Welcome therapists and group practice owners! I’m Nicole McCance, a psychologist turned business coach for therapists. I scaled my own practice to 55 therapists and multiple 7-figures, so I know how much rides on that first phone call.
A fear I hear all that time is that you put in the work to get someone to book a consult, the call goes well, and then they say they need to “check their insurance” and you never hear from them again. The good news is that converting more clients usually has very little to do with your fees, and a lot to do with how you talk about them.
I recently sat down with Maria, the CEO of Mentaya, to talk about how to increase your conversion rate on the consult call without dropping your rate.
A quick note for my Canadian listeners (I live in Ontario myself!), this conversation leans into the American insurance system, but the principles around money, value, and converting apply no matter where you practice.
Why Clients Drop Off on the Consult Call
The biggest hurdle when you have a private pay rate is the money objection. For someone who has never seen a therapist before, or who has only ever used in-network providers, hearing “I charge $200 a session” can land as a real sticker shock. Their mind immediately starts doing the math:
- Every week, or every two weeks?
- For how many months?
- How am I going to make this work?
That panic is often what ends the call. They go quiet, say they’ll “think about it,” and because most people want to avoid hard feelings (and hard math), they don’t circle back.
That’s why the consult call carries so much weight. It’s where trust is built or lost, and where most of your conversion problem actually lives.
How to Talk About Your Fees Without Lowering Them
The most common mistake Maria sees is therapists negotiating against themselves. You say your rate, you feel the silence, and you rush to fill it, explaining why you don’t take insurance and why you charge what you charge, all of it tumbling out a little nervously.
The problem here is that it signals that there might be room to negotiate, and it plants doubt where there wasn’t any a second ago. (There’s a reason for this, and it’s mirror neurons. Even over the phone, a potential client picks up on your self-doubt and mirrors it back.)
Here’s what to do instead:
- State your rate clearly. “I don’t take insurance directly, and I charge $200 a session.” That’s the whole sentence.
- Then pause and breathe. Take an actual deep breath. While you’re breathing, let the number sit. The silence is supposed to feel a little uncomfortable, and that’s okay.
- Don’t justify or over-explain. If they have a question, they’ll ask it. Confidence comes with practice, so the more consult calls you take, the more natural this gets (I promise!).
Remember that private pay clients usually aren’t shopping for the cheapest therapy. They’re looking for a transformation, whether that’s sleeping through the night, leaving a relationship, or finally feeling like themselves again. When you speak from the transformations you see in your clinic every day, that confidence is contagious.
Hot Tip: If discussing fees makes you freeze, send me a DM on Instagram with the phrase “CONSULT CALL SCRIPT” and I’ll send you my approach for handling the money conversation with calm confidence.
How Out-of-Network Benefits Lower the Sticker Shock
For American therapists, this is where the conversation shifts in a big way. Instead of letting the full fee land alone, you can add one sentence: “I don’t take insurance directly, but you may still be able to use your insurance to get reimbursed for therapy.”
Here’s how it actually works for them:
- They already have the benefits. Many clients have out-of-network coverage through work and have completely forgotten about it.
- They meet their deductible. This usually takes around five or six sessions.
- Reimbursement kicks in. After that, many plans pay back around 70% of each session.
That reframes “$200 a week forever” into “$200 now, with a good chunk coming back,” and that alone can move someone from a no to a yes.
This is exactly what Maria’s company, Mentaya, was built for. Their benefits checker for therapists lets you (or your intake coordinator) verify a client’s out-of-network coverage right there on the call, and they handle submitting the claims afterward so your client actually gets reimbursed instead of letting super bills pile up unused!
The fastest way to kill momentum is “let me go check my insurance” followed by silence. Deal with it on the call, not after.
Hot Tip: If you’re in the US and want to try this, you can sign up for Mentaya for free. Plus, when you click this link and use my code MCCANCEMETHOD, you get access to the Benefits Calculator free for 30 days.
How This Ties Into Client Retention
Here’s the part I love, because it connects conversion to retention. The same benefits that get someone to say yes also help them stay:
- They pass the deductible (often around five or six sessions), so the cost of continuing drops.
- Reimbursements start landing in their account, which makes showing up week after week so much easier.
- They reach the eight-session mark, where research shows clients are considered engaged, and engaged clients tend to stay because they can finally feel the work is working.
So when out-of-network benefits carry someone past the deductible and into that engagement zone, you’re not just converting a client, you’re keeping one.
Hot Tip: Retention is where the real growth in a group practice lives. If you want to go deeper on keeping clients engaged, read my blog on how to use email marketing for client retention.
Convert More Private Pay Clients by Leading the Money Conversation
You don’t need to lower your fees to fill your practice. What you need is to lead the consult call with confidence, state your rate without flinching, and show clients the options they already have to make therapy work for them, whether that’s out-of-network benefits in the US or extended health coverage here in Canada. When you take the awkwardness out of the money conversation, you build trust before the first session even begins!
Follow me on Instagram and tune into my podcast for more strategies and real talk about scaling a 7-figure group practice without burning out.
Your Business Bestie,
Nicole
