The Power of Assessments

Your Health(y) Business, Episode VII

The purpose of an assessment, no matter how you’re applying it, is to identify a starting point so you can figure out where there’s room for improvement. Whether you’re assessing athletes from a standpoint of physical therapy or coaching, or your business, doing regular assessments are a vital part of your business.

Why We Assess

Most people are poor at the follow-through required for achieving a goal. There is a litany of reasons why, but mostly because goal achievement requires linear thinking, takes discipline over time, and requires the goal-seeker to be able to re-focus in a distracting world.

Assessments provide people with the antidote necessary for goal setting and achievement.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Per’s Top 5 Business Reasons to Conduct Assessments

#5: Assessments provide a number. As humans, we love numbers because they are specific and provide an index to help us recognize where we stand. Because of the magic of numbers to our psychology, an assessment score often provides a boost of motivation to act if the score is poor, or a desire to maintain a good score. People like and are motivated by numbers, so you need to give them what they’re able to work with.

#4: Assessments provide transparency into the impact of your service. If you’re assessing someone over the course of time, it allows the customer and yourself to see if you’re improving over time. You’re getting a real time report of whether or not what you’re doing is impacting someone in a positive or negative way.

#3: Assessments are a great sales tool. Not in an opportunistic way, but to get someone to take corrective action on their health. If we view this through lens of a customer journey (to health), offering assessments provides a scenario where the customer only has to make a micro-commitment – to get assessed. The assessment score and conversation around the score then create a scenario for further action by the customer.

#2: Assessments provide an opportunity to educate. In order to resonate, it’s vital to provide immediate and real-time feedback on the scoring, what it means, and what the person can do to improve or maintain. This education opportunity should be focused on influencing behavior, not simply dumping info into the customer’s lap. You’re creating an opportunity to engage and create a human connection.

#1: Assessments influence behavior. When providing suggestions for what’s next, provide 2 options. The first should be the ideal course of action, and the alternate should be something that requires less commitment.

If you have any additional thoughts on this week’s topic, or topics we should discuss, let us know!

To hear Dr. Theresa Larson’s Top 5 Reasons to Conduct Assessments, watch this video.