Category Archives: Chiropractic

Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Creating a Chiropractic Community

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Used to be a popular TV program called Cheers back in the 80’s. It was modeled after a bar in Boston with the same name. As a situational comedy, Cheers presented a familiar group of customers who came to the bar to have a drink, but also to relax, socialize, and have good cheer.

 

Patients come into your office to improve their health and find relief from discomfort. But they are also looking for something more.

 

Remember that a practice is a network of relationships created and sustained through communication and service. That’s my definition. There are other definitions, I’m sure, but at the foundation, communication is critical.

 

It can be a lonely world where there seems little time for real communication – or friendship.

 

You are more than a doctor, and your staff are more than just support professionals. You and your entire team are part of a caring family, a community of like-minded people who are committed to health and helping each other achieve it.

 

Creating a community is a big deal in businesses now. For good reason… Belongingness has been identified as an intrinsic motivation we all have, according to Self-Determination Theory. But it can be contrived and gimmicky if it is not genuine.

 

In the best offices I have visited, staff and doctors formed a work family… genuinely caring for each other as well as for their patients. The patients were also included in the family. Sometimes, I would see them spending too much time gabbing at the front desk or bringing fresh produce for the doctor from their garden. I would even see patients just stop by the reception area to chat amongst themselves, catching up on shared concerns and local news.

 

Yes, the best practices have policies and procedures. These are the systems that help ensure fast and efficient service in high quantity with high quality.

 

But procedures cannot take the place of a real person interested in and caring for another person.

 

In very lay terms, the spine is the structure that supports and protects the function of the spinal cord. It is the function that counts, that comes first.

 

Many offices have their function impeded by tangled up, omitted, or unfollowed procedures and policies. You definitely need a strong infrastructure to have a prosperous low stress business. But the reason, the goal for good systems includes having good communication with your patients and each other.

 

There are many troubling issues we all face. Make your office a place where people want to go for better health and better friendship.

 

A place where everyone is glad you came and where everybody knows your name.

 

Ed

 

Theme from the sitcom Cheers
“…Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

 

Wouldn’t you like to get away?

 

Sometimes you want to go

 

Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.”

 

Carpe Posterum (Sieze the Future)

 

Ed

Your Best Business Investment: Did you make First Adjustment Calls?

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When was the last time you called your patient after their first adjustment?

We’ve advised this for years, and it is one of the many items on our Marketing Checklists. The procedure was simple: the staff handed the doctors a slip of paper with the names and numbers of patients who had their first adjustment that day. Then, on the way home, the doctor would give the patient a call to see how they were doing. I remember hearing from the staff that the patients loved getting a call from their doctor and felt it was an extra effort to ensure their well-being personally.

I was reminded of this when my wife, Barbara, took a phone call from the MD from whom she recently received a light skin surgery. She was impressed and delighted. (“Wow,” she said after the call. “I think I’ll call to schedule more surgeries this month!” She’s funny!)

But we live in a world where we are becoming more insulated from each other. We almost interact as much with Artificial Intelligence, electronics, and automation as with live people. Automation runs our shopping, our money, and our communication, even much of our medical care.

I just read a report this week that Google suspended an engineer from work who said that an AI program at Google was now sentient (conscious). He said that he had “startling talks” with a chatbot program.* And never mind the masking, social distancing, and lockdowns which I am sure we haven’t seen the last of.

It seems that honest, caring, and genuine interest from a live person, especially from someone who knows us, are vanishing human qualities.

And this is the niche where you and your team are uniquely qualified to own.
As entrepreneurs, we focus on business matters – we look at our scoreboard, analyze the numbers, and review our accounts receivable. We look at how we can grow our business and improve the bottom line. And all that is fine and part of our job.

But all the numbers, the paperwork, all the administration and marketing are for nothing if the personal connection you have with each patient is absent.

And this is what makes your service exceptional – the quality of connection you and your team have with each patient. The genuine interest in and authentic care for each patient, and the outcomes you deliver, are the heart and soul of your business.

Improving this is the best investment you can make for long-term success.

Carpe Posterum (Sieze the Future)

Ed

(Yahoo News)

Those Numbers: Do You Manage by Emotions or by Goals?

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scoreboard for statistics

It’s Monday morning. The staff is getting the office ready for the new day. And while doing so, they are wondering… “How is the boss’s mood going to be today?”

They are taking their cues on how the day will transpire based upon, at least in part, your emotional state.

