Patti & Darryl Elliott, PT
Darryl and Patti Elliott are successful physical therapy business owners — and in this guest blog, they share their top business tips! They will teach you how to be a leader and build systems in your business.
- Start with the end in mind.
- Build systems…then stay in your lane.
- Trust your team.
- Look outside the PT industry for business advice.
- Sometimes, you have to make a leap before you feel you’re ready.
- Invest in your marketing early on.
- Get staff involved in marketing.
- Hire vendors to help you with marketing, billing, etc.
- Don’t skimp on marketing.
What We’ve Learned From Growing Our Practice From 2 Employees to 94 in 9 Years.
Darryl & Patti Elliott have been Practice Promotions customers since 2014. Listen to their podcast episode here!
1. Start with the end in mind.
Darryl: We tried to start with the end in mind.
We knew what we wanted to achieve – so there were countless hours of marketing research and trying to figure out how to get our practice up – but we knew where we wanted to go.
It was important that we had this vision. We wrote it down and started taking the necessary steps.
At that point, we had two young kids. So it was a lot of work. We had all these dots on our organization chart…but the only ones who were filling the roles were me and Patti! Those were fun times. Interesting. It was a lot of work.
We also believe in this mantra of “be-do-have.” If you be the person you are, follow and do the things with your being, the “haves” are going to come. You have to be in alignment with your own vision of who you want to be, and do those steps, versus chasing the “haves.”
If you be, and then do, then you will have.
2. Build systems. Then stay in your lane.
Patti: We created an organizational chart. We try to stick to our own box and our own lane. We have to trust in others, that they are extremely confident and capable, and then let them do their part. You have to entrust and let go.
I think we’ve done a good job of that.
We have 90-minute meetings every Monday with our leadership team, which is part of the Traction philosophy. We bring forward problems and ideas, and then have the appropriate people go back and implement the system.
We’ve always had a “work hard / play hard” responsibility.
Darryl: You have to follow your systems. In the Patriots, you have to “do your job.” Everybody has their role on the team. Through Traction and Michael Gerber’s E-Myth, and some of the Patriots’ books, you put that together. “Doing your job” gives you peace of mind. You’ve done your part.
3. Trust your team.
Patti: When you build your team, and align them, and trust in them, you get better results.
For example, with marketing…
- We have an assistant marketing director, Michelle. She has her Master’s Degree in digital marketing
- The Practice Promotions team is faithful with our monthly and quarterly meetings. We love to work with the professionals you have on your team.
- This summer, we brought on two marketing interns. The video content and the things they are creating are so far beyond what I could ever do!
So when you build your team, and align them, and trust in them…then I see things on our Instagram or TikTok and I’m like, “Darryl, have you seen how good this is?” The content is just so good!
So once you communicate your vision and your values, and then allow people to be creative with that, then it’s really powerful.
Darryl: It’s amazing where it goes.
Neil: Yes! Sometimes we get in our own way. Sometimes you just have to let people fly!
Patti: Sometimes, as business owners, we can get caught up in our own way. But if you don’t let go a little, you’ll never know that it can be better!
4. Look outside the PT industry for business advice.
Darryl: We pull from business resources outside of the physical therapy industry. We like to see what styles are working in other businesses!
Here are some of the resources that the we have used!
- Traction. This book shows you simple yet powerful ways to run your company that will give you more focus, more growth, and more enjoyment. We follow their Entrepreneurial Operating System as closely as we can
- Raving Fans. We want each patient to become a raving fan of Elliott PT!
- One Minute Manager. This book teaches managers to give a correction and improve an employee without dwelling on it. What’s a one-minute correction?
- Fish! Philosophy. How to introduce FUN and play into your work space!
- PPS Conference. The Private Practice Section conference, run by the American Physical Therapy Association.
- Ted Lasso! We love getting leadership tips from Ted, and put them up on our clinic monitor.
- E-Myth. Discusses why startups fail, and how to prevent it.
- Be, Do, Have. A model of leadership that focuses on being who you want to be, not just having things.
Neil: It’s important to keep learning, not just on the clinical side, but also on the business side.
