Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses

92 Mastering Client Conversion: Key Strategies for Therapists

July 26, 2024 • Dr. Kate Walker Ph.D., LPC/LMFT Supervisor • Season 3 • Episode 92

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Ready to transform your private practice during the slow summer months? Join Dr. Kate Walker in this empowering Summer Boot Camp coaching session as she shares actionable strategies to prepare your practice for the high-demand periods of September and January. You'll learn how to harness key performance indicators (KPIs) to attract more clients and make strategic adjustments that ensure success. Dr. Walker's passion for community service shines through as she provides essential tools, including a downloadable script, to help you meet your goals and elevate your practice.

But that's not all—this episode also delves into improving client engagement and conversions, emphasizing the significance of tracking KPIs such as calls, connections, conversion rates, and appointment attendance. Dr. Walker offers invaluable networking tips and advice on crafting an engaging elevator pitch to turn contacts into clients. She also covers how to conduct effective client consultations, addressing crucial aspects like cost, schedule, and specialty, and ensuring every interaction leaves a positive impression. Tune in and equip yourself with the knowledge to boost your practice and make a lasting impact in your community.

Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.

Speaker 1:

Hey, I'm Dr Kate Walker. Welcome to your Tuesday group coaching. I'm so glad you're here. Or you're watching this on a replay or you're listening to the podcast. No matter what, you are taking time out of your day to take some good information so that you can badass up your practice. Now we are in the middle of the summer boot camp it's about week six, I believe, and so I hope you're taking this time to kind of think through things that you normally wouldn't be able to think of when you're in the thick of it.

Speaker 1:

I mean, if you're brand new and you're just out of school or you're transitioning from, say, being a school counselor to a private practitioner, you know you're not going to know what it's like to be in the thick of things. I get that. In fact, you may not even be able to picture it, but remember, you're too important to lose because you had a story, you have a calling and, most importantly, your community needs you. You're going to be full. I mean you're going to have waiting lists. You're going to have people knocking on your door Even if you're telehealth, you're a virtual door wanting your services because you're amazing, but also because there's a tremendous need. I mean I'm preaching to the choir. You guys know this. In Texas we're number 50. Yay, so we don't have a lot of access to affordable mental health care. So you are part of uptick in your client load, go you. I mean, that's amazing and I want to hear from you. Drop a chat, drop a comment in our Facebook group or send me an email. Let me know if your practice is just rocking during the summertime, and what I'm doing with the rest of us is helping you prepare for when that hammer drops in September.

Speaker 1:

Counselors, you know, we generally have two times in the year when our services just pick up, and most people would think it's during the holidays, but actually it's that new year, new you effect around January 1st and then again September 1st when the kids go back to school. We see a lot of couples sort of going oh okay, now we have time, let's get into therapy. Or you know, when you have a kiddo, that first note home, you know about three weeks, six weeks in, when you know the teacher's going to let the parents know hey, there's an issue we need to attend to, then we'll see our services really pick up. Attend to, then we'll see our services really pick up. Now today's boot camp session is about exactly what to say in order to get more clients. I mean, I'm not playing here. I really want you to have what you need. In fact, when this gets into, if you're a Step it Up member and you will have this as a training in your profile, if you are listening to this on the podcast, if you go to my blog, you're going to see a download. I'm going to have a script for you so you can actually follow along with, when I get to that part, what you say to the client, because there are a lot of people we need to talk to and remember our KPIs. Remember KPI, key performance indicator that goes beyond SMART goals. Smart goals are wonderful, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, trackable goals that you set for yourself. Kpis are how you pivot in your business. It's how you know to do more of this or less of that. And for this boot camp, you can go back and listen to one of the previous episodes or I'm just going to tell you you must track or this is my challenge to you so that you know if you're getting a return on your investment.

