In order to truly have a two way conversation, there has to be a mutual understanding of words and phrases.  This post will focus on defining words and setting context for our Conversion conversations.

Lead Generation = the process of creating sales leads which might convert into a sale for the company.

In the context of your physical therapy practice,  your Marketing Plan plays the role of making people (sales  leads) aware of you and what you offer.  These leads may come from various sources or activities.  For example, these may be via the Internet, through calls, through advertisement, list purchase, direct marketing, through networking, direct mail, community involvement, word of mouth discussions, etc.  (We will delve into the Mindset of the Marketing Plan in the future.)

So with that said, a sales lead is a person that has the interest and authority to purchase your service (Physical Therapy).  A sales lead is the person calling your office with questions who has the ultimate goal of “Scheduling a Physical Therapy appointment”.

Now what happens at the time of the phone call, does this person schedule and show for their evaluation?  What happens or doesn’t happen on the phone call is now measured as Lead Conversion.

Lead Conversion = Person who made phone call to your office is scheduled and seen for a PT evaluation.

Lead Conversion is calculated as the number of new patients scheduled AND seen divided by total inquiry calls to your office.  For example, 100 phone calls come in to your office and 80 of the calls were scheduled and seen = 80% Conversion rate.

The last phrase we need to define for our discussion on Conversion is Schedule Ready Referral.  This phrase was first used by Jim Plymale, CEO of Clinicient.  We have had many conversations on the value of measuring Lead Conversion.

A Schedule Ready Referral is a sales lead who calls your office having already been sold on your Value.  This person will schedule with little to no discussion.  The number of calls who are a schedule ready referrals will be directly proportional to the work you do both with your internal and external marketing.

Now that we have defined Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Schedule Ready Referral, we can begin to discuss ways to turn potential patients into scheduled patients.  We can then take it one step further and discuss how to make sure the scheduled patients consistently attend their appointments.

We all clear now?   EXCELLENT…… Feel free to post a question in the comment section, I will respond.

My name is Jerry Durham and I love the Conversion side of business!

There are many metrics that you probably track to measure the short and long term success of your practice. Though, one metric is the key to unlocking all of the rest, and that metric is New Patients Seen.   The new patient metric is the single most important measurement for your practice.  New patients drive your revenue and ultimately your profit!

How deep are you digging into this number though? What more can these New Patients tell me?

If you dig a little deeper and ask more questions of the data….and then ask yet more questions, then you will have the data to make your company MORE successful and MORE efficient.  Can you currently answer all the questions below?….you should be able to.  The data is already at your fingertips.

How are your New Patients finding you?…..really.

How many people called your office trying to schedule an evaluation? (Hint: more than you think)

How are the people who call your office but dont schedule finding you?

Why are people not scheduling with you when they call you?

What Providers are sending you patients?

Is your Marketing generating revenue?

 All these questions can be answered in one place at one time.

This all comes down to Referral Conversion Rate, or for short Conversion Rate.  Conversion Rate, simply put, is how many people who call your office turn into a New Patient seen.

If you only track the new patient seen in your practice, without tracking your Conversion Rate, you are missing a huge opportunity.  There is tremendous value in knowing how many potential new patients call your office everyday, and why they did or did not translate into scheduled visits.