With Cash flow, It’s all about reducing your risks and keeping the money flowing, If you can get people on to some sort of retainer then it’s well worth thinking about setting up a direct debit to better manage and control your cash flow. But you do need to ensure it’s always win-win (for you, and the client).
One strategy I’m seeing a number of clinics employ to great success is a VIP membership. The idea here is that you target your very best clients, and put on a VIP membership launch day where you invite them along and treat them to some champagne and nibbles, before announcing your new VIP membership and all its benefits. Remember, this is a limited number of places only and because these people are your very best clients you are offering it to them first.
Make it a bit of a no-brainer, so if it’s costing £150 a month, give them RRP £200 worth of treatments, make it a rolling 12 month contract and make sure that you make them feel special. Even if you only have 20 people in your VIP membership, that means on the first of every month you’ll have £3,000 drop into your bank which should take the pressure off having to start from zero each month.
You may even be able to offer your clients better terms for up-front payments. I had one client where I suggested that they offer a pre-pay deal where, if the client paid three months up front for a year, they’d get month 13 for free. This had two benefits – firstly, it was increasing their cash flow, and secondly it was helping to tie clients in for twelve months so that they’d get month thirteen for free. Initially the client was really resistant, quoting industry best practice and a number of other excuses, but once they ran out of excuses and tried it, a number of clients took the offer up and it flipped their cash flow overnight, never assume what your clients are happy to pay or how they’ll pay.
By Alan Adams The Clinic Coach
