2 Secret Tools to Convert Even the Most Skeptical Audience Member into Motivated Paying Patients
OK, so last time we focused on how to get people to your workshop with a simple 3 step process. (If you missed the blog post, How I got 21 PT Patients from a 1hr Workshop, you can read it here).
And in that post I shared that I’m presently driving 100% of my Workshop traffic with print ads and postcards.
No social media.
No email.
No website.
Just plain, boring print (that was supposed to have died off years ago in the early 2000s).
So now you have a room full of people who’ve already gone through several steps:
1. They read your long copy ad about your Physical Therapy Clinic and Workshop. So we know they’re a reader (that’s really good for us…readers make better customers in any industry especially PT. WE WANT READERS).
2. They picked up the phone and called to register for the PT Workshop – giving their name and phone number.
3. They followed through and actually showed up. This means they’re capable of getting themselves up and out of bed in the morning. They have reliable transportation and they showed up on time. All GREAT indicators that this could be someone we want to work with.
Alright, a room packed full of people… So what do we need to say to convert this room of likely skeptical, reliable and dependable readers who have raised their hand and said, “Yes, I have sciatica (or back pain, or neck pain, or knee pain, etc) and I want to learn more about how I can heal naturally and get back to normal again”?
Here’s what I’ve learned from now 9 years in the trenches of doing Workshops…
First, I’m going to share what I did in the beginning, which is what I see most other PTs doing and why that’s a HUGE mistake.
And then I’m going to share the two things that really make our PT Workshops a success and put us on the map.
And how you can do the same.
What We Think People Want to Hear…
You know, the more I think about it, it’s not really our fault.
We go to school, a PT College or University, we write a ton of papers and likely had to do a fair share of presentations.
The problem is mostly everyone who ever read our papers OR sat and listened to our presentation was a PT or professor or was going to be a PT one day.
Getting an “A-“ on a presentation is a bit different than converting a room full of skeptics into motivated patients.
And it requires a different mindset, language and skill set.
So let’s take a look at the most important aspect: LANGUAGE.
As PTs, we tend to think our ability to attract Physical Therapy patients is based on What We Say.
Long story short, that’s a myth – not true.
But believing that people in our audience are going to be impressed and attracted to us based on What We Say, we talk at our audience and end up driving them away.
Not good.
So What Do You Do in a Workshop to Attract People to Schedule?
Short and simple…
Demonstration is the most effective thing you can do to show the skeptic in your audience that your PT services can help them.
Most are wondering, “Can this really help me?”
So you can talk about it.
Or you can show it.
I’ve tried both. Showing it through a live demonstration is light years better.
In one of my first Workshops (we had 25 people in the room), I treated a 70 something year old grandma-type. I think her name was “Millie.”
She could barely walk up to the front of the room and needed help getting on the treatment table.
In watching her move, she could not extend and was limited in side bending to the right.
I did a simple hands-on PT treatment explaining to the audience in lay terms what I was doing.
The entire process took 5 minutes.
When we were done, Millie got up from the table on her own.
Her eyebrows raised up a bit (the surprised look).
And she said, “Wow, I feel better.”
When she stood up, she bent backwards, then bent to the right.
“No pain. NONE whatsoever” and Millie broke into a little dance.
I don’t remember the exact numbers but nearly everyone in the room scheduled.
And the real nugget is: if someone is in our audience their number one question is, “Will this work for me?”
You can tell them or show them.
I’d show them with a live demonstration.
The Second Key Which Put Our Workshops on the Map
Before the Workshop begins, you need to know where you are going.
What do you want to happen at the end?
Do you want people to come up to you after the event and say, “Thank you. That was interesting. I’ll have to think about this or talk with my doctor. You are sooooooo smart!”
(If you’re getting that, they’re all bad indicators).
My personal goal is to get people running to the window to schedule an appointment.
Maybe yours is something different.
(But when it comes time to pay bills each month, I need people on the schedule so we can pay the bills.)
One of the keys I’ve stumbled upon to make this happen smoothly, consistently and automatically is the Workshop Worksheet.
This is a single sheet that the audience member fills in as we go through the Workshop.
It keeps them engaged.
And if they fill it in (which nearly 100% of people do), they get something at the end.
Which happens to be an appointment.
(By the way, if you’re a Private Practice Physical Therapist and are looking to improve your Workshop Events and attract more New Patients, Direct Access, Cash Pay or out of network, you can CLICK HERE to register for a free training I’m putting on to show all the tools and tricks I use in my workshops.)
The other thing the Worksheet does is keep me on task.
If you see the Worksheet, you’ll see that 75% of the content is basically 3 major points.
25% is letting them know why I’m an expert for Sciatica and Back Pain.
With each of the 3 BIG points, I use “point-story-point”.
So I’ll go through the 3 Common Causes of Back Pain.
And for each cause I’ll share one story of someone I treated successfully with that condition.
It keeps my presentation moving along and more importantly it’s interesting.
Next time I’ll cover the process of how we actually schedule people from the workshop.
I get a steady dose of questions on this from other practice owners including:
“How do I schedule patients for an exam if I don’t have Direct Access?”
“Do patients need a script to schedule?”
“What do we do with Medicare patients?”
I’ll answer these next time.
Hope this helps you,
PS –
If you’re serious about hosting PT Workshops…and are looking for more in depth information, sign up for a free Physical Therapist Training and Workshop where I show you the exact tools I use in my workshops, and to get a chance to get a copy of my worksheet, and the postcard and print ad I use to drive traffic to the workshop.
