JOINT Corp Q2 FY2020 Earnings Call

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Joint Corporation Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Moriah Shilton. Thank you. Ma’am, please begin.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Moriah Shilton. On the call today, President and CEO, Peter Holt, will review our second quarter and provide an update of the business. CFO, Jake Singleton, will detail our financial results. Then Peter will close with a summary and open the call for questions. Please note, we are using a slide presentation that can be found at ir.thejoint.com/events. Today, after the close of the market, The Joint Corp. issued its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. If you do not already have a copy of this press release, it can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company’s website. As provided on Slide 2, please be advised, today’s discussion includes forward-looking statements, including statements concerning our strategy, future operations, future financial position, and plans and objectives of management. Throughout today’s discussion, we will present some important factors relating to our business that could affect these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made based on our current predictions, expectations, estimates, and assumptions and are also subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements we make today. Factors that could contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, the continuing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the economy and our operations, including temporary clinic closures, shortened business hours, and reduced patient demand, our failure to develop or acquire company-owned or managed clinics as rapidly as we intend, our failure to profitably operate company-owned or managed clinics, and the other factors described in Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2019, as updated for any material changes described in any subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as they may be revised or updated in our subsequent filings, including the one we anticipate filing on August 7. As a result, we caution you against placing undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and encourage you to review our filings with the SEC for a discussion of these factors and other risks that may affect our future results or the market price of our stock. Finally, we are not obligating ourselves to revise our results or publicly release any updates to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Management uses EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, which are non-GAAP financial measures. These are presented because they are important measures used by management to assess financial performance. Management believes they provide a more transparent view of the company’s underlying operating performance and operating trends within GAAP measures alone. Reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA is presented in the press release. The company defines EBITDA as net income or loss before the net interest, tax expense, depreciation, and amortization expenses. The company defines adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA before acquisition-related expenses, bargain purchase gain, net gain or loss on disposition or impairment, and stock-based compensation expenses. Turning to Slide 3. And it’s my pleasure to turn the call over to Peter Holt.

