How to Stay Competitive in a Competitive Market
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[00:00:00] With therapy services being offered. around every single corner online through machines. How do you stay competitive in a competitive market as a therapy clinic? My name is Hoang I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist, author and owner of two businesses, my clinic and my online programs.
[00:00:20] And I can tell you from both sides, it is competitive. And I'm going to share with you how I stay competitive and how you can stay competitive in your market as well. So as occupational therapists, as physical therapists, as any kind of healthcare provider, we think that we provide a lot of value and there's a lot of great things and a lot of greatness about our services.
[00:00:45] But we have to, we have to, to a certain extent, prove it right in order to stay competitive in a competitive market. Now my clinic, Hands On Therapy Services, is located in Miami. I am flanked on [00:01:00] every single corner by a therapy clinic. Right across that wall that I have. right next door is a physical therapy clinic.
[00:01:09] I know I have on every single major corner is a therapy clinic. I have huge hospital systems, which I am fighting quote unquote fighting with. On the program side, I teach other therapists that live in my community to be Great therapist so they could have, opportunities and chances in their career.
[00:01:34] So how do you stay competitive in this competitive market? And that's what I want to share with you. There's three major things. One is to share your perspective. Two is to provide value. Third one is to be okay with price shoppers, right? So let's talk about it. And I think that when you have your own business, you this took me so long to wrap my head around.
[00:01:58] So I'm sharing with you so that [00:02:00] hopefully it doesn't take you as long as it took me, but it is a work in progress and it comes up every single time. But yeah, you Like, you have to just be okay with, this is the way the world is, this is okay, this is how the world works, and as it becomes easier for people to enter into the market, enter into becoming a small business owner, entering the online game that this is an environment in which we work in, so get your head wrapped around this current environment, Not what it was 20 years ago.
[00:02:38] Now, what was it? 30, 50 years ago. Where are we currently working in right now? And the way we work is. There's a lot online, back in the day, you could market yourself to doctors back in the day, you could, put yourself in certain ads and [00:03:00] things like that. It was harder to enter into the game.
[00:03:03] Now it's so easy, anyone can do it. So though are so it's easier to get in, it's also more competitive and just wrap your head around the fact that. This is here. It is here to stay and it will become faster and faster. So the faster you learn to share your perspective, the better off you will be. And I know I did a video on how to get on camera. I've done these videos and go check them out because. I'm sharing really hopefully if it speaks to you, it's going to be valuable to you, right? But I'm sharing with you my perspective on what has worked for me, what I have seen work for other people.
[00:03:47] Can you get away with not sharing your perspective? Absolutely. You can get away with not sharing your perspective. You can get away with not being on camera, but then also [00:04:00] understand what that means within your pricing strategy. So if you are a therapy clinic, I'm going to speak on therapy clinics.
[00:04:08] If you're a therapy clinic and you rely on insurance, On cheap prices and on volume. You don't have to share your perspective. You can say, we're a great therapy clinic. And those people who have insurance, who's they're shopping for the cheapest prices, will come to your clinic. And I promise you, even those people who are shopping for the cheapest prices for free shit, will ask you, why is it still so expensive?
[00:04:40] Even those people who are getting their shit for free will ask you why can't you be more convenient for them? Those people who are getting shit for free, therapy for free, will ask you why you can't offer XYZ for them. There's always going to be that. [00:05:00] So if you want to stay competitive in a competitive market, when you share your perspective, you can also have a different pricing strategy.
[00:05:11] You can also charge premium when you share your perspective. And that is one way of staying really competitive in a competitive market. If you are trying to be like everyone else, you might be. Taking every insurance, no matter how shitty and low the reimbursement rates are, right? If you want to be like everyone else, then you will be working with high volumes of people at the cheapest prices with the lowest profit margins.
[00:05:42] But you can still stay competitive because you will get cheaper and cheaper, right? There's two different strategies to it, but that's how you stay competitive. Number two provide value. So then when you're like, what does that mean? Provide value, your value, my value were completely different.[00:06:00]
[00:06:00] What it means, I think, in my perspective is giving before. receiving, right? So you have to give before you get. And so on my therapy side, on my clinic side, I give. And if I'm give I give, and I share my perspective, I'm going to attract and draw in the people who value what I do and are willing to pay my prices.
[00:06:23] period. I don't take insurance. I'm not going to lower my prices because you come and negotiate with me. When we have specials or deals, those are those deals and that's it. But yeah I'm flinked by it and I see it in the online space. I see it on the online space. I give, and you can give to your heart's desire and people will still ask you for more shit and they will still ask you for free.
