How to Develop your Private Practice

• 9.15am–4.30pm, 19 November 2009
• Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire

James Butler lead us through a fascinating day of practical exploration of how to develop a private practice. It was perfectly suited for either those fresh out of the NHS, or for those wanting to give an established practice a boost. For many, knowing how to market and operate a successful practice is a mystery – this course gave ready-to-use tips and thought-provoking exercises to help us grow our client list. The course included topics such as: marketing, communicating your 'brand', provision of resource information and we left the day having compiled a new business action plan and a course booklet to read at our leisure. Questions were posed to James before the day and he answered them all throughout the day. Part of the course included a 1/2 hour free consultation (at any time after the course) to each delegate attending. The venue we used was Thrumpton Hall (www.thrumptonhall.com) and much to Viv and Trish's annoyance we forgot our cameras! Therefore we cannot show you the sumptious setting for the course and wonderful spread of food! We had 20 delegates (James preferred number - it gives him the opportunity to give quite specific feedback to everyone's questions) and of those 17 felt James to be an excellent speaker and 3 as a good one. Despite the grand setting the downfall was the layout within the training room - delegates were seated around a U shaped table which meant that some had to twist slightly in order to see the screen. Due to this fact Therapy Learning will not use this venue again for such a large number of delegates. We can thoroughly recommend it though - the conference organisers are excellent. On a personal note it made me completely re-evaluate what I really wanted for the future ... not just for my business ... hence wedding bells were heard in October 2010!!

Course outcomes

It is intended that at the conclusion of the programme the independent practitioner will have:

• Sufficient knowledge to be able to plan the marketing of their practice
• Ideas of how to generate quality referrals from their client base
• A basic grounding in business discipline, to ensure their efforts bring financial rewards and a plan of action to go forward from the course and realise their vision for their practice.

Programme

08:45am	Registration
09:15am	Private Practice Foundations The difference between working for the NHS and working for oneself Understanding what type of practice you want, and why Developing a plan for your practice success What are your clients looking for from your practice?
10:45am	Break
11:15am	Exceptional Client Care Understanding the Client Experience Extending beyond simple treatment Getting Clients to Come Back Creating a Referral Culture
12:30pm	Lunch
1:30pm	Getting the Phone to Ring What works when marketing private practices? Top Tips on designing marketing materials/websites Creating a Marketing Funnel of Clients Managing the numbers in a practice
3:00pm	Break
3:30pm	Making it Happen Building a support team Replacing the big organisation infrastructure Deciding what to do Deciding when to do it
4.30pm	Close

Speaker(s)

James Butler

James Butler is Director of Painless Practice, providing assistance to therapists who want to develop their practice to meet current challenges – through one-to-one support, CPD training and published materials. James has co-authored business development books for osteopaths and for homeopaths and speaks widely on practice building techniques.

Following a successful business career in the environmental sector, James formed Painless Practice to share his business skills and experience with complementary therapists. Despite no background as a practitioner himself, he has an extensive understanding of the unique environment in which therapists operate.

As well as working with complementary and alternative healthcare providers, James supports larger businesses in developing their strategies, and works on the leading UK programme for ambitious owner-managers, at Cranfield University's School of Management. Please see his website: http://www.painlesspractice.com for more information about him and his company.

What attendees said

“Fantastic and well worth it if you are considering private practice or new to it.”
—Delegate from course, Kirsten Parker

“Excellent day to help people wanting to promote their practice/review current practice management. ”
—Delegate from course, Tom Edwards

“Very interesting and really got me thinking about things I could do differently, and will do differently! Good to meet colleagues from different disciplines. ”
—Delegate from course, Louisa Pearce

“It really makes you reflect on what you do, how you do it, &, probably least considered by us, why we do it.”
—Delegate from course, Heather Saunders

“A day for you & your business – time to think and reflect.”
—Delegate from course

“Excellent speaker. Thought provoking. Relevant”
—Delegate from course, Sarah Joice

“Informative, interesting, useful, teaches life skills”
—Delegate from course, Joseph Cockburn

“Unique & extremely useful.”
—Delegate from course

“Gave a good grounding for someone thinking of starting up in private practice.”
—Delegate from course

“Very good course. Well worth attending if you are a private therapist.”
—Delegate from course