Overview:

The phone rings, no one answers, and the patient disappears. That tiny moment is where clinics lose revenue, trust, and momentum and it’s exactly where AI can quietly do the heavy lifting.

We unpack how AI phone reception helps clinics capture bookings after hours and during peak spikes while protecting data, avoiding lock‑in, and freeing staff for high‑value human moments. We also share a vendor‑vetting checklist to spot wrappers, weigh security, and implement AI that works.

Show Notes

• Why missed calls kill conversions and fuel no‑shows
• How clinics are really deploying AI today (out-of-hours, overflow, full replacement)
• Where AI reception fits: after hours, overflow, first‑contact triage
• Real AI costs, security layers, monitoring and escalation
• Why white labelling and wrappers risk data and trust
• Chatbot risks, prompt injection and safer voice workflows
• Disclosures, recordings and compliance trade‑offs
• Implementing change management for teams and patients
• How AI is already changing productivity in professional services
• The real reason most practice management systems cannot keep up
• What an open API actually is, explained simply
• Why standardising on one “all-in-one” tool is a long-term mistake
• Why AI phone answering is such a crowded market
• Where AI phone answering clearly works
• Where it fails and why forcing it backfires
• Why many clinics say “we tried AI and it didn’t help”
• The single biggest implementation mistake clinic owners make
• How AI changes front-desk roles in practice
• Security risks with AI chatbots and why voice is different
• Why funding matters in healthcare AI
• When clinics should not use AI phone answering at all

What You’ll Learn

• How to think about AI phone answering as infrastructure, not magic
• Why missed calls quietly cost clinics more than most owners realise
• How open APIs protect clinics from vendor lock-in
• Why “sounds human” is a terrible way to assess AI
• How bad AI implementations lose bookings without anyone noticing
• What actually happens to reception teams after AI is introduced
• How to evaluate AI vendors without being technical
• Why cheap AI phone answering should raise immediate red flags

Who This Episode Is For

• Clinic owners considering AI phone answering
• Clinic owners who tried AI and were disappointed
• Practice managers responsible for admin and reception
• Healthcare founders evaluating tech stacks
• Anyone sceptical about AI hype but open to evidence

Not for:

• People looking for quick wins or gimmicks
• Clinics unwilling to change processes
• Anyone expecting AI to fix broken operations on its own

Guest Details

Tanmay

Co-Founder, Lyngo

Lyngo is an AI phone answering platform built specifically for healthcare clinics. It handles inbound calls, bookings, patient queries, and escalation while integrating directly with practice management systems via open APIs.

Website: https://www.lyngo.ai/

Email: tanme@lyngo.ai

Visit https://hmdg.co.uk for further information.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjschumacher100

Overview

Pilates is either a nice add-on you never quite monetise, or it becomes the engine room of your clinic.

In this episode, Michael speaks with Lowry O’Mahony (Max Physio & Pilates, and Maxona) about how she integrated Pilates so tightly into a multi-site MSK business that it now generates roughly half of revenue, stabilises cashflow, and creates a workforce pipeline when physio hiring gets tight. They get into where Pilates fits in the patient pathway, how to make it recurring without it feeling “salesy”, and why the best lessons often come from entrepreneurs outside MSK, not the usual industry gurus.

Lowry also explains why she built Maxona: training, studio fit-outs, equipment, and smart reformers designed to measure progress and keep people engaged.

Show Notes

• Why so many clinics “offer Pilates” but fail to integrate it properly
• Australia vs UK/Ireland: why Pilates is more embedded in private practice there
• Pilates as recurring revenue: why it smooths out the peaks and troughs
• The patient pathway: where Pilates fits (day one, mid-rehab, end-stage, or standalone)
• “Physios hate selling”: how free intro classes remove friction and awkwardness
• The real Pilates customer base: why 50+ and 60+ is the market, not influencers
• Staffing reality: using Pilates to broaden your workforce beyond the physio bottleneck
• Culture and systems: KPIs for behaviour, values, and how to protect standards as you scale
• Expansion: opening multiple sites off the back of stable demand and better predictability
• Maxona: teacher training, Pilates Academy, maintenance/support, equipment finance
• Smart reformers and measurement: using objective feedback to drive adherence and outcomes
• Community strategy: macro events and micro cohorts to improve retention and seasonality