Your team, as well, will often be tempted to manage their roles in the office emotionally, based on the circumstances in their personal lives.

There is nothing wrong with positive emotion. Emotion is a feeling “a mental reaction subjectively experienced” (Merriam-Webster). Some are more positive than others, such as joy, delight, cheerfulness, and others are more negative, such as anger, grief, and fear.

But emotion is reactive. Setting your sights and working for goals is proactive.

Your Scoreboard

Your practice numbers show you if you are headed towards your goals or away from them.

They can predict what needs to be done to improve your business and achieve your goals. They also keep everyone on your team informed on the status of the practice and included in its management.

There is a right and wrong way to use your numbers to help you achieve your goals.

There is, in fact, an entire methodology on how to use statistics to improve business performance.

Large companies use analytics to manage and improve their production in formal processes such as Kaizen, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management.

In the Goal Driven System, we use a simplified version called GAP, the Goals Achievement Process, which works just fine.

At the beginning of each month:

  1. Review. Review your key numbers monthly at staff meetings. (This can also be done weekly to check on your progress.)
  2. Notice and support. Notice where the numbers went up. Then, plan a couple of action steps to support the areas that went up.
  3. Notice and fix. Notice where the numbers went down. Then, plan a few action steps to fix the areas that were down.

Remember that numbers by themselves are nothing. They are symptoms or representations of the quality and quantity of your outcomes. Don’t get so caught up with the “stats” that you lose sight of what the numbers represent. Expecting the numbers to improve without confronting and enhancing the factors causing the numbers is at best ineffective and, at worst, can be abusive.

But numbers can assist you and each team member to stay focused on the goals: your office mission, its values, and its outcomes.

In a Goal Driven office, your team takes its cues from the office scoreboard.
There is an art and a method to capture, display, read your statistics and apply what they tell you. This is not adequately taught to most doctors in business – or to employees. Yet managing by numbers is a fast and very effective method to keep your business improving.

We are creating a short training course to remedy this called Goal Driven Analytics for the Chiropractic Practice. Subscribers to this newsletter (you!) will be the first to hear about it.

In the meantime, stay true to your goals, and use your scoreboard to help you do so.

Seize the Future

Ed

Improve Patient Retention Through Gamification

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winner running through the finish line

It all comes back to goals – helping patients achieve theirs.

Last week I discussed improving patient retention through excellent onboarding.

Onboarding is a 21st Century term meaning, in this case, those actions you take with a new patient to introduce and orient them to their new service. The analogy would be a new passenger coming “on board” a new boat. (The link to this article is below.)

The other activity I mentioned that can improve patient retention is also a 21st term: “Gamification.”

Merriam Webster says gamification is: “the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation.” The concept is not new, but it has become a science and is integrated into all video games. I cover this in detail in my book, The Goal Driven Business, which I recommend you purchase and use. (Link below.)

Games are native to our species. Even to puppies, as you see them rolling over each other. Kids love to play with their parents, and as they get older, with other kids, and then enjoy organized sports. The Olympic games began, according to one source, in 776 BCE. We love our games, and perhaps, we need them.

Awards

A game poses a challenge where you can overcome barriers and demonstrate your grit. If you win –hurray! Winning is the prize, but sometimes you also receive an award.

In ancient Greece, winners received an olive wreath as a crown. In modern Olympics, the winners receive bronze, silver, and gold medals. In some martial arts, as you advance in your skills, you are awarded different colored belts. When you graduate from college, you receive a nice certificate you can hang on your wall to impress your relatives! (sarcasm)

Your patient has accepted a challenge, along with you and the entire clinic team, to achieve certain health goals. So why not acknowledge or even reward the patient for completing specific benchmarks along the way?

Years ago, I recall some offices would have a special short ceremony for their patients once they completed their program of care. First, the staff would help the patient don a black robe used in graduation ceremonies and a graduation cap (mortarboard) and tassel. Then, they would take a polaroid snapshot (a brand of camera that produced instant hard copy photos) with the doctor and the patient in their graduation garb, give a copy to the patient and attach another to a bulletin board. I have even seen this in a hospital setting, just without the robe!

In Your Practice

Gamification can be applied in your office in many ways.

For example, after completing their 6th visit, the front desk could award patients a silver star sticker. After the 12th visit, they are awarded a gold star stuck to a coffee mug with the office name and logo. Finally, after completing their care program, the patient could receive a diamond star attached to an office t-shirt.