[00:06:50] I saw this saying it's you have to know you're something around, don't quote me on this, but you have to know your boundaries because The people who are asking you to [00:07:00] lay down and be flat will still be the ones that say why can't you be flatter? Something like that. So people are always going to want more, but you give what you can and No more so you have to have boundaries around giving so I give right so when I first started I used to answer more questions.
[00:07:22] I used to provide more of my time or now I don't have the time to give, so I have to see how I can provide and give without using my time. So I have drawn boundaries around it. So in my clinic, I have created guides. I have, I create YouTube content. I share my perspective. I give like real things.
[00:07:48] Like real things at work. I'm not like bullshitting. I'm not just educating you, I'm sharing things that actually really work. And if you try it. You can see if it works for you and if it doesn't work for you [00:08:00] and you want to come to my therapy clinic, by all means, I will share with you how we work, right?
[00:08:06] I do the same exact thing on the program side, right? So when I first started sharing, I would, people used to send me DMs. Oh, what about this case? What about that case? And I would share, but at some point I didn't have the time anymore because how can I give. And not give to my students, people who are inside my community, people who are actually paying for my services.
[00:08:31] So at some point I have to be like, stop, if you want my help, you can come inside this program. If you don't want my help, you can, I put out a lot of free content. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. That's it. And. If they find value in what you offer, they'll keep watching. So hopefully in a video like this, I'm sharing my business perspective.
[00:08:55] My goal with hand therapy secrets is to help [00:09:00] occupational therapists have more choices, in their career. So you can have more choices in your career by one, developing your clinical skills to develop your business skills. So this video is all about sharing my perspective from a business standpoint.
[00:09:15] So I hope that if you see some kind of value in here in this video, you can take it and use it right away. And at some point in your life, if you see that I'm putting a lot of value in it and you actually want my help, I'm going to have a program for you. There's going to be a way for you to work with me if it's something that you want and if it's something that you value.
[00:09:39] So I do this on my clinic side, do this on my program side. And I think that it's something that you as an occupational therapist can do for your business as well. So share your perspective and then provide value. Providing value means giving something that they want and need before you ask.
[00:09:56] That's, that's how you provide value, but how you [00:10:00] provide value is different for different people at different stages in their lives. So when I create a video like this I just create it and I put it out and it will hit you whenever it hits you, right? You will grab value from it whenever you're ready to grab value from it, right?
[00:10:16] That is none of my business. When you consume and when you extract the information that you need. So I put it on the table and you take what you want and you leave behind what you don't want. It's as simple as that. It is none of my business after I create something and I try to be very intentional about creating things that will provide you value, right?
[00:10:39] And I, if you can use this as an example, you can hopefully take this and create something for your people, for your audience, for the things that you're trying to do in your business. And then number three is be okay. It's a mindset. Be okay with people price shopping you. I have on both sides of my business.
[00:10:58] So I'll share with you [00:11:00] a story like when, we, like I said, we don't take insurance. So sometimes people call and they get mad that we don't take their insurance. Also, I'm, I'm sorry, you're, I know you're hurting. I want to help you call your insurance company to see why, why they're not contracted with more, specialists or specialized therapy services.
[00:11:20] Don't get mad at me. Get mad at your insurance company because they want you to sit with three or four people all at the same time, right? They do because reimbursement rates are low and I don't sit there and explain to these people but all I know is You know, I Have what I have, right? I have what I have to offer and they're either Willing or not willing to utilize my services now.
[00:11:52] My job is just a follow up my job is just follow up. Hey, you called for help. What can I help [00:12:00] you with? I'm happy to refer you to another clinic. That's cheaper that takes your insurance. You can call your insurance company. So I just try to provide value in that way.
[00:12:12] So that. They still get the help that they need, right? Even if it's not with me, that's what I say. Even if it's not with me, I'm happy to help you. And then sometimes they value that and they're like, Oh, I would rather pay to come and work for someone like this with someone like this. On the program side.
[00:12:29] I have someone coming in and it's they're interested in the exam prep My exam prep is expensive. I don't want you to think of yourself as cheap. I don't think of myself as cheap, I Devoted a lot of time attention crafting a program my shits expensive Why shouldn't it be it's going to change your life and it's going to change your career It is it, use correctly Implement it correctly, execute it correctly.
[00:12:57] You only have to do it once [00:13:00] and it will change the trajectory of your career to earn more. And that is the price of the program, right? So sometimes I'll have people come into my program and say, Oh I can get it on, X, Y, and Z program for As soon as they tell me the program, I know it's cheap.
