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Tips and tech for Canadian professionals in solo private practice. Explore proven strategies to attract ideal clients, reduce admin overhead, protect client privacy, and foster sustainable growth. All without leaning on aggressive marketing and hustle-culture tactics. Join host Greg Mount on the quest for a calm, more organized business in a chaotic, digital world.
I can order a pizza on my
phone in about two minutes.
When a new client comes to your website,
how long does it take
them to book a first session?
What happens when
somebody finds your website
and decides they want to work with you?
Do they experience a
simple onboarding process?
Or do they have to swim an
alligator-infested moat
just to access your services?
Now you've created a
professional-looking website.
You've crafted content that
speaks to your ideal clients.
But if booking an appointment
feels like filling out a tax return,
you're losing clients
before you've even met.
In previous episodes,
we talked about building
a solid digital foundation
and creating client-focused content.
Today, let's complete
that three-pillar strategy
with the most important piece,
frictionless client onboarding.
Now, here's what I've learned
after working with a lot
of Canadian practitioners.
Clients will judge your practice
based on how easy it is to work with you.
These days, most people
will choose convenience
over experience.
I'm Greg Mount with Armory Media,
and this is Smart Solo Practice.
Now, most Canadian
professionals treat their website
like a digital business card.
The site looks
professional, shares your credentials,
and maybe even has a contact form.
But that's where it stops.
Meanwhile, your clients live in a world
where they can book a
restaurant, order groceries,
and schedule a haircut with
a few taps on their phone.
When they come to your website,
ready to book an
appointment, what do they find?
Now, a few years back,
I spoke with the owner
of a wellness clinic.
She was in her first year,
and her practice was doing really well.
When I asked why, she said,
"Now, before we launched,
I researched our competition,
and I noticed that almost nobody nearby
offered online booking.
So I made sure we did,
and it turned out to be a
huge advantage from day one."
Nice.
It's easy to make the
case for automation.
Recent surveys show 70% of consumers
prefer to book online,
and healthcare providers
offering online scheduling
are 76% more likely
to attract millennials.
Yet so many
professionals still don't provide
an easy path to connect
with new clients online.
Now, when researching this article,
I looked at the websites for
a number of Canadian practices
across several professional disciplines.
I ignored the design
and content of the site
and focused exclusively
on answering one question.
How can I access your services?
Many sites provided a contact form,
email address, or phone number.
Very few provided a way
to book a first session,
and almost none explained how the
onboarding process works
and what to expect during the first call.
Now, clients value
convenience and expertise.
Why make them choose
when you can provide both?
So how do you create a
client onboarding process
that's both professional and painless?
Let's walk real quick
through three scenarios,
and I'll show you proven
strategies to address each one.
Now, before we get into it, let me
clarify a few points.
First, just so we're clear,
I don't use affiliate links
and I have no relationship
with any of these solutions
except as a customer.
Second, I've worked
extensively with all three
and I either use them for my own business
or for my clients' practices.
And third, all of the
solutions I'm about to share
are in use with real clients right now
and have been for some time.
In other words, I'm no shell
and these are all proven solutions.
Okay, so let's get into it.
I won't bore you with a
detailed feature breakdown,
so let's just stick with the highlights.
But if you'd like to go
deeper in any of these strategies,
let me know and we can dig
into the details together.
Now, the first path is
website booking and intake.
Okay, let's say
you're a professional coach
or maybe a financial advisor.
You wanna provide prospective clients
with a simple way to book
a free initial consultation
and you wanna gather some background.
Well, Fluent Booking and Fluent Forms
are two WordPress plugins
that add appointment
booking and online forms
to your website.
This is a perfect combination
if you want a simple,
lightweight onboarding solution
that integrates
seamlessly into your website.
Now, Fluent Booking has
all the usual features
you'd expect from an
online booking system.
It links with your
calendar to check availability,
sends reminders, handles
cancellations and rescheduling.
The interface is nice
and it's pretty much on par
with any of the other
platforms I've tested.
However, Fluent Booking
has a unique advantage
over SaaS-based systems like Calendly.
It's self-hosted right on your website.
So there's no
third-party calendar to embed.
That's a huge advantage
for both security and privacy.
Now, more on that later.
Fluent Forms is my go-to form builder
for client intake,
surveys, contact and signup forms.
And as you likely guessed,
Fluent Forms and Fluent Booking
are made by the same company.
So they integrate seamlessly.
