The Numbers Most Clinics Never See
Marketing agency founder Michael Schumacher on why clinics operate blind to their own numbers, and why lead volume matters far less than follow-up and experience.
Michael Schumacher
Show notes
Jared sits down with Michael Schumacher, co-founder of the healthcare marketing agency HMDG, to talk about why so many clinics run blind. Most clinic owners come from clinical rather than commercial backgrounds, so they rarely know their real numbers, from cost per acquisition to margin and lifetime value by treatment.
The conversation moves to pricing and marketing. Michael argues the money sits in the follow-up appointment, not the initial one, and that raising prices arbitrarily each January is a mistake. On marketing he is blunt that lead volume is close to meaningless: what matters is return on investment, and clinics too often get sold cheap leads by operators preying on their inexperience.
They close on experience and benchmarking. Both argue the real advantage is a connected, end-to-end patient experience, from an authentic website through to a personal follow-up after treatment, and that clinics need an outside benchmark to see where they actually stand.
Key takeaways
- Michael argues most clinic owners come from clinical rather than commercial backgrounds, so they rarely track cost per acquisition, margin or lifetime value.
- When buying software or a supplier, he looks for a well-funded company likely to still be supporting the product in two years, run by owners with a track record.
- He contends the money is in the follow-up appointment, not the initial one, and that raising prices simply because it is January is a mistake.
- Lead volume means little without return on investment, and clinics are often sold cheap leads by operators exploiting their commercial inexperience.
- Real advantage comes from a connected end-to-end experience, from an authentic website through to a personal follow-up after treatment.
- Because clinics operate without benchmarks, an outside view that flags when a number does not look right is where much of the value lies.
“Any donut can build a website.”— Michael Schumacher
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