[00:13:16] As soon as they tell me the program I know that they're looking for the cheapest program out there. I'm getting price dropped. You as a business owner will get price shopped and be okay with it. I'm okay with it. Did it take practice? Absolutely. It took practice to be okay with it. So I wrote back, I was like, Oh, I.
[00:13:38] I hear what you're saying. I, ask a couple of questions, but I'm like truth be told, you're looking at the cheapest program and I, my programs are expensive, but I'm happy to tell you more about it if that's something you want to learn about. And he wrote back, he's Oh, I'm really, thank you for being honest.
[00:13:56] Cause why wouldn't I be funny enough? The prices are on my website, [00:14:00] but nobody sees them. Because you're not looking, you're looking for the help. They're looking for the help. So just be understanding that people are going to price shop you until they maybe get to know you a little bit more. It's, it comes down to the, like trust.
[00:14:16] Factor, because the cheapest thing is to do absolutely nothing and to still be in pain. The cheapest thing is to do absolutely nothing and be in whatever pain you're in. Obviously, you're in some form or fashion of pain. You're stuck somewhere because you are actively looking and searching, right?
[00:14:38] People are going to be actively looking and searching for you as the OT business. And you, in order to stand out, in order to be competitive in a competitive market, you have to be okay with being price shopped. Because when you [00:15:00] Decide on your pricing strategy. You're deciding on your pricing strategy for a reason.
[00:15:05] And a lot of times it's profitability. If you cannot maintain a certain amount of profitability what usually happens is you get stuck, you get frustrated and you get bitter for the type of services that you're looking to provide. I provide a lot of hands on contact, with all of my students.
[00:15:24] They have access to me and I respond within a certain amount of time. Like you're not going into some huge program where the owner of the, businesses over here, like you go and you buy something like, let's say from Amy Porterfield, like she's. A really top notch marketing person and she might have a great program, but you're not getting anywhere close to her.
[00:15:49] She's created a program where, she's mostly hands off. And so in my programs for its current state, I'm very hands on. My students get access to me. I help them [00:16:00] all the time, no matter what it is. I'm not nickel and diming people, right? So my pricing strategy is so that I don't have to nickel and dime.
[00:16:10] Whatever it is that my students need, right? And I don't want to work in frustration. I don't want to be bitter. And I carved that out for myself when I first got started because I would see other therapy businesses be frustrated, be bitter, be upset about, the services they provide, but they're not making enough money.
[00:16:29] I didn't want to be like that. I'm okay being a a premium price service, a premium price product. So I can give whatever it is that the person who decides to work with me everything that they need to be successful, right? Everything that they need to be successful is and. I'm okay with being price shopped and there's a way around the, your systems and process of being price shopped.
[00:16:53] There's a lot of follow up. I follow up with a lot of people like I'm following up with people and I'm [00:17:00] asking, what do you need? What are you looking for? There's ways in which to still help somebody even if they're price shopping you. Even if they're looking for something cheaper for the time being, because at some point they might find that they're all their cheap products, all their cheap services isn't surmounting to your one product that could have helped them.
[00:17:24] And they're, they might come back to you. There's percentage people are going to come back to you. So if you build a business around where You're okay with being price shopped and you share your perspective and give value. Those people might still come back to you and, pay you for your services, right?
[00:17:45] So in a competitive market, I think those are the three things that you really need to consider. And one is build the systems and processes to, To be competitive in the market. But the second thing that's so important is how you approach [00:18:00] things, how you see things, your mindset around that. It is competitive out there.
[00:18:04] I can say on both sides of my business, of course, there's always competition, but the good thing about competition is that, that there's people out there. That are earning what you want to earn. That's what it means in a competitive market that the idea that you have is a Bible. People are looking for that service.
[00:18:24] I have a therapy clinic. People have aches and pains. They one, either have surgery or two, they want to avoid surgery, but they are looking for relief. And these big companies wouldn't have that type of service. If there are not millions upon billions of people willing to pay for those services. So when you are developing your business, think about don't be shy.
[00:18:51] Don't shy away from a competitive market. Actually move into that competitive market and carve a space for [00:19:00] yourself in that competitive market. Ideas that no one has ever done. You have to think there's a reason why we never got done, right? You can take an idea and make it into your own But if no one has ever done it and there's no competition you got to ask yourself.
[00:19:18] Why is there no competition, right? You're either innovative or you're diving into a market that has no money. One is the systems and processes, essentially the skills of working in a competitive market. But two, there's a mindset shift around being in that competitive market. And I've done it. I think you can do it.
[00:19:40] If you're an occupational therapist, you can totally do your own business and be successful, but you I have to work on it, right? My name is Hoang. If you like more videos like this and this is helpful to you, then get on my email list. The link is below. Peace until next time.
