Author Archives: Edward Petty

About Edward Petty

Consultant with Petty, Michel & Associates, Author of Marketing Manager System, the Goal Driven Business www.GoalDriven.com. Father and grandfather, husband, student, active in athletics, and in health and environmental causes.

Internet Marketing That Works

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A web site is nice, but can it really generate new patients for you?

The answer is yes! And over the years, depending on the doctor’s internet marketing efforts, we have seen more new patients calling the office because of something they read on the Internet.

You probably have a web site. It could be a templated one you subscribe to or your own customized site.

But having a site is the easy part – it’s what you do with it that counts.  It is not like a phone book ad that you redesign every 12 months and then get conned into buying a larger ad by the phone book rep.

We have been studying internet marketing for many years now. It is a science and an art unto itself, with new approaches and technologies evolving monthly.  But there is also an awful lot of hype. Every company has a different pitch about how their web site is better. There are new gurus being born every week. Then, at a family barbeque, your 14 year old geeky nephew says he can throw up a web site for you over his lunch as part of a school project.  So, what do you do?

Because of all these things, your web site may just sit there.  Maybe it catches something now and then like a fishing lure, but more likely, it is mostly ignored and has floated to the river’s edge doing nothing.

We have a solution to this.

We will be sending more info about this soon. But the short version is that someone in your office should be able to work on your Internet marketing every week. Like any marketing, it only works if it is done.

We will be introducing the Chiropractic Internet Marketing Assistant Checklist and Support Program soon. Believe me – the Basic Level will be so easy even a Caveman, or Cavewoman, can do it.  (No offense intended!)

The internet is becoming more of a marketing medium for your office – and can be effectively used for generating new patients and keeping the ones you have.

The bottom line? 1-3 new patients for a few hours spent each month working on Internet marketing. Not a bad return.

Make sure you listen to our guest on this Tuesdays’ live teleclass this Tuesday, June 29th, at 12:30 Central time.

Dr. Jamie Phillips, having just given a presentation to the California Chiropractic Association, will be talking about practical steps you and your staff can immediately implement to get more new patients from the Internet.

We have known Dr. Jamie for many years and are impressed with her knowledge, savvy, service, and results. She loves marketing and chiropractic, and is effectively applying these passions to the internet.
More info on Dr. Jamie. LINK
As usual, there is no charge to our clients. The access number and phone number will be posted on your Members site and we will also send you a special reminder email.  If you are not an active client, you can register here: LINK.

Looking forward to many more new patients .. and returning active patients.

5 New Marketing Projects

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We have been working on some new marketing projects and are now ready to tell you about them.

They are hot, effective, and don’t cost an arm and a leg. You can do them and if you do, you will see more new patients.

They are not totally a secret, so I am going to tell you what they are. But first, I want you to know why we are doing so.

We’ve often been asked why we do what we do: Why do we consult and coach chiropractors. Why not dentists or MDs, or why consult at all? Why this line of work? Particularly since we are not chiropractors.

Well, first of all, we have consulted dentists, MDs, podiatrists, even attorneys and are not averse to doing so. We have done well with them, in fact.

Not being chiropractors gives us a distinct advantage. We are not biased to a particular technique, or so in love with our own procedures and with what worked with our patients that we can’t help another doctor work out what is uniquely best for her or him.

But the thing is, we really share the philosophy and mission of chiropractic – and the Attitude as well.

Chiropractors help people get well without the use of drugs. They promote a healthy lifestyle. Now, it should be no news to you reading this that this has always gone against Big Money.  The Big Money is in disease care.

We truly feel that chiropractors are the Health Rangers and Health Champions in a world dominated by gold digging corporations that manipulate public opinion to eat badly – and buy more and more drugs.

Chiropractic, by its very nature, opposes this and has for over a 100 years.

But reviling disease care peddlers can only provide you with a short term self righteous ego boost.  The real solution is not to loudly ridicule drug companies and the MD monopolies, or their bed partner, the health insurer. (But it may make you feel better, so go ahead! In fact, give ’em hell.)

The real solution is to tell your story.

Communicate loudly and continuously the benefits of chiropractic as the FIRST solution people should seek for their HEALTH.

We have seen and know the benefits of chiropractic and the chiropractic lifestyle and have seen the alternatives: sick, brainwashed people fed drugs and receiving “procedures” at great expense to our economy.

So that’s why we do this. It is a personal thing.

Now, to help you tell your story this summer, we have a number of super cool – and effective – programs which we will be presenting over the next few weeks.

1.    Internet Marketing. Having a web site is no longer enough. It is what you DO with it that counts. We have put together action steps that a chiropractic assistant can follow to help get you more new patients from the Internet.  (Special teleclass program with Dr. Jamie Phillips on Tuesday, June 29th. More info soon.)

2.    Community Services. Since the 1980’s, screenings have always been around. We have organized our successful experiences with screenings, and other external events, to show you how to greatly increase your new patients from these events.  This is a fun program.

3.    Energizing Your Marketing and Your Practice. Without giving away the whole program, we have new slant on an old approach to practice marketing that has proven to generate more new patients just with your current programs. The best part: it doesn’t cost a dime!

4.    Innate Marketing Secrets: How To Generate More New Patients Invisibly. This is based on study we have been doing for a while now. It is almost spooky in how it works.  But it does.  Stay tuned.

5.    Practice Management. We will show you a powerful management tool – that the whole staff can use – that increases production and improves performance.  And it is nothing new. You have it already, but for the most part, most offices just don’t use it.

It’s summer time and we want to help you get more people healthier.

Watch for more information on these programs soon.

Chiropractic and Earth Day

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It was 40 years ago when Senator Nelson, from Wisconsin, helped start Earth Day.  (It started in March, 1970 with teach-ins at the University of Calif. Davis and San Francisco. I was there!)   Since then, there has been a battle between natural health, and chemicals and toxins.

Chemicals in Our Environment

  • 1972:  DDT, an organochlorine pesticide, was banned
  • 1976:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)

62,000 chemicals were grandfathered in as being safe.  Two chemicals have been banned since 1976.

  1. 1978 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)
  2. 1989 Asbestos

There has been no attempt to ban a toxic chemical since 1989.
The amount of chemicals produced or imported by the United States in one day would fill up 623,000 tanker trucks with a capacity of 8,000 gallons each. (Taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes: The Body Toxic How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being. By Nena Baker 2008)

Not counting the chemicals Americans take in from hormones, pesticides, herbicides, and other poisons in our fast food, super-sized nation, we pound prescription drugs in to our bodies.

American Prescription Drug Use

  • The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 1993 was seven.
  • The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 2000 was eleven.
  • [The average number of prescriptions drugs per person], annually, in 2004 was twelve.

The total number of annual prescriptions [drugs] in the United States now stands at about 3 billion. The cost per year is about $180 billion, headed to and estimated $414 billion by 2011.  (taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes:How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser 2005)

This is actually old data and the average number by 2010 is probably much higher. I have seen patients walk in with pages of 20 “’scripts”, and heard of even as many as 50. I am sure you have too.

In Our Drinking Water
A vast array of pharmaceutical including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.  in the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas _ from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.   (USAToday)

Our Babies Swim Now In A Soup Of Chemicals.
287 human-made chemicals – most of them hazardous – in the blood of infants

According to a study released by the Environmental Working Group, a policy research and activist organization, tests measuring the so-called “body burden” of industrial chemicals, conducted on ten random samples of umbilical cord blood, detected 287 chemicals.

The samples, supplied by the American Red Cross, registered 180 chemicals known to cause cancer in adults, 217 that are linked to brain and nervous system damage, and 208 that have been shown to affect fetal or child development in animal tests. For 209 of the contaminants, this was the first time researchers had identified the chemicals in newborn blood.                                (Environmental Working Group)

What Should Be Done?
What do the so called health care leaders say about the poisons we feed to our planet, our people, and eventually our unborned children?  Where are the medical doctors or health insurers or pharmaceutical CEO’s speaking out against this. Or, our elected officials?

No one is talking, or if so, their voices are not heard.

And you know why?  Simple: because for the most part, they are not HEALTH Leaders.

And who are the health leaders?

You are! The chiropractor and the chiropractic professional. A healthy populace needs more than just “providers.” Your community needs leadership. The members of your town are bombarded with ads for drugs, for fast food, for industrial corporate food, for the easy “no effort way” to what they want. Add in natural human laziness, and you will find that your patients are getting sicker.

Health is a word which has been hijacked by the drug and insurance companies. But the chiropractor is the true health leader.

Earth Day gives you an easy avenue to extend your reach as a health leader into your community as well.  Well educated patients and community will seek to have a healthy town and a healthy body without the use of chemicals.

Ed

Sample posters. Link

Come celebrate with us on Earth Day by attending our seminar in Minneapolis.

Printable version of this article to give to patients. Chiropractic and Earth Day-for patients

In Your Chiropractic Office, Do You Have a Golden Goose in Your Hands?

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(an article by Phyllis Frase)

Do you remember the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? One of the characters named Veruca in the story wanted the goose that laid the Chocolate Golden Eggs. She demanded that her dad get her the goose that laid those eggs. She was a spoiled brat. Keep in mind she didn’t want to care, nurture and train that goose to lay those golden eggs. She just wanted the end product which was the chocolate golden eggs. She disobeyed Willy Wonka. Veruca and her dad are rejected as “bad eggs” and sent plummeting down a garbage chute in the golden egg sorting room. If Veruca had just stayed the course, in the end, she would have had all the golden eggs she could have wanted or needed.

What does this have to do with your practice?
Every day you have geese (patients) that want to lay golden eggs in your practice .  We just don’t look at their signals to help those eggs to be laid.  If you haven’t figured out what the “golden” eggs are, it is your internal referrals from your existing patients. We believe that if we have patients that they should automatically refer their friends and family to us. We are a little like Veruca that just wants the end product which in our case would be lots of new patients. Some patients do refer and most do not. It’s not that they don’t want too; it’s just that they are not cared, nurtured or trained to refer their friends and family to you.

Let’s look at your average new patient. Typically, the average chiropractor is blessed to receive 8-10 new patients a month, without really doing anything out of the ordinary such as  yellow pages, internal referrals and other marketing efforts. If we really care, nurture and train those 8 to 10 geese to lay their golden eggs in your practice (which would be their friends and family), you typically could double your new patients or golden eggs without a lot of effort.  These eggs are warm and ready to produce beautiful geese that will produce over and over given the right environment.

So how do you get production or referrals from your existing patients? You have to feed them every day. Set the referral seeds within your practice. Within the first 30 days of a patient starting care is when they are most enthusiastic about their chiropractic care. Set procedures to create the referral to happen.
In the first visit.  Invite the spouse to the report of findings. Make sure the staff follows through with this as well by giving a spouse pass to the report of findings. Will all of them come no, will a lot of them come, yes if you ask and it happens every time. If the patient doesn’t bring a significant other to the report of findings make sure it is noted in the report of findings and tell them they have another opportunity to learn about your care at our foundations, WOW or new patient orientation workshop.  Yes, patients do come to those workshops and that is another article all by itself.

These procedures seem old and worn out and most of the time we forget to ask the patients for these things because we have gotten beaten up or is not worth the effort anymore.  They do become worn out if the practices are not doing the procedures each and every time with each patient and having the staff follow through when the doctors have forgotten to review this on the first and second visit. Calling the new patients after the first adjustment is a referral stimulator. Those few things we all know and we tend to let them slide by as the opportunities for our golden eggs slip through our hands.

Here are a few referral opportunities that you can start right away in your practice and get good results from practicing them every day. Will you get the golden egg every time as the goose lays an egg, not all the time but if we care, nurture and train that goose, we will get more golden eggs than bad eggs.

Non promotional and promotional referral opportunities
Have the referral talk with specific people.
Can I talk to you a moment?
Sit next to the patient.
Have you been getting good results with your chiropractic care? Great
Do you enjoy coming here? Great
Can I ask you a question?
Why haven’t you given me the opportunity to check/scan your family?

PAUSE LET THEM TALK FIRST

It is my mission to check as many spines as possible so that people can be a healthy as possible.
I want to give you this coupon.  Bring in cans of food and I will waive the $25.00. (Let the patient see you mark through the price or whatever monetary cost you have associated to the coupon) Let me check their spines.  There is no obligation for them to start care.
Sports- Are your kids playing sports?  Really?  Did you know that chiropractic increases reaction time and reduces injuries?  The athletes that are under care usually perform better.

—

  • Remember to review your new patients at each staff meeting.  Determine who has family members that have not been checked and make an effort to put a coupon on their travel card, promotional flier or a stop manager/reminder on electronic notes so it will remind you to talk to them. Create a friends and family coupon to give to the patient.  Change the color or the wording every 2 to 3 months so it looks different each time. Print coupon on card stock. You can create these in word or publisher or go to our member’s site and find several customizeable samples. Always list the retail value of any services you are offering that are complimentary or at your expense.
  • Target specific people every day to have “the Talk” with and make a goal to hand out the friends and family coupon to a specific number of patients each week. This should be decided on as a team. Have a contest to see how many people get signed up. Dinner, lunch, time off, make your goal to get people checked regardless if they start care or not.
  • If the patients come to the counter with the coupon, that should signal the staff to ask the patient about the coupon.  “Great, Joe the doctor gave you the special coupon. Let me give you some new patient times, that way it will be easier for them to schedule an appointment. Who are you thinking of referring?”
  • Even if the patient doesn’t come up with the coupon and you know they are suppose to have one based on your communication with your doctor, the staff should go through the exercise of the referral talk.
  • Have a referral follow up sheet at the front desk and list the name of the patient, when the coupon was given, expiration date and whom they are going to refer and next date to follow up .
  • If they have not called yet in a week, when the regular patient comes in ask if they gave out the coupon. If yes, “okay we were just checking because he/she has not called yet. That coupon expired in so many days.  We won’t be having another promotion like this for another two months or the doctor only gives out the friends and family coupons four times a year.” Create a sense of urgency around that special. “Would you like to take some additional material with you that will explain chiropractic more?”  Have special brochures that can be handed to the patient. Make sure your name, address and phone number is on any literature that goes out your door.
  • Always have a bulletin board promoting your offers and as the time gets to the end create a banner that is put across the bulletin board- 5 days remaining or 3 new patients’ slots remaining. Or mark through any remaining fliers or material that you have.
  • Decorate your office during promotions. If you think you have decorated enough, it’s not enough.  Create a new experience when your patients come in. You need to stimulate them visually so they will ask questions.  Why all the hearts or the shamrocks? “Well, Joe I am so glad you asked, we are having a new patient opportunity.  Let me tell you how it works.”
  • Print enough fliers to be in your office everywhere.  In the adjusting areas, in your new patient orientation folders, in your bathroom, behind doors.  Anywhere people will see it and can’t miss it.  Enough is never enough.  Print your materials in color don’t be cheap by only using black and white copies. Always review your promotions after they are complete to see what needs to be changed or tweaked.

