The saying is ‘Do as I say, not as I do’. In other words, do what I tell you to do but don’t imitate what I’m doing because I’m not following what I say – I’m being a hypocrite. Are you a hypocrite? Do you run your practice in the way you tell your clients to run theirs? Probably not! Well, it’s time to get your act together. If you really want to have a successful and well-run practice then you need to follow your own advice. By running your practice as if it was a client’s business you will notice where you can improve your processes and better leverage the time and people you have.

Best practice

You tell your clients to use the latest technology and advise them on what is available – are you using the best technology that you can? You should always look to do things smarter and this often means adopting new technology not just sticking with what is ‘comfortable’ for you and your staff. If you’re not already using social media then you should be – you need to make your presence felt and this means telling people what you do, getting articles online, keeping your website up-to-date.

Building Relationships

Just as your clients do, you too need to build relationships. Developing a referral system helps your clients recommend you – make suer you have a feedback function on your website too – not everyone is happy with everything you do and it’s important that you know that. You can’t fix what you don’t know about!

Communicate often

Schedule regular communication with your clients, not just to discuss their business but to ask what they think of how you do business. You should, of course, also be meeting regularly with your staff. Nothing good or bad should very come as a surprise - discuss what’s happening around the practice, reflect on your achievements and look for solutions for any challenges. Discussing things as a team can often lead to outcomes you may not have thought of and helps builds trust and loyalty.

Back yourself

You tell your clients to back themselves, well, you need to do the same. You tell your clients to make the hard decisions – you need to too. Remember, you are running a business too. Look at how you do things – would you recommend how you do things to a client? If you wouldn’t then it’s time to up your own game and lead by example!