The value of partnering with allied health professionals
You’ve heard the saying ‘No man is an island.’ Similarly, no fitness professional – even highly experienced, skilled and talented ones – can operate in isolation. Instead, you should be part of a network of health professionals, all collaborating together to give clients the most holistic, comprehensive healthcare possible.
Why should I partner with other practitioners?
First and foremost, for the purpose of referrals. “At some point, you’ll have clients who get injured, because they might be doing their own workouts outside the gym or they may be starting from scratch and have niggles and pains, so they’d need a physio assessment,” says Dr Dale Schalkwijk, owner of Legacy Physio and Fitness.
As well as a good physio, it’s handy to have a GP and massage therapist in your network of contacts, says Schalkwijk. You may also wish to collaborate with a dietitian or nutritionist, as well as a psychologist or counsellor.
Are there creative ways to partner?
Absolutely! Referrals are just the beginning of what can be an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship with an allied health professional. For instance, you may want to team up and conduct seminars or evening workshops for clients. You could offer each other’s client base discount offers or promotions. You could collaborate on an introductory welcome pack for new clients, with vouchers from your respective businesses. You could even work together on developing an e-course for clients, incorporating material reflecting both of your areas of expertise. In Schalkwijk’s case, he occasionally gives clients vouchers to see his recommended massage therapist.
“I’ve done that when I was really proud of a client’s achievements and wanted to show my appreciation for them committing to training,” he says. Another idea is to run a group training session, then organise for a physio to come in and do a 10 minute screen on each person afterwards, suggests Schalkwijk.
How do I know who to approach?
With so many health practitioners out there, it can be confusing knowing who to approach. Obviously, you want to ensure that anyone you refer your clients to is reputable and experienced, but also that you have a good rapport, particularly if you will be working together to manage clients healthcare. Schalkwijk advises using practitioners you’ve been to yourself and trust, where possible. You could also organise an in-person chat to tell them a bit more about you, and what you do, and see if they are interested in partnering with you. Ultimately, it has to be a reciprocal arrangement. “If you’re not going to refer to them, why would they refer back to you?; it’s a two-way street,” says Schalkwijk.
What about partnering with doctors?
Doctors, being so notoriously busy, are one category of health practitioners that can be a little tricker to tee up partnerships with, because it’s hard to get time with them and in many cases they don’t refer to specific personal trainers.
“What I’ve done is create an information package, which is a binder of forms covering topics like fat loss and strength training and basic sample programs for different client populations that GPs can give to their patients,” says Schalkwijk. “They love it because it saves them a lot of time, and it’s got my contact details on it too.”
He advises being as specific and tailored as possible with any information you create, based on any health or medical niches you cater to, for instance exercise prescriptions for diabetes or for muscular rehab. You can then speak to the receptionist at the medical centre and ask to leave the binder there, or in the doctors’ staff room for their perusal, suggests Schalkwijk.
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