Running a successful therapist practice is not as easy as it might sound. You probably choose to perform all the admin jobs yourself, which either eats away at the time you could spend in consultations or extends your working hours. There are challenges with any business, but when you are a sole trader – as many therapists are – there’s a lot more to take on.
We’re going to take a look at some of the most prevalent challenges that come with running such a business and suggest a solution that may interest you. Let’s start with a basic problem – managing your appointments.
Appointment Management
Managing appointments and bookings are at the very heart of running a therapist practice. Even with a computerized system, it can be difficult to keep up with all your open and filled slots. However, we recommend software that helps therapists manage their practices – and indeed any other business of this type – called missed.com. It’s a clever software tool that uses a cloud-based booking system, so let us explain.
What if your clients could access a calendar displaying all your current open slots? Then, they can choose the one that is most convenient for them. You create this calendar by selecting the hours you want to work and blocking any you need to keep clear. The calendar – or diary, if you like – is in the cloud, and when they book a slot, you get a notification, and the diary is automatically updated.
That’s one feature of missed.com – perhaps the main one and certainly the feature that the tool is built around – and the benefits are many. It’s cloud-based, so more secure, you get a notification, so you know where you stand, you open only the slots convenient to you, and you don’t have to spend time making appointments with clients. Also, you and the client get a reminder close to the appointment, thus reducing the likelihood of no-shows.
Remote Consulting
Among the growing trends in therapy is that of a move towards remote consulting. This is useful for talk therapy where the client perhaps does not feel up to travelling to a face-to-face meeting. Missed.com offers them the convenience of booking the appointment as described above and has a video call feature that can be used to facilitate the consultation itself.
Fully encrypted and secure, this integrated video system is a very useful addition to the package. If you don’t want to use the missed.com version, other popular video conferencing tools can be used for the same purpose. Remote consultations will become more commonplace from now on, so make sure you’re prepared.
Payment Management
How do you keep up with the payments that are due to you? It can be difficult if you live a busy life to ensure that your accounts are up to date, especially about the fees due from clients. Many software packages and tools have features that can help you stay on top of your due fees, and missed.com also includes such a function.
Missed.com has a feature integrated with the calendar and booking system that automatically reminds a client when their fee is due, and they can make a direct payment to you using the tool itself. It can also be used for you to make payments the other way, as it is a multi-functional tool designed for use by small businesses such as therapists and other consultants. You should take a look at this function as it will benefit your business.
Record Keeping
Keeping records and notes of your consultations and patient details is essential for running a therapist business. Tools such as missed.com and other business apps can help you do this and, as they are cloud-based, offer the privacy required for running such a business. People who seek therapy often suffer mental health issues and will be reassured by explaining how their information is being kept safe and secure.
Business Marketing
Our final point is that of marketing your business. This is important in a world where social media, blogs and content on your website are essential to getting your name out to the right people. A tool such as missed.com helps in marketing by giving you time back from its automated and simple booking systems that you can then use in other areas, including the marketing routine that you need to keep on top of.
The above five aspects of running a therapist business are among those at the core of success, and we believe that using a tool such as missed.com will help you in ways you may not imagine. Check it out now and see what it can do to help your business thrive.
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