By Julia Rose
Was Robin Valadares always good at looking at his numbers? Admittedly not.
He had no firsthand experience with budgeting, personal finance, or economics. But knowing he was in business for himself, and by himself, made him curious to learn more.
The physiotherapist and financial literacy educator explains how he taught himself how to understand the data of his business, and where to start if you want to do the same.
Why should wellness practitioners use data?
Data supports the feelings and instincts you have about your business. Data helps you legitimize what’s going on so you can plan time off, hire the right people, and forecast the future.
You might see a busy waiting room and think “this month has been chaotic.” But does that translate to new assessments, follow-ups, and revenue? The wonderful thing about data is that it validates what you’re noticing and feeling. It also helps with your hiring and retention: you can tell new hires what their anticipated client load and revenue will be, which is more effective than leaving them to fly blind with, “we’re usually pretty busy.”
I’ve never used data analytics in my business. Where do I start?
Start with two things: what are your revenue sources and what are the costs incurred to generate that revenue (your expenses)? As a practitioner, revenue is generated by the number of people you see. After that, are you paying a percentage split to the clinic owner? Do you rent materials? What about dues and subscriptions to software? Do you know how much that is per month or per year?
This leads to the next important concept: at the end of the week, month, or fiscal period — are you in a revenue surplus, a deficit, or are you revenue neutral? If you don’t have a good understanding of your expenditure on a monthly basis, or your net bottom line, it’s hard to figure out what your goals are and how to work towards them.
How can I avoid feeling overwhelmed by the data?
Break it into smaller pieces. Get some software you find intuitive and fun to use. What numbers stick out to you? Can you dive deeper into that? Can you learn something about the next three months, or the previous three? Initially, I played around with my accounting software. I have a habit where I look at my numbers on Saturday morning with hot coffee. Many software companies (Jane included) also have a bunch of tutorials on their website or YouTube to help you out.
My data shows I have a revenue deficit. What should I do differently?
Take a look at your industry locally and view your information in context. You want to compare apples to apples. How much is your local competition charging? To find this out, I’ve either called the front desk or gone to other clinic’s websites to do a thorough look around. Are you charging in line with the market? Or is there something else to examine — perhaps your expenses are outweighing your revenue? Use your software to take a look and chat with a mentor if you need help.
What do you keep in mind when the business is slow?
My rule is no text messages, no emails, and nothing that’s simulated. I pick up the phone and call clients I haven’t heard from in a while. It’s important to ask yourself, have they graduated from your services, or do they need a touch point?
How do you measure your success?
I measure success in two main ways:
1. Diversity of referrals
The opposite of diversity of referrals is a concentration of referrals. This happens if you have one family doctor or one orthopedic surgeon referring to you often. This person is just one revenue source for you. What happens if that person is on paternity leave, retires, or goes on vacation?
I look for success in having a wide referral base. I like to have doctors as well as smaller practices referring to me, word of mouth through patients, soccer teams, or community groups.
2. Overall client satisfaction
Physiotherapy is not necessarily built to have people return to you forever. You want to service your client’s needs, improve their quality of life, and get them back to doing what they love.
This measure of success is so meaningful to me. Having good quality Google reviews, having people come up to me in the supermarket and say, “Hey Robin, thank you for getting me back into volleyball!” This fills me up and is why I got into the industry in the first place.
How important is patient retention?
If your retention is 50 or 40%, then that means that for every two people you treat, one of them is not going to show back up. That’s odd. You want to pay attention to that. At the same time, if someone has come in 90 times in the last year — that’s great retention — but you have to ask, what am I doing as a therapist that I’m not progressing this person towards their goals?
You also want to make sure you’re looking at what business looked like last year. Are there seasonal changes that account for dips in the business? Let’s say the number of new assessments for the month drops from 10 to one. What’s happening in June to July? You’ll see, oh right, that’s the end of the school year.
You have to look at the context or else you’re gonna draw faulty conclusions.
Our business is unique. We don’t necessarily measure success by the number of times a client returns. My model and mindset is: can I provide good quality service? Can I enhance that person’s life? Can I have more raving fans because I’ve done a good job for them? If my clients are happy and living their lives, I’m happy!
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