What You’ll Learn

• How to position Pilates as a core service line, not a side hustle
• How to move people from reactive physio to proactive memberships without hard selling
• What to prioritise first: space, training consistency, booking tech, and retention mechanics
• How to use blocks, memberships, and community to reduce seasonality
• How to think about staffing when physios are scarce: building a parallel workforce
• Why measurement and progress tracking matter for adherence (and revenue stability)

Who This Episode is For

• Clinic owners doing £300k to £2m who want a second engine of growth
• Owners stuck on physio capacity, utilisation, or staffing constraints
• Clinics offering Pilates but not making meaningful money from it
• Anyone considering reformer Pilates and worried about space, cost, or team buy-in
• Owners who want more predictable revenue before scaling, hiring, or exiting

Guest Details

Lowry O’Mahony

Founder of Max Physio & Pilates (Ireland) and Maxona.

• Trained as a physiotherapist (RCSI, Dublin) and Pilates instructor early in her career
• Worked in the UK and Australia, where Pilates is deeply integrated into private practice
• Built a multi-site physio and Pilates model with Pilates contributing ~50% of revenue
• Created Maxona to help clinics implement Pilates end-to-end: training, equipment, support, and studio success

Find Lowry and Maxona

• Instagram: @lowryphysiopilates
• LinkedIn:

Visit https://hmdg.co.uk for further information.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjschumacher100

Most clinic owners think they’re networking. Jonathan Shearer explains why they’re wrong.

In this episode of No Appointment Necessary, Michael speaks with Jonathan Shearer, podiatrist and founder of Footsteps Clinic, about what networking actually looks like when it works. Not letters to GPs. Not one-off events. Not vague “being visible”.

They unpack why networking fails for most clinics, how trust is built through consistency and inconvenience, and why transactional thinking kills long-term results. Jonathan traces his approach back to selling fruit and veg as a teenager, where presentation, urgency and human connection decided whether stock sold or rotted. The same principles now underpin his referral networks across sports clubs, businesses and communities.

If you think networking “doesn’t work”, this episode explains exactly why.

Show Notes

Jonathan’s background

• Nearly 30 years in podiatry
• NHS training, then building a five-chair multidisciplinary clinic
• How early retail work shaped his focus on presentation and experience

Defining networking properly

• Networking as a sphere of influence, not an activity
• Why sending letters isn’t networking
• Visibility vs trust

Jonathan’s networking system

• Why it starts with team culture, not referrals
• Staff as the front-facing network
• Why owner-only networking becomes a bottleneck

How networking generates revenue

• Real examples from football, hockey and sports clubs
• Why inconvenience builds trust faster than pitches
• How free help led to hires, referrals and new services

The “free work” myth

• When free help works
• When it backfires
• Why forcing early ROI leads to bad decisions

Education as a lever

• Small talks that produced the biggest clients
• Why audience size doesn’t matter
• Effort and follow-up over format

Maintaining relationships

• Networking as “watering a plant”
• Why neglect kills results
• How Jonathan cuts parasitic relationships

Team-led networking

• Staff attending events and visiting businesses
• Why this needs PAYE or hybrid models
• Why associate-only models struggle

Tracking what works

• Offers and vouchers for offline attribution
• Why “vibes” aren’t metrics
• Measurement still matters

Cities vs towns

• Why networking works anywhere if executed properly
• Cities as opportunity-rich environments
• Affinity beats geography

Mindset

• Networking isn’t about being extroverted
• Fear of rejection is the real blocker
• Start small, repeat, build confidence

The 90-day reset

• What Jonathan would do in the first 90 days
• Visibility, relationships, talks and clubs
• Why something has to give

They finish on collaboration, why isolation fuels bad advice, and why real networking is about being known, trusted and useful over time.

What You’ll Learn

• Why most clinic owners misunderstand networking
• Transactional vs transformational relationships
• How trust is built through inconvenience
• When free help works and when it doesn’t
• How to turn teams into networking assets
• How to measure offline networking properly
• Why networking works in cities and towns
• What

Visit https://hmdg.co.uk for further information.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjschumacher100