Business Planning: The Listening Journal

As an audiologist first and foremost, becoming a business owner proved to be a huge learning curve.

My focus had only ever been on the patient and business considerations like profit and loss were never part of the picture. So when NexGen Hearing Group offered me the opportunity to co-own a clinic, I was extremely excited, but also a little scared: I was suddenly expected to incorporate terminology like profit margin, retained earnings, net income and fixed liabilities into my work. ordinary everyday.

Despite my fears, our clinic grew 61% in our first year which was phenomenal, and we continue to exceed our annual budget year after year. There are many factors that contributed to our success story, but one in particular stands out: the business planning I learned from the management team at NexGen Hearing Group. Below are some recommendations for any aspiring clinic owner on how to get started with your business plan.

SWOT ANALYSIS

As you head toward the end of your fiscal year, you should look ahead to what the coming year will bring and how you will build on your successes. The best way to do this is through a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a way to break down your business and discover internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats. It’s important to do a SWOT analysis with your team, as you invariably need to work collaboratively to achieve your goals – and fresh perspectives are ultimately what will make your business successful.

SWOT is an acronym for:

• Strengths: the individual qualities of your clinic that make you stand out from the crowd
• Weaknesses: your clinic’s shortcomings and areas you know you can improve
• Possibilities: potential avenues for growth and success
• Threats: what dangers stand in the way of your clinic’s flourishing.

Simply put, strengths are what you are good at. It is important to understand what makes your clinic successful and unique. I, and many others, believe that it is the clinician and support staff that the patient buys, so think about what that does to you, you! Are your years of experience, education or training with a reputable individual? Whatever it is, identify it and promote it. Tell your patients and they will tell others.

Next, identify your weaknesses. These may be things that you are not doing, or are reluctant to do, or something that your competitors may already be doing. These are internal weaknesses over which you have no control.

Then, look at the possibilities. These are external factors that can help your business grow. This could be a marketing opportunity or introducing a new product in your area.

And finally, review your threats. These are external factors that hinder your clinic but can normally be mitigated. Good examples are your competition, or a certain pandemic that we are all very familiar with.

For more information on how to conduct a SWOT analysis, I recommend you visit the BDC (Bank for Canadian Entrepreneurs) website.

REFERRAL SOURCES

The next step is to review where your patients are coming from. Two main reports are commonly used to find this data:

• New customer referral source: Wondering if your patients are coming from signage or word of mouth? Were they referred by primary care physicians or ENT? Do they come from your newspaper ads? From here, list the top five referral sources to get patients through the door.
• Sales by referral source: For clinics that have been in business for several years, this is often your customer database or your word of mouth; if not, then this would be a great opportunity. The top referral sources for new patients don’t always match what you see in your sales report, and this would be an interesting change to explore with your team.

These reports are a great way to identify where to focus your marketing efforts.

It’s important to accurately track referral source data so you can see how you’re capturing your audience. Usually, this is accomplished when a customer care representative who receives a new booking asks how the new patient heard about you. Ask your customer care representative to share the correct marketing referral code in your patient management system. It is also helpful to ask the individual during the appointment to confirm that the correct referral code has been assigned. In some cases, people may have multiple referral sources and you need to decide on the best code to use.

KPIs

The last step before you dive into planning your goal is to review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs help you objectively measure how successful you are in achieving a goal. I tend to use:

• conversion ratio
• average selling price
• return on loan rate
• Cost of goods sold
• gross income.

Typically, the numbers that support these KPIs are produced by your office management system. However, if this is not an option, then your accountant should be able to help provide the necessary data.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC GOALS

Using your KPIs, my recommendation is to create three to four key areas of strategic business development for the coming year. More than three to four are likely to stretch your limited resources and hinder the achievement of your goals. If you follow less than that, the opposite may be true.

There are many ways to set goals: you can follow in the footsteps of John Doerr, who recommends Objectives and Key Results, or use the more popular approach, SMART goals. In either case, the important factors are that goals should be specific, time-bound and measurable.

To choose your goals, I recommend reviewing the SWOT analysis along with your KPIs and referral sources to identify trends in your practice. An example of my goals for 2022 is to increase community outreach by 15% by March 2023. This goal is important to our clinic as community outreach is in my top three referral sources and top five sales sources .

With each goal, outline a plan for how you will achieve your goal. For me, this means addressing the following questions:

• Steps: What are the action steps I need to take to move from where I am now to my goal?
• Obstacles: What could prevent me from progressing and completing my plan, and how can I mitigate those risks?
• Resolving obstacles: How will you overcome the obstacles you have identified?
• Success criteria: How will I know if I have been successful? Which KPIs should I use?
• Budget: How much can I afford to spend on this initiative?
• End date: When do I need/want to achieve this goal?

WORKING DOCUMENT

Create a worksheet, as shown on page 30, that will allow you to select an area of ​​focus from your goal for each quarter. Break down each focus area into actionable steps and delegate who will be involved in the process; set a deadline and budget for each item. With each step you should be able to document your progress throughout the year and review your results as you enter the next fiscal quarter.

FINAL THOUGHTS

To make sure you’re on track for the year, set aside time in your plan to review your business goals each month. There can be a tendency to focus on filling clinic time with income generating opportunities, but if you don’t allow time to complete these important administration tasks, you’ll find that time flies and all that amazing goals you set for yourself in the beginning. of the year wishes have been made.

And there you have it, happy business planning!