By Katrina Dollano, R.Ac, R.TCMP

May is typically when practitioners double down on marketing. More ads, more posts, more outreach.  Spring season, baby!  Growth!  Energy! New, new, new!

However, if your conversion system is weak, more leads just amplify that inefficiency.

Many practitioners are leaking opportunity in three places:

• Leads who inquire but never book
• Consults that don’t convert to treatment plans
• Patients who start but don’t stay long enough to get results

Before you invest more into marketing, tighten what happens after someone finds you.

Focus on four key areas:

1. Speed and Structure of Follow-Up

If someone reaches out and doesn’t hear back quickly, they move on.  Set a clear system: same-day response, structured intake, and a defined next step.

2. Clarity in Your Recommendations
Patients don’t commit when they’re unsure.  If your care plan feels vague or optional, they hesitate.  Who is the expert?  You are!  Be clear, structured, and confident in what you recommend.  That will serve your patient best and help your business growth.

3. Patient Experience in the First 2 Weeks
This is where most drop-off happens. If patients don’t feel momentum early, they disengage.  Your role is to set expectations clearly from the start.

Acute conditions often respond quickly. Patients may feel noticeable changes within a few treatments. Chronic conditions are different. They typically require a longer, more consistent course of care before meaningful changes occur.

If you don’t explain this, patients will expect acute timelines for chronic problems, and that mismatch leads to drop-off.

And it’s important to wow the patient.  Give them an experience that they won’t receive elsewhere.  Ensure that they feel heard, cared for.

4. Deliver an Experience Patients Can’t Get Elsewhere
Many patients come to you after months, sometimes years, of frustration.

They’ve waited weeks or months to see a specialist and had short, rushed appointments.
They’ve been told their tests are “normal” despite ongoing symptoms.  And their concerns have been minimized or dismissed, given limited options or told to “wait and see.”

By the time they arrive in your practice, trust in the healthcare system is often already eroded. This is our opportunity!

Create an experience that feels different from the moment they walk in:

• Take the time to listen fully, without interrupting
• Reflect back what you’re hearing so they feel understood
• Explain your thinking clearly and confidently
• Give them a structured plan so they know what happens next

“Feeling heard and cared for” is not a bonus. It’s the baseline for true healthcare.  What builds trust is clarity, time, and a sense that someone is finally taking them seriously.  

And that comes from an intentional approach to how patients are onboarded and guided through treatment.  It doesn’t happen by chance.

More marketing won’t fix a weak system.  A stronger new patient onboarding system makes every lead more valuable.

By Katrina Dollano, R.Ac, R.TCMP

Early spring is arriving, and with it the energy of the Wood element is beginning to stir. With Wood comes the energy of growth and renewal; supporting vision, planning, and upward movement. This makes it the ideal time to implement marketing practices. Small, intentional actions taken now can create forward moving momentum as the year unfolds.

Here are three marketing ideas to consider:

Community Events

Participating in community events is an excellent way to meet potential patients and build relationships with other healthcare professionals. These settings allow you to introduce yourself and your work in a natural, low pressure environment. In my experience, offering an engaging and distinctive activity draws significantly more interest to your booth. I have offered brief tongue and pulse assessments, explaining what findings may indicate from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective. This opens meaningful conversations and creates a natural opportunity to invite attendees to schedule a comprehensive consultation if they would like to explore further.

Business Networking Groups

Structured networking groups can be a powerful referral source. One of the largest organizations is Business Networking International, commonly known as BNI. These groups are designed to foster professional referral relationships among local business owners. Patients who are referred by someone they already trust often enter your practice with greater confidence and commitment. Over time, these relationships can become a steady and reliable source of new patients.

Community Talks 

Hosting or participating in community talks allows you to demonstrate the depth and scope of our medicine to a larger audience at once. Whether hosted at a library, community centre, church, or another local venue, these presentations position you as an authority while providing genuine education. The objective is not simply to inform, but to inspire and help the audience see what may be possible for their health. When people understand that change is possible, they are more open to taking the next step and booking a consultation.

