Are your clients leaving? Ask them why

If clients refer themselves to your competitors for a second opinion—or permanently—don't forget to call them and ask why. Maybe you missed an appointment or a diagnosis that you need to discuss with the client. Or maybe it's out of your control—that new hospital down the street with the fancy technology is just too cool for clients to turn down. If so, consultant Dr. Jim Guenther has a suggestion: Consider joining forces with that practice.

Talk with your competitor to see whether he or she would be willing to buy your clients from you and hire you. You can sell the clients as a lump sum of money or even sweeten the pot for the buyer by receiving a higher percentage of revenue from those clients over a period of time until you've received that lump sum. "Why do we need to have 20 digital radiography units in the same community?" says Dr. Guenther. It could be time for practice consolidation, he says, and sharing the resources already on hand.