A flourishing private practice is not always an outcome of time and experience. The private practice owner of the 21st century must seek ways to explosively increase referrals and trigger a flood of patients into the practice, effectively leveraging time and income.

For a private practice owner, most overheads tend to remain the same, while the income potential is directly related to the number of patient visits and the average reimbursement per visit.

If a private practice was to spend months and years and developing referral relationships, it may or may not survive harsh times in the present economy. The attrition rate of patients combined with the fluctuations in referrals and wavering loyalties from referral sources make the traditional model of "slow and steady wins the race" a risky proposition for the new physical therapy private practice owner.

In an environment like this, the simplest way to trigger a wave of patients into your practice is to launch a new and exciting program.

The concept of a launch is a science in itself. It involves weeks or months of preparation before a product or service is actually released to the public.

A launch is the quickest way to generate interest and excitement in your services and trigger a wave of referrals to your practice. When executed properly, it will open new windows of opportunity, create new sources of income, allow you to charge more for your services and becomes a sought-after service provider literally overnight.

There is also a significant time factor associated with successful launches. A large surge of cash for your business is a lot more beneficial than a gradual trickling in of checks and delayed payments coming in from insurance companies.

It's quite possible for small to medium-sized practices to craft a well-planned launch sequence, culminating in a successful launch that drives large volumes of business into the practice.

The best way to generate excitement of services is to select and announce a date when your program will be launched. You also want to assign an exciting name for your program, a name that allows your patients to associate the program with its benefits. For example, "Low Back Pain Prevention" and "Posture Perfect" immediately convey the type of program you are launching.

The length of your launch phase can vary greatly from two weeks to four months, depending on the potential for success and the level of interest of the patient community.

Once you announce a launch date and have the right title in place, you want to try and involve influencers and leaders in your community to participate in your program and become "beta testers" with the intention of providing them outstanding results.

You also want to seek strong audio and video testimonials from these initial participants. With the editor and permission, you should be able to effectively use these messages in your advertising material during your actual launch.

Social proof and easy-to-understand testimonials help add credibility to your success and contribute greatly to its momentum. A good testimonial does a lot more than simply overcome inhibitions from the customer. It positions you as an expert and gives you a strong reason to communicate with physicians and referral sources to announce your new program.

With a successful launch, you can bend the curve of time and conclusively establish your expertise as a physical therapist in a short span of time, breaking all the traditional rules of old-fashioned physical therapy marketing.

Nitin Chhoda has a free physical therapy marketing book and DVD at www.physicaltherapyprofits.com and a blog on physical therapy marketing at www.nitin360.com