Chiropractic and Earth Day

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A healthy earth has a lot to do with a healthy body. But over the years, we keep pouring chemicals into the atmosphere and earth as well into our bodies.

Chemicals in Our Environment

  • 1972: DDT, an organochlorine pesticide, was banned
  • 1976: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA)
  • 62,000 chemicals were grandfathered in as being safe Two chemicals have been banned.
  1. 1978 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)
  2. 1989 Asbestos

“There has been no attempt to ban a toxic chemical since 1989.
“The amount of chemicals produced or imported by the United States in one day would fill up 623,000 tanker trucks with a capacity of 8,000 gallons each.” (taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes: The Body Toxic How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being. By Nena Baker 2008) Not counting the chemicals Americans take in from hormones, pesticides, herbicides, and other poisons in our Fast Food, Super Sized nation, we pound prescription drugs in to our bodies.

American Prescription Drug Use

  • “The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 1993 was seven.
  • The average number of prescriptions [drugs] per person, annually, in 2000 was eleven.
  • [The average number of prescriptions drugs per person], annually, in 2004 was twelve.

The total number of annual prescriptions [drugs] in the United States now stands at about 3 billion. The cost per year is about $180 billion, headed to and estimated $414 billion by 2011.” (taken from Dr. Dan Murphy who quotes:How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser 2005)

This is actually old data and the average number by 2010 is probably much higher. I have seen patients walk in with pages of 20 “’scripts”, and heard of even as many as 50.

In Our Drinking Water
A vast array of pharmaceutical including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. in the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm

Our Babies Swim Now In A Soup Of Chemicals.
287 human-made chemicals – most of them hazardous – in the blood of infants .

According to a study released by the Environmental Working Group, a policy research and activist organization, tests measuring the so-called “body burden” of industrial chemicals, conducted on ten random samples of umbilical cord blood, detected 287 chemicals.

The samples, supplied by the American Red Cross, registered 180 chemicals known to cause cancer in adults, 217 that are linked to brain and nervous system damage, and 208 that have been shown to affect fetal or child development in animal tests. For 209 of the contaminants, this was the first time researchers had identified the chemicals in newborn blood. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm

Earth Day is Health Day
Learn more. Read books. Talk to your chiropractor. Eat natural and organic food. Get regular spinal adjusts to support your spine and nervous system. Educate others. You can help your family and friends find relief and better health without the use of toxins by encouraging them to come in for an initial consultation with the doctor to see if chiropractic can help. Chiropractic is 100% organic and always has been. No drugs or toxins. The chiropractic lifestyle supports a healthy spine, nervous system and body.

Chiropractors: Never Work Another Day in Your Life!

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Did you know that 73% of chiropractors can make all the money they want without ever working?

This is proven by 83% of studies.

Yes, that’s write. You two can make all the money you want, and even more, without even working.

Honest.  No more talks, letters, or yellow pages or even internets.  You don’t even have to sea patients.

moneyman

With this SECRET system I was able to make lots ‘o bucks.  (Doctre Phulo Vit)

Am I talking to you?  Yes, we are.

I have just discovered 6.3 steps on how to make all the money you want with out hardly working ever and getting all the love you need.   Honest.

Yea. Baby.

So, call us now at 800 APR-FOOL

=================================================

Don’t be fooled.   Get the real stuff.   Come to our seminar in Minneapolis and Milwaukee this spring.

See you there.

Happy Easter to you all.

Love,

The PM&A Team

Chiropractor to Chiropractor: Reclaim the Joy of Practice

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Being a chiropractor can be a lonely job.

Who knows what it is like to adjust patients late in the afternoon while one patient is going on and on and the next one is dirty from work and smells?  And yet another just called in who has been under care for two weeks and is in pain and wants to be seen right away – who knows what that is like?

Someone who has been there and done that – another doctor.

You aren’t looking for advice, that can wait. You don’t need a lecture.  It would just be good to talk with someone who has been there before and survived, or better, thrived.

Let me introduce Dr. Tom Potisk.  He is not the overbearing charming salesman type of a doctor that you often see in consulting programs.   Actually, not too many doctors are really like that.  In fact, most doctors are very similar to Dr. Tom.

