Hi, this is David Kats with Therapist Consultants, and I have a tip for you.

I find that many therapists run over in the therapy sessions. They schedule patients on the hour, but they'll run up to about 55, 60 minutes before they actually cut off the session, and then they either tight or they run behind. I suggest that you move to 45-minute sessions. This allows you to put in your notes and go home on time. Think about this with all your new patients, when you start to schedule them, say, "Here's how we work, our fee is $150, and we have 45-minute sessions, and I have sessions available on Thursday or on Friday, which day do you prefer?"

See, when they say Friday or Thursday, or even if they say, "Do you have anything on Saturday?" and you say yes, they've already agreed to $150 and they've already agreed to have 45-minute session. I think that if you move to 45-minute sessions, you'll feel much more rested, you'll do a better job, you'll get your notes done on time, and...

Hi, this is Dave Kats, at Therapist Consultants and I have a tip for you.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to schedule patients as far as scripting is concerned. I'd like to go over the right type of script to use when scheduling a patient. Let's assume you're in a counseling session and your phone rings, and somebody leaves a voicemail that says we may need to come in as new patients. As soon as you have the opportunity, you call them back and you'll say, "Hi, this is Judy Lewis, the therapist that you called about getting in for some care. I have just a few minutes before my next patient. Can you tell me briefly what your situation is?" "Well, yes. My wife and I have been married for 26 years, but four years ago we lost our adult son. It’s made our marriage fall apart. We decided that we either have to call it quits or that we have to get some marriage counseling. So we were thinking about possibly getting marriage counseling.

Now, when they pause or if you break...

Therapist Consultants Collection Scripting from Kats & Therapist Consultants on Vimeo.

Dave Kats: Hi. This is Dave Kats and Dr. Michael Perusich with Therapist
Consultants and we have a video tip for you. There's a right way and a wrong way to
collect. There's right scripting and wrong scripting.
Dr. Michael Perusich: There is. Scripting is important when you're collecting money
from patients. You want to practice this. Little things like not saying "dollars". Let's
say, your charge for the session today is $150. You don't want to turn to the patient
and say, "Well, that'll be $150" because to the patient, that sounds like a lot of
money. If you just say, "Well, that'll $150 today. Would you like to pay that with cash,
check or charge"; It just really skims over it, not unethically, but it allows the patient
to just absorb that a little bit easier.
Dave: You said something also very good. If you give them a choice of yeses,
"Would you care to pay for that by cash, check or credit...