In every new healthcare practice, there’s a desire for steady, manageable growth within a few months time. But growing your business requires a lot more work than many owners think. In addition to having enough resources and staff at your disposal, you’ll want to make sure you’re organized enough to feel completely prepared when an influx of new clients comes to your door. Don’t make the mistake of pushing for growth before you’re ready. Whether you’re a small practice just starting out, or a larger practice looking to cover more ground, you’ll want to set yourself up for success by following these rules. If you’re looking to expand your practice, here are a few ways to start.
Keep Communication Clear
The most crucial part of getting a new practice off the ground involves getting everyone on the same page. That means making sure everyone knows exactly what they’re responsible for and what’s expected of them on a day-to-day basis. Without this understanding, things can get very sloppy very quickly, even if you don’t have a lot of patients yet. Before you think about bringing on new clients or new staff, make sure you really have the fundamental aspects of your practice down. This means making communication between workers clear, having regular meetings where everyone is encouraged to participate and voice complaints or concerns, and creating a space where everyone feels like they’re being heard. Creating good communication also means making sure that each staff member knows the chain of order and knows what channels to pass through for basic operations. It also means creating an office culture where everyone is clear on what your practice’s priorities are when it comes to specialized care. Even though certain practices can get by for a few months or even an entire year without hammering out some of the basics of communication and branding, when the time comes for the practice to grow, all that sloppiness is going to end up being a problem. Before you think about expanding, spend a bit of time making sure everything is organized and that communication between you and your staff is clear.
Streamline All Staff Meetings and Scheduling
As strange as it may sound, a big part of growing your business is making sure your current clients stay loyal. This can be achieved in a number of ways, for instance making sure to check in with patients after their appointments, setting up timely reminders about appointments and check-ups, and creating an atmosphere that feels pleasant and welcoming. While this might not seem like a lot of work, creating an environment where patients feel safe and welcome is a full-time job. You’ll need systems in place that will send out reminders, check in with patients, and make digital receipts and patient results easily available online. There are many ways to set up automatic reminders as well as weekly newsletters that will link patients back to your website rather than depending on a few nurses having to answer phones all day. Learning to create an efficient, well-run practice is a lot of work, but once you master it, you’ll be able to grow at an increased speed without losing out on quality.
Use Technology to Make Your Life Easier
If you’re struggling with balancing the cost of expansion versus the need for growth in your practice, you’ve probably already considered hiring outside help. While outsourcing a lot of basic patient needs through call centers or outside customer service representatives is a great way to handle your growing list of clients, using specialized technology is an even better way to grow your patient base. Finding the right communication optimization hardware shouldn’t be too much of a challenge if you already know what you’re looking for. Juggling your old, loyal patient based with an influx of new patient can be difficult if you don’t use the right technology to help you outsource a few basic elements of the business like communication and scheduling. Even using the wrong technology can result in a lot of wasted time and a hugely inefficient system that’s become too costly to throw out. If you’re confused about the best options for your practice, take the time to search for communication optimization technology based on the size of your practice and your core concerns. If you’re someone who worries easily about losing the personal touch, don’t be. Specific companies will allow you to send out boilerplate phone reminders and email scheduling while giving you the option to add a personal touch, like a unique signoff or personalized message at the end of each voicemail or email.
Promote Your Business the Right Way
Once you’ve streamlined everything and made sure your staff is fully prepared to take on a host of new patients, you’re ready to start advertising your business. However, although this step might seem like a no-brainer, putting your business out there can end up being one of the more costly and time-consuming elements of your plan for growth. From choosing the right places to advertise in to figuring out a digital ad campaign that will be able to focus in on local patient concerns to finding the right wording for your campaign, showing the world that you’re ready for expansion comes with a lot of hard work and depends on very precise communication. If you’re looking to effectively advertise your practice without sinking a ton of money into administrative and managerial costs, choosing message broadcasting might be the best move for you. When you sign up for this type of promotion, you’ll be directly targeting clients who live in the area and are looking for a trusted, local healthcare provider. You’ll be able to expand your reach while getting more specific about the types of patients you’re targeting. You’ll also be able to use message broadcasting to keep your current patients up to date about any changes in your practice and offer up-to-the-minute alerts about weather, cancellations, or anything else that requires speedy, flawless communication.
