Top 3 Tips To Get Your Athletes and Clients To Buy Into Treatment Plan of Care

Whether you are a Physical Therapist, Chiropractor, Athletic Trainer, or Strength Coach, gaining trust and having people believe in what you are telling them is imperative!

Trust and 'buy in' is necessary to build relationships between you as a Practitioner and them as a client. Without this, rehab and treatment can prove difficult or unsuccessful no matter how good your clinical skills are. 

So in today's article I am going to highlight the TOP 3 things you can do on day one to ensure client buy in!

But FIRST...

What NOT to do:

1) It's EXPECTED that you are going to be nice, kind, and empathetic. You are not setting yourself apart by doing these things, you are simply just meeting expectations. Meeting expectations is what average clinicians do not GREAT clinicians!

I used to have the above picture on my clinics website when I first started my own practice. The quote was well intentioned, and for all purposes still very true (especially in this day and age). But for applicable purposes, a client does not make a final decision to work with you based upon being nice. Below we will talk about what does impact their decision to be a compliant client and the message you need to portray in 15min - 60min time frame depending on your setting. 

2) It's EXPECTED that you will know more than they do. So overwhelming someone with fancy terminology or medical jargon will do more harm than good on day one. 

3) It's EXPECTED that you are going to listen to them. So by NOT listening you are NOT meeting expectations and making a poor first impression. If you are listening to them, great! However, you are just meeting expectations again...Which makes you AVERAGE at this point in time.

P.S. - Blaming your inability to listen to someone's complaints or concerns on lack of time is a cop out answer! Get better at asking questions, choosing USEFUL Assessments, and providing better clarity on the problem/solution. If you do those 3 things, you will find that you have more than enough time to adequately listen to someone even in a busy work environment. 

Here IS what to DO:

1) Acknowledge that things CAN get better! The client does not want to waste their time. They simply would like to know that you have seen this presentation or a similar presentation before and have treated it successfully. Obviously you should not lie to someone, and if there is any clear red flags you should refer out! But if you are confident in treating this issue then let that be known. It will help create "buy-in" as well as compliance with exercise and interventions. If nothing more, (when used appropriately) it may create a placebo in a positive way for you. As we all know, placebo can be a hell of a drug. Only this drug is not addictive and promotes self efficacy!

2) Show a CLEAR path to improvement! The patient needs to see a road map or overview on how they will overcome the issue. The clearer you can create a game plan in a STEP by STEP process. The more "buy in" you will have. It will also give them more confidence in your statement from #1 and lead to further compliance with the plan of care.

3) No Surprises! This goes back to #2... The game plan needs to be clear. If it is not CLEAR, then uncertainty sets in. Uncertainty is the #1 reason why someone will not commit or follow through with your plan of care, or potentially fall off schedule. It is important that you pre-frame the recovery process to having mild/minor flare ups or set backs as a NATURAL part of the process. That way when they inevitably occur at some point, they do not lose trust and are still bought in to the process.

If you would like to see the EXACT Game Plan Formula we use at Sports Rehab Expert that is easy to follow and will apply to ANY injury, no matter your time constraints with patients!

Ideally you would have an hour for this initial visit...

But I've seen this technique work in 15 minute patient visit time slots as well. Taking a TON of stress off the overworked clinicians life!

The training is part of our Sports Rehab Expert "Fast Track" Course:

"How To IMMEDIATLY Get Patient Buy-In On Day ONE...Even If The Patient Is Overweight, Skeptical, Never Exercised and Lazy. Allowing you to raise your rates, increase your retention, get word of mouth referrals, all while ethically increasing the lifetime value of a customer!"