Speaker 1:

By listening to this podcast, you are tracking this summer how many calls you get, whether that's a text or an email or a literal phone call. You are tracking how many connections you have. I almost poked myself in the eye with my glasses how many times you actually connect with that contact. So not playing phone tag, not playing the email tag, literally connecting with them. Number three how many conversions you have. This is a new word, I didn't use this in the last episode. That's when your potential client becomes your actual client. You've got them booked. So this is. Number three is the number of booked sessions, also called a conversion rate. And then number four is how many of those booked appointments actually show up. So you have four KPIs that you're tracking this summer to make sure that what you're doing is actually working right. You get so much information from great podcasts like this, or your business coach or who knows what you're listening to, watching, and it's all great information. But for counselors, those four KPIs will let you know if what you're doing is actually getting the results that you want. Yeah, I mean, you can look at your bank account and go, oh look, kate, I made more money. Yay, that's wonderful. And how do you repeat that success? Well, you can't unless you have your key performance indicators.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about exactly what to say for each one of these KPIs. We'll start with number one more calls. So you know me, I'm going to put it in air quotes calls. I know there are lots of folks who use email, use text messaging. You do you? I'm not going to. Well, actually, today I am going to recommend something that you do, because I do have a preferred way that I like to see my coaching clients have potential clients contacting them.

Speaker 1:

So what do you say? To get more calls, quote, unquote calls. Well, you got to network. You have to let people know that you're there, right, and this is more than just being the shiniest object. This is about talking to people and letting them know two things. Number one you've got to give them a call to action. You have to tell them what to do. You have to tell them what to do. You have to tell them who you are and what you do. I guess that's three things. You have to know your elevator speech. Oops, okay, there's four things.

Speaker 1:

Now, networking I know that sometimes for us introverted counselors, it feels like, oh, a punch in the gut. Like Kate, I just kind of want to hide behind my computer webcam and fix my website, like you told me to do last week. Okay, yes, you can do that, but you're not going to get this KPI number one moving right, because it can't all just be search engine optimization. You're working in a practice where you're trying to get more phone calls. Remember, I told you about the hot dog stand. I'll tell you about it again. Right, you're working in a practice where you're trying to get more phone calls. Remember, I told you about the hot dog stand. I'll tell you about it again, right? So you want your hot dog stand in the middle of Times Square, not on the highway from Lampasas to El Paso, right? You want as much traffic as possible. So, yes, seo is part of that, but when you get out and network, you are going to tell people who you are, what you do, and you're going to give them a call to action. You're going to give them something to do, and that's what that elevator pitch is all about. The elevator pitch is that one minute could be 30 seconds how you talk about you, and an added dimension to this is connecting with your audience at their pain point. That's an emotional connection, right?

Speaker 1:

I tell this story about how I used to do networking and I would go to these chambers of commerce and my specialty is, and was, infidelity counseling. And so I'd stand up and say, hi, I'm Dr Kay Walker. My marriage and family therapy practice, achieve Balance, is located in the Woodland, texas, and my specialty is infidelity. And every eye in the room would basically look down at the table, right? Nobody wanted to make eye contact with me. It was super awkward. So what I've learned, and what I learned from other networking groups as a matter of fact, is you have to help your audience connect with you at the level of their pain.

Speaker 1:

Now, your audience potentially is not your client, right? This is depending on the group that you're in, right? Is this your church, is this your, maybe your chamber of commerce? Or maybe even a smaller group where it could get a little awkward if those folks actually became your client? But you can absolutely turn these folks into your marketing team, right?

Speaker 1:

So the elevator speech or this talk or what to say would go something like this Does anyone here know someone struggling with mental health issues? Ok, or you could even get more specific. Does anyone here know someone struggling with a troubled teen, a young child, their marriage, a loss? Right? You start to think through what you do, counselor, listening to this webcam podcast whatever we're listening to right now, watching what do you like to do as far as your counseling? Right?

Speaker 1:

You go back and you think about your ideal client, you think about your specialty, how you've been trained, the clients you enjoy, the clients that invigorate you, and that's the pain point where you connect. So you're talking to this room full of people who all just nodded their head. They're looking at you because, yes, they do know someone who struggles with their marriage, struggles with their kiddos, struggles with depression, and now they want to hear more. So they're not just putting their hands down or their heads down or playing on their phone. They're looking at you, going oh my gosh, tell me more, and you will right, because you're going to tell them who you are, what you do and what to do, right? What you do is one thing, but you need that audience to do something too. And now that they're hooked in, now that they want to know more about you, they want a call to action, and I'm going to talk about that more in just a second. So, where it comes, then our KPI number two more connection, right? We don't want to play phone tag anymore. I could say, okay, yeah, you've got this awesome thing called voicemail, or you have your email, that's how you connect. No, that's how you play phone tag, that's how you play email tag.

Speaker 1:

So, in order to increase the number of connections and decrease the number of touches and back and forth and frustration, you're going to probably have to invest in an app or some sort of software that allows you to connect immediately with a client. Now what I recommend is the 10-minute consultation. So any sort of self-scheduling software or it doesn't even have to be self-scheduling if you're uncomfortable with that for your client, but something where you can schedule a 10-minute consultation. So you know what I just said a second ago. Scratch that you do want the folks in this audience to be able to schedule that 10-minute consultation with you. Now, if that makes you uncomfortable and you're thinking, kate, I don't want anybody to have access to my schedule, y'all there are tons of apps out there that are low cost or free where you can create something called a 10-minute consultation. You can isolate that to a particular day of the week, so you don't have to blow five days on these little 10-minute consultations messing up your schedule. But something like that app will allow people in that audience to have a call to action. Right, you can have something on your website.

Speaker 1:

I had an orange button and it was the widget that went to my scheduling software and I said push the orange button, that's a call to action. If you know someone who's struggling with their marriage, struggling with mental health, struggling with their kiddo, push the orange button and schedule a 10 minute consultation with me today. Now, that makes it so easy for your audience to then connect you with their struggling friends and family, neighbors, work colleagues. Right, it's hard and I've talked about this before it's hard to go up to your neighbor and say, hey, dude, I think you need some counseling, right, jarring.

Speaker 1:

But if you went to your neighbor and you said, hey, I heard this lady today or I heard this guy today talk to my group and they said they have resources for struggling kiddos and here's the orange button you can schedule a 10 minute consultation with them and just get some information with them. And just get some information. How much easier is that for your audience? Right, to not only increase your calls KPI number one but increase the connection KPI number two. Right, you're going to get more phone calls because people want information. They want to be able to be the one to provide that to friends and family. Hey, I've got this resource right. People want to help, they want to be part of the solution and you just gave your audience a way to do that and you made it simple. You said click the orange button. They said okay. And they went to their neighbor and they said, hey, click the orange button and you let them know what to experience or what to expect when they do. They're going to be able to schedule a 10-minute consultation.

Speaker 1:

See your potential clients. They don't want to play phone tag and email tag either. Right, and in our business sometimes it's really just who picks up first, who responds first, who gets to that potential client first. Right, it's not like we have to be salesmen and saleswomen. They already need and want our services. They've already made up of getting that KPI number three, which is that first booked session. So we thought we talked about what to say to get more calls incoming right, emails, texts. But you know what I prefer. I prefer connection right, increasing the connection with some sort of scheduling app for your 10-minute consultation. So now let's get to KPI number three, that booked first appointment.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you haven't heard me teach before, I'm going to tell you now. There are two things we want out of that phone call. We either want a booked client or we want a raving fan. All right, so we know what a booked client is. What's a raving fan? Well, this goes back to you and your website and the resources and the expertise you, and only you, can provide.

Speaker 1:

So this next part you're going to be talking to this potential client about things like cost and schedule and specialty, and it may or may not be a good fit. So if it's not a good fit, you're going to direct them to resources because remember what I told you everybody wants to be part of the solution and that person will then be able to go to friends, family, colleagues and say I just talked to the most amazing person. You know I'm not able to book with them because of cost, schedule, specialty, but you've got to give this person a call and it's so easy to do Click the orange button because they have resources. They gave me information, they provided me with referrals. So it wasn't just dead air at the end of this consultation or at the end of this phone call. There was actually information. So this KPI number three is you positioning yourself as an expert in your community. I'm going to get a drink of water, all right. So more conversions. So number one prompt when you connect. All right.

Speaker 1:

So let's just imagine you've decided to use that app, you've decided to create these little 10-minute consultations. Somebody out in your audience clicked the orange button, or they told a friend or a family member hey, click the orange button. They clicked it, they scheduled a 10-minute phone call and here it is. It's time, right. So you're calling this person, right? They're not calling you, you're calling them because it's already scheduled on your calendar. So, hi, is this, mrs Smith? Is this still a good time? Those are great questions to ask at first, because they they may have forgotten about the 10 minute consultation. Remember, anxiety up, cognition down. They may be coming out of the grocery store, they may be standing in a room full of people and it's not a good time. So if you both determine yes, this is still a good time. So if you both determine yes, this is still a good time, you prompt them with tell me a little bit about what's going on. So you're giving them the message that this is going to be a 10-minute consultation. It's not going to go past 10 minutes, and I know there are people who do this different ways. So if you're not just married to this, that's totally all right. But for me, when I do the 10 minute consultation, I'm letting them know right away that I will stick to boundaries. And so in the world of couple counseling, for example, which is where I spend most of my clinical time, boundaries and being fair with how long each person gets to talk that is super important. So you're going to prompt them, tell me a little bit about what's going on and I can give you some recommendations. You always wanna balance that. Tell me this, then I'll tell you that. Here's what you can expect, right? So, number two, after they've told you and you're watching the clock or at least I am and you stop them and you say okay, just let me double check, Let me check in with you. Do you have any questions today? Remember, these folks are anxious. They've got things that are on their mind. They feel like, oh my gosh, I haven't told them everything I want to tell them. So anxiety is through the roof, which means cognition, their ability to remember any questions they might have had, could be gone as well. That's okay. So this is where you prompt them and you say you know, a lot of folks ask me about my cost and my schedule and they would probably answer oh yeah, yeah, that's great, that's what I need to know that. So if you take insurance, this is when you tell them about your insurance. If you are an out-of-network provider, this is where you let them know the cost and include how they can use your super bill to submit to their insurance. And then if they have out of network benefits, then they may be able to be reimbursed directly from by those benefits. And if you're not sure what a super bill is, I'll provide a link to that and you let them know that. And so now they've got a lot of information right. They've seen your website, so they kind of know your specialty. They've just had a conversation with you, you website, so they kind of know your specialty. They've just had a conversation with you. You've let them know your cost and your schedule and then you say would you like to book or can I book you? I've got openings on Tuesday at two o'clock and Wednesday at three o'clock. Again, you want to keep the choices small. You don't want to give them choice overload and by prompting them with that booking, you're not rushing them. You're simply saying hey, this is the part of the conversation where you get to let me know if you're ready to book or not. Right Again, we're guiding them, we're prompting them, and this is where they could become your client or your raving fan and, honestly, either one is pretty good right. So let's imagine then that it's not a good fit. Well, if it's not a good fit, that's okay. You say, hey, look, I've got some great resources on my website. So you direct them back to your website. You want them coming back to your blog. You want them coming back to your website. You want them coming back to your blog. You want them coming back to your podcast, you want them coming back to your PDF download. Or perhaps you've got an email newsletter, right, and you want them to make sure that they get that newsletter every month. Or perhaps you offer a course or some sort of 20-minute video about what to do if your therapy appointment is two months away or you're on somebody's waiting list or you're not able to get in with anyone. I