New Patient Journey

Actions to support business long term and facilitate better clinic outcomes by building rapport with our patients.

Why?

·       Add value

·       Earn patient trust

·       Better outcomes

·       More referrals

EMOTIONAL CLIENT BANK ACCOUNT TO BUILD RAPPORT

WITHDRAWALS (-)

-          Rude

-          Late

-          Indifferent

-          Not as expected

-          Forgetful

-          Dismissive

DEPOSITS (+)

-          Courteous

-          On time

-          Respect

-          Consistent

-          Follow through

-          Attentive

 As much as possible have these processes automated.  Anything that can’t be automated needs to go on the New Patient Journey Check List to make sure we are following through with every new patient.

 

What we can include in our New Patient Journey: -

BEFORE THEIR APPOINTMENT

·       Welcome email

·       Appointment reminder – “Looking forward to seeing you”

·       Welcome call

·       Education resources

·       Introductory video – Meet your practitioner

·       Link to intake form

·       Information about the clinic, what to expect, what to bring etc. Could send them a link to a dedicated new client experience page on our website.

 

DURING THEIR APPOINTMENT

Reception

·       Greet them by name, introduce yourself by & engage in first 20 sec (see first 20 Seconds Policy)

·       Welcome room experience - Offer tea or water.  What else could we do to make their visit more memorable?

·       Smile, make eye contact – if busy on the phone or with another client at least acknowledge

·       New client induction at reception – come out from behind the front desk, setting expectations so that it reduces issues in the future

·       New patient information –prefilled online

·       If not prefilled – can have a cover page on top of the intake form saying “Welcome …(Name)” as a little extra so they know we are expecting them

Practitioner

·       New client induction process if reception was not able to do it due to time constraints

·       Appointment procedure explained

·       Treatment

·       Don’t need to say or do EVERYTHING in the first appointment.  The most important things is to build rapport & trust with all of these processes

·       Show them back to reception for rebooking procedure

Reception

·       Rebook & payment

·       Something to take home – Welcome Pack

 

AFTER THE APPOINTMENT

·       Check in nurture call within 5 days of first appointment

·       Follow through with what ever has been promised in the

·       Email treatment plan & resources

·       Make contact with GP/referrers – letter or email

·       New patient thank you letter – activate automated email sequence?

 

Ideas for building an awesome “Welcome Pack”

 

  1. Feeling Welcome

-          Welcome letter explaining why we are grateful for them to have chosen us and our commitment to them

2.     Getting to know us 

-          Page about the team members (profiles) like you would on a website

-          Brochure/flyers

-          Latest newsletter

-          Business card

-          Education on other services that we provide

-          Social media channels to connect and engage with us, receive bi-monthly newsletter

3.     Surprise or Wow Element

-          Gift e.g. a sample of a product, hand cream, a spikey ball or band for physical therapy, a nutrition or supplement...etc

-          Vouchers or discounts with your partners

 What’s Next?   

  • Over the next 2 months we will be slowly introducing aspects of the New Client Journey into our systems so as not to create overwhelm.  This will be a process of tinkering what does/doesn’t work and who is responsible for each task. 

  • Let’s throw some ideas around in a Slack thread to determine what to include our welcome pack. I’d love some collaborating across the whole team. I would love to schedule some time for us all to sit down & have a meeting but scheduling constraints means that this is logistically impossible

  • Progress over perfection – we can refine things over time to make this process & welcome more professional but I say lets make a start! Keep it simple, easy to implement and relevant but more importantly valuable to the client