Dr. Tom and Dave, Phyllis and myself have been discussing an additional ingredient to practice success that that we feel doctors need. Simply, another doctor to talk to.  They have us, of course. But we are managers and marketers and practice builders.  That is our specialty.  And we too have been there and done that, since the 1980’s.  But as managers – not as doctors.

We feel doctors need both for practice success: a professional manager to help build a profitable and self sustaining business AND the support and perspective of a professional, experienced chiropractor.

So we are very happy to partner with Dr. Tom Potisk in providing services to our wonderful wonderful clients.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Tom will be giving a number of presentations at our upcoming seminars this year.  One of the classes will be on Doctor to Doctor: Reclaiming the Joy of Practice.  This is his basic theme: how, as a doctor, you can truly enjoy each day doing what you do as a doctor.  His approach is simply – doctor to doctor. Not as a coach, but as a fellow doctor who has been through what you are going through and made it to the other side – very successfully.

Listen to this his first teleclass you – you will find it very motivating and reassuring.

Hope to “see” you there,

Ed

Here is what others have said who have listed to his full presentation:

“Dr. Tom’s program was fantastic! I laughed, I cried, and I went back to my practice with a new, deeper sense of dedication and confidence. All DCs need to hear his message!” – Dr. Donna Stackpool, Lake Geneva WI

“Reclaim the Joy of Practice was an amazing presentation!  Dr. Potisk made the evening fun and enlightening with great tips on how to stay happy and truly enjoy Chiropractic.  I loved the history references with BJ.  It was a great reminder of how generations past fought for Chiropractic and how we need to honor them and the profession AND continue the passion.  Thanks Dr. Potisk for lighting the fire again!” – Tara Gill DC, Delevan WI

“After nearly 40 years of practice, I thought I heard the last of the great, authentic, and sincere chiropractic programs years ago; then along comes Dr. Tom Potisk with his Reclaim the Joy of Practice presentation. He brought me right back to what I remembered as the good-ole-days with an adjustment between my ears. High pi Dr. Tom !”  – Jerry Zelm DC, Oconomowoc WI

And you can read more about Dr. Tom Potisk here.

New Health Care Legislation and Chiropractic

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Late last night the House of Representatives passed a major bill affecting health insurance.

According to a press release by the American Chiropractic Association, “This means that the provisions contained in HR 3590 now only await President Obama’s signature to be enacted into law. These provisions include an important provider non-discrimination provision long championed by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).

Incorporation of this provider non-discrimination provision, also known as the “Harkin Amendment,” was achieved primarily due to the efforts of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), with help from other key players such as Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut). Although he did not support the final bill overall, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) also lent his support for the advancement of the non-discrimination provision.”

A key feature of the bill which will benefit chiropractic patients is the subject of ERISA.  According to the ACA press release:

We now have a federal law applicable to ERISA plans that makes it against the law for insurance companies to discriminate against doctors of chiropractic and other providers relative to their participation and coverage in health plans.

Read more here.

More Videos and Photos from PM&A’s Adventure to the Chiropractic California Jam 2010

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Dr. Tom Potisk gives a succinct and complete accounting and review of our travels to, and as it turned out, through Southern California. (see earlier post)

Here are some various videos and photos if you want more, though rough and candid, reporting. (Some videos may need the volume turned up.)

Walking to Cal Jam

Opening – Don’t Back Down – Chiropractor

Some photos

Cal Jam 2010 Chiropractic, Petty Michel - Associates

Clips from various talk. May have to turn up volume.

Dr. Brian Porteous – a clip from his talk on the hyperstension study. LINK

Dr. Dan Murphy – talks about recent research on toxic chemicals and how they affect nervous system and adjusting – (9 min) LINK

Dr. Dan Murphy – talks about cervical spine, referencing the hypertension study. LINK (5 min)

Dr. Dan Murphy – refers to book by M.D. references Innate. LINK

Dr. Fabrizio Mancini – applying chiropractic is not complicated. (2 min)   LINK

How to Make Your Chiropractic Marketing More Effective: Give a Reason

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A fundamental component to marketing your chiropractic services is communicating a reason, rationale, or a purpose for why you are marketing.

For example, if a store has a SALE each month with a discount on some of their items, you might think: “So what? Just another sale.”

So the department store thinks up some reason for the sale. It could be “Back-to-School” sale, a “Food Drive” sale, or a St. Patty’s Day party.

All of your marketing should have a topical theme. In our marketing materials, we have many, from Organic Health Care Week (in conjunction with Earth Day), Mother’s Day coupon with flowers, Fibromyalgia Awareness Week, etc.

But behind all of these themes should be a more dominate reason for your marketing. And here is a powerful truth: The better your staff, your patients, and your community understand this reason, the more responsive they will be in to your marketing efforts.

For example, we recommend that you write a letter to your patients explaining to them your real reasons for marketing your services. It could called: “Why We Promote – A Letter to Our Patients.”  To help you get started, we have a questionnaire here and a sample letter.