Thank you, Moriah, and I welcome everybody to the call. I’d like to start by thanking all of our doctors and staff, who in the middle of this pandemic are providing essential health care services to our patients who truly see chiropractic care as essential to their health care needs. By utilizing chiropractic care to help reduce their pain, we’re able to alleviate some of the pressures on our country’s overtaxed emergency rooms and hospitals. It’s hard to imagine it’s only five months ago that our lives were overturned by COVID-19. As I reflect on the performance of The Joint, I’m humbled and gratified by the resiliency of our business model. As we witnessed so many other retail concepts urgently reinventing themselves to survive, the strategic vision and the operating model of The Joint continues to perform, as illustrated by the fact that 99% of our clinics are open, the strength of our overall financial performance, our continued growth in both franchise and greenfield clinic openings, as well as our ongoing franchise license sales. And while no one can predict the course of COVID-19 with certainty, we remain confident in our ability to adapt, to serve, and to grow in this unique environment. While Americans spend over $15 billion a year on chiropractic care, The Joint continues to revolutionize access with convenient retail settings, concierge-style membership-based services, attractive pricing and hours, and without the need for insurance or appointments. Our growth strategy is to open new clinics, which builds our brand, grows familiarity with chiropractic care, and attracts new patients. Already, we’re the largest and most recognizable provider of chiropractic care in the country. We utilize a franchise model as well as company-owned and managed clinics to expand in a capital-light fashion. As noted on our last call, at the onset of the pandemic, we undertook measures to enhance the cleanliness and the sanitization procedures to protect and support our patients, our doctors, and our staff. As we learn more, we continue to evaluate and improve upon the procedures and protocols. For example, we now require the use of masks by all of our doctors and staff in all of our clinics across the country. We’ve also reduced the number of seats in reception areas, and in some clinics, we moved adjustment tables from the open bay area to ensure our ability to maintain social separation. In the process, we’ve demonstrated that we can serve the same number of patients even though we’re reducing the number of people at any one time in our clinics. As the need for pain relief grows, our patients continue to validate that chiropractic care is essential to their health care. Franchisees increasingly understand the strength of our value proposition. That is why in the middle of this pandemic, we’re able to sell licenses in open clinics. Our business model remains unchanged, which is the foundation for our long-term growth. We continue to march toward our goal of reaching 1,000 clinics by the end of 2023. In addition to enhanced safety procedures that provide assurance to our patients, we’ve implemented new marketing promotions with two areas of focus: first, to welcome existing patients back from membership freezes, and second, to invite new patients to try our services for the first time. The whole month of June, we offered a free initial visit to all new patients, resulting in one of the highest average new patient counts per clinic for any single month in the history of our company. I’ll go into more detail on the promotion, but I’d first like to review our quarterly metrics. Later, Jake will discuss our financial results in greater detail, after which I’ll open the call for questions. Turning to Slide 4. While COVID-19 negatively impacted the second quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2019, the resiliency of our business model is reflected in our results. System-wide sales increased 2%, despite the impact of our promotions, including the first three visits in June. Comp sales for clinics that have been open for at least 13 full months decreased by 6%. Revenue increased 13%. Adjusted EBITDA was flat at $1.1 million. Unrestricted cash was $14.6 million at June 30, 2020, compared to $10.7 million on March 31, 2020. Turning to Slide 5. Let’s review our portfolio. At June 30, 2020, we had 539 clinics, of which 99% were open. The clinic composition at quarter end was 477 franchises and 62 company-owned or managed. The mix remained 88% franchised and 12% corporate. During the first full quarter of the pandemic, our clinic count increased by nine, including one new greenfield and 12 new franchise clinics, net of the four franchise clinics that closed. The closures consisted of one clinic in the process of being relocated that will reopen, one non-traditional clinic located in a Relax The Back store, and two of our lowest performing clinics. We’re now returning to new clinic growth. As of June 30, we opened 30 clinics in 2020, one more compared to the same period last year. Our new clinics are performing well. In fact, a new clinic in Texas, which opened in June, reached aggregated sales of over $75,000 in its first two months of operation, creating another company record. Turning to Slide 6. For any franchise system to be selling licenses in this current climate is remarkable, making our franchise sales results all the more impressive. During the second quarter, we sold 11 new franchise licenses, bringing the total to 35 year-to-date. We believe that to achieve this level of sales under the current environment is indicative of the positive long-term outlook of our business. I applaud our sales team, including our 22 regional developers for this performance. Our regional developers continue to fuel our growth and are responsible for 80% of our franchise sales in Q2 2020. This group has risen to the occasion to serve our community and continue to accelerate the growth of our system. Our momentum continues. For example, in July, we’re back to double-digit system-wide comp sales for all clinics open 13 months or more at 10%. We sold 14 licenses in July, and we opened six franchise clinics. We continue to expand corporately in the Los Angeles area, opening our third greenfield clinic for this year. Through the end of July, our total franchise and corporate clinic count increased to 546. We know that meeting our goal of 1,000 clinics by the end of 2023 requires more than concentrating solely on franchise growth. We’re also focused on corporate expansion with more greenfields. While our greenfields are performing well, it’s important to note that greenfields suppress total earnings in the short-term until they reach their breakeven point. We believe this short-term impact on the bottom line is well worth the long-term benefit of revenue growth, greater scale, and increased national recognition. Turning to Slide 7. One of our earliest and most decisive actions in the initial days of COVID-19 was to support the positioning of chiropractic care as an essential health care service. This became a critical point of differentiation versus other retail service concepts. It also served as a rallying cry for our doctors and staff. It helped to guide our approach to the pandemic that now more than ever, we need to be open