I wanted to include some important tips and reminders regarding consultations and retention, proven to help you improve your conversion & retention rates! Please note that for Independent Contractors, all of this information is highly recommended, but not required! 

Check out this recording I made : loom.com/share/f8ae1d357bd645d49b67854...

Sales Cycle: 

A large aspect of increasing conversion rates from consultations to paid bookings is reducing the sales cycle which is reducing the time from which they are interested in booking a consultation, to the time it takes to get them in for a paid booking. For this reason, we are moving to allow for individuals to book directly in with the therapist of their choice (only for clinicians who are actively accepting clients). Some recommendations are to check your schedule to ensure you’d have availability for clients to book in for a consult within 3 days. This of course, isn’t always possible!! Also, responding to new client inquiries quickly!

3 Day Rules  

 If a client has to wait more than 3 days from the time they reach out to the time they get a consultation, the likelihood of them converting to a paid booking drops by 50%. Additionally, FOLLOWING a consultation, if a client has to wait more than 3 days to get in for a paid booking, the likelihood of them converting to a paid booking drops by 50%. The shorter the sales cycle the better, and regularly following up within the 3 day windows is crucial for converting :)

Snooze Function

 I like to use gmails snooze function to remind me to follow up with a client. For example, If I have a consultation and the client says they will get back to me, I go to their most recent email and SNOOZE it to show back up in my inbox the following day, to remind me to reach out to follow up.

During the Consultation

In the consultation itself, we tend to spend a lot of time learning about the client (fair!!!) However, research shows that when we agitate the problem in the client, and provide hope for potential relief, conversions increase. For this reason, we encourage you to focus a lot on the clients presenting problem and their GOALS for therapy, then provide them some insight into how you can help them get there. Instill hope and confidence in the client that YOU are going to work to help them. Of course, don’t forget the important housekeeping items like ethical limitations to confidentiality and what we’ll be doing with thei nformation we obtain. We’ve created a recommended script - use it if you like, or don’t!  You can find this script by searching “Therapist Consultations” in sweet process :) Let your personality SHINE in the consultation! Clients want a human, not a robot - show them bits of yourselves, look for ways to connect & bond with them, to start establishing that therapeutic alliance.

Book 4 - 6 Sessions!

- YIKES! I know super cringey to think about making clients book 4 - 6 sessions at the end of session. I was like NO WAY i’m doing that (no joke). But then once I learned about why, it made sense, and made a great impact in my caseload! Research has shown that when you move clients to booking 4 - 6 sessions at a time, retention increases by 10% and the average lifespan of a client moves from 6 to 12 sessions. And if you read below, it makes sense as to WHY. Here’s what clients need to know about why they should book 4-6 sessions. 

We’ve found this process to be most impactful when clients start out consistently, so we typically recommend booking about 8 sessions out. We recommend this for a few reasons...

1. Typically there’s a lot of information to get through in the beginning stages of therapy and we want to be able to get through this information and context gathering and get the ball rolling with your goals.

2. Consistency  and accountability are both key to the therapeutic outcome. When you’re committed to a steady pacing, there’s increased accountability and follow through.

3. It ensures that your slot in my calendar is reserved just for you and you won’t have to worry about not finding a slot.

 

Ex.  "The next 8 sessions we're going to dedicate towards..... Can we commit to 8 sessions together? Does that feel fair to you"  

• Share the plan, so they have a subconscious commitment that its going to take 8 sessions to work together to reduce those symptoms. 
• This way the client can either decline or accept, or pivot what they want to work on
• Show them this on going plan so they make a subconscious commitment 
• During the end of the session, share and plan what you want to work on the next sessions so that they're motivated to come back 

"Of course if anything happens you can cancel your appointments, we just have a 48 hour cancellation policy"

* Instill confidence and authority in your abilities - clients often feel more comfortable moving forward when you have a very clear system of what you know works and how best to move forward* Note this is all about messaging and how booking out will be beneficial to the client*

*after each session, book one or two more sessions, so they are always booked out 4-6 sessions away*

*Once they book an appointment, send the client the intake and consent form from their profile in Jane. Ask them to fill it out as soon as they get it so you have it before your session.

*For those that do not book on the consultation call, Research has shown that they are far less likely to book after 3 days has passed, so follow up with them within that time. 

*Another fun fact - research shows that when the first session is booked within 3 days of the consult call, clients are far more likely to follow through and attend! So if this is ever possible - do it!!!

*approximately 50% of clients should be booking directly from the consultation - that's a good target goal (or more!) to shoot for!

Now, thinking about booking 4 sessions out for a client seems very daunting, especially for existing clients haha. So, what I would recommend is trying this with NEW clients. This will also really help you to see your caseload and client availability instead of waiting for last minute bookings. Again, when this becomes your ‘norm’ and your usual process, you become confident and clients feel that! They trust you!