#ExpertStories Kroth: Navigating the therapy and fitness industry

Kristian Kroth's journey began with the founding of a fitness studio with an affiliated physiotherapy center in Koblenz. Despite the challenges of the highly competitive environment and the need to differentiate himself from established brands, his holistic approach and focus on customer satisfaction enabled his brand to grow. In his opinion, increasing demand, staff shortages and the differences between patients with statutory and private insurance require a strategic realignment. Let's discover together how he has overcome these hurdles with flying colors so far.

Let's start by introducing yourself and explaining how you feel about valuations in general with your company?

My name is Kristian. I have a gym in Koblenz with an affiliated physiotherapy center and when we started the physiotherapy two and a half years ago, we started to put a lot of emphasis on reviews. In the beginning, we started with just Google reviews and then realized relatively quickly that some people didn't have a Google account. We also realized that it wasn't so easy to integrate into the homepage and ended up using ProvenExpert. Since then, we have made a massive effort to ensure that all our physiotherapists see the value in reviews. In a period of just 2 years, we have managed to collect 1,174 reviews. This is always well received by our patients.

That's definitely a good number. Do you have an overview of whether most of the reviews come via the ProvenExpert platform or via external ones?

Both and both. However, we receive most reviews via the ProvenExpert platform. I think this is due to the fact that a lot of people don't have a Google account. If the customer doesn't have to register with Google, the entry threshold is simply lower. With you, customers can simply leave us their opinion by scanning a QR code and entering their email address.

How do you draw attentionto Proven Expert in general?

We have 15 physiotherapists who all have their own business card. This card is printed on both sides with the most important information about the respective therapist and on the other side there are two QR codes. One of them takes the customer directly to Google and the other toProvenExpert. The therapists are all encouraged to hand out this card during the last treatment session and actively ask the patient: "If I was able to help you, it would be really cool if you could leave me a review here."

Okay, I'm going to play a bit of a devil's advocate - what if a 75-year-old woman comes in who doesn't have a cell phone?

We don't actually have a solution for that yet, so that someone on site can somehow ask them questions on an iPad. But it's a very good tip, you can think about it. I think that the therapists are already sounding out for themselves whether they are in a position to create the technical conditions for an online assessment.

But you've never had someone who said they couldn't handle it and therefore couldn't leave you an evaluation?

Not that I know of. It's actually the case that not all of our therapists jump on the bandwagon like that . If you take a look at our rating profile, you'll usually see the same two, three or four names. There are a few who are really stepping on the gas. We have a total of 15 therapists, so you can work out for yourself how many reviews we could have if everyone stepped on the gas, probably around 2,000 plus. But the ones who are currently doing it are actually enough for me, because they put their heart and soul into it and they have also brought us to where we are now in terms of our online reputation. And that's light years away compared to most of the other physiotherapy practices I see.

Can you tell whether the reviews you collect also attract new customers ?

Basically, we have a very strong online presence. Review management plays a big part in this. We always ask how the patient found out about us during the initial assessment or initial medical history . And I would say that 70 to 80 percent come to us via online advertising or online marketing. However, most of them write that they have read a good review of us.

If you ask 100 patients for a review, how many actually leave you one?

It's difficult. I can tell you how many new patients we take on a month and in relation to that it's too few. Although, as I said, still more than 99 % of all the other 40,000 physiotherapy practices in Germany. I would roughly guess less than half. We could perhaps step on the gas a bit more. We have also distributed QR codes in the practice. The receptionists are also encouraged to use them. However, I can understand that in the rush of everyday life, when seven or eight therapists are working at the same time, it can get lost. But as I said, I'm quite satisfied with what we've achieved so far. I would also like to mention that physiotherapy is not a business that requires explicit advertising. All physiotherapy practices have enough customers anyway. We actually see it more from the perspective of the potential new employee. We have found that Google positioning and evaluation management can play a major role in employee recruitment.

We have hired 18 therapists in three years and our experience is that nobody wants to start working at a practice that is only listed on page 3 of Google. Especially not if it only has two reviews from 1986. The ranking and public reputation of definitely play an important role when choosing an employer .

As you have just explained, more customers and employees have become aware of you since you started using ProvenExpert. Have there been any other changes?

