And I think that we actually looking at that environment. If I reflect on where we are in terms of the price of our stock, is that I don’t think that we’re getting credit for the management of our corporate portfolio. And so, this is another reason to consider as we’re going down this path.
Jake Singleton: And I think it’s important to remember that we’re selling the majority, but we are going to maintain a portion of corporate portfolios. And we’ll be targeting those high-performing clinics that are in tight kind of concentric geographic areas that will allow us to really scale back that corporate overhead. So, with the strategy, we should be able to maintain a significant chunk of the earnings potential from a smaller number of units and then allow us to continue that hybrid strategy.
Unidentified Analyst : Got you. Very helpful. And then just a quick follow-up. You mentioned a little bit in your prepared remarks, but have you identified tangible, and I guess, practical ways to improve the new patient starts in this current environment? Just trying to get a better sense of what that would look like and your thoughts there.
Peter Holt: Yes. No, we have. We’ve been doing a lot of work. We’ve been using different forums. So, for example, we’re doing a lot with Meta these days. We are also with TikTok, is what I meant to say. We are increasing our spend on Meta. We’re doing a whole audit of our marketing spend to understand the efficacy of that and where those resources are best spent. That’s one of the projects that Lori is first taking on. From that, we’ll also do an RFP of really looking at that whole local store or that whole digital marketing spends. If you look at our new patient count right now, roughly 35% or 30% comes from referral. So that’s just a patient having a great experience with a doctor and telling their friends. We have been able to track, for example, last year that 63% of our new patients touched us at some point digitally.
And it’s always hard to answer true patient attribution or new patient attribution. But we know that’s only increasingly important. And so, we know, we need to be more and more effective on that spend and making sure that we’re able to close that gap of generating those leads, whether it’s through paid or organic search, and then making sure that we are closing them and bring them into the clinic. And so, there’s some new programs we’re putting in place, a call center, for example, that we’re experimenting with a program where a new patient is being offered an appointment to be able to create a sense of urgency or willingness to cross over into the clinic. So, there’s a number of activities. More to come on that, but we feel that we are definitely moving in the right direction to address the new patient count.
Operator: Your next question comes from Anthony Vendetti from Maxim Group. Please go ahead.
Anthony Vendetti : Sure. Thank you. Just looking at some of the trends, can you point to either some regions or general KPIs that you’re seeing? Any positive trends that you’re seeing? And then specifically on the comps, what would you attribute the relative flatness there? Is that more macro? Or — I’m just trying to figure out what you’re seeing and what you’re attributing some of the trends to.
Peter Holt: Sure. I think some of the positive trends we absolutely continue to see, and as I’ve mentioned on those three-key metrics, our conversion rate absolutely stay strong. It’s always like I said, it was pre-COVID is running around a total conversion of between 44%, 45%. Today, it’s over 50%. During the COVID, it was up to 60%, but I think that was reflective of kind of the time we’re in. And if you were leaving your house to get an adjustment, you’re in pretty serious pain. And so, I think that’s reflective of that higher conversion rate. So even post-COVID, if we can talk about that, we are seeing a really continuing strong conversion rate. And that’s very positive for the business, 84% of our sales comes from our subscription from our wellness plan.
So that’s an important element of this business. We’re also seeing that attrition improves. Again, I talked about attrition was 13% pre-COVID. Today, it’s probably running closer to 11%. A corporate portfolio is less than that. And so obviously, our patients are staying longer. The real KPI that’s been impacted is that new patient count. And I think there’s a number of things that are impacting that, that we’ve talked a little bit about. There’s no question it ties to our comps. The new patient count — the new patient hub is down, that does impact our comps for the quarter or for the year. And I think some of that, the reasons that’s down is as we’ve talked about, is these macroeconomic issues based on who is our patient profile. We know that there’s an element there.
And if you look at some of the younger generations, and we have a very young patient base, they have been more impacted by some of the deep amount of uncertainty than, let’s say, baby boomers, for example. And I think that there is — perhaps, in a couple of our markets, where we’re more mature, is that the new patient count, we have a lot of clicks around it, that new patient count is being absorbed by that greater number of clinics. So, it’s getting spread between a greater number of clinics, which is also impacting the individual clinic new patient count.
Anthony Vendetti : Okay. And then on the franchise side, and then I’ll hop back in the queue. With just the higher interest rates, are some of the current franchise owners that are looking to expand or new ones, are they a little bit more hesitant? Are they waiting for rate to come down? Or it’s not really having much of an impact?
Peter Holt: No, it has had an impact. And it’s not — and I talk with other franchisors, they all agree, that there’s no question, there’s a lot of research out there as well is that it is impacting new franchise sales. And part of that is absolutely increasing interest rates, part of that is uncertainty about the economy, part of that is inflation. And so, I do think that there is impact, and it’s reflected in our franchise sales. If you go back to ’21, for example, we had 156 sales that year. Last year, we had — last year, we had 75. Year-to-date, we’re here at 50. And so, we’re a little below where we were last year, but I think that’s a direct relationship or a direct impact on some of these macroeconomic issues that are influencing whether somebody is going to make that leap to buy a franchise, whether it’s The Joint or anybody else.
