Hey Therapist Entrepreneurs,
For the past 18 months, my newsletter has always been the same. Usually I listen to about 10 hours of podcast episodes, give you my three favorites, and tell you a story about my own life and business and how those things are related.
This week is going to be a little different.
By the time you're reading this, I'll be in El Salvador on an EO retreat. EO is Entrepreneurs' Organization, a group for seven-figure business owners who are focused on growing themselves as entrepreneurs and humans within many different industries. I want to be able to fully focus on that, so my podcast listening will have to be delayed.
But before I left, I wanted to leave you with a deep dive into a topic that keeps coming up in therapy Facebook groups and in personal one-on-ones with consulting clients. In fact, I've even been asked to make this podcast episode before.
It's about the Retention Project that is worth six figures in my business.
This Retention Project is one of the most important systems that we have at Thriving Child Center and PCIT Experts. It's why we didn't have a summer slump last year, why we are able to keep caseloads much fuller even in this economy, and why our clients often finish treatment instead of fading away.
Before I tell you how this system works, I need to tell you the story of why I built it.
Story time: what swim lessons and psychology practices have in common
I have two little kids, and I live in Texas. It's very important in Texas that your kids know how to swim. There are so many drowning deaths every year that making sure my children can swim feels like one of the most important things I can do as a parent.
So I enrolled them in swim lessons.
Every Sunday we'd go to swim class and then grab lunch afterward. It became part of our routine. Then summer happened. We had some vacations coming up, so I called the swim school and told them we'd be gone for a few weeks.
The person on the phone said, "No problem. Just call us when you're ready to come back."
I actually pushed back.
"Are you sure?" I asked. "I could just put it on my calendar right now."
They didn't want to do that. They told me to call back once our schedule stabilized. And I remember hanging up the phone thinking, "We're never going back." Not because I didn't want my kids in swim lessons. Not because I didn't think the program was good. Not because I couldn't afford it. Because scheduling things is hard.
I knew that by the time we got back from vacation, I'd be juggling work, kids, school schedules, travel, and everything else. I knew there was a very good chance that calling the swim school would fall to the bottom of my to-do list. And that's exactly what happened.
My kids never got back into swim lessons. Well, they did eventually, but somewhere else and about six months later. The swim school lost a client who wanted to be there. My kids lost months of learning. Nobody won.
I was so aware of what had happened that I called my admin team and told them that we would never do this to our clients.
If someone wants to continue working with us, we should make it as easy as possible.
That idea eventually became the Retention Project.
What is the Retention Project?
Today, we have a very specific system to make sure that we contact every single client who cancels, no-shows, or just disappears.
You know that situation where someone just disappears from your calendar and you don't know why? My goal is to find out. If someone cancels, no-shows, or just doesn't reschedule, we are reaching out to them and we are reaching out more than once in different ways, if necessary. If our system is working correctly, we get back to every single one of them to hear all of the exact details and to (hopefully!) get them back on our schedule so that they can continue to make progress.
We are able to flag the clients that we need to contact and reach out to them consistently with a process designed to help get them back on the calendar If you want to hear exactly how the Retention Project works, how we built it, how we track it, and why I believe it has been worth multiple six figures to the practice, listen to this week's podcast episode.
Next week, when I come back, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled podcast episode recommendations, as well as some new insights from the EO retreat. I obviously don't know what those are yet, but I can't wait to find out and share them with you.
Talk soon,
Leah
If it's Worth It, pass it along!
Got a fellow therapist or practice owner who would love this info? Send them this email! They can also join the list by clicking on this link. Let's help more people thrive in their businesses.
Hope these resources help you grow your practice this week! Here's to your continued growth and success!
Warmly,
Leah
CEO of Thriving Child Center and PCIT Experts
Host of Educated Parent Podcast
Host of The Worth It Practice Podcast
CEO of Worth It Practice Consulting