First of all, I'm talking specifically about physiotherapy. In the past 15 to 20 years, physiotherapy has never been forced to do any kind of marketing because there are always more than enough patients anyway. In Germany, 5 million prescriptions are not filled every year because people don't get a treatment slot. As a rule, most practices have too few employees, which is why we are glad that we have found ways and means to get employees. The assessment or the number of assessments definitely plays a role here. But what is much more decisive in the German healthcare system is that we effectively have a two-tier society: those with statutory insurance and those with private insurance. In our experience, privately insured patients are very keen to get the best service because they are private patients. And that's why, in my opinion, the ability to include Google or reviews in general in your external presentation is a key component in directing the flow of patients. From a purely business perspective , the trick is to direct the flow of patients in such a way that you hopefully have enough private patients and in a certain ratio.
The trick here is to emphasize the positive aspects of the practice . How do we do that? Quite simply, with the help of positive reviews, to create a "proof of trust" for those who then decide to undergo treatment at the practice.

How much time do you invest on a weekly or daily basis to maintain your ProvenExpert profile?

When I receive a notification regarding a new review, I try to respond to it promptly. It is very important to me that the reply is personalized. I always say thank you very much and try to use the common keywords that people use to find us in searches. But there are also weeks when I don't even look at them and sometimes I answer ten at once. Sometimes I also do this when I'm lying on the couch and a new review comes in, then I answer it straight away. I would say roughly five to ten minutes a week at most.

You just mentioned keywords . Could you kindly give a brief explanation forreaders who have no idea what they are?

Let's take a deep dive into the matter. In addition to Google ratings, I think it's also crucial to have a well-maintained website that is optimized for mobile devices. Unfortunately, most people in the physiotherapy sector don't have this. Almost 70% of all search queries nowadays come via a mobile device and it is therefore crucial that the site also has a mobile version and is also optimized for the common search terms. In our industry, this would be, for example, physiotherapy, physiotherapy, manual therapy, physiotherapy on the device and also the name of the city behind it. This is called SEO optimized, Search Engine Optimization. This means that when a potential customer or patient enters these words into Google, Google quickly realizes that they will usually come across us first. Reviews are also known to play a major role here. As just explained, nobody wants to start on page four of the 17th practice in town that has an ugly website. We always say that there is no second chance to make a first impression and the homepage is a digital business card that should be as easy to find as possible, as easy to read as possible and usually also search engine optimized.

Are there any specific functions that you would likeProvenExpert tooffer?

Basically, I'm very happy with the way it is at the moment. I regularly generate a small picture with particularly detailed and good reviews, which I send to our employees in the WhatsApp group as motivation. I usually also post this onInstagram or Facebook. I then also see that the employees whose name was mentioned in the review share it accordingly. That's a really great function for me. I couldn't just say I'm missing this or that. We actually recommend ProvenExpert ourselves on a regular basis. We give coaching sessions for other physiotherapy practices ourselves. For example, on modern forms of employee recruitment, how corporate philosophy, branding and recruiting are connected. We also explain Google optimization and then actively recommend creating a ProvenExpert account.

If I may ask, why ProvenExpert and not another platform?

In fact, I don't know of any other. I came across you myself through a recommendation . At the time, our SEO guy said "You definitely have to use ProvenExpert" and then I didn't even question it. He is the guru in this area for me. That's why there was never any need for me to look, is there anything else or is there something cheaper? I'm not even interested because I'm happy with and I can recommend it to others with a clear conscience.

Everything I've seen so far meets all the requirements I have for a tool like this. For example, on the home page, my web designer was able to integrate everything easily . Why should I try to find something else?

Ultimately, this is the best business card for us. We were tried out, liked our tool and so nothing else was looked at. It doesn't get any better than this!

That is indeed the case. As I just mentioned, we usually haveo ne or two coaching sessions a month. I talk about the subject almost every day, because I'm also an editor at Bodymedia, Germany's biggest specialist magazine for fitness and physiotherapy. This gives us a certain presence in the industry. And that's why the topic comes up so often, because everyone always says: "Oh, PhysioFamily, aren't you the ones who recruited 18 therapists in two years?" And we have a really significant online presence to date. We're always doing something on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, miles ahead of what most others are doing. So the topic often comes up and we are asked how we do it. Many practices use us as an example, which of course flatters us a lot and also pushes us to do more. When it comes to coaching, we start with the basics. For me, a basic is not TikTok or Instagram, but a functioning, easy-to-find, visually appealing and mobile-optimized website and a good ranking. For me, a good ranking includes review management.