Being in session with clients consumes the majority of your time. Sprinkle in the administrative responsibilities of running your private therapy practice and it’s easy to start feeling overwhelmed.
Thankfully, with a few purposeful automations managing a therapy practice becomes a lot easier.
1. Automated Inquiry Follow-Up
Potential client inquiries come from a variety of sources such as: Psychology Today, Therapy Den, Social Media, Google My Business, and more.
If you are sitting in a session with a client when an inquiry comes in, you miss out on an opportunity to work with a new client.
As more time goes on the person who submitted their inquiry regarding your services is more likely to lose interest or find another therapist who can give them the attention they deserve.
Using the power of automation you can provide the inquirer with the attention that they need while getting them on your schedule.
The image above is an automation provided to Chisme subscribers where an inquiry from Psychology Today is automatically added as a contact to Chisme, an opportunity is created, the therapist/front office is notified, and the contact automatically receives an email (and text if a number is provided) that their inquiry has been received.
To make the situation even better, the contact is encouraged to use Chisme’s online scheduling to book an available time with the therapist to determine if the therapist may be the right fit.
Without lifting a finger one simple automation works 24/7 to ensure that potential client opportunities, regardless of where they come from, never slip through the cracks.
2. Missed Call Text Back
Similar to not missing leads from psychology directories, your phone could ring at any time with a potential new client.
If you are lucky enough to be one of the results when someone Google’s “Therapist Near Me” and your business listing shows up, you might get a phone call.
At that exact moment, the person calling is actively seeking out a therapist. Their mindset is one of needing to take action and if they can’t get ahold of you, they might just move on to the next available therapist.
But, you are in session and can’t answer the phone and the call goes to voicemail.
You aren’t worried about it though. You rest easy knowing that in about 30 seconds the person who called is going to get a text message that prompts them for additional information.
If the caller is an existing client, you rest assured knowing that the client receives instructions on how to best contact you directly.a
3. Qualifying Potential Clients
Scheduling potential clients on your calendar without knowing if they are a good fit for your services can be a recipe for disaster.
There are a large number of reasons that the person interested in your services might not be a good fit:
- Insurance you cannot work with
- Not an ideal client
- Cannot work with their schedule
- Services not in the budget range
- And more…
Collecting information about the potential client’s situation before getting on a call with them is a guaranteed way to save time and refer the potential client to a therapist that can better provide them the care and support they deserve.
Using Chisme’s online scheduling feature, a potential client is required to answer a handful of questions before they can finalize scheduling a call with you.
Once the questions have been filled out and submitted you automatically receive a notification of the upcoming appointment and have an opportunity to review their answers.
Without any friction a potential new client contacts you, selects a time available on your calendar, qualifies themselves for services, and secures an available time.
4. Onboarding New Clients
Congrats! A new client is starting services with you and they must be excited…
Or are they?
Depending on the reason they are starting services, previous experiences or simply being new to the concept of therapy a new client might be a bit apprehensive about starting therapy sessions with you.
Setting expectations with clients before starting services will drastically improve your business in two ways:
- Client knows what to expect and is educated on what new terms mean and how to best contact you.
- Retention (time the client works with you) improves as a result of their expectation of the services meeting your expectations of the services you provide.
Chisme’s memberships (course hosting) feature can be set up to easily and automatically onboard new clients and provide them access to a library of resources and videos.
Combined with a drip sequence (a series of touch points over time), you can provide your new clients with a “red carpet” onboarding experience that gives them a solid impression of you, your business, and therapy services before starting.
5. Invoicing & Payment Reminders
For cash-pay practices, Chisme offers an easy and effective invoicing solution.
Chisme is not an alternative to a full-blown EMR, however, offering your clients a convenient way to pay online via email or text message is a direct way to collect revenue for your services.
Powered by Stripe, your business can take payment from clients via all major debit and credit cards.
When invoices become past-due gentle-nudge reminders to the client can be automatically sent.
Clients receive a copy of the transaction via email and you can be notified when an invoice is completed.
One Frictionless System
Setting up systems and automations for your private therapy practice might be intimidating.
The upfront time invested to automate some repetitive and time-eating tasks pays off dividends the longer or more frequently the automation performs.
Therapists who use Chisme are set up with the tools they need to win back some of their time during the white-glove onboarding process. Grab a time with our team to learn more about how Chisme can help you scale your business with less headache.
