Simplified Strategic Planning for Your Weight Loss Practice

I love dreaming, scheming and planning!  Yes – I geek out on planning software, calendars and creating blueprint style ‘how to’ plans for weight loss practices more than you know. 

Something I love even more is taking the necessary actions (along with a dedicated team) to make it happen. Over time, I have learned that asking for help when needed and being willing to course correct when necessary are also very smart moves.  Which, coincidentally, usually leads to a much better outcome and/or process. 

So, I want to share a strategic plan that can be summarized on one page!  The plan is based upon building a strong foundation and is focused on what will make a difference in your practice (with less overwhelm).  This simplified planning process allows for an efficient way to plan, focus, commit and easily communicate goals/Key Performance indicator’s (KPI’s) resulting in a positive impact for you, your team and your practice. 

The model for this simplified strategic plan is outlined below with guidelines for creating a one-page plan.

Simplified Strategic Planning Model Explained:

While simple, this model will work for any size weight loss practice.  It starts with a strong foundation at the base, specific and measurable goals on the roof and the middle floor consists of the strategies that connect the two and ensure quicker success when done correctly.  

Of additional importance is the fact that at times you will choose to Balance and at other times you will choose to Build.  Each are acceptable depending upon where you are in your business.  Both require goals, yet during times of balance, you will focus more on your foundation and during times when you are building, you will focus more on your growth floor (new patients/prospects, income streams and authority building). 

Your Strong Foundation & Force Field of Protection:

Your foundation is what supports everything else in your practice.  It provides your force field of protection when you are faced with any type of storm as well as when you are enjoying the brighter days and many celebrations.  You can rely on its strength.  Your foundation is made up of structural maintenance and operational efficiency. 

• Structural Maintenance: Whenever there are times of uncertainty, this is when you want to evaluate what you need to do to maintain at least your current level of success.  You want to lock in your current success and protect it.  Your focus should be on your main services and/or products, your team, and what serves your practice well.  As another analogy, it can be the ‘preventative maintenance’ for ongoing business support and preventing breakdown or decay.  This is NOT busy work.  Your structural maintenance consists of actions such as:
  • Clarify your values? Are they communicated well and integrated into everything you do at every level in your organization?
  • Look for where there are breakdowns in communication (patient, team, messaging, marketing).
  • Identify where are you at your greatest risk for poor stability and preventing growth?
  • Identify where are you leaking valuable resources?
  • Ask whether your current actions are predictive of success or failure?
  • Determine if you have time wasting activities going on in your practice?
  • Examine whether or not you have too many team members, too few team members, team members in roles that don’t serve them or ones that require further development or even termination? 

Once discovered, you will want to work with your team to eliminate the waste and risks identified as thoroughly and quickly as you can. 

• Operational Efficiency: Operational efficiency calms your chaos and provides systematization for predictability in nearly every aspect that matters in your practice.  However, creating repeatable systems for nearly every function in your practice takes effort.  Yet, the effort pays off exponentially and it is always easier to modify an existing system that constantly start from scratch.  Below are my 6 primary systems I like to review to reveal any duplication of effort, lack of efficiency, or require simplification.  These 6 primary systems are the core of my Bariatric Business Accelerator membership program and include:
  • Your Team
  • Your Care Coordination
  • Your Marketing
  • Your Finances
  • Your Revenue Streams
  • Tracking & Reporting 

Your Goals:

Create your annual (strategic) business goals for building or balancing as if they have already been accomplished. This can be done on a quarterly basis as well.  Especially when you have goals that might be accomplished within 3 months such as a successful implementation of a new software system or launching a new program offering. 

Select a revenue goal, a profit margin goal and a measurement goal that will create that desired result.  If you have multiple cost centers (i.e. surgery, medical weight loss and retail sales), do the same for each.  Once you determine the goal, identify 3 actions that will bring that goal to fruition. 

Depending upon the size of your team, I recommend that you take time ‘away from it all’ to do this privately and have your business partner(s) or manager(s) of specific cost centers or key team members do the same.  I like to schedule our planning meeting and then give a deadline for when this is due prior to the meeting so I can review and compare to my ideas. This will make your planning meeting much more productive and efficient.  Alternatively, if you have a small team, you may independently determine the goals as the primary business owner(s) and then schedule a planning meeting to finalize the specific actions that will support goal attainment. 

Your Growth Floor Strategies:

Often people focus on this section without having a strong foundation or specific goals.  This can result in added chaos or ‘spinning your wheels’ due to lack of direction. 

• New Patients/Prospects: This relates to everything you do to help people discover who you are, what you offer and why you are the ideal practitioner/practice to help them with the weight loss transformation they desire.
• Income Streams: What are your income streams? Are they profitable?  Do they make sense for your practice? What should be continued?  What might be a better option?  What is doing well but could be expanded?
• Authority Building: Are you showcasing your expertise and what makes you and your practice uniquely qualified and experience?  This does not have to be expensive – in fact, organic content marketing tends to work best. 

In case you can’t tell, I love strategic planning with weight loss practitioners and their teams – as well as guiding the process and helping with implementation so you can meet or exceed your goals. 

Reach out to me if you need help or desire a one-page document to guide your efforts!

[email protected] 

You can also view a webinar on this topic at https://robard.com/resources/webinars/how-to-future-proof-your-weight-loss-practice-for-stability-growth-in-2022-beyond/ and for more free resources, visit:  https://www.weightlosspracticebuilder.com/free