to treat our patients. Being an essential healthcare service is also reflected in our marketing communications. Through video and blogs, emails and texts, clinic signage, and PR, we increased the frequency of our messaging, not only to reassure our patients that we remained open, but that we’re taking the necessary precautions to ensure their safety. Additionally, our content focused heavily on best practices for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including the benefit of routine chiropractic care. With so many consumers facing anxiety related to health and finances, we recognize that accessible, affordable chiropractic care is more important than ever. So in March and April, we made it easier for our members to freeze their accounts, and in May and June, we launched two important promotions to provide patients with more opportunities to obtain the care they need. Turning to Slide 8. Our direct marketing promotion launched in May encouraged members to unfreeze their accounts in exchange for the incentive for their first month they came back. We moved over 22% of our frozen members to active status during this month-long promotion. Our national marketing promotion launched for the month of June offered every new patient in the United States the opportunity to get moving with chiropractic at no charge for their initial visit. During the month, we gave away over $1.7 million in chiropractic care. What’s more, we converted those patients to packages and memberships at record levels, which underscores the considerable demand for chiropractic care during this pandemic. As a result, by the end of the promotion, our average number of members per clinic, which is one of the most important clinic performance metrics, surpassed all-time record, including any pre-COVID number. More importantly, we’re grateful to do our part to help so many patients access chiropractic care at The Joint during this difficult time. Turning to Slide 9. We recently updated our patient demographics based on those who visited The Joint in 2019. From the data, we continue to see a nearly even gender split with 49% of our patients being female. Additionally, we found our patients’ median age moved from 39 years old to 37. The percentage of millennials who visited increased from 39% to 44%, with another 11% from Gen Z. This data reaffirms our concept is resonating with an increasingly younger audience who values convenient, affordable chiropractic care at The Joint. And with that, Jake, I’ll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Peter. Turning to Slide 10. As we review the performance of 2020 compared to 2019, keep in mind that the COVID-19 impacts included the effects of reduced new patient traffic in the early part of the quarter, frozen memberships, and discounts associated with the marketing promotions that Peter reviewed. Notably, our performance improved throughout the quarter and the trend continues. Comparing the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2019. Even taking into account the discounts related to our two promotions, system-wide sales for all clinics open for any amount of time increased 2% to $53.5 million. System-wide comp sales for all clinics open 13 months or more decreased 6%. System-wide comp sales for mature clinics open 48 months or more decreased 10%. Revenue was $12.6 million, up $1.4 million or 13%. Company-owned or managed clinics contributed revenue of $6.9 million, increasing 19% from the same period a year ago. Franchise operations contributed $5.7 million, up 6% compared to the same period last year. Increased revenue for both categories is due to the greater number of clinics and continued organic growth, offset by the impacts of COVID-19. Cost of revenues was $1.4 million, up 5% over the same period last year. The increase was in line with total increase in franchise sales and reflective of higher regional developer royalties and commissions. Selling and marketing expenses were $1.8 million for both periods, reflecting the timing of our advertising fund spend. General and administrative expenses were $8.5 million compared to $7.2 million, primarily due to an increase in payroll and related expenses to support revenue growth and increased clinic count. We continue to operate our corporate clinics and headquarters without any furloughs or layoffs while working to increase sanitary measures to ensure patient and employee safety. Also, as previously discussed, increases in corporate clinics will require additional resources to ensure our high operational standards. We continue to believe that the increase in our corporate portfolio, particularly our greenfield clinics, will provide long-term bottom line growth despite compressing operating margins and earnings in the near term. This is important to remember as we return to growth and increase the pace of development. For the quarter, we posted net income of $116,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared to $462,000 or $0.06 per diluted share for the same period last year. Total adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million, increasing 5% compared to the same period last year. Franchise clinic adjusted EBITDA decreased 4% to $2.5 million, reflecting the impact of COVID-19. Company-owned or managed clinic adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million, up 25% compared to last year, even with the expenses associated with the new clinics. Corporate expense as a component of adjusted EBITDA was $2.5 million in both periods, reflecting our cost control measures. As of June 30, 2020, we had $14.6 million in unrestricted cash compared to $8.5 million at December 31, 2019. During the six months, cash flows from operations were $3 million. In addition, as previously discussed, we took measures to fortify our position and increase our financial flexibility. In March, we drew $2 million on our revolving line of credit. In April, meeting the CARES Act PPP loan requirements, we applied for assistance and received $2.7 million through JPMorgan Chase. The goal of the program is to maintain jobs in the small business sector, and we used the PPP loan proceeds to ensure we could retain our employees and fund payroll. The Joint operates 62 clinics and, as a franchisor, supports 477 franchise small businesses in 33 states. With our support, the vast majority of our franchisees also received PPP loans. In March, we withdrew our financial and clinic opening guidance. And due to the continued uncertainty around the impacts of COVID-19, we will not reiterate guidance at this time. Turning to Slide 11. For the six months ended June 30, 2020, revenue was $26.2 million, increasing 20% compared to the $21.8 million in the same period of 2019, reflecting a greater number of clinics and increased growth sales of both franchise and company-owned or managed clinics during the first quarter, which was partially offset by the negative impact of the pandemic during the second quarter. Net income was $931,000, or $0.06 per diluted share, compared to $1.4 million, or $0.10 per diluted share in the first six months of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA was $2.8 million compared to $2.6 million in the first six months of 2019. And with that, I will turn the call back over to you, Peter.

