Renee Matlock, the owner of The Private Practice Coach, shares with clients her wealth of experience, gained over 30 years of building a profitable, multi-disciplinary private practice.
BLOG: Year-End Review
Year-End Review
Now that most of 2022 is in the rear-view mirror, it is time to complete a year-end business review of your practice.
Begin your review with a look at your victories—positive accomplishments that occurred in 2022. What went right? List your top 3 accomplishments and the steps you took to achieve these goals.
Next look at what didn’t work so well and why. What goals did you plan to accomplish but did not. Do these goals continue to be pertinent, or should they be revised or discarded? List these items along with the lessons that can be learned from them.
Now it is time to review the 4 key elements of your business: finance, marketing, system/operations, and key relationships.
Finance
Review the fiscal health of your practice. Evaluate what is working and set your financial benchmarks for 2023. Make any necessary adjustments to achieve these goals.
Are you using accounting software to automate and track your revenue and expenses, and to generate reports to track your financial health throughout the year. (If not, this may be one of your financial goals for 2023.)
You will want to review the following reports:
- Balance Sheet—This report summarizes your assets (what you own) and your liabilities (what you owe).
- Income Statement—This is your profit-loss statement that itemizes your revenue and expenses and shows if you are operating at a profit or loss. (As an aside, this is my go-to report to analyze.)
- Cash Flow Statement—This report outlines where your money is going—operating expenses, loan payments, investments, etc.
Consistency is king. You will want to regularly (monthly, quarterly and annually) review these reports. (Is this another 2023 goal?) As you begin to track this data, manually or using your accounting software, you soon will be able to compare the data to the previous month, quarter and year. This is the sweet spot—by generating and regularly reviewing this information, you will be able to make significant business decisions, improve operations and scale successfully in 2023.
Marketing
Review your 2022 marketing plan, and goals, to determine the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
Your marketing review will begin with analyzing your data. (Do you see a recurring theme here? Tracking and analyzing data are critical to planning.) Review the marketing data you have been tracking over the year.
Summarize:
- Total year-to-date expenses relating to marketing
- Number of inquiries received. An inquiry is defined as an individual who contacts your practice inquiring about the services you offer.
- Number of conversions. A conversion is defined as an inquiry that converts to a paying client. Then calculate the conversation rate.
- Number of referrals per referral source.
Now you can decide if you have met your marketing goals in terms of number of new referrals. This will relate directly to your increase in revenue to your practice.
Key Relationships
Yes, this is another aspect of marketing!
My mantra in terms of building a private practice is “It’s All About the Relationship”. This is called “Relationship Marketing” Whether you are a solopreneur or leading a team, building relationships with your clients (current, past and prospective), referral sources and other professionals is key to your success.
Just what is “Relationship Marketing”? According to hubspot.com, it is the “marketing strategy of cultivating more meaningful relationships with customers to ensure long-term satisfaction and brand loyalty. Relationship marketing isn't about short-term wins or sales transactions — instead, it focuses on delighting customers for the long haul.”
Review your key relationships by asking these questions:
- What specific strategies are you using to foster long term relationships with current and prospective clients, and referral sources?
- How are you nurturing these relationships?
- Are you asking for feedback?
- What is the client experience when interacting with your practice? Are you providing stellar client service?
- Are you leveraging technology to build and foster relationships? Examples: social media, email marketing, CRM (customer relationship management), blog, e-Newsletter
- Are you providing education tailored to the needs of your target market?
Also, don’t be short-sighted. It is important to establish on-going business relationships with these four professionals: an accountant, an attorney, a banker, and an insurance broker. Take time to not only secure the professional assistance and services you need for your practice, but also to develop ongoing business relationships with these professionals–they will contribute to your success! Read my blog post on this topic here.
An aside, when my insurance agent needed speech-language therapy for his two-year-old grandson, guess who he called? It’s all about relationship building!
Systems/Operations
Your practice can only reach its full potential when your systems and processes are as efficient and effective as possible. To deliver a quality service, you must use effective business processes. Define the steps and activities necessary to efficiently complete critical tasks.
Year-end is the perfect time to evaluate your current operations. To complete this analysis, follow these steps (it’s not as hard as you may think):
- Identify an area(s) that needs improvement and streamlining.
- Identify current steps in place and decide where the glitch occurs.
- Develop a corrective action plan. Set specific tasks and assign responsibilities.
- Monitor for effectiveness and revise as needed.
By streamlining your processes, your practice will perform at a higher level of efficiency, offer improved service to your clients and improve your bottom line!
It is my hope that this information will assist you as you tackle your year-end review. Take a step back, review where your business is, and design an action plan that will make 2023 your best year yet! Be strategic, purposeful and proactive!
Do you need help with your year-end review? Contact Renee Matlock to schedule a complimentary, no-strings-attached, “Talk with Renee” session to discuss your practice, your goals and your dreams. Renee, the owner of The Private Practice Coach shares with clients her knowledge and expertise gained over 30 thirty years of building a profitable, multi-disciplinary private practice.
www.theprivatepracticecoach.com