5. Sometimes, you have to make a leap before you feel you’re ready.
Patti: We often did things that I didn’t feel we were ready for.
But Darryl had that entrepreneurial spirit. He said: “We have to bring on PTs to build each clinic. We can’t wait until we’re ready. We have to bring them on with the intention of growing.”
That was the hardest thing. When you hire people, you have to pay their salaries! That was the biggest leap of faith.
Sometimes you have to make uncomfortable decisions and jumps before you’re ready.
6. Invest in your marketing early on.
Darryl: We mapped it all out, and I knew we were going to need a marketing company – like what you provide for us.
We knew the model of growth we wanted, and we stuck to it. It wasn’t easy. It would have been easier to sink back and see some patients, and when you get some money in, to build.
But we had to stay true to our vision.
Neil: You’re right. First you need your vision. But it takes some guts to take those choices. But that’s entrepreneurship. It’s putting yourself out there in uncomfortable situations and facing crazy odds.
Sometimes you have to “build it and they will come.” We’re always waiting for the perfect moment – to hire, to invest in marketing, to start another location– but maybe that perfect moment will never come. You have to create that perfect moment.
7. Get staff involved in marketing.
Patti: We have a welcome luncheon for all new team members. But then Michelle and I also do a “Marketing Alignment Luncheon” and engage new team members from the get-go.
A lot of the photos on our website are from the individual staff members in clinics. They send us videos. We run different contests for videos!
75% of the content that we get comes directly from staff in the clinics.
We try to empower people to be part of our marketing team! With just a marketing team of two – Michelle and I, plus the two interns – it’s just not possible to get to 8 locations and get custom content. So every
Neil: I love it! You’ve turned everyone into a marketing army. And it shows! You have such fantastic photos and videos. I think that’s something that has helped elevate your practice and build your business.
Darryl: The teams really enjoy it and have fun with it, as well!
8. Hire vendors to help you with marketing, billing, etc.
Patti: Our unique value proposition is that we offer a level of physical therapy that, we feel, is without competition.
We don’t try to do everything. Think about vendors or other people to get support around, so that you can stay focused on what you’re really trying to do.
If you get in the weeds with all these other things, and don’t think there is a value to hiring vendors, then that will pull you away from what you’re really trying to accomplish. That’s a mistake.
9. Don’t skimp on marketing.
Patti: Practice Promotions has been a key marker to our success. Even in the initial days, I would have patients call and say, “I read my therapist’s bio on the website, and I’m excited to come in because I saw that they vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, and I do too!”
People are coming to our website and reading and exploring to learn more! Many people don’t know what to expect when they come to a physical therapy visit.
Is Practice Promotions Worth It?
So even in those early days, when it was difficult to make those payments, I would tell Darryl – it is worth it! I speak to new practice owners today, and they ask: “Is it worth it?”
And I tell them: it is SO worth it! But you also have to spend the time to meet with the people on your team. You have to make sure that you’re giving Practice Promotions the information that they need, and create a strategy with them that’s helpful.
If new business owners and new private practice owners think that they can just come on, have Practice Promotions build out the website, and have a few posts that go out automated a few times a month, and that they’re going to see the results, I don’t think that’s true.
It’s truly a partnership where you have a great team on the Practice Promotions side, who are knowledgeable about Google Ads and Search Engine Optimization and all these things…and they will help you, as long as YOU spend the time educating them and communicating with them what you want, and sharing about the practice.
For example, we now have a Google Drive of clinic photos, and we just store photos there, so then the Practice Promotions team can pick some out and customize some posts on our website, and make the posts more “Elliott.”
Darryl: You’ve been instrumental in building our business. As a two-person operation, how were we going to [compare with] your experience, your knowledge level, your education on marketing, and your team members?
We had to employ Practice Promotions as a professional. Marketing is a key component to developing a practice. As a practice in 2014, there’s no way that we could have done the things we did without you and your team.
Do you want to see the Elliotts’ success?
The Elliotts use the Ultimate Marketing Plan, which includes…
- SEO services
- Google Ads services
- Patient-centered website design
- Practice Newsletters!
Watch an instant demo of our practice marketing services today!
