All Posts Tagged With: "managed care"

Which Online Therapist Locators are the “Best”?

August 6th, 2008 • Casey Truffo • 4 comments • Related • Filed Under

On the blog, there have been a lot of comments about my two last articles regarding Online Therapist Locators.

Several people shared which ones worked best for them. One person suggested I write an article about which online therapist locators I recommend. Great idea.

First, an important thing to know is that the locator that works best for you may not the one that works best for a colleague. So, how do you choose?

You should act as if you are a prospective client searching for a therapist in your area via the internet. Get online on a computer in or near your office and enter into the Google search box, the terms that you think your ideal client would be entering into Google. What do you think they would be searching for?

For example: Find a therapist 92612 or women’s therapist or find a couples therapist

Since you have done your ideal client profile, you will have a sense of what they will be typing in to locate a therapist on the internet.

Then simply look at which online locators came up.

Second, make sure you are on the free online therapist locators that come with your association membership. For example, CAMFT’s Therapist Finder. I highly recommend it.

And to answer the question, Here are the U.S. ones I recommend:

My favorite: www.Find-A-Therapist.com (This one is awesome - you can be on up to 5 online locators with this service alone.)

www.Counsel-Search.com

www.PsychologyToday.com

www.NetworkTherapy.com

www.GoodTherapy.org

Make sure you look at how many people are in your zip code. It could be a factor for you.

Feel free to share your comments below.

Happy practice building!

Casey

Are the online therapist locator services worth the money?

July 29th, 2008 • Casey Truffo • 3 comments • Related • Filed Under

In the last issue I talked about how not to use your online therapist locator statistics as a measure of your success.

This week I was working with an interior designer who is starting her business. I recommend she join BNI, a referral organization for business owners. When she learned that BNI cost $370 a year plus the costs of the weekly breakfasts, she did some fast numbers and said “What a bargain. An average client will spend between $2,000 and $5,000 with me. If I get one or two clients a year, it will be a phenomenal investment.”

Some therapists tell me that their online therapist locator listings “aren’t working.” When I ask what that means. I begin to understand their frustration. Their expectations aren’t realistic.

I will tell you that many therapists in North America are starting to notice a slow-down in the number of referrals they are getting from the internet. I think this is due to: 1) the economy 2) the summer season and 3) the number of therapists marketing on the internet is increasing.

Last week, I searched 90210 for a therapist on Psychology Today. There were 223 of them. That is a lot of profiles and believe me, no one is going to look through all 223 of them to find a therapist to contact. The pool is very large.

(An interesting note, on Find-a-Therapist.com there were 76 therapists in that same zip code.)

Are online therapists still a good investment? Some are free such as CAMFT’s Therapist Finder so make sure you are on your association’s free site.

I do recommend you be on at least 3 to 5 online therapist locators. So let’s say you are paying about $300 a year for one of these paid locator services. How many new clients would you need to make sure you were getting your money’s worth?

Is this beginning to sound like a word problem from 6th grade? Hang in here with me.

If you get one client a year from your listing and that client spends a total of only $300 with you, you would break even on that investment. But of course, I don’t want you to just break even.

Let’s say you get 3 clients a year from your listing and in total they spend a total of $9,000 with you. You spent $300 to make $9,000. There aren’t many financial investments where you can invest $300 and get back $9,000.

So, don’t be too quick to decide your online therapist locators “aren’t worth it.” You may be noticing a slow down but please look at your numbers from an annual perspective. That will give you the bigger picture.

Buzz about the Economy and the State of Therapists

July 29th, 2008 • Casey Truffo • 2 comments • Related • Filed Under

There is quite a buzz over the internet lately about whether or not the economy is negatively impacting therapists.

Several therapists have let us know that their caseloads are down. Of course, that is a usual occurrence in July and August in North America so it is hard to know exactly why this is happening.

And many of you have talked about how the general population views therapy - and their desire to pay only a $20 co-pay for it. This is a real concern.

In fact, I am feeling more and more called to educate the general population about the value of therapists and the powerful benefits of therapy. It is time for therapists to get the respect they deserve. We are as important as surgeons and our culture needs to really understand this. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Please enter your comments and thoughts below or join me on Tuesday, August 7th for our first Town Hall Meeting on the State of the Nation of Therapy. (For more info, please click here.)

On the other hand, daily I get reports from therapists saying how well their practices are doing. For example, Kim told us this week:

“I have received five new clients in the last month. I spent a lot of time studying your stuff and then put it into action. I think my success is due to 1) patience - not giving up. It took 3 months to get results but I hung in there. and 2) attitude - I have kept a positive attitude. It has been hard at times but I just wouldn’t give up - even though it wasn’t happening right away. I knew it may not happen at once but it would happen!”

What is it that makes one therapist succeed and one therapist struggle? I have lots of ideas but today I will start with an equation:

Passion + Mindset + Message + Focused and Continued Action + What your community believes about therapy (and using insurance) + What you believe about therapy (and using insurance) + Patience = Financially Rewarding Practice

As your e-coach, I ask you to take a look at that formula. Which area of that formula may need your attention?

Reduce your Dependence on Managed Care or Insurance

July 23rd, 2008 • Casey Truffo • 2 comments • Related • Filed Under

We are often asked how to change one’s practice from a managed care to a cash-paying practice. So I created a short video for you with the steps we recommend.

See the video box below? Click on the play link under the box. It will take about 15 seconds to load so please be patient.

Happy practice building!