Walt: Hi again, this is Walt and Darrick with Denver Business Coach. We’ve been going through some questions that come in from some of our clients to give small business owners an idea of what it’s like to work one on one with a business coach. And…
Darrick: Yeah! So if you’re a small business owner or an entrepreneur and you’re looking for some professional guidance in any of the areas that we talk about, you can always reach us at denverbusinesscoach.com. And that’s what we’re here for. So, today, we have a question from a physical therapist practice in Aurora. And talking about covid, which is interesting for a physical therapist, I’m sure, so the covid nightmare’s caused me to rethink my business, and thankfully I survived by cutting costs and providing virtual sessions where applicable. I’m hoping to bring back a couple of key employees soon and realize I need to restructure almost everything I do, including how, where, and when to offer our services.
Any suggestions on where to begin or is this a loaded question for this time? So many businesses that we’ve been talking with are trying to figure out how to reinvent themselves, not only during Covid but what it’s going to look like after.
Walt : Yeah, it’s it’s a big one in the professional services delivery arena. That is something that I’ve seen some clients pivot well and others who have had to shut entirely just based on what their business model was.
Walt: But in any case, some businesses were able to create new methods to serve their clients, whether it was providing their services on-demand via video recordings of type of session or expand into wellness delivery and just other areas that they weren’t even involved within the beginning.
Walt: Running an in-person organization to a virtual or mostly virtual scenario presents a lot of challenges, and we’ve been able to work with clients to help them devise new ways of delivering their systems, new marketing, messaging to get out to clients and prospective clients about how they’re adjusting their business model training methods for employees who in this case, they want to bring back some key employees. What types of training do these employees need to go through to make sure they can deliver these services in an online environment? Lots of things to cover.
Darrick: Yeah and I really think that if you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner thinking that your customers will want everything or expect everything to go back to the way it was is probably not exactly the way you should be looking at this. Some of our clients that have been thinking about this progressively are taking some of the really important stuff that they’ve learned through this pandemic and applying it for the future.
So to your point, Walt, what about a Hands-On service, like a physical therapist or acupuncturist or a yoga instructor or personal trainer, you know, being able to put together great video content and having access to your client twenty-four hours a day, essentially on demand whenever they want, is a great complement to what your hands-on in-person services. So, before, as a physical therapist, you may have only been seeing somebody once a week, maybe once every two weeks.
Now, if you provide them with some wellness coaching, some exercise programs on video, they can access and entangle and engage with you almost on demand, which makes that relationship much stickier. So, I feel like there are some lessons learned in this pandemic that are going to carry forward that not only are going to meet the needs of the customer better, but also be better off for the entrepreneur.
Walt: Yet another example of that, the on-demand video delivery is is one method. Another is perhaps providing outside the normal business hours services, which may be a benefit for some of your employees who can’t now due to the covid provide those delivery services in the middle of the day.
Walt: Their you know, the family situation doesn’t allow it or whatever.
Walt: But if they are still able to provide revenue and work for you by delivering services to clients who also are able to attend middle of the day sessions, but maybe you know,off-hours, weekends, evenings, whatever, those are all ideas to consider to help pivot your business, to not only survive but as you point out, Darrick, allow them to thrive as time goes on in the new model post-Covid.
Darrick: Some of the things that we’re going to see that will not go away is the expectation around cleanliness, around germ avoidance. It’s going to be a long time before people before you’d want to stop asking people if you should wear a mask even as this goes forward because I just feel like people have a heightened sensitivity to it now. And so as a business owner, when someone does come to you in person, you want to be responsive to that.
Walt: Yeah, this has had a big impact on many businesses for sure. But in this arena specifically, and those are the kinds of services and guidance we provide. So if it’s the kind of approach you would find valuable in helping to grow your business, or if you have a question you’d like us to address for you, call or contact us at denverbusinesscoach.com.
Walt: We’d love to work with you.
Darrick: Thanks a lot, folks. See you next time.