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What Needs to be in a psychology private practice business plan? Getting Money In to your Psychology Private Practice

Build it and they will come… Sadly this is not true. You do need to market your private practice in order to get clients. Thankfully the therapy side of business is not too difficult to market if you know where to look. Interventions other than therapy (books, workshops, events etc) require more “audience building” and therefore more marketing knowledge BUT it is sooooo worth it! It is likely however, that at the start of your private practice journey most of your income will come from therapy so let’s start with how to get therapy referrals…

Marketing your private practice: Referral Sources for Psychology Practices

Google search – SEO and paid ads. This basically means doing things that help get your website seen by the people that need your help. It is an art and one worth mastering in my opinion as referrals coming through your website tend to be the best fit for your work and they cost the least. Google actually provide pretty good advice on how to rank well in Google. It is almost like they want good content to be found! Here are the big hitters:

·     Get other people to link to your website (this is why getting press coverage is worth it). It gives your website more “domain authority” which is a trustworthiness score Google uses to decide where to put you in search results.

·     Use the phrases potential clients would be searching for in your headings and blog posts (in this post I am trying to rank for “psychology private practice” so it is in most of the headings. You can use tools like “Keyword Finder” and “Answer the Public” to see what people search for but common sense is pretty helpful here.

·     Publish regular content like a blog

·     Keep it simple! Google can’t make sense of complicated navigations so keep client experience at the forefront of your mind when creating your website and that will help it get found. I find it helps to imagine a very anxious person landing on my home page. In a hyper aroused state we aren’t good at concentrating and need things to be very clear. Build your site with that person in mind and Google rewards you.

·     All the other stuff is too technical for me!

Referrals from people you have worked with in the past – colleagues and previous clients (this is a great source if you are setting up in a place you have built a decent network)

Social media (There is so much to say on this but in brief, I find social media is a great place for promoting messages about mental health and promoting low cost workshops and events but I don’t think it is a great place for therapy referrals. Think about where you would look for the kind of thing you are offering. I think I would google search for a therapist so I put my marketing effort for therapy clients into Google and SEO but I use FB to promote low cost items like e-books and hypnobirthing workshops.

Directory sites. There are loads of options if you are promoting your therapy services. I find I get the best quality referrals from Psychology Today. Findatherapist.com also provides lots of referrals but they take 20% of every session fee. Counselling directory works for some people but I look expensive on there so don’t get much. Timewith is a platform to watch, especially if you are an online therapist as they are innovating a new search algorithm which should help those of us who work online to get found more easily.

Insurance companies. You can sign up to several at once through Healthcode. The big hitters seem to be AXA-PPP, Vitality and BUPA but there are others out there too. It is worth signing up for them all when you first start out but how many (if any) referrals you will get from them largely depends on who else they use in your area. It is important to be aware that they all have different caps on fees (which often change) and different payment terms. Make sure you read contracts carefully and factor in the impact of long payment terms on your cashflow. I get a lot of referrals from Nuffield Health who operate as an intermediary between insurance companies and clients in this area so it may be worth signing up with them too.

Rehabilitation companies. If you do trauma work then rehabilitation companies are often looking for psychologists to see clients who have been involved in an accident for CBT and EMDR paid for by insurance companies. Once you are on some directory sites you will probably be contacted by some of them as they really need people with our title. Some of these set shockingly low rates and have appallingly long payment terms. Be very assertive.

Solicitors. If you can build relationships with local solicitors they may send you the referrals above directly. They may also ask you to do medico-legal work if this is something you offer. If you like this kind of work this can be a great source of referrals as solicitors pay much higher fees (as there is no middle man and the budget is usually generous). Don’t make the mistake of charging what you would normally charge a self paying client (like I did at first). Solicitors expect to pay much more and these kind of referrals are often very labour intensive so find out what local colleagues are charging for solicitors and match that.

Employee Assistance Programmes. I actually don’t touch these as the ones that have approached me pay horrifyingly low fees.

Cost per client from each of these referral sources

Facebook ads, Google ads and directory sites all cost money. It is important to list out how much each one will charge you per client and factor this in to your running costs.

Marketing your private psychology practice: Services beyond therapy

Validation

I probably think your idea is amazing. But you need to know if people will pay for it. Even if you are hoping for grant funding or public funds you need to know whether you are realistically going to make any money to sustain the project before you sink lots of your time, grant funds or your own funds into getting it off the ground. If you are setting up a therapy practice you can realistically know this from your competition. Check out what people are charging and see if you can find out where they get their referrals. Competition is a good thing as it tells you there is demand for your services.

If you are doing something new/groundbreaking it is helpful to have a look for similar projects that have aimed to serve your ideal client group and see where they succeeded and where they could have improved but then you will need to TEST. Use something super simple like Leadpages to create a landing page and get people to sign up to a mailing list if they are interested in your idea. Better still use a platform like Crowdfunder to see if people will pay for it. People will be polite and say they like your idea but if they pay for it you know you are seriously on to something. You could also set up a Facebook group and invite people to join if they are interested in your topic. While Zuckerberg could always take this away from you so it is safest to get email addresses as well a FB group can be a great place to ask your ideal clients questions about what they want and need. I virtually never make a decision in my business without asking my FB followers their opinion.

Marketing your psychology practice makes you feel gross right?

It shouldn’t. People need what you are offering. You have to do marketing or the people who need it will not find it. Social media marketing (paid and organic), google ranking (SEO and ads), blogging, podcasting, networking/community events, physical flyers, getting mentioned/featured in the local and national press. These are all marketing options available to you.

Right now just figure out where you think your target clients hang out the MOST. Are they all spending hours on Facebook and Instagram or more likely to be found at local authority planning events.

Check out the BPS and HCPC policies on marketing and advertising. They are nothing to be afraid of. If you are generally an ethical practitioner you will do this anyway. Don’t make bold claims, don’t make people feel shame and don’t comment on anything beyond your competence. My approach with all things social media is to imagine I am talking to a client when I write anything. I never post anything I wouldn’t say to a client and so I’m not too worried about the ethical side of things.

Competition

A quick note about competition. When I told him was setting up the “Do More Than Therapy” community and the Business of Psychology podcast my husband looked confused and asked “but aren’t you just helping your competition beat you?” He did not get it.

My personal opinion is that there is no competition. There could be 100 clinical psychologists in your town all in private practice and I don’t think the demand would be met. My experience is that there is sadly more than enough need to go around. I set up the “Do More Than Therapy” community because I firmly believe if we all collaborate we can achieve FAR more than “treating” mental health problems.

Check out what people are offering and what they are charging in your area. This will give you an idea of whether your fees are realistic for the location. Make a note of their websit