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I believe that technology is not useful…unless there is training that goes along with it.
Our mission at Practice Axis is to empower your client care team with the training and technology that they need to scale your practice.
What does that look like in reality? Well, just having a CRM account doesn't necessarily help smooth out your intake process. BUT, if you add training alongside the CRM tool, then you can really start to scale!
For example, we hear from a lot of practices that there can be client drop off after the intake session. Especially when you've got multiple clinicians on your team, it's rather hard for the client care coordinator to keep track of who did or did not come back after their first intake session, and why. There's usually a really small window to reach out to someone if they're deciding not to come back after intake. In our CRM, the client care coordinator is the one tracking if someone showed up to an intake session. They are also tracking if the client booked their next session after intake, and then checking to make sure that they did in fact show up for that session.
Therefore, the way your client care coordinator handles this scenario directly impacts your income.
Now, if the client did not decide to return after intake and they didn't book a session after their intake session, that information can be tracked right away by checking the EHR or a quick survey that goes out to the client. At Practice Axis, we have a one question survey that's automated to the client, asking them:
We saw you had an intake session yesterday. We'd love your feedback.
Did you think your therapist was a good fit?
If your client answers with one of those last two options, the information is immediately sent to the client care inbox so that the client care coordinator can really follow up accordingly and have the conversation about matching with a different therapist.
Practice owners and therapists know that there's so many legitimate reasons why someone may not feel like their therapist was a good fit after the intake session and it's nice to be able to have that instant automatic survey and response so that you can have a call and follow up.
The client care coordinator in this case needs to be quick to respond and to balance empathy and efficiency at this stage of the process to retain the client. The client care team needs to be trained to have the conversation to ensure the client feels like a client of the practice, not of that first individual therapist that they met with. (Of course, we hope the initial match is a good one, and it’s important for new clients to give therapy a try with the same therapist for more than one session.)
In the case where the client feels right away that the therapist is not a good fit, the combination of technology and training around this outreach can prevent some drop off after intake and help retain clients, but most importantly, help them find the therapist match that they need.
This is just one example of how a blend of technology and training will optimize your intake team as you grow and scale your practice.