. Come and see Jane in action at Jane app. And if you know you’re ready to sign up, then you can mention the code Thrive one M O for a one month grace period on your new Jane account. Welcome to episode three, the how we’ve talked so far in episode one about why why we are in this business. We’ve talked in episode two about the who, who it is that we are who we can help you we are the experts at helping what is our niche or avatar, our ideal client or the same thing that we can that allows us to really stand out in our industry stand out in terms of creating impactful marketing. The third key foundation that I’d like to introduce you to is the how. And this is one of the four key principles that we like to go through with all business owners. Before we can cover marketing week before we can look at forecasting and accounting and bringing in all that kind of next level business stuff, we want to get clear on how we can work with people in a creative way. That creates consistent income for you as the business owner, but doesn’t always mean that you have to be delivering face to face treatment or classes to be able to make the money you want to make. And it’s a way of you are looking at how we can help our patients and our clients in a creative way. How we can facilitate their treatment, their rehab or their their recovery, how we can solve their problems in the best possible way, but also create a business model that is going to support us rather than starve us of time, and energy and freedom. So I’m going to ask you a question. First of all, do you think you can solve somebody’s problem in one session? Now if the answer is yes, then I would hope that you are charging significantly for that. But if the answer is most of the time is No. Then why do we base our businesses predominantly on the Pay As You Go model? Most business owners that we start working with are running their business purely on a sort of single session model. Because that’s just all they know. That’s just all they’ve ever done. And most businesses in our industry, particularly in the UK, and Ireland are running that similar model. So we’ve just kind of all followed suit. And it then comes with some sort of anxiety around well, if we were to sell programmes or packages of treatment, is that going to make us look salesy, or are we trying to sell something to somebody that they don’t really need? And the app the absolute answer always is you never sell anything to anybody if they don’t really need it. We always lead from professionalism. But what I am really, really passionate about is that if we have problems or pains that we can solve, how can we facilitate that recovery, or that treatment or that rehab? By creating programmes or packages that best allow our clients To get the results that they’re looking for. So once you think about some of the roadblocks that are often in the way to patient recovery, we hear all the time, I just don’t have the time. Or we say, I’m going to start, I start my exercises. And then after a few weeks, I feel a bit better. So stop doing exercises. Or it might be that they haven’t got the access to the gym, or to get to as many classes as they want to be at this always roadblocks that get in the way of our patients recovery. And our job is to know those so that we can create ways of supporting our clients recovery, without those roadblocks even being a problem. So this is, again, thinking about ways that you could stand out in your industry stand out as a clinic as a business as a studio, is that you can create programmes of treatment, create packages of treatment, create ways that you can work with people that solve their problems in a creative way, it doesn’t always have to be delivered face to face, it could be that you, you create online elements to your to the way that you want to work with clients. Again, based on what you know, your clients need, if they don’t need it, we don’t sell them it. Okay. So if you think about having patients on your client list on a pay as you go model, ultimately, you cannot predict one day to the next day in your business. So it isn’t a very resilient business model. Because if the snow falls overnight, you lose a whole day of income. If so, well, the COVID pandemic, what we saw is that a lot of us have to close our doors, but a lot of us just suddenly saw a huge big complete drop off cancellation of everything. So we haven’t got a resilient business model for only running pay as you go. Because we can’t predict from one day to the next day. Because it’s very easy for people to cancel, it’s very easy for people to drop off their treatment, you’ll all have patients, I’m sure on your client list that you may have been seeing for several weeks, and then all of a sudden, they have to be in cancel, and then you never see them again. And it’s often not because their pain or problem has gone away. It’s that life has just taken over something else has got in their way and their health has dropped on the priority list down to maybe six 7/8 place. If you’re running a pay as you go model. And we can’t predict day to day, week to week, month to month, you’ve got no idea about what marketing we need to be doing. Because we don’t know how many slots we’re trying to fill. Because we’re so unpredictable with just being reliant on whoever books and then turns up for their appointment. So we then got what we call a big churn rate, which means that you’re constantly having to fill in the top of the bucket as people leave at the bottom. Now you’re always going to have clients that leave because you should be getting people better. Some clients will want to work with you on a long period of time, because they’ll be thinking about maintenance or they’ll be I hate that word. But they’ll be thinking about how they stay