Marketing can sometimes feel uncomfortable or overly promotional. It is important to reframe this. Our medicine changes lives, so staying invisible serves no one. When done with integrity, marketing becomes an extension of patient care.

Early spring reminds us that growth does not begin with visible buds and greenery. Before there is growth, there is movement beneath the surface. The Wood element shows us that vision comes first, then action.

Just as we support our patients in making changes that move them forward, we can do the same for our practices. A few deliberate actions now can shape the entire year ahead.

Thank you for your continued support of your association!

Practical insight into the business side of clinical practice

Most TCM practitioners and acupuncturists graduate with extensive clinical training yet much less education in business, financial literacy, and what it actually takes to build and sustain a successful practice.

The impact of the medicine is ultimately limited by how well a practice is structured, managed, and financially supported. Clinical skill alone does not build stability, longevity, or freedom.

Supporting members in building profitable and sustainable practices is a core mandate of the TCMO. Practice & Profit is a monthly column designed to address the business realities of clinical practice by sharing practical guidance from experienced practitioners, accountants, and business and financial literacy professionals.

As the year gets underway, many practitioners find that New Year’s good intentions around organization and finances have already slipped. It’s not uncommon, January falls deep within the Water element according to the Five Elements. This is a season of conservation, not initiation. Growth is most naturally supported when the year shifts toward the Wood element in late winter and early spring.

So right now, late February is an ideal time to begin putting systems in place. It is early enough in the year to make meaningful changes, without the pressure and overwhelm that comes with starting “too late”,  and it’s energetically aligned with preparation for growth.  While it may still feel like winter, underground sap is beginning to turn, starting its ascent back from the roots into the trees, signalling the transition of Water into Wood.  

Effective systems remove friction. When simple processes run consistently, systems replace reactionary stress and ease follows.

With that in mind, here are three simple systems that can dramatically reduce stress and chaos around year end for tax filings.

1. Managing expense receipts

For in-store purchases, take a photo of the receipt immediately and save it to a dedicated photo album used only for receipts. Physically marking the receipt, such as tearing the top corner or marking it with a pen, indicates it has already been captured.

For online purchases, use a dedicated email address exclusively for clinic or business expenses. This eliminates the need to search through the floods of personal and promotional emails when receipts are needed.

Accounting software such as QuickBooks allows receipts to be emailed directly into the system. Online purchase receipts can be forwarded as they arrive, and photos of physical receipts can be uploaded directly into the app or forwarded via email weekly. Other platforms such as Xero, Wave, Zoho Books, and Kashoo offer similar functionality. However, many accountants work primarily with QuickBooks, which can simplify year-end reconciliation and communication.

2. Tracking mileage

Certain driving expenses are eligible business deductions. These may include travel between clinic locations, trips to purchase supplies, meetings with professional advisors, banking, or supplier visits. Commuting from home to a primary workplace is generally not deductible unless the home qualifies as the principal place of business. Practitioners should confirm specifics with their accountant.

The CRA requires a mileage logbook and supporting records. Many accounting platforms offer automatic GPS-based mileage tracking through a mobile app. Trips can be reviewed weekly and designated as business or personal with minimal effort. Keeping mileage tracking within existing accounting software reduces duplication and year-end administrative burden.

3. Setting aside money for taxes

A dedicated tax holding account should be established, with a fixed percentage of each revenue deposit transferred automatically. This prevents tax payments from becoming financial emergencies.

Financial institutions can advise on higher-interest savings accounts suitable for this purpose. While interest earned may be modest, the primary benefit is reduced stress and having cash on hand when the tax expense is due.

These small systems, put in place now, can significantly reduce stress and chaos come tax time. While tax deadlines fall in April for employees and June for business owners, the real work is best done throughout the year as transactions and travel occur.  When records are already organized as the year closes, most of the work is already done.

If you found this helpful, please share it with a colleague who would benefit from setting up systems to prevent stress and chaos at tax time.Most TCM practitioners and acupuncturists graduate with extensive clinical training yet much less education in business, financial literacy, and what it actually takes to build and sustain a successful practice.