Marketing problem, or systems and processes problem?
If your clinic’s not full, here’s how to fix it.

If you’re not fully booked in your Private Practice, is the bigger root cause a marketing problem, or a systems and processes problem?

When I coach clinicians in Private Practice, one of the most common reasons they seek help is that they’re not getting enough patients into their clinics. They’re not fully booked, and the most frequent question they ask me is, “Cath, how can I improve the marketing of my Private Practice?”.

Instead, they should be asking, “What can I do to plug the holes in my leaky bucket?”

Fix your leaky bucket first

Don’t get me wrong, effective marketing is the lifeblood of a successful Private Practice. However, the first thing I guide clinicians through is an analysis of their administrative systems and processes, because almost universally, they will have to a leaky bucket situation that needs improving immediately. In other words, they will be failing to book-in leads and retain existing patients.

As with all types of businesses, it’s easier to retain a customer than to acquire a new one, and so the first question you should be asking yourself is ‘Are my existing patients being followed up properly?

Many of the excellent clinicians I work with voice that they are reluctant to appear as though they are over-treating patients. As ethical practitioners, this is understandable, but there is often very little risk of over-treatment when you genuinely prioritise patient care. What I do observe frequently, however, is patients being treated in a “stepping-stone” manner. In other words, a patient attends a clinic appointment but isn’t provided with a clear roadmap for their recovery journey. As a result, they lack understanding of the importance of follow-up appointments to progress their treatment or rehabilitation.

Stop leaving patients to their own devices

What often happens is that clinicians leave patients to their own devices, saying things like, “We’ll see how it goes at the next appointment,” or “Come back if you have problems.” By doing this, not only are you missing out on additional appointments—and therefore revenue—but you’re also failing to optimise the patient’s treatment. Most of the time, this issue stems from a mindset problem: a discomfort with how we perceive patients should ‘spend’ their money.

If you have patients who book but later cancel appointments, do you have a process in place for tracking those cancellations and rebooking them quickly? If you use practice management software (and you should be), are you leveraging it effectively to address this?

Are there patients who should be brought back for review or monitoring, such as post-treatment runners who’ve just competed in their race (and who might potentially have a return of their IT band issue), or patients who require annual blood testing because they’ve now been on their HRT for a year?

Remove all barriers to the referral process

When it comes to leads, are you inadvertently making it difficult for patients or referrers to get those patients booked in with you? Are your contact details—or those of your medical secretary—easily accessible? I can’t count the number of times I’ve encountered situations where it’s been difficult to connect a patient with a practitioner because their secretary was unresponsive or on mat leave, or their contact details were outdated or hard to find.

Implement online booking

If you’re not offering online booking, you need to start immediately.

You may be losing 10–20% of potential patients to competitors who offer an easier booking process. You’ll be oblivious to those patients who might have booked in with you, so stop making excuses around your clinic needing to gather more information first- if the patient wants to book in, let them – then follow up for the details.

One of my clients implemented an online bookings process we’d set up in a really patient-friendly way, just before the close down over the Christmas break, and voilà! Returning to work on the 27th, she found her diary had magically filled whilst the clinic was closed. An additional bonus was that her staff didn’t have to start their week with a barrage of phone messages from people they would then have had to frantically try to connect with to set up same-day appointments.

Following up on leads is a top priority

One of the most profound examples I’ve seen in terms of lost leads involved patients referred by other clinicians. When I took one of my recent clients through an assessment of their practice, I uncovered that around 30% of referrals from other clinicians weren’t being converted into booked appointments—resulting in a staggering £18,000 of potentially lost revenue each month.

Unless there’s a fundamental mismatch between you and the patient, every referral should convert into a booking. If this isn’t happening, it’s likely due to a flaw in your processes or a lack of training for your team in converting enquiries into appointments. This highlights the importance of having a well-trained medical secretary—a critical role in any team, including for physios and osteopaths. A great medsec will literally make you money.

Make on-boarding friction-free

If your onboarding process is overly complicated, requiring patients to fill out numerous forms before they see you, you may be discouraging them. While these forms might streamline your workflow, they could also deter potential patients. Collect only the minimum information necessary at this stage.

Stop trying to be everywhere

Another common issue is scattered availability. If you’re only available at a particular clinic for half a day, while splitting your time across six or seven other sites under the false belief that more locations = more patients, you’re likely losing out. Patients value convenience, and fragmented availability can be off-putting. If you’re in ‘all the places’ you’ll never really become ‘known’ at your clinic locations.

Do you truly know your patient numbers?

For many of my clients, the biggest challenge is not knowing their numbers. If you don’t know where your patients are coming from, how many are referred by whom, or how many book online, how many found you via a website link etc., you have no tangible way to scale your patient acquisition processes.

Many clinicians still aren’t fully utilising the capabilities of their practice management software or are stuck in outdated ways of working or are working with a ‘that’s how we do it in the NHS’ mindset.

Does your website make it easy for patients to decide?

Yes, marketing is crucial if you’re not attracting enough patients. However, evaluate your existing efforts: is your website functioning as an effective front-of-house? If it doesn’t guide patients to a quick decision-making process—whether that’s directing them to an online booking link or a phone number they can click on—then it’s not doing its job.

As you focus on marketing your Private Practice, ensure you fix the “leaky buckets” in your systems first. Know your numbers, streamline your processes, and make sure every patient referral translates into a booking.

Interested in Private Practice coaching?

Ping me an email at css@privatepracticeninja.co.uk​
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