I'll be honest, I've never liked this saying... It makes a practitioner sound like a mechanic or a builder, off to "fix" a car or some kind of structure. We all know working with humans or animals is much more nuanced than suggesting they can be "fixed" by a practitioner using their hands or a machine. But if I had to choose one thing I rely on the most after over 20 years of clinical practice, it's probably not quite what you would expect...
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Like any recipe, there is not just one "ingredient" or element when it comes to rehabilitation. There will likely never be just one thing that will solve your problem at hand, but if you get the foundations right, you'll be more more likely to get a positive result.
The main thing that most new business owners want to know is how to get new clients. But before you do that, you must first know who your ideal client is, in order to help you best to deliver your marketing to attract the types of clients you want to work with.
It may surprise you to know that your ideal client is not everyone in your local area that owns a horse.... Read on for our top tips for identifying your ideal client. Successful marketing is all about solving your client's problems. For many practitioners that may require a shift in how we think about promoting our services.
When it comes to marketing our services on a platform such as social media, I see many therapists doing the same kind of content. They talk about themselves – their qualifications and what they do in a session. They talk about their services and the modalities they use, listing off all the conditions they treat. They may share images or videos of them treating a horse with a specific condition, but the information they share about the session is often very nondescript (ie “here I am using NMES to treat this horse with kissing spines”). And while it’s important to share who you are and what you do, how effective do you find your social media is in converting your followers to paying clients? The principles and applications of rehabilitation are similar across both equine and human patients, and there is much we can take from the human literature to help us design our equine rehabilitation programs.
Exercise and advice compliance.
As practitioners it’s often one of the biggest challenges we face. It’s disheartening when you have those clients who come back at their next appointment saying that they haven’t had a chance to do the exercises you gave them, while in the same breath saying there has been no improvement in their horse’s symptoms since you last saw them. And sure, you know that what you do in a consult will make their horse feel better in the short term, but unless the client makes meaningful change to the horse’s routine, including doing the exercises and following your advice, then nothing is going to change in the long term. Which is frustrating for you as a practitioner, costly for the owner and simply very sad for the horse involved. But fear not, there are some ways to help ensure that your client will follow the program that you've set. |
kristin & EmmaWe've been practicing as human & equine physiotherapists for more years than we'd like to admit (it will show our age!) Archives
October 2024
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