Thanks, Jake. Turning to Slide 12. As noted, our resilient model is driving growth, and our long-term opportunities continue to expand. As a nation, we’re looking for more natural holistic ways to get out of pain. The U.S. chiropractic market is already $15 billion, and 50% of Americans still don’t even know what the word 'chiropractic' means or how it can help them. As we increase awareness, our new patient base continues to grow. Now with many working from home, slouched on their couch or using non-ergonomic chairs, more people than ever are experiencing pain. The Joint will be there to help them out. And with our newest tagline that says, we truly have your back. In closing, I’d like to once again express my deepest gratitude to all of The Joint chiropractic teams who have continued to selflessly serve during this pandemic. Their dedication to our mission is inspiring. To our franchise community, our regional developers, our corporate team, and The Joint colleagues around the country, I thank you. You’re truly making a difference in all the lives that you touch. Howard, I’m ready to begin the Q&A.

Our first question or comment comes from the line of Jeff Van Sinderen from B. Riley. Your line is open.

This is Richard Magnusen in for Jeff Van Sinderen. First, congratulations on performing so well in spite of the COVID impact. Can you give us some insight into what your current expectations of 3Q revenue are compared to your pre-COVID expectations?

Richard, thanks for the kind words. We appreciate it. And Jake?

Yes. As you know from the remarks, we’re not reiterating or providing any forward-looking guidance. In the release and in the comments, we did refer to the momentum that we’re seeing in July, back to double-digit comps of 10%, license sales and openings picking back up. So I think we’ll refer to those comments in terms of any forward-looking projections.

Okay. And you communicated with the patient base frequently during the early stages of COVID, and it seems to have paid off. Can you provide any metric or feedback from patients on how successful these efforts were at making patients feel safe and how it may have strengthened their relationship with The Joint? And then also, how much higher was the conversion rate of new patients during the campaign in June that offered the free initial visits to the new clients?

Sure. And there’s no question, as the pandemic broke out, we all wondered what to do, how to respond, what this means to our patient base, and what this means to our franchisees. On every level, we leaned into a greater level of communication with our franchisees. We set up various calls, town hall calls, webinars, helping them get their PPP loans. And we had the same reach out to our patients. Our patients were reaching out to us. They were going online. They were expressing their concerns. They were asking about our protocols and procedures. So we did, in fact, reach out to them both through text and email to our patient base, expressing to them some of the changes we’re making, ensuring they understood that we remained open. There are many businesses that were closing; it’s often not clear whether you were open or not. At one point, as we discussed in earlier calls, about 10% of our network was, in fact, closed for a period. Today, 99% is open. In terms of the conversion rate, our historical conversion rate has been running in the late 40s as a system, and since COVID, aside from just the promotion, we have seen a consistently higher conversion rate, well over 50% on average across the network in light of this COVID environment. When we looked at it for the promotion itself, it was even a little bit higher than that 50% mark. We were bringing more people into the clinic, and then converting them at a rate that we have not seen before historically as a company.

Wow, that’s pretty strong. And then my follow-up question, considering where you are in this prolonged pandemic environment and considering what has worked for you recently, can you provide any more details or direction on your marketing message to new patients and existing patients going forward?

Well, the main message to our patients going forward is that we’re there, we’re open, we’re there to serve you, and we’ll continue to make sure they understand the increasingly important protocols of cleanliness and sanitization. We’ve obviously outlined in my conversation that there are several changes we have made in the way we treat our patients, including how many we allow in the clinic at any given time, the number of seats in reception areas, and how we limit the number of people in the open bay. We’ll continue to share that message with our patient base. Additionally, we believe this is a real opportunity for chiropractic. 60% of the American people right now are teleworking, and they’re not sitting in their ergonomically sound chairs. They’re slouched over the couch, and their spines are suffering. We believe that we can bring them in, show them the benefits of chiropractic care, which is affordable, accessible, and convenient at this time when there are so many uncertainties around us. We believe this is a very important message that we’ll continue to share throughout the rest of the year.

Very good. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Richard.

Thank you. Our next question or comment comes from the line of Frank Takkinen from Lake Street Capital. Your line is open.

Hey guys, congrats on all the strong progress and the continued resiliency of demand in the quarter. I got a couple for you today. First, I want to focus on the conversion rate we were just speaking about. What else do you think was behind that 50% conversion rate aside from the promotional activity? Is there something occurring in the competitive environment where maybe some of your less funded mom-and-pop shops weren’t able to stay open, and you’re seeing conversions from some of those people? Or what else is driving that high conversion rate in the quarter?