Now with Fluent Forms,
you can build sophisticated intake forms
right on your website.
And you can do cool stuff like drop an
appointment calendar
right into the middle of an intake form.
As a web developer,
one of my biggest goals
is to build secure websites
that respect visitor privacy.
This is one of the
reasons I use these two plugins.
You control where the data lives,
who has access to it
and how long it's stored.
All of which supports compliance
with PIPEDA, Canada's
privacy legislation.
But the thing I like most
is something I've never
heard anyone else mention.
By default, the plugins don't add
third-party cookies,
which means no need for
annoying cookie notice banners
and no stealthy third-party tracking.
Go ahead and check for yourself.
If you wanna see Fluent Booking and
Fluent Forms in action,
check out the
consultation and discovery pages
on the Armory Media website.
Now the free consultation form
checks my
availability in Google Calendar,
schedules a meeting in Google Meet
and sends a confirmation email
with a link to the Discovery Survey.
All without the use of cookies or
third-party resources.
Everything is served from my website
and stored securely in my database.
Now both plugins are built
by experienced
well-established developers.
They're updated often,
support is responsive,
documentation is solid,
and so far I've had no issues
I couldn't resolve.
Like most software, there's
an initial learning curve,
but once everything's
configured the way you want,
it's pretty much set and forget.
Fluent Booking and Fluent
Forms are both freemium plugins.
So you can get started for free
and then upgrade to the Pro version later
if you need more
features or integrations.
If the free version meets
your needs, stick with free.
I've been using the Pro
version of both plugins
for some time and I like them so much
that I include both for
free on all the sites I host.
Now, the beauty of this
solution is simplicity.
Everything lives on your website,
you maintain full control,
and there's no cookies or complex
integrations required.
That said, I don't
recommend this solution
for more complex requirements
or for healthcare professionals
handling sensitive patient data.
So let's deal with those scenarios next.
The second path is
your website with Moxie.
What if you run a practice
that needs more than
appointment booking and intake forms?
Maybe you wanna manage projects,
handle contracts, send
invoices, process payments,
and you want it all
organized in one place.
That's where Moxie comes in.
Moxie is an all-in-one
client management platform
for solo professionals.
It offers scheduling, contracts,
invoicing, payments,
and project
management all in one platform.
With this solution,
you focus your website
on prospective clients.
Meanwhile, Moxie
provides a dedicated portal
for your active clients.
This method creates clean separation
between marketing and operations.
Moxie lets you embed booking
calendars and intake forms
right on your website.
It also includes a lead management system
so you can track prospective clients
throughout the entire onboarding journey.
Moxie can also send emails
and texts on your behalf.
Just ensure that you
have your client's consent
as required by CASL,
Canada's anti-spam legislation.
The feature list for Moxie is huge.
So we won't cover everything.
However, I will
highlight that it has proposals
and contracts with e-signatures,
invoicing and payments,
and project management
with built-in time tracking.
But what I like best about
Moxie is how it handles finance.
You can set up recurring
invoices for retainer clients,
accept credit cards,
and track time for
automatic hourly billing.
Invoicing is clean and professional,
and clients can make
online payments with ease.
From a privacy and security
standpoint, Moxie's rock solid.
The platform uses bank-level encryption
and handles secure
payments through Stripe.
You can enable two-factor
authentication for yourself
and your clients enjoy
easy and secure access
to their dashboard without having to
remember a password.
Now, I've been running my
business on Moxie since 2022,
and I can honestly say
it's transformed how I work.
The setup is straightforward,
documentation is strong,
and the support team is fantastic.
I know it sounds a bit like I'm gushing,
but I can't say
enough about this platform
and the team behind it.
Now, I've tried a lot of
business management systems,
and Moxie's the best I've found.
It's nice when a
platform lives up to the hype.
The third path is your
website with PracticeQ.
So what about healthcare professionals?
When personal health
information is involved,
client onboarding gets
a bit more complicated.
Now, federal
legislation like PIPEDA and CASL
applies to all Canadian businesses.
However, practitioners handling
personal health information, or PHI,
also have to comply
with provincial legislation
like PHIPA in Ontario.
And of course, you don't
want to forget about compliance
with your regulatory college as well.
Yeah, it's a lot.
If you handle PHI,
a typical client
onboarding system won't cut it.
You need a compliance-ready
practice management system.
For Canadian healthcare professionals,
I recommend PracticeQ.
