This is the right time to take a good look at how strong are the foundations upon which you have built your practice, and your future.

I know that you are well aware that if any of the key components of your practice is on a shaky ground, then sooner or later, you'll learn about it the hard way.

Let's look at some of the vital daily issues that are often overlooked.

Let's start with your manpower. Likely, your staff is having a more challenging time during the sheer volume of change taking place in the outside world than you are. If you are not regularly engaged with them in intellectual discussion and leadership, and being fully supportive, you are missing a huge opportunity in long-term practice growth strategy right now.

Have you take the time to sit with your staff for a discussion on how to better work as a team to achieve common goals? Does every staff member understand how their decisions during the day not only impact your future as the practice owner but their future as well?

Have you also taken every step with your team members to be not only realistic about meeting patients needs but to also explain and show how their actions throughout the day fully affect the other team members?

For example, in any business, it is critically important that new inquiries regarding the business be handled in the most appropriate manner.

This includes of course moving potential new clients up the ladder from simply being interested parties to someone who is automatically scheduled as a potential new patient. This is also a major stumbling block in most small businesses, and the private practice of health care is no exception.

You must be certain there is a procedure in place to keep track of these inquiries and how many of them you actually convert to active patients.

To be able to capitalized on this often missed opportunity, start by ensuring that all your staff are authorized to reach out to these potential new patients. You can empower them with effective, modern literature, personalized phone calls, references from your satisfied patients, web sites you have created.

And doctor, don't forget to thank them and reward them for their efforts.

By now, you should be able to see where I'm going here.

If it's been a very long time since you have looked at your practice this way, quite simply, you are giving hundreds if not thousands of dollars every week to your competitors.

And right now, I guarantee if you are not engaged in this intense and regular inspection and training, you are fully feeling the economic effects of it.

One critical factor, which seems to elude far too many doctors today is that the speed with which changes in society occur is accompanied by new ways in which people expect to be treated, and their concerns handled. Only those businesses with the best customer service departments get this idea.

Honestly, if you are still using your old strategies from nine months ago, it's most likely that you are getting very poor results.

For example, have you gone out of your way to institute to new mechanisms and systems to make doing business with you more efficient, more pleasurable, easier to justify to a spouse or loved one? Have you expanded, rather than contracted in your menu of services?

Are you spending your every spare moments fine-tuning the new systems and procedures?

Have you reviewed your marketing calendar and identified that important factors both internally and externally that will put your practice and your future on solid ground?

In any event doctor, like it or not, these are the harsh realities of private practice today. You are the only one who can tell whether or not you can face the challenge.

Remember, the happiest people in practice are not engage in "paying the price", but instead as Zig Ziglar says, enjoying the price, living fulfilled lives and really enjoying the rewards.

It's just that in the world we live in right now, the impact of your daily decisions and actions is multiplied tenfold over what it was just a short time ago.

Article Source: http://www.mykidsinheritance.com/articles

Dr. John Hayes, Jr. is an Evvy Award Nominee and author of Living and Practicing by Design. You can learn more about his unique approaches to private practice success by visiting perfectpracticeweb.com/ and register for a FREE CD and Info Pack.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated