What WOULD happen if your practice got busier? This is a very important question as your answers may be what are holding your practice back from reaching its full potential.
Many healthcare professionals are afraid of growth for a variety of different reasons. These resistances can be removed and replaced with enthusiasm and growth. Below, I have listed some fairly common ones and what to do about them.
10 Tips to Overcome Resistance to Growth:
1. I already have too much stress, and growth would mean more stress.
Your stress can be coming from many different sources: Inefficient scheduling, problematic staffing, patients/clients showing up late and running behind schedule, financial stress from not enough income, not enough treatment rooms, broken or malfunctioning equipment, no personal assistant, and so on. You need to locate the actual things that are causing the stress and handle the worst one first, and then the next worst, etc. Don’t put it off – then YOU are the cause of your stress.
2. My staff is already really busy at the front desk and would die of overload if I got busier.
Perhaps your staff is stronger and more able than you give them credit for. They usually want to see the practice do well and grow. Sometimes there needs to be some new systems and a structure reorganization, or a re-apportioning of the duties, or even an additional full or part time staff member to allow the practice to grow and increase your profits.
3. I don’t have enough space to see more patients.
Limited space can definitely be a problem. However, there are solutions such as extending hours and having an associate work the extra hours so the space is fully utilized. Sometimes there is an empty unit or suite beside or behind yours that you can take over and thereby be able to build more treatment spaces. Increasing your efficiency in your current space gives you more income so that you can move to a bigger location when your lease is up, or even buy your own building or unit.
4. What if I grow for a bit, hire more staff and then go back down?
We have seen certain practices that roller-coaster – that is, go up and down income-wise. These fluctuations are most often caused by lack of proper, consistent marketing. When you have a sudden growth spurt, you are worried that it’s temporary so you don’t hire anyone and instead, work your brains out and stress everyone else. Then the numbers go back down, but it’s because you didn’t keep promoting your practice while you were “too busy”. Learning how to control these factors is an important step in growing a practice.
5. I hate managing and so I don’t want more staff.
Learning how to be a great manager/CEO of your practice is a must if you want to achieve your full potential. By not wearing that “hat” skillfully and willingly, you are probably giving up about $10,000 to $30,000 per month. We train our clients to be excellent CEOs and their numbers definitely reflect this positive change!
6. I am just coasting for the next 5-10 years till I retire.
This is an interesting piece of resistance. Again, it could come from many directions: “I hate my practice and I just want to let it go its own way until I close the door one day”; or, “it’s too late to change anything now”; or “I’m tired of fighting the staff and patients”; or “I’m focusing on other interests now”; and so on. Usually, the fact of the matter is that you just need to learn how to take control of the practice, put some fun into it, make some new goals to reach by retirement date, and get the place back into action and make it worth more in the meantime and worth more when you want to sell it. Throwing away your retirement funds (practice sale amount) and “suffering” through the last 5 – 10 years of practice can be unnecessary torture. Decide to get some help and turn things around!
7. My marketing isn’t working anyway, so how will I grow?
Most practices are missing all the free and key marketing that can be done to grow. There are literally hundreds of marketing ideas to choose from and that are fairly easy to do. There are a lot of bad marketing companies around that make big promises but don’t deliver the new patients you were hoping for. So learn how to do it from inside and properly.
8. I would have to pay more taxes and I already pay too much.
This one always makes me laugh. If we help your income go up by $120,000 or more for the year (the least most of our clients increase), you may have to pay 1/3 to 1/2 of it to CRA (at most). The rest is yours to have fun with. If you have room to go up $200,000 per year, you will still net (after taxes) 1/2 to 2/3rds of it. Look at the half full cup instead of the half empty cup!
9. I don’t want to work more hours in order to generate more income.
Don’t worry, be happy. You don’t need more hours to increase production. (Our clients never have to work more hours to increase the production.) Instead, you work on eliminating the inefficiencies and put in better systems and structure to allow for an increase of production in your desired hours.
10. I wouldn’t know how to grow my practice even if I wanted to.
Good news – we do and we can help you! We have consulted over 1,500 practices across Canada one-on-one for a year or more over the last 28 years and know how to grow a practice smoothly and sustainably and put the zing back into it!
CALL US TO ARRANGE A FREE IN-DEPTH PRACTICE ANALYSIS
TO SEE HOW MUCH YOU CAN GROW
416-466-6217
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