Have you noticed a slow down in private practice appointments during the holiday season?
It’s not uncommon for our practices to slow down around the holidays, whether it’s due to open slots or folks canceling on shorter notice. It happens. Dare I say: it’s normal.
Let’s be clear: vacations are good and healthy. And that includes vacations from therapy. So I’m not here to try to convince you to try to get your clients to stay on your caseload during the holidays.
But, it’s also really alarming if our bottom line depends on clients consistently coming through the door to pay our bills.
Today I want to offer a few tips for when you experience a slow down in private practice.
6 Tips For The Holiday Lull
1) Remind Clients Of Your Cancellation Policy
Remind folks before the holiday season that you have a cancellation policy and review its stipulations.
If you don’t have a cancellation policy in place, this is a good time to think about whether it makes sense for you to have one. Check out my article on no-shows, if you would like to learn more.
2) Plan Vacations During Slow Periods
Observe patterns over the years and plan your vacations to fall during those slower times.
Do you currently feel like you can’t afford to take a vacation from your practice? Then it might be helpful to restructure how you set things up during the weeks you are working. If you do this, you can enjoy the slow weeks rather than worry about paying that month’s bills.
I have a video going over how to plan your schedule and rate in advance so you know how much to expect to earn in a year. This will help you plan how many weeks you want to work and how many vacation weeks you want scheduled.
3) Build Buffer in Your Income
If your income is set up so that there is absolutely no wiggle room for any lulls then it is going to be anxiety-producing when the slow downs do come.
You might want to consider tagging a buffer onto your cash rate.
A small change can go a long way. For example, if you raise your rate for your 20 weekly clients by $5 per session for 46 weeks of the year, that would increase your annual income by $4600.
That small change might be enough of a buffer to give you peace of mind when things get slow.
You can take a look at how much of a buffer you’d like to have based on how things played out during your year prior. Then, do some math, and increase your rate accordingly as needed.
4) Beef Up Your Marketing Around Slow Periods (Or Right After)
Sometimes we feel surprised by the lull when it comes, even if it tends to come at the same time every year. Sometimes, the slow period comes at an odd time of year too.
One strategy is to give a bit more effort to your marketing before the slowdown hits. For example, if you know you usually have a slow period in December, you can start ramping things up in September or October in preparation.
This strategy has a bit of risk. You may feel like you’re working beyond your capacity before the lull. Then, if the anticipated slowdown doesn’t come, your schedule is over-full.
Alternatively, you can ramp up your marketing while the lull is present since you have a little more time in your schedule. This would fill your practice a bit more after the slowdown. Again, this option involves some extra work. But, it can help in tandem with some of these other options.
5) Have A More Robust Marketing Strategy Overall
In general, having a more well-rounded marketing approach can bring a steadier stream of referrals. When a slow down in private practice occurs you can accept more of those referrals.
In other words, if you’d like to avoid a slow-down in your practice altogether, then it makes sense to build up your marketing so you consistently have more inquiries coming in than you’re available to take on.
If you are successful in building up your rate of referrals you will need a system for how to respond to all the inquiries you receive. This can become a really big task! I actually scaled back my marketing approach over the years because I couldn’t keep up with replying to the daily inquiries.
6) Foster Additional Revenue Streams
If you have other ways to generate income then you are not exclusively relying on your private practice income. I’m listing this suggestion last because it might not be the right fit for everyone. And this one takes the most amount of advance preparation. It wouldn’t be a help if you are experiencing a lull right now.
But, this is a route I’ve taken and it does fit well for some. And maybe by this time next year, you will have another source of income that offers a soft cushion to land on.
There are a ton of ways to build an additional source of income. You don’t have to start an online business (unless you want to!).
You could do something as small as sublet your office when you’re not using it. Or you might like to consult or teach or do something entirely different.
For more ideas, take a look at my article about alternative career choices for therapists.
Those are just a few tips to help during a slow down in private practice or a holiday lull. I hope some of these suggestions provide some peace of mind when the inevitable slow downs come.
Need Some Marketing Help?
After reading this article are you thinking that your marketing could use a little boost? If so, I have a whole YouTube channel dedicated to videos to help therapists improve their marketing strategies.
I also have an online course that helps you build a client attraction system. That way you can more reliably count on clients finding your practice.
Until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well!
-Marie
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