Hi Frank, thanks for the kind words, and that’s a great question. I truly believe that one of the reasons we’ve experienced such a high conversion rate through this pandemic, and not just because of the promotion— in fact, to be very frank, there was a concern that if we were offering free visits in June, historically, those patients are more like tire kickers, not really serious. They come in for a free adjustment, but are they really going to stay with us as a patient? Is it worthwhile for our doctors to be busy with these patients who ultimately won’t stay on as members? What we found is the opposite. We were converting at a rate that we really were surprised by. I believe that, more than anything else, those patients who are venturing out to chiropractic care today are probably in more pain and more serious about it because of the pandemic. If you’re going to a chiropractic clinic for the first time, it’s likely you're in pretty significant pain. There was self-selection in those patients coming in, and that’s reflected in the conversion rate we saw throughout this pandemic, particularly during the promotion.

Got it. That’s very helpful. On the second question, I was hoping we could talk about the comp sales a little bit. It was encouraging to see that jump back into double digits as quickly as it did in July. How are you guys thinking about comp sales for the rest of the year? And do you feel that we may have a linear outlook from the lows that we probably experienced in the April-May timeframe?

Yes, Frank, great question. If you think about trajectory, as we mentioned, we had the deepest impacts in the early part of the quarter, and we’ve seen trends improve. Same reason we’re not reiterating guidance; uncertainty remains out there. But looking at the momentum we picked up in the latter half of the second quarter and into July, we’re optimistic that those trends will continue. However, uncertainty remains, which is why we’re not providing longer-term guidance at this time.

The one thing I’d add to that, though, Frank, is if you look at our network and go back to the early part of the pandemic, the most impacted areas were Northern California, the New York corridor, and places where we had the least amount of clinics. As we face new hotspots, Southern California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida, where we have a significant number of our clinics.... We analyzed the July numbers and typically never break down our comp sales by region, but when we looked at July, the overall rate for any clinic open for more than 13 months was 10%. For the four states we analyzed, we saw a comp rate of roughly 9.4% in those states affected the most. While we can’t give certainty on the pandemic, we’re hopeful about the trends we’ve seen.

Got it. Alright, I’ll hop back in the queue. Thanks so much for taking the questions.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Our next question or comment comes from the line of Brian Finley from ROTH Capital. Your line is open.

This is Brian Finley. I work with Dave Bain. We are hoping if you could discuss if COVID has accelerated any plan to accelerate the diversification of your mix of greenfields or acquisitions from a geographic standpoint. Also, as we hopefully exit COVID, your business has proven extremely resilient, adding to overall confidence in our view. Does that change your calculus to be even more aggressive with greenfields or acquisitions as we think about next year? Or is the 2021 plan pretty much the same as pre-COVID?

Yes, Brian, thanks. Those are great questions. I’ll start with the second one first. Overall, the trends and the resiliency of the model have given us confidence. We mentioned several times that we’re returning to growth. Another point Peter made is that we didn’t have to pivot off our growth strategy. So our growth strategy in terms of franchise and corporate mix remains unchanged. The underlying model makes sense for us to continue to grow our corporate portfolio while balancing that with franchise growth. The resiliency has given us confidence to move forward. We reiterated the goal to reach 1,000 clinics by the end of 2023. With the slight pause in the second quarter, we’ll need to get back on track to reach that goal, but it’s very achievable for us. The core concept remains; we will cluster near existing corporate clinics to leverage overhead. The model is sound across the country, and we will continue to deploy regional developers while complementing that with corporate clinic development.

Great, thank you.

Thank you. Our next question and comment comes from the line of Anthony Vendetti from Maxim Group.

Thanks. Good afternoon, and good evening. Sorry, I missed part of the call, but I heard the part, and I just want to make sure I have this right. So about half your clinics, Peter, are in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. And for those clinics, did you say patient visits or patient volume was up 9.4%? And was that for the quarter, if that’s the correct percentage, or is that for the month of July?

Yes. What I was saying is those were comp sales for those four states, and that—my apologies for making the misstatement on comp sales’ figures. Jake just corrected me that our system-wide comp sales for any clinic open for 13 months in the month of July was actually 10.2%. In looking at those four states, we analyzed their comp rates, which was about 10.1%. That was in July. It’s reflective of the resiliency of our model, that healthcare—chiropractic care is essential to housekeeping.

Wow. So it’s even with the surge or outbreak.

Correct, exactly.

It’s pretty close to what you’re seeing for all your other clinics.

Correct. It’s 10.1% versus the 10.2% across the whole country.

