The Performance Doctor: Retention, Not Generation

One of the least talked about subjects is client retention.

There are two types of retention:

• Immediate

• Monthly/Annually

We are going to talk about retention within the care plan, your immediate retention.

Why do patients cancel their follow up appointments?

Simple. Two reasons.

1. You didn’t get them a win within 72 hours

2. They didn’t feel like they could trust you.

People don’t usually leave because you failed them long-term. They leave because they didn’t win fast enough.

Maybe you set up some milestones from the beginning with visible progress marks. Think of gamification. How can you entertain and provide wins at the same time?

Maybe you have an ascension ladder — typical in a progressive rehab program.

In most places it’s called the onboarding.

This can be done in a variety of ways. In our online dry needling course we have it set up in this manner:

• Welcome email

• Quick win (homework)

• Check-in

• Mini-win (homework)

• Next Steps (following module)

Once the onboarding stage is over, I send out a weekly check-in e-mail. This is much different from our in-person course, and requires more back-end nurturing.

How can you give your client an early win, and guide them up the ladder to complete the program?

Here’s your activity for this week:

1. Map out what your onboarding looks like. Is it e-mail? A mini-course? Daily SMS reminders? How often? How long will your onboarding be? (Keep it short 3-7 days)

2. Develop your (30-60-90) milestone plan. What’s the evidence someone made it to 30 days into your rehab program? What expectations do you have for them?

This will help you engineer your patients wins even before they happen.

Next Tuesday: Operating Systems to Scale

Until next time,

In health and strength,