(For our clients, we have written a sample letter that has become popular which you may access on your Member’s web site under “New Stuff.” (need password.))

Why Do You Market Your Chiropractic Services?

Answer these questions thoughtfully.

Then, compose a few paragraphs for a letter, or for your web site.  You can also use this as a close on your patient lectures.

  • What do you experience when you see the family and friends of your patients get results from your care?
  • Do you ever see patients that have had unnecessary or failed back surgeries?
  • Do you ever see patients that take, or have taken, toxic drugs to alleviate their symptoms that you were able to alleviate naturally?
  • How would have the lives of these people been changed had you been able to adjust and treat them years earlier?
  • Since you are not supported by pharmaceutical companies or hospitals for your community education, how can you get the word out to your community?
  • This is why you have to rely on your staff and patients, and on occasional promotions and special events.

A Reason Behind Your Chiropractic Marketing

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A fundamental component to marketing your chiropractic services is communicating a reason, rationale, or a purpose for why you are marketing.

For example, if a store has a SALE each month with a discount on some of their items, you might think: “So what? Just another sale.”  So the department store thinks up some reason for the sale. It could be “Back-to-School” sale, a “Food Drive” sale, or a St. Patty’s Day party.

This is why many businesses over the last 15 years have used donation drives, or special causes, to help promote their services. Buy a bottle of water at Starbucks and a percentage of it goes to poor African children.

This works as long as the customer thinks it is a legitimate reason, but as soon as they find out that it is questionable, they stay away.  The Starbucks Ethos Water program, for example, has been discredited for a number of reasons. First, the retail bottle goes for $1.80 but only five cents goes to African kids.   The water bottles are manufactured by Pepsi and do not contain recycled materials. Plus, plastic bottles are ecological problems as they are reported not do decompose for a thousand years.

Over the Holidays, many businesses have sales and claim it is in conjunction with “Food for Families”, “Toys for Tots”, etc.   These are now so numerous that one can wonder about the genuine nature of such campaigns.

But donation drives are great. They can be effective, as can any promotion. But for any promotion to be effective, it helps if there is a reason behind it that is appealing and believable to your market. You should be genuine.

We recommend that all of your marketing have a topical theme. In our marketing materials, we have many, from Organic Health Care Week (in conjunction with Earth Day), Mother’s Day coupon with flowers, Neuralgia Awareness Week, etc.

But behind all of these themes should be a more dominate reason for your marketing. The better your staff, your patients, and your community understand this reason, the more active they will be in responding to your marketing efforts.

What is the underlying reason for your marketing?

Money, of course.  More new patients? Of course. But, as a doctor, what is your reason?  We suggest you work this out and communicate it to your patients and staff, and even your community.

(For our clients, we have written a sample letter (Why We Promote – A Letter to Our Patients) which you may access on your Member’s web site under “New Stuff.” (need password.))

Heat Up Winter With Chiropractic Health Promotions

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(Lucas County, Ohio)  2010 (it’s called twenty-ten, by the way) has started out pretty cold this side of the Rockies. Won’t get above freezing all week for many of the Midwestern states. Even Florida is below freezing in some parts.

But it is a New Year.  So, let’s heat it up!

Old Mongol saying: “Ride fast, move fast, stay warm.”

Here are some chiropractic ads and other action steps you can take in your chiropractic office to heat things up:

Continue reading →

Twas the day before Christmas – Chiropractic Version

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santa-claus-pics-0112

 

Not sure who wrote this,but would like to know.  Kind of cute!

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T`was the day before Christmas, but there was no cheer.

No jingle bells jingled, no sound of reindeer.
The word had got out that Santa was sick.
There`d be no friendly visit from jolly St. Nick.

The people were sad; no gaiety sounded.
For Christmas had come, but Santa was grounded.
He walked down the street, and what should he see?
On a small sign was printed, Chiropractor, D.C.

Now, Santa was not one to like a new tactic,
But all else had failed, so he`d try Chiropractic.
He entered the office and saw at a glance
In a place such as this illness hasn`t a chance.

Continue reading →

carpe annum

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2010

What does that mean to you?

More money?
More time off?
Better service and care for your chiropractic patients and community?

Does it mean a new opportunity to pursue your special projects: the song you meant to write, the trip you planned to take, project with your family, the good deed you hoped to do?

It’s out there.  A New Year, another package of 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days. It is your playing field, your sand box, your canvass – it’s yours.

But it’s yours ONLY if you take it. Only if you grab it and get busy creating the life and practice and business you want. Otherwise, it will go by quickly while you aren’t looking.

It is a gift, really.  We take so much for granted, particularly us Americans. It is no wonder immigrants who start small businesses do better. They appreciate the gift of Opportunity.

If you don’t seize this year, guaranteed, the world will seize you… like it does to so many. Soon, you will be more concerned about the “economy”, “health care” “reform”, wars, and a million other distractions rather than on creating your own life. Or, you will just bury your head in work, and in a few years when you look up, you will be 55 years old, or 65, or 75, and wonder what the heck you did with your life.

