Location, Location, Location

Before you sign a lease, consider the marketing value and innate referral-generating properties of different types of practice settings. If you spend time and money on advertising and marketing, why not invest in an office location that can also produce referrals?  The traditional psychotherapy office is quiet, cozy, and off-the-beaten path to provide privacy and a sense of security and professionalism. But does such an office generate new referrals? Most of the time, the answer is no. 

How about an office in a large suite of psychotherapy offices? This type of scenario could be a great opportunity for you to network with your suite mates and even generate referrals if you are the only practitioner offering a type of service or specialization. The same would be true for having an office in a large medical building.

If the goal is to generate referrals, which aspects of your office location are most important? Is it the neighborhood, street address, interior design, comfortable furniture, soft tissues, or something else? The real power of an office to generate referrals stems from its proximity to referral sources.

If you work with children and receive referrals from Pediatricians, the closer you can get to the referral "source" (e.g., Pediatricians), the more referrals your office location will generate. For example, if a Pediatrician gives out your business card, the recommendation is strong. But if the same happens and your office is located inside the Pediatrician’s office, the recommendation is 10X stronger.

But if you work inside a Pediatrician’s office, there will be noise, less space, less privacy, etc…True, but how important are those factors for patients. The truth is that they are not nearly as important to patients as they are to practitioners. 

Making the decision to choose a non-traditional office location is the easy part; actually finding the office and negotiating a lease is a whole other story.
 

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