Episode Transcript
KPIs are probably the second most boring topic in business. The first is operations. They’re also one of the most important things in your practice, because the practices that don’t watch their numbers are the ones that get robbed, stall out, and never figure out why.
I’ve seen everything from staff taking Botox to run a side business to flat-out embezzlement of two, three hundred thousand dollars out of a practice. That’s what this episode is about.
Joining me are Isaac Muesli, CEO of Atlas KPI, and Randy Torben, VP of sales at Atlas. Both live and breathe this subject.
Key Takeaways
- KPIs tell you how the business is actually performing. Vanity metrics tell you how it looks.
- Most practices have no real software for tracking their numbers. Many are still on paper.
- The office manager's first KPIs: conversion rate and customer acquisition cost.
- Unwatched numbers invite theft, from product walking out the door to six-figure embezzlement.
- Once a doctor sees his own data clearly, the questions and the profits change fast.
Why This Matters Now
You don’t grow a practice by feel. Toronto Cosmetic Clinic went from under $100K to multiple 7 figures, and from 4 staff to 44. You don’t make a jump like that guessing at what a lead costs, what a consult converts at, or what a patient is worth. The doctors who guess plateau. The doctors who measure compound. If you want to know what your marketing numbers should be telling you, start with how to read a marketing report and call tracking for medical practices.
The Second Most Boring Topic in Business
Practice Perfect is the podcast for medical professionals and anybody running a services business rather than a bricks-and-mortar store. Today’s topic won’t win any excitement awards, but if you’re not familiar with the acronym, KPIs are key performance indicators. They are the things that matter to a business.
Where Atlas KPI Came From
Isaac’s story starts with a professional need. He was a general manager at a different software company and built the tool he needed himself. His father-in-law, a practicing physician, became the first customer and the proving ground.
KPIs Are a Shortcut Into Your Business
For me, KPIs is almost like a shortcut to get the insight of your business performance.
A number like referral revenue isn’t just revenue. It tells you whether your customers are happy enough to send their friends. It’s a service-quality score hiding inside a dollar figure.
Why Practices Are Still Running on Paper
A lot of practices are still on paper. You’ve got everything from staff resisting EMR-type software to doctors stuck in their old ways. And frankly, a lot of the time the software gets in the way more than it helps. It creates more problems than it solves, which is exactly why practices give up on tracking.
Your Numbers Should Live on Your Phone
Doctors are in and out of the practice all day. The technology has finally caught up: the numbers can follow the doctor onto a mobile phone instead of sitting in a binder at the front desk. If checking your KPIs requires a meeting, you won’t check them.
People Steal When Nobody Watches the Numbers
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
When you grow to a certain size and you’re not paying attention to your business, people start to steal. It could be one bad egg, it could be systematic, it could be job dissatisfaction. I’ve seen staff taking Botox and running a business on the side, and I’ve seen $200,000 to $300,000 embezzled from a practice. The numbers would have caught both.
The KPIs Your Office Manager Should Watch
Most office managers double as patient coordinators, and some handle expenses too. Priority one for that role: conversion rate and customer acquisition cost, and understanding how those numbers are built. Get those two right and most of the other numbers start making sense.
The First Customer Was His Father-in-Law
Isaac’s father-in-law was Atlas’s first customer. The turning point in his practice came when he could finally see data he’d never seen before. It took a couple of weeks of looking at the charts and asking questions, and then the data started driving decisions instead of gut feel.
The Wrap-Up
This episode gives you a lot to think about. If you’d rather have someone who’s grown practices sit on your side of the table and read the numbers with you, that’s what our advisory work is for.