What’s a Patient Worth?

I wanted to first thank Jerry and Sturdy for the opportunity to post on their exciting new practice business website.

I’m David Straight, PT and my passion is helping physical therapy private practices with marketing especially through the use of the Internet. My company provides physical therapy private practices with top quality and affordable:
· Websites
· Newsletters
· Survey systems
· Search engine listing
· Pay-per-click advertising
· Corporate identity – logos and stationery

I wanted to talk about a concept that isn’t taught in school and is often overlooked by new practice owners and seasoned PT professionals alike. It is the concept of “lifetime market value”.

Lifetime market value describes the value of a patient or referral source over the lifetime of your business. Let’s think of this concept in terms of a patient. When one patient comes in your door and you see him/her for one course of treatment, you may make, say $800, for the sake of this discussion. If you treat that patient well, exceed their expectations, they may come back to you 3 to 4 times over the lifetime of your business. In essence, that patient is really worth $3200.00. You can quickly see why it is so important to provide the best service possible and the potential rewards for you hard work.

Let’s take the concept a step further. The patient goes back to the doctor and talks you up. That same patient also tells two friends. The lifetime value of that patient could then be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

How does this concept relate to what my company, www.e-rehab.com does? We provide you with a website that will provide a great image of your practice, answers FAQ’s, and describes how patients can benefit from PT. Our newsletter system welcomes patients to the practice even before their initial evaluation and stays in touch with them after discharge.

The Five Second Marketing Plan
If you want to be successful in a service business, here is a marketing plan that is sure to lead to success:
1. Realize that your patients are customers and they have expectations!
2. Exceed those expectations.
3. Look for ways to improve your service every day.

My parting thoughts are that you need to realize the lifetime market value of your customers (your patients), provide great and dynamic customer service, and if you need help using the most powerful communications tool to do this (i.e. the Internet) give me a call.

David Straight, PT, MPT, OCS is the President of www.E-rehab.com. He can be reached at 800-468-5161, email: dave@e-rehab.com or on the web at www.e-rehab.com .