well, once you have got them well. So how can we create ways of working with people that facilitates that? How can we create ways that of working with people that we can predict our income, weeks and months ahead. I’m gonna give you an example in our business in my physiotherapy and wellness business, I believe that anybody that wants to do Pilates because they want to reduce their back pain, or they want to increase their flexibility, or they want to get stronger, or they want to strengthen their pelvic floor, any of those problems, I absolutely believe that they are not going to see the results that they’re looking for, in anything less than 12 weeks, 12 sessions. I don’t believe that people can do Pilates for six sessions, and genuinely feel and see the difference. There’s no doubt after one Pilates class that they’re going to be feeling a bit better, they might be moving a bit better, they might, they might just feel good for the fact they’re actually doing something about it. But what we believe is that people need to be doing it consistently. So because that’s what we stand for. Our business model is aligned with that. We have a ways, ways of working with people on what we call a kickstart programme. So this allows them to build up their trust factor with us they will like know and trust, which is going to give them the results that they’re looking for. We solve problems creatively. We look at roadblocks that will get in the way for them turning up to class or to doing their second workout in the week because they can’t get to class because they’re too busy. We have an on demand library, we have ways of working with people that facilitate the best results possible. It also means that we are really clear in our marketing about how many people we are looking for, because we know exactly how many slots we have available, which then allows us to dictate how much we spend on our marketing, and analyse the results we’re getting from our marketing based on the number of clients or patients that we are then getting booked on to our kickstart programme. So once people have worked with us for 12 weeks, we can then bring them into our monthly Pilates membership, which is a year long commitment, but they pay it over a monthly basis. So it makes it very accessible. It makes it affordable for people. But it also provides and facilitates the best way of working so that they get the results that they’re looking for. For me Pilates is something that people should do forever, that it’s not something that they start and then just do it for 12 weeks and stop. So you’ve got to think about what you believe in what you stand for, and how you want to facilitate your clients recovery in the best possible way. Another example is if somebody comes to work with you, and they have a sports massage, okay, and they just come in for one. Now cat, do you think one session is going to solve that person’s problem, it could be that they’re stressed, it could be that they’re not sleeping, it could be that they’ve got severe shoulder pain, it could be that they’ve got an ongoing back problem. If you as the physiotherapist or the Osteopath, or the pluses instructor, or whatever it is, don’t genuinely believe that you can solve it in one session, then it’s your duty to show them and explain to them what you feel like they need to get the results that they’re looking for. And it’s what we call the state A to state B transformation. State A is what they’re struggling with what they’re suffering from right now. State B is what they’re looking to achieve what they want, what they want to be able to do, how they want to be how they want to feel, because people will buy themselves out of a problem and into a solution, they won’t buy the solution. So people we’ve said this in episode two, and Episode One, people are not looking for 12 Pilates classes, or they’re not looking for three massages, they’re just looking to get away from the problem that they’ve got. And our job is to say to them for you to get from state A to state B, this is how I think we need to work. Okay, if you believe that pays you go one session at a time is what they need, then you keep that business model in your business. But it isn’t going to create sustainable consistent revenue for you. It’s going to be very, very sporadic, very up and down and very hard for you to predict, and therefore allow you to can take consistent income out of your business when all the expenses have been paid. Working on the how also influences your retention rate, your ability to keep clients in your business in that bucket. It influences your conversion rates, your ability to take somebody from that inquiry to working with you as a client and as an ongoing client. And that influences your revenue. So if you’ve got somebody working with you on a 12 week programme, you can predict your income for 12 weeks, because you could have a payment plan, you could have a pay in full option. But ultimately, they’re coming into a contract with you to work with you to get X, Y and Zed at the other end. Okay. And there’s no guarantees is that if we could guarantee it, we’d all be millionaires, we can’t guarantee but what we can guarantee is that we will do our very best to get them the results that they’re looking for. But there’s a lot of variables in the way. And we try and deal with those variables, which are people not doing their exercises or people forgetting to turn up to their appointment, we put things into our programmes and our packages that influence and support people’s recovery. So this is solving problems creatively. And it doesn’t always have to be face to face. If you’ve got people working with you for 12 weeks, and you therefore charge I don’t know let’s say 500 pounds for somebody working with you over that 12 week