So, our recommendation is to seize 2010, and each day it offers. Set goals and make plans to achieve them.

This is what we are doing. Our newsletters have been a little thin lately only because we have been putting together what we feel is the best program of chiropractic practice building services ever for 2010. All to help you achieve your goals faster.

We are grateful for this chance to help you and we appreciate your trust. We admire the service and care you provide as doctors of chiropractic and chiropractic professionals. But, to be honest, we don’t do it just for you. We do it so that you can help more people become healthy through chiropractic care. And perhaps even more, so that they can be healthy by adopting a chiropractic lifestyle and getting their family and friends to do likewise.

So, here it comes.                                                                        2010.

Go seize the year and make it your own.

Carpe Annum
Marketing through the Holidays and into the New Year
A number of doctors wanted to get the notes from our teleclass on marketing. Here is the link.

Chiropractic Marketing Tips for The Holidays And The Start of the New Year

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Due to popular demand,  I am posting notes from our October teleclass on marketing over the Holidays.

Teleclass Outline with Ed Petty  — Notes

All marketing is broken down to:

1.    Procedures. These are either special, one time events, or standard recurring. Some have the purpose of immediate results (direct marketing), some more long term (indirect marketing).

2.    Motivation. Desire. Wanting to implement these procedures. (Discipline.)

3.    Marketing management.  Review, Planning, Implementation.

Motivation: You are listening (or reading this) so you are motivated.  But you have to get others motivated as well. You have to get and stay inspired.  It is Ok to be a cheerleader.  What’s wrong with a little cheer? And the more you cheer.. the more you find to cheer about!

The  Marketing Manager System:

  • Meeting weekly: Review/make plans/Implement (assign steps/dates)
  • Who is responsible and responsible for what
  • Calendar Special Promotions/Events
  • Checklist of Recurring Procedures/Events

 

Procedures: Special events/promotions

NOVEMBER

  • Holiday Turkeys (Care to Share) (Ham for Christmas)
  • Donation Programs: Shelters, Toys for Tots, Coats for Kids, Food for Families
  • Scheduling Patients over the Holidays. (Plan ahead so they keep up with their care.)

DECEMBER

  • GNO (Girls Night Out/ Shop Before You Drop)
  • Gift coupons
  • Saturday with Santa
  • Poinsettias (with gift coupons)
  • Planning, training – sharpen the saw.
  • Do scheduling for new year: “Flexibility Screenings” with gyms,  lunch and Learns with businesses
  • Gifts for Allies  and those who referred: Box of nuts, organic flowers, cups, pens, caps, t-shirts. Cards.

JANUARY

  • Lending Library: Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, King Corn, Sugar Blues, Food Inc. End of Overeating
  • Workshop on Nutrition and Fitness
  • Annual Reactivation Program
  • External Workshops, Screenings, and networking

FEB

  • Doctor’s With A Heart Donation Program
  • Have a Heart – Oklahaven Children’s Chiropractic Center – link
  • Valentine’s Gift Coupons

MARCH

  • Leprechaun Appreciation Day (Kid’s Day) link

Procedures: Recurring

Community Education: Talks or Awareness Weeks

  • Nov: Flu
  • Jan  Feb Food, Supplements/ Fast food Series —  With  a Dietitian and a trainer. February: Heart Heath- blood pressure
  • March: Headache Awareness Week

Communication Channels

  • Newsletter
  • Email Newsletters – NEW SERVICE FOR 2010 – We will do this for all clients on Standard Management Programs or higher.
  • Press Releases
  • Ads on other special newsletters: Chamber of Commerce, YMCA, Church Bulletins
  • Web site/Face Book – Fan /LinkedIn

Internal Recurring:

  • Morning case management meetings – (include a joke.)
  • Staff meetings
  • Patient Success Stories, Upbeat Atmosphere:  Take a “vibe check”:  too seriousness or pleasant can welcoming atmosphere. Where’s the party?
  • Spinal Care Class
  • Whiteboard
  • Brochures
  • Staff education
  • WOC (Whip out card)
  • Mission

Swine Flu: Lessons in Marketing Your Chiropractic Wellness Practice

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Two can play at this game.

If the pharmaceutical companies can use swine flu as an excuse to sell vaccines, you can use it to promote wellness.

The general corporate media, and doctors employed by these corporations, have been pushing the horrors of the swine flu “pandemic” and offering pharmaceutical products – vaccines – as the primary solution. But it makes one wonder what is really going on when there is so much information about the unhealthiness of the vaccines, as well as much common knowledge about many different non pharmaceutical solutions that are healthy.

Dr. Oz, an MD on a major television network, in an interview where he promotes the use of the swine flu vaccination, admits that while he gets vaccinated, his wife and children do not. (Link to video below.)  What does that tell you?