Right. Okay. That’s impressive. Okay, and…

And also, I think, Anthony, that’s really reflective of the whole messaging we’ve been discussing today about the resiliency of the model. Chiropractic care is essential to health care not just because I say it, but because our patients need it. They are coming in from promotions, they’re coming off freezes; they truly see this as essential for them. This gives us comfort with this model going forward.

Sure. I don’t know if this was mentioned before, but just on COVID-19, whether it’s your franchise owners, the corporate-owned clinics, or the chiropractors you employ, what has been the level of positivity? Or what’s been the level of positive tests? How many of your employees and how many of the franchise owners’ employees, particularly at the chiropractic level, have contracted COVID-19?

It’s a great question. As a straightforward number, I don’t have that. I can certainly know how many have got it within our corporate office and our network. What I would say is that we’ve definitely seen it. We’ve seen a few cases in our corporate office. Our corporate office is relatively closed. We’re in Phase 1, we call it. So there’s only normally 50 people in the office here, and we only allow 10 people in the office at any given time, with a series of procedures we’ve put in place to protect the staff. On our corporate level, while not a significant number, we have had doctors and wellness coordinators test positive. And we’ve had patients call in, saying they have tested positive. We’ve sought local health authorities for guidance when we have these positive cases. It’s happening out there, but not to any measurable degree is how I would describe it. I think on the franchise side, I have less visibility since they are independently owned and operated businesses, but I believe their experience has been reflective of ours.

Okay. So even though there have been some cases, what you’re saying is that it hasn’t had a material impact on your business thus far, correct?

No, and that’s a very fair statement. The number of employees, staff, doctors, or franchisees positive to COVID-19 hasn’t materially impacted the business in any way.

Okay, great. Thanks a lot. I’ll hop back in the queue.

Thanks, Anthony.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ryan Kimbrel from Craig-Hallum. Your line is open.

Hey guys, congrats on the quarter. I understand the environment is wildly different right now. But can you talk about the 13 clinics you opened in the quarter and how the current ramp rates of those new clinics compare to your more typical ramp rates?

Sure, Ryan. Thanks for the question. I’ll point to the comment we made in Peter’s section about a post-COVID example. We opened a clinic in Texas in June, and in June and July, the cumulative sales were $75,000, which is an all-time system record for us. While that is an outlier, the clinics are starting strong. The resiliency of our model is significant; patients still need chiropractic care, and the way we provide it continues to resonate. We’re seeing strong starts in this post-COVID environment.

Okay, great. And then maybe if you guys could provide some color on the success of the free trial program in June. And then as a second part, I guess, we’re seeing a sort of a second wave across the country in terms of COVID cases. If you could provide some color on what you’re hearing from customers and sort of the differences in customer behavior during the initial onset of COVID in March compared to today, that would be great.

Sure. I’ll start with the customer behavior as it started in March and how it is today. We discussed this on the earlier quarter call; our attrition rate, which is the rate at which our members drop or remain steady, has been consistent throughout COVID-19 and continues to today. I expected we would have seen an increase. We saw an increase in freezes, but not a rise in attrition or cancellations. While we may see a slight uptick as we move forward, to date, we haven’t observed an increase in attrition. Additionally, during this period, we saw an increase in the conversion rate, reflective of those patients opening the door for the first time in need of our services, converting at historically high rates. The other area we saw drop, especially in Q1, was new patient counts, which makes sense since new patients who’ve never been to a chiropractor or The Joint may have hesitance amid a pandemic. This was the purpose of the two promotions. The freeze promotion in May led to 22% of frozen members returning to active status. The June promotion exceeded our expectations. New patient counts in June averaged across our system were among the highest we've ever recorded. Not only did they come in, but they converted at higher rates to memberships.

Great, thanks for taking the questions, and congrats again.

Thank you.

I’m showing no additional questions in the queue at this time. I’d like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Holt for any final comments.

Thank you, Howard, and thank you all for your time today. Please note that we plan to participate virtually in the Lake Street Best Ideas Growth Conference and LD 500 later this quarter. Typically, I’d like to end the call with a patient story. Today, the patient is from Portland, and I’m quoting, 'Right before COVID, I flew a lot for work, and it triggered an old back injury. When shelter-in-place started, and I was working from home, I was in a lot of pain. However, I was worried about where I could go to get treatment. My friends recommended The Joint. With their sanitary protocols and masks, I felt comfortable getting adjustments. I’ve continued treatment, and my pain is significantly improved. With my pain nearly gone, I’ve been able to work at home, exercise, and garden.' So thank you and stay well-adjusted.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today’s conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day. Stay safe.