Texting your clients opens a great possibility for communication and it can wildly improve your relationship with them.
But there are a few deadly sins you should definitely be aware of and completely avoid when texting.
The first thing is sending broadcasts to a bunch of people who don't want it, which is basically spamming them.
Let's say you're running a challenge and you want to be helpful and send useful information about it to your clients.
If you send a bunch of content related your golf challenge to people who don't play golf, the fact that this is great information becomes completely irrelevant.
They're going to be looking at it and going, “What the heck's going on? I've never played golf, and why is this person texting me about it? They must not know me. They must not understand me, and I don't want to be part of their membership.”
So now, it's not just that that person isn't going to become a golf client.
It's that we've torn apart the credibility we had. We've actually damaged that relationship.
And if you send too many unwanted messages to too many people, the carriers get wise to it and start blocking your number because you're not a trusted communicator.
Once that happens, it's hard to recover from it, because they won't tell you that you're blocked. You'll just notice that people aren't responding to your messages.
Another thing to be careful is the fact that there's no text messaging service that is HIPPA compliant.
Text messaging is not considered a private communication method.
So you never want to include anything about their private medical records.
When you're checking in on your patients, you can never say things like “Hey Mrs. Johnson, how's your flare up of your psoriatic arthritis?”
What you can do is say something personal but not private. If you know Mrs. Johnson has a dog, for example, you could send something like:
“Hey Mrs. Johnson, I just wanted to check in with you and see how you're doing. By the way, how's Rusty?”
So it's great to open up those lines of communication, but always be careful not to say anything that could get you in trouble later.
What you do want is use texting to your advantage. And let me tell you, there's a GREAT advantage for those who do it right.
Reducing friction between you and your patients and making them feel comfortable texting will set you apart from everyone else. Most people aren't doing that.
Clinic Gym Connect helps you build a system that will give patients a whole new experience.