There is a lot of information about this but I know I am just preaching to the choir here on this blog.

The point is, now is your chance to step up to the plate as a Health Leader and help navigate the way for your patients and community through this confusing issue of flu vaccinations.

What I am saying is that this is a great opportunity for you as a  Doctor of Chiropractic.  While only a small percentage of people are actively receiving chiropractic care at any one time, a majority of people are skeptical about swine flu vaccinations. (Consumer Reports 9/30/2009)

By offering information about the swine flu from a natural perspective, you can position yourself as a health leader to this huge market.

Good marketers are always looking for a relevant event to help get their message across. This is a powerful one.

For example, you could you could easily schedule and present a 45 minute basic class on:

The Flu: A Natural Perspective

or

Concerned About Swine Flu, But Uncertain About Vaccinating Your Kids And Family?

or

What You Should Know Before You Get That Flu Shot

You could invite a guest speaker, such as an MD or DO or nurse, anyone really, who is pro chiropractic and subscribes to the chiropractic lifestyle.

The first step, however, is becoming informed and educated yourself. Doctor Mercola has a great deal of information on his site with references to other sites. A fast search will give you tons of info and books to read. Some of the comments posted on these sites by readers are also informative.  I have listed just a few below.

While you do need to know about vaccinations and the swine flu, you really need to understand the level of propaganda drug companies use to promote their products.  This is something you should be able to take issue with as a chiropractor who sees the results of unnecessary back surgeries weekly.   Once you are incensed about these injustices, all else will follow.

For a more radical approach, you can use a poster that shows how MD’s were used to support the use of tobacco and Vioxx, both products which are known toxic killers. [Sample poster below.]

Some things you can do:

  • Give a talk with or without a guest.
  • Host a community discussion group with a panel.
  • Talk to your patients one on one about what you know.
  • Educate your staff.
  • Place poster or pamphlets around the office.
  • Write a letter to the editor.
  • Make comments on blogs, face book or other web sites.

Again, you do not have be an expert about the biochemical aspects of vaccinations. The basics are obvious enough and will allow you to swing any discussion around to general health, nutrition, exercise, and of course,  subluxations, nerve interference, and chiropractic treatment.

It is not that you should promote chiropractic as a direct remedy for swine flu. That would be bad public relations, even if there are accounts of this. (See 1918 Flu Epidemic below.)  Instead, you are an advocate for health, looking after the general health of your patients and community.  You are a teacher.

It has been stated that there is a “Wellness Revolution.” People want organic and natural health. What doctor of what profession is better suited to lead the way other than you, the chiropractic doctor?

Take this opportunity and run with it.

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Promotional Posters: 2 Sample Plosters

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Some immunization references. (Please list more.)

Tedd Koren’s Brochures:
Do You Know What’s In A Flu Shot and Vaccination: 18 Reasons to Just Say No

Mercola.com

Chiropractic and the 1918 Flu empidemic (article)

http://www.vaclib.org/

Pro-Immunization: New York Times recent article

Dr. Oz. Immunization OK for him, but not for his wife and kids. (Youtube. 5 minutes in.)

Video clip of flu shot promotion from 1970’s. (Video)

Congressman Paul on the Recent Swine Flu Scare (Video– 4 minutes)

Dr. Blaylock (4 video interviews)

How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor (book)

A Shot in the Dark (book)


National Chiropractic Health Month

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I guess I missed the memo on this one. Maybe you did too.

October has always been Spinal Health Month as recognized by the American Chiropractic Association.  Apparently, this year it is changed to National Chiropractic Health Month.

You can still call it Spinal Health Month if you want, but either way, it is a good opportunity for you to use this as an extra motivation to get the word out about your services and chiropractic.

According to the ACA website, they are focusing on headaches this year.  They have some nice down-loadable pamphlets and brochures you can use. ACA headaches

Depending on your other promotions, I would announce that October is National Chiropractic Month as recognized by the American Chiropractic Association.  In conjunction with the ACA and the National Chiropractic Month, you would like to invite all patients to bring in their families and friends for a no charge chiropractic back and neck screening.  You can change this to a no charge chiropractic consultation, conference, or whatever you feel comfortable with.

A poster can be helpful in prompting a dialogue between the patients and the doctors and staff.  A poster can also be placed at local coffee houses, faxed to office managers at friendly businesses,  to support groups, and of course, handed to patients as fliers.  You can also place a notice in your patient statements and send out a press releases to local papers.

Here is a sample: LINK

You can also make a banner that says:

October is National Chiropractic Health Month
Bring in your family for a free posture screening. See the Front Desk for details.

This can be placed on the outside of your office, or on the inside. The banner can be a small one on paper, 3-5 feet, or a large one that can be used year after year.

Note to PM&A clients. You are welcome to edit these posters and fax us the changes and we can send you a new poster. We can also send you the Word file so you can make your own customizations.