When configured correctly,
this EHR supports
PHIPA and HIPAA compliance
and has all the features you
need to run a modern practice.
Now, some of my clients prefer Jane,
which is also a great solution
for health and wellness professionals.
However, the reason I
recommend PracticeQ
is the seamless website integration.
Here's how it works.
As with Moxie,
PracticeQ has a booking widget
that sits right inside your website.
No need for visitors to leave your site
and jump into a
completely different booking page
just to schedule an appointment.
When they book, PracticeQ
handles all the sensitive data:
intake forms, clinical
notes, treatment plans,
everything that needs to
be secure and compliant.
PracticeQ was developed in Canada,
but like any good Canadian business,
they got snapped up by a
US holding company in 2023.
That said, they tell me patient data
originating in Canada
is also stored in Canada.
But things can change,
so be sure to verify before you sign up.
Now, setup is flexible and
relatively straightforward
with good documentation
and a solid support team.
And you can customize
the secure client portal
with your own brand colors and logo.
Now, some platforms like to
inject their own brand identity
into client facing elements
like client portals
and notification emails.
I'm not a fan of this practice.
In my view, why
should you pay to let them
promote their brand to your clients?
On the other hand,
PracticeQ does a pretty good job
of getting its branding out of the way
so you can make it your own.
You can even set up custom email
so notifications come from you, not them.
Now, pricing is subscription based
with a monthly fee per practitioner.
And when you consider what it replaces,
booking software, EMR, billing system,
secure messaging, telehealth,
it's actually pretty reasonable.
As with Moxie, PracticeQ
enables secure separation
between your website and your EHR
with seamless
integration between the two.
However, if you wanna check out
a couple of Canadian alternatives,
take a look at Jane or Practice Better.
I don't use either myself directly,
but they have been
through thorough evaluation
and I like them both.
Now, whichever client
onboarding path you choose,
let me share a few of
the most common pitfalls
you'll definitely wanna avoid.
The first is the unicorn practice.
Every practice is unique
and you likely have a
specific way of doing things.
However, most software
won't be a perfect fit
right out of the box.
Many systems are pretty flexible,
so you should be able to
come up with a configuration
that fits most of your requirements.
Just remember, the
more you modify a system,
the harder it is to maintain.
In my experience, the best results come
from having well-defined
but flexible requirements.
Know that you probably
won't get exactly what you want,
but what you end up
with will be far better
than what you had before.
Okay, next is the kitchen sink form.
Now, nothing turns off a new client
more than staring down the barrel of a
gigantic intake form,
but you need a lot of information
before you can do your thing.
It's an age-old dilemma.
Every additional
field on your intake form
is another reason for someone
to leave and look elsewhere.
The key is to space out data acquisition
across multiple touch points.
Ask for the bare minimum to book an
initial consultation.
Then follow up in the
confirmation message
with a link to a more detailed form.
After the first session,
send your full intake survey,
being sure not to prompt for information
they've already provided.
This is where
consolidated systems like Moxie
and PracticeQ can really help.
And finally, there's
the perfect system trap.
I have to admit to being
a bit of a systems nerd,
I love testing new software
and looking for better
ways to get things done.
However, it's easy to forget
that perfect is the enemy of good.
No system will ever be an exact fit
and all software has kinks and bugs.
I always follow a three-step process
when evaluating new software.
First, define your requirements
in a reasonable amount of detail.
Second, separate the things you need
from the things you want.
And third, use a matrix
to compare multiple systems side by side.
Then choose your system and move on.
You can always dial in
your setup as you go,
but the only thing
worse than a poor system
is no system at all.
Now, your website
showcases your expertise,
your content demonstrates your value,
but your onboarding process?
That's where clients really find out
if you've got your act together.
Don't let outdated processes undermine
all the work you've put
into building your digital presence.
Because every hour you spend on admin
is an hour away from
the work you trained for.
And every hoop your
clients have to jump through
is another reason to find somebody else.
You deserve systems
that support your expertise
and your clients
deserve an onboarding process
that respects their time.
So today, we looked at three proven ways
to automate your onboarding process.
If you're not sure which
path is right for your practice,
feel free to get in touch
and let's talk about your specific needs.
A frictionless client
onboarding experience
isn't just nice to have.
It's become a key part of
how our clients judge us.
Simplify what you can,
automate the tedious bits,
and you'll free up time to focus
on the work that matters most.
Until next time, I'm Greg Mount,
and this is Smart Solo Practice.