programme. Then you can work out what income you want to make and how many people you need buying into your 12 week programme to get that income out the bottom. And it probably will work out something like I don’t know how to say 10 clients in a month. Okay. 10 people paying you 500 pounds to make 5000 pounds income. If you’ve got people on a pay as you go model you’re thinking about well if I’m charging 50 pounds, how many of those do I need to do to make 5000 pounds, okay, and the number is a huge amount more. So instantly it’s harder For us to make that income than it is if we’re working with less people, and perhaps working with them at a, in a better way, we’re creating better what I call conditions for delivery. If you’re really a pay as you go model, your conditions for delivery are poor, they are low, because you’re charging that client say 30 pounds, 40 pounds, 50 pounds, the conditions for delivery are probably half an hour of your time for you to assess them, treat them, write them an exercise plan, write your notes up afterwards, send them some send them an email, or whatever it is that you’ve promised. And we do over promise and our sessions don’t wait. And so what ends up happening is that you end up writing your exercise plans at nighttime, and it takes you half an hour, but the the the client has only been charged for half an hour of your time. So actually, you’ve just half your hourly rate. Because you’re spending an extra half an hour working on the exercise programme or writing the diet plan or whatever it is that costs be passed on to our our patients. But rather than us thinking, well, it’s really difficult to charge a client when we’re not actually seeing them face to face, we incorporate it into the way we work with clients, it doesn’t always have to be 12 sessions at 50 pounds, and therefore the investment is 600. It can be your programme price is 600. And within that you’re going to get a bespoke exercise plan, you’re going to get a treatment sessions, you’re going to get access to our on demand library. And you’re going to get accountability check ins from our team every other week to make sure that you stay on track with your exercises. It’s whatever you think your clients need to get the results that they are looking for. But also it optimises the conditions for delivery. So the likelihood of them getting great results is better, you then have boundaries to work within with your patients in which means that you’re going to give better treatments because you’ve got the ability to give better treatment and deliver better outcomes for your clients. So the third fact can really key foundation once we’ve looked at the Y once we’ve looked at who we want to work with, it’s then the how I want you to think about what model are you running in your business right now? Is it serving you or is it serving you is this business model is something that you might want to look at changing. So we can introduce new ways of working with our clients that deliver the best possible results. If you’re delivering better conditions, if you’re able to then treat them in a better way, and optimise their results, that is going to increase your reputation which is going to mean more people want to work with you. So it’s our duty as a health professional. If I think my clients need x y Zed, I must tell them that I do it in a professional way. I absolutely put the needs of the client first. But I also then think about how I can facilitate their recovery in their rehab in the best possible way. So they can put their health on the priority list. And they can make sure they stick with the plan and get what they want out the other end so that their investment, they get a return on their investment. We over the coming episodes are going to look at state A to state B transformations. We’re going to look at how to solve problems creatively. We’re going to map out the roadblocks together, we’re going to look about how to look at how you price your programme. We’ll look at how you name your programme, we’re going to look at how you market your programme. And we’re going to look at how you deliver your programme and write your standard operating procedures around your programmes. So keep listing in future episodes because we’re going to take this big category, this third Foundation, and break it down into lots of bite sized chunks that you can work through. And therefore you can transform the way that your business model is permanently set up so that it provides you with the income, the time and the ability to deliver amazing results for your clients. Thank you for listening to episode three. I hope you really enjoyed it. I’ve loved being here and talking to you about the how and I look forward to seeing you in episode four. So thank you for listening to treat your business with Katie Bell, the podcast that tells you what you really need to hear. And now when it comes to running a successful business in the health and wellness industry that gives you the time, money and freedom you are wanting for access to our free workshops on how to get more clients in your business, how to make more income in the next 30 days. And to get more time back in your business and life. Head to our free Facebook group today. Treat your business or head over to thrive dash business coaching.com All of the links are available in the show notes. Hey there, this is Katie from the gene team. If you’re new to the name, I’d love to introduce you. Jane is an all in one practice management software with helpful features like Online Booking scheduling charting and billing you’ll also be backed by knowledgeable support team ready to help you every step of the way. Come get to know us at Jane dot app we’d love to meet you and see if Jane is the right fit for your practice.