can imagine what that resource, how much help that that could do that client, or actually they're not your client now because it wasn't a good fit, but now they'll have a resource. So don't think well, kate, they've got the resource, they're never going to go to therapy. Think about that for a second right. I cannot think of any sort of magical resource that would deter someone from seeking therapy or getting help if they truly truly need it are getting help if they truly truly need it, and you have to imagine that this help is going to help this not client. Remember you and how helpful you were. And if the resource is good which it will be because you're awesome they are going to consider you an authority or an expert in your community, so they'll be able to refer you to other people. So now let's switch gears and say that they're a wonderful fit for you and they book and you're like yay, kpi number three check, I've got a booked appointment, super, all right. Well, they still got to show up. So here we are at KPI number four. How are you going to make sure that they actually show up? Now? There are lots of reasons people don't show up for their first session, so let's just come up with a couple. Number one they change their mind. That always happens, right. Number two they forgot right and they find themselves at the grocery store. They find themselves in a room full of people. Number three they might have kids at home and somebody got sick, or maybe they got sick. So there are a lot of things we really can't mitigate, you know, if they change their mind or if they're in a room full of people. But one of the things you can use technology for see where I'm going here is to make sure they're receiving reminders. Now, the software I use is HIPAA compliant, so it's able to give them an email when the appointment is confirmed. It sends them another email, I think two days before the session, and then the day before the session they receive a text message reminder. And this is all within that same software that allows me to schedule that 10-minute consultation. So it's pretty cool software, it does a lot of things and it's HIPAA compliant. So you've got to have some sort of reminder system, automated system, because, remember, you're going to get busy, so all of this stuff has to be scalable. So you are reminding them. Another thing you can use technology for is to offer virtual counseling, right? So let them know. Hey, look, if you can't make it into my office at that first appointment, then I offer virtual right. So if you get the reminder and you're like, oh no, I forgot about my appointment, you can step into my favorite office an empty car. I have so many clients that use their car as a therapy room and I absolutely love it, so they can step into their car, turn on the AC, get that Wi-Fi going and still have their appointment with you, right? Your client may not realize that and you're like but Kate, I put all of that in that five paragraph email that I send them when they book Y'all anxiety up, cognition down. Your client will probably not. If they do read the entire email, they won't remember all of it. So we want to make this easy for your client to meet KPI number four, which is actually showing up to that first booked appointment. All right, so let's recap, right? So KPI number one more calls networking. Kpi number one more calls networking. And if you're listening to this, in July, I hope you're able to attend the amazing Mark Tovar. He's going to talk to us on July. Did I say May? I hope I didn't July. He's going to be talking to us July 24th at five o'clock in our free One CE webinar and he's going to be talking about networking. Not only does it build your business, but it saves your sanity. It's great to get out of that therapy room and talk to other people, so don't forget to go to kwalker training forward slash free webinar to grab your free ticket to Mark Tovar. So that's number one networking with all the things the call to action, the elevator speech, who you are, what you do and connecting at that pain point. Number two KPI more connection, which may require an app. You guys are probably wondering what app I use. If you've listened, you know what it is. It's called Full Slate Full Slate and it's HIPAA compliant. Number three KPI more conversions, which is just another way of saying booking that first appointment, and you can download to see exactly what to say. But it consists of just some prompts. We're prompting this potential client with questions, we're giving them information, we're helping them understand, maybe, what the first three sessions three to four sessions look like, so that they know what to expect and make a decision about either booking with you or becoming one of your biggest fans. And then finally, number four, which is helping them show up. They want to show up. They went through all of this to connect with you and so your software, your scheduling software, will send them, hopefully, email reminders, text message reminders, and you're going to be sure to let them know that you offer virtual if they get in a bind and they need to step into a private room or their car or something like that. All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you, thank you so much for walking Step it up and watching. Thank you so much for watching Step it up. Members get this every week, this virtual group coaching where you can ask me questions, and I love it when that happens. So I'll see you guys down the road. Have a great day.