Practice Management
Clayton W.
How to Train Your Front Desk to Fill Care Plans Like a Pro
And Stop Leaving Patients (and Revenue) on the Table
If you’re running a physical therapy clinic, you know care plans are the lifeblood of patient outcomes and your bottom line. But here’s the kicker: most clinics don’t lose patients because of bad treatment. They lose them at the front desk. 😱
Yep. You can have the best manual therapy, the fanciest tools, and the cleanest squat form in town but if your front desk can’t confidently guide a patient to book their full plan of care, you’re basically giving out free samples with no checkout line.
So let’s fix that. Here’s how to train your front desk to book care plans like seasoned pros (without sounding like salespeople at a used car lot).
Step 1: Pick Up The Phone
Before we talk tone, scripts, or booking finesse, let’s address the most basic metric: call answer rate.
According to Jerry Durham, some clinics are missing up to 30–40% of calls. That’s not just bad… it’s catastrophic. Imagine running a restaurant that forgets to seat half its walk-ins. 🍽️💸
Start here:
- Track your missed call rate using your phone system or a tool like Jet AI.
- Set a target of answering at least 90% of inbound calls.
- Route overflow to a backup receptionist, call center, or virtual assistant.
- Set up automated text replies for missed calls with links to online booking.
Automated callbacks and text follow-ups help avoid the dreaded phone tag and keep patients engaged.
No call answered = no care plan scheduled. Start there.
Teach the Power of Language
Language is everything. The difference between “Would you like to reschedule?” and “Let’s get you rescheduled do mornings or afternoons work better?” is the difference between an empty schedule and a full one.
Your front desk isn’t just managing calendars they’re managing psychology.
Train them to:
- Use assumptive phrasing: “Let’s go ahead and get you back in” instead of “Do you want to come back?”
- Avoid open-ended booking: Replace “What days work for you?” with “We have Monday at 10 or Tuesday at 3, which is better?”
- Think of it as verbal squatting form: small tweaks, big gains.
Track What Matters (Because Guesswork is Not a Strategy)
As Jerry Durham reminded us in our recent convo, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” Preach.
With tools like Jet AI, you can:
- Monitor how many care plans are actually being scheduled (and completed)
- See which staff are crushing conversions and which ones need a little TLC (Tender Loving Coaching)
- Track call results and pinpoint common drop-offs in the scheduling process
If you’re not measuring the performance of your front desk, you’re flying blind and probably straight into a no-show storm.
Practice Roleplaying
Want your front desk to improve fast? Add weekly roleplay training.
Yep, we’re talking pretend patient calls. Get awkward. Get detailed. Get real.
Here’s what to rehearse:
- Handling objections (“I’ll check my calendar” or “I’m not sure I can commit to 2x/week”)
- Following up when patients go radio silent
- Explaining the benefits of completing the entire plan of care, not just the first few visits
Bonus points: Record these mock calls and review them like game tape. Jerry called these “coaching opportunities” and they work.
Make It About the Mission
Your front desk isn’t “selling appointments.” They’re helping patients get better. Period.
Remind them:
- Booking the full care plan leads to better outcomes.
- Better outcomes = happier patients.
- Happier patients = more referrals, more reviews, and more revenue.
This is where Dr. Josh Funk‘s experience really hits: his front desk success isn’t built on scripts it’s built on clarity. Patients know what they’re committing to and why. As Josh puts it, “We had to learn how to run a business, not just provide great care.”
Truth.
Give Them the Right Tools
Would you ask a PT to treat with no table? Of course not. So don’t leave your front desk hanging either.
Give them:
- A clear scheduling protocol
- Scripts and templates (especially for common objections)
- Access to a real-time dashboard (like Jet AI) that shows them how they’re performing
If you’re using Jet AI, your front desk can literally see how much value they’ve booked in a day and it’s oddly motivating when they realize they just brought $10K in treatment revenue through good scheduling habits. 💰💪
Final Thought: Don’t Train Once, Coach Weekly
Training isn’t a one-time onboarding checklist it’s a rhythm. A habit. Like stretching those tight hip flexors before every lift. 🙃
Meet with your team weekly. Review the data. Celebrate wins. Roleplay losses. Make improvement part of your clinic culture.
Because when your front desk is trained, confident, and empowered? Your schedule stays full, your patients get better, and your clinic grows. That’s the care plan we all want.
Want to see how Jet AI can help your front desk book like pros and finally fix that leaky funnel?
