"I'm just a Therapist" - It's time to value yourself more!

The Importance of self valueas a Therapist

As therapists we tend to give ourselves selflessy to helping our clients and patients. Whilst this is an admirable quality and an essential trait in becoming an exceptional therapist, it often means that we undervalue our skills and services. This in turn can have a negative impact on our perception of ourselves and how we portray ourselves, and our business to others. Andy Byrne of triadhealth.co.uk is a vastly experienced Physiotherapist, and a leader in developing a successful business and helping therapists promote themselves and their business. Andy took the time to share his thoughts on valuing yourself and marketing your business.

A frightening number of the Therapists that I meet massively undervalue what they do. Somewhere along the line, they’ve decided that they’re “just a Therapist” but this has a hugely negative effect on how they come across to patients, how they market themselves, how they price their services and how they view their impact in the world.

Top 5 clues that you under value what you do:

· You feel uncomfortable charging patient’s money for your services

· You feel uncomfortable telling patients that they need to come back

· When someone asks you what you do for a living, you use the word “just” somewhere in the answer. “I’m just a Physio”, “I just work with a local team as their Therapist”. You’d be surprised how often it slips out.

· You charge a low amount compared to your competitors for your services

· Your marketing is bland and impersonal

Click here to read our previous blog on marketing yourself.

Being a Therapist can be tiring and it is easy to forget the impact that you make in people’s lives some days, but if this becomes the norm, then it can mean that you fail to provide the service you should to your patients, and lose enjoyment in your profession.

Here’s an exercise to remind you of how important and valuable what you do is.

· List the three patients you enjoyed working with the most. Why did you enjoy working with them? What goal did they have? What was the outcome? Write down your answers.

I’m willing to make a bet with you now, that you worked with these patients on something that was hugely meaningful. You might have got them walking normally for their wedding day after an ankle sprain, or you might have helped them walk to the end of their road for the first time in years to get a paper. Whatever, they were, I bet the three examples you’ve come up with, clearly show your massive value as a Therapist.

Next, keep this in mind, think about how you feel about asking for patients to pay you. Most therapists feel uncomfortable taking money for their service, but wasn’t what you helped those three patients achieve worth every penny and way, way more to them? How would keeping that in mind change how you finish a session with a patient? Would it change whether you have the conversation about booking someone in again if you can give that much value?

Still keeping in mind the massive value you gave to those three patients, how do you feel about your pricing? Do you charge too little?

Lastly, think about your marketing. Do you treat lower back, neck pain, arthritis, aches and pains, or do you help people get back to doing what makes them happy? You can spell out your value to people in a way that highlights your value, rather than hides it behind lists and medical terms.

When I look through the now thousands of Therapists who are on SportsInjuryFix.com, you can see those who value what they do, who shout about the impact they have on people’s lives. You can also see the majority. Those who are going through the motions somewhat. It comes across in how they speak about what they do, and that impacts on the response they get…and guess what, that impacts on how that Therapist feels about what they do.

Do the exercise above. Make your top three list of favourite patients ever. Remember how important you are, and then look at everything you do and add value to it, and then highlight the value in what you do. Don’t be shy about telling people how important what you do is. There aren’t many professions that can change people’s lives every day!

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