By Josh Lambert
As a company that manages seven current Wellness Centres – and employ a wide range of amazing people that are experts in their health and wellness fields – we are lucky enough to get some pretty rewarding and educational feedback from our patients and clients.
In team meetings we often reflect on how blessed we are to be given the opportunity to take clients that present to our Wellness Centres with pain, discomfort, low self-esteem, low energy or productivity, poor posture or core stability, stress and anxiety, sickness or general poor health – and improve their life through wellness change. This is what makes us who we are at Pinnacle Health Group, and the natural motivation to help people is one of the common human elements of each of our team members.
In addition to the organic reward of seeing clients get “well”, we are also fortunate that our Wellness Centre patrons are open with feedback regarding what wellness means to them, why it is important, and where it fits into their often-busy lifestyles.
This powerful subjective information through consultations, surveys and questionnaires has helped us tailor each Wellness Centre to the population, and over the years refine and perfect the way we design and operate our centres.
We feel this information is so powerful, in fact, that in the name of wellness it is worth while sharing with you all 10 bits of wellness gold from our client feedback!
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Convenience is king
– our clients often remark that if their particular Wellness Centre was not at work or close by, that they “probably wouldn’t have been able to come”. Convenience of location is ranked number 1 each year as the main deciding factor in clients presenting to us. The reality is that we are all very busy, and seeking local wellness services after work is becoming increasingly difficult.
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“Wellness” means different things to different people
– our Wellness Centres include core health services such as physiotherapy and massage – but also vary significantly to include beauty therapy, meditation, and even hair and barber services! People understand that being healthy and well isn’t just being physically well, and having a wide range of services helps to fully cater for all aspects of wellness.
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Wellness amenities can be a deciding factor for employees and tenants
– its not all about the salary package or the rent per square metre these days for employees and tenants respectively – and having ready access to health and wellbeing services contributes to work/life balance, and is now a huge consideration for prospective employees or companies when selecting a workplace.
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Look and feel of a wellness centre is super important
– in many of our surveys, aspects such as lighting, finishes and colour schemes (even the quality and relevance of our magazines!) always ranks highly in the facets of a wellness centre that clients value. We use this data to ensure that our centres are amazing “sanctuary” experiences that make clients feel miles away from work, even in their own building.
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Patients are value sensitive, not price sensitive
– we are very fussy with the level of service, quality of our staff and facilities that we provide from our Wellness Centres. Our clients rank quality and convenience over price when “selecting their health clinic”, and now expect nothing short of the amazing sanctuary experience mentioned above.
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Health practitioners are service providers and customer service is crucial
– who of us hasn’t been to a doctor for a set appointment time, and had to wait anywhere from 20 mins to over an hour for the doctor to see them? Not many, if any. This is getting better though, and generally the “I’ll see you when Im ready” notion that some health practitioners may have exuded is disappearing. At our Wellness Centres we promise on-time appointments and exceptional client experience, as our clients are busy employees or tenants – the reality is that if we are late or the service is bad, their wellness outcome is very poor.
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Healthy people are better at their job
– patients report being more productive, having improved energy levels, and generally more motivation when they are physically and mentally well. This is backed up by our survey responses, and increasing research conducted in workplaces.
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Being well saves money
– there is supporting evidence through ROI studies in large organisations nowadays – but at a micro level, whilst not necessarily a secret, clients report savings in costs such as imaging, surgery, medical bills, and health insurance premiums as a result of taking a proactive approach to wellness.
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Collaboration with health providers is expected
– one major frustration for clients is venturing to see a health or wellness provider, who then refers to a separate practitioner from another clinic, with no correspondence or collaboration. Having Wellness Centres with a wide range of experts allows for easy collaboration, and for example, clients really love when a physiotherapist mentions that “I spoke about you with the podiatrist and this is what we want to do.”
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Technology and wellness go hand-in-hand
– our clients love data, love technology and love gamification of just about anything! Technology in wellness can range from simple luxuries such as online bookings and on-the-spot private health insurance claiming for payment, to “wow” factor features such as the physitrack app our therapists use (exercise videos and live chat with therapists) and engaging wellness portals that many of our partners use for their employees or tenants.
*Note: These points have been taken from our regular client survey responses, Wellness Centre Feasibility studies, and an aggregation of subjective data since 2010.