How to Build Trust with Patients Before They Even Call Your Clinic (1)
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[00:00:00] My last video was all about how to use a video marketing to market your therapy clinic, and I'm gonna double down on that in this video 'cause I'm gonna share with you how you can build trust with your patients even before they call you. My name is Wong, I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist, and over 10 years ago I started my therapy clinic and over five years ago I started hand therapy secrets to help develop therapist's clinical skills and business skills.
And this is the business edition, dun dun. Um, so if you are an occupational therapist and you wanna start your business, or you wanna grow your business, this is for you because. Started my business in two years in, I was really stuck not knowing what to do. Um, so I was looking for resources and there wasn't too many things out there and I just, you know, didn't see a lot of OTs out there.
You know, now there's a lot of various business coaches and lots of PTs going out there, but if you're looking for someone who [00:01:00] is doing the same thing you're doing, kind of shares a lot of the. Same values and perspectives that you have, then, um, you are in the right place. So I'm gonna share with you how you can build that trust.
And if you want to work with me more, uh, personally, there's links below where you can just get on my email list and, and, um, I run a OT Business Corner program that once you. But you're in there for life and we run it every year. Um, so those are different ways to work with me, but the links below, but I'm gonna share with you how you can build trust with your patients, uh, even before they, you know, even before they call your clinic.
And I'm sharing this very specifically because a few weeks ago I had a patient come in, he came in, um, literally from a video that I've done right from a video. So my last. Video is all about like how you can get started with like creating your videos and, you know, use video as a way to, you know, to market your [00:02:00] clinic so you can attract the right people.
So I'm looking to attract very specific people into my clinic. So I Hands-on Therapy Services is a clinic in my. And I'm an out of network clinic, so yes, I do see a certain amount of insurance, like workers' comp. Um, I take on like pretty complex cases and I take Medicare. Those are all the insurances that I take.
Everything else. So pretty much everything else is out of network, right? Which means they have to make my patients have to make a decision on, um, coming to see me. So how do they decide? Well, they don't just call. Uh, the clinic and then come in. I mean, there's a small percentage of that, but the, the bigger percentage is I've got to educate them first.
I've gotta talk about their particular problems first, and then that's how I build trust with them, even before they call my clinic. So I'm gonna give you a very, you know, simple, um, example. I've got this guy, he actually, [00:03:00] um. He does AC for a living and big guy, you know, strong guy. But he came in because he injured his arm two years ago.
Two years ago, he kind of fell asleep and when he woke up he thought he was having a stroke. 'cause his whole left side was just like a hot mess. His arm wasn't working right, his leg wasn't working right, and it wasn't quite a stroke like so he got the works, he got worked up, no heart issues, no stroke, nothing.
But he had this whole left side of his arm and leg feeling numb, feeling weak, very uncoordinated like the works. He went to therapy and the therapist was like, oh yeah, we'll just work on making sure you walk better and blah, blah, blah. And he's like, yeah, but what about my arm? And they kind of disregarded it.
They're like, yeah, whatever. It's fine. You know, either we'll work on it later or it'll get better by itself later. Two years later, it has not gotten better. Two years later has not gotten better. He, um, finished with his [00:04:00] therapy, was getting personal training. Personal training was like, yeah, lift this.
Don't be a mm. You know, because he's a big dude and he's strong, so, you know, why can't you lift this? You know? And so just to a certain extent, you know, that's what personal trainers are. They, they like. They're there to motivate you. You know, I want someone to, I don't want someone to like punch me, you know, to be like, yeah, come on, you can do it.
You know, like that's what they do. And there's absolutely, you know, generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with that. Like, I personally probably would like that. Um, 'cause I, I need a little swift kick in the butt to do certain things, you know? Uh, but his arm was really. Not working very well. It wasn't so much the pain, but he had a lot of like numbness, weakness, uncoordinated, and he's just like, something is wrong here.
But he just didn't know where to go. He didn't know what to look for. And I guess [00:05:00] I made a. Series of videos, um, talking about very particular types of problems when it comes to the nerves. Right. And his sister saw it and was like here. So she shared the video with him and then he started to watch more of my videos.
And when he came in, when he called, you know, my staff spoke to him. They're like, Hey, would you like to, um. You know, come in for a free discovery visit or would you like to come in for, um, an initial evaluation? He was like, sign me out for an initial evaluation. And we came in and I spent a lot of time, I spoke to him, we did the evaluation, we did the treatment, and we got some results on that first, on that first uh, visit.
Not all of the results, just some of the results say, Hey. This, if there's been a change, I can help you. Right. Um, and he bought a whole package. He was like, I'm committed, I want the therapy. Um, and [00:06:00] in his second visit, 'cause I was like, wow, this guy like. You know, um, it seemed like it was going too fast. So, so sometimes I'm like, um, I have this mentality of, it was like, if it's too fast, you know, um, you know, easy come, easy go, that type of mentality.
Sometimes when they come in really quickly, they also have a tendency to leave really quickly too. So I'm always kind of weary and I just wanna make sure that, that someone who's coming in. Um, they're gonna get the, the value of, of coming to my therapy clinic. So I was like, huh, this is really interesting.
Like, he came in and he, you know, bought the session and sometimes you can think like, oh my God, it's so good. That's why. But I was like, Hmm, there's a little bit more to this. And sure enough, in the second visit I was talking to him and I was like, oh, by the way, 'cause he is like, oh, I Googled you, or whatever.
I was like, how'd you, how'd you find us by the way? And then he was, he shared more and he's like, oh, you know, um, I've been dealing with this problem for two years. He kept kind of talking about like the, all the different specialists he had [00:07:00] gone to and everyone kind of had disregarded his, his arm and hand because he looks strong.
Like he's a big guy. He's strong like his arms for the most part work. It's just there's this weird sensation with it. Um, and I addressed that in one of my videos. I was talking about the nerves, I was addressing people's concerns, and he just knew, he was like, I knew that you knew what you're talking about because I was watching your videos.
And when you think about how you can build trust with your patients, even before they call your clinic, even before they come in, they meet you even before they, you know, do more business with you. It's building that trust. It's creating those videos that I'm. You know, constantly talking about, we are in a video driven world right now.
Images are great, singing, dancing, it's fine to a certain extent, but if you want to attract people into your [00:08:00] therapy business, like I'm not selling t-shirts here, right? I'm not selling t-shirts, I'm not selling, um, you know, $5 shit that you can buy online. People have to make a decision to come to your therapy clinic to take care of a problem that they could also just ignore.
So we are, therapy is considered a grudge, pur purchase, meaning like, there's, there's no excitement. You don't look better because you, um, come in for therapy. People are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on their nails, hundreds and thousands of dollars on their hair. But then when it comes to therapy, it's like, well, why?
Why wouldn't they? Spend that, and it's not because they don't value their health, it's just because they're not used to spending that kind of money for therapy. And therapy makes you feel better. Therapy makes you feel better, but you don't look better [00:09:00] necessarily. You know, other people can't look at you and be like, you went girl.
You went to therapy, and that's why you look so good. Right? Not, you know, they just know that you can, you can move your arms, uh, that you can do a sport, you can do an activity, but they're not, they don't know how you feel. So your patients, it's the same thing, right? It's like nobody can see it. So, uh, and it takes effort.
You know, it takes effort. People just wanna come in. I had a guy come in, he's like, well, can't you just do something? Can't you just crack it or do something? I was like, no, you went somewhere and you got a crack and look at where you are. You're here in my clinic. It didn't freaking work. And it's because therapy can take a little bit more effort.
Right? It can. And so how do we educate our patients? We educate like our potential patients. We educate them by creating valuable information that they don't know. So you have to think about the kind of information that you're putting out there that is beyond what Google is doing. [00:10:00] Right. You just put out there like, um, the, you know, and, and now with ai, like everyone's putting out really generic information, right?
They're putting out very generic information. Oh, this is your problem. You know, X you have an, I don't know, you have carpal tunnel. This is what it looks like. This is, you go to therapy and you wear a brace, like, that's it. But your information as a, the, as a clinician, needs to be more specific. It needs to address why they should take care of it.
It needs to address the, the consequences of not taking care of it. It needs to address the consequence of getting bad therapy. Oh. What's the difference between good therapy and bad therapy? Shit, yes. We, as, um, therapy clinics need to put that type of information out there. And I know you might look and say, oh, well there's so much information out there.
But [00:11:00] nobody's doing it the way you're doing it, right? I had to get over that too. Like, oh, I would look and I'm inundated with stuff because I'm looking for it, but most people. They're not, they're only looking when they have the problem. And then you wanna share, nobody's sharing it the way you share it.
No one's doing it the way you are doing it. I had to get that out of my head when I first started as well. 'cause you think, oh, like there's all these people sharing videos, but nobody's sharing it the way you're sharing it. Um, and someone's gonna resonate with you that they're not gonna resonate with someone else.
And so you're essentially denying your. Potential future patient, um, the opportunity to work with you because they could connect with you and they are not connecting with other businesses, right? So I had to really get over that myself. Um, I still have to do it now. Like, look, I'm, I'm doing, um, business videos.
If you are starting out your business [00:12:00] and you are wanting to grow your business, yeah, there's a lot of people doing this shit, but nobody's doing it the way I'm doing it. Nobody's sharing with you the way I'm sharing with you. And I hope that if something about the topics and the way I share with you resonate with you and you're like, you know, she sounds like she could help me.
My links are below, you can work with me. Right? Um, and so. Creating the videos, you know, and sharing your perspective, um, is the, one of the best ways, right? One of the best ways to build trust with someone who doesn't even know you and doesn't know that, hey, like they, they, they even needed your help for as much as they needed it, right?
So, you know, if you are starting your therapy business, you're an occupational therapist starting your therapy business, you're an occupational therapist looking to grow your business, I was that person. You know, two years into my business. I was like, the things that I'm doing, it's not working. I need help.
And I started to look [00:13:00] for it and you know, I, that's when I started, um, down the rabbit hole, you know, buying into various different programs and, um, getting business coaching so that I could too learn business skills. Just 'cause you're a therapist, just 'cause you're a clinician doesn't, you are really great at what you do, right?
'cause you, you wouldn't start your therapy business unless you thought that you were really good at. You know, X, Y, and ZI started my therapy clinic 'cause I'm like, I, I know my shit when it comes to hand therapy. Um, but you don't have the business skills. That's a whole nother. Area of skills that need to be developed.
So, um, don't sell yourself short. You know, make sure that you're getting the help that you need, just like you want your patients to get the help that they need, right? So I hope this video helps build trust with your potential patients. Build it. There's so many different ways of doing it. One way is video format.
I'm a big fan of it. Most people are consuming video content now, [00:14:00] and you've just gotta get on that ball and start, you know, start doing it. So let me know if you need help. If you like this video, please consider liking subscribing and my links to work with me are below. So hopefully see you on the inside.