Gamification aims to keep everyone engaged in the “game” of achieving health goals.

One approach to bringing this about is to have a team meeting and go over this idea. Encourage unbridled creativity! Use the best ideas that make the most sense and run the program for three months on a trial basis. Set goals (and awards) for the team for percentages of patients completing their programs.

All these are examples of gamification. But even a “Glad you made it today Mrs. Jones. Good to see you and your daughter” is a kind of an award. Unfortunately, in life, we are rarely recognized for our accomplishments – and mostly for our errors.

So, compliment your patients for their courage to improve their health. It is a big deal and a major accomplishment that they even show up, let alone follow through with their care.

After all, games are fun. So, let the games begin!

Ed

Link to Onboarding Article

Link to The Goal Driven Business

Chester Wilk Was Not to Be Bullied

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A chiropractor that stood up for chiropractic.

chester wilk: a chiropractor that stood up for chiropractic

THIS IS A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS and a tribute to Chester Wilk, D.C., who passed away just a few days ago.

Dr. Wilk was the Wilk in Wilk versus AMA, the case where a federal judge ruled in 1987, based upon evidence, that the American Medical Association had been attempting to “contain and eliminate” the chiropractic profession.

Dr. Wilk and four other chiropractors first filed the suit in 1976. Doggedly pushing it along, Dr. Wilk, colleagues, and attorneys had to keep fighting even after the ruling against the AMA. From Wolinsky’s book, Contain and Eliminate:

“Wilk had earned a reputation as a street fighter. In 1974, he’d written a book of his own, Chiropractic Speaks Out: A Reply to Medical Propaganda, Bigotry, and Ignorance. In it, Wilk made a case for the validity of chiropractic based on scientific research, and he attacked the AMA for trying to stop chiropractic education and block insurance and Medicare reimbursement for chiropractic services. “Chiropractic is not a cure-all, but neither is medicine,” Wilk said.”

“The case was finally settled in January 1992. The amount of the settlement is under court seal. The settlement went toward attorney fees for Wilk et al., plus additional funds went to support a center for disabled children run by a chiropractor in Kentucky and the chiropractic schools with a request from the National Chiropractic Antitrust Committee led by Dr. Chester Wilk, which raised funds for the suit, that the colleges earmark the windfall for research. Not all did.” (Wolinsky)

I had the honor of having lunch with Dr. Wilk and his wife many years ago in Chicago. Later, in 1996, we both presented at a seminar hosted by Petty, Michel, and Associates to doctors and staff here in Milwaukee.

He was not flamboyant and seemed unassuming, but to me, he had a steely commitment to chiropractic, and I could see that he was not someone to be bullied.

Were it not for Dr. Wilk, and many others that worked with him to defend the profession of chiropractic from the illegal acts of the American Medical Association, you might not be where you are now.

The story about the Wilk’s case is a lesson for us all and an example well set.

And whether you are a chiropractor, work in the chiropractic field, work in any health field, or pursue healthy solutions for yourself and your family, no one or no organization has any right to suppress health information from you.

Dr. Wilk was not to be bullied or silenced, and neither should any of us. He stuck to his goals through thick and thin.

Please take a moment to pay your respects to this humble man and how we can continue his work.

Seize the Future!

Ed

PS links:

Dr. Chester Wilks Book: Medicine, Monopolies, and Malice
https://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Monopolies-Malice-Chester-Wilk/dp/0895296470

Wolinsky book: Contain and Eliminate
https://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/o2.php?f_id=34

More info about Dr. Chester Wilk https://chiro.org/Wilk/

Dr. Chester Wilk at Petty, Michel and Associates seminar discussing the Wilks vs AMA trail in 1996

Mr. Ed Petty at Petty, Michel, and Associates seminar discussing practice development.

Which is Better for You: Direct Marketing or Indirect Marketing?

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Last week I sent an email with a link to Ode to Joy.

Ode to Joy is from Beethoven’s 4th movement of his 9th symphony, considered one of the top three symphonies ever created.

It was a short 5-minute rendition. It is beautiful and evocative – listen to it again. (Link below.) Plus, its performance was a masterpiece.

But it was actually an ad.

It was a brilliant advertisement for a Spanish Bank. It was promoting Sabadell Bank’s 130th year anniversary in 2012. According to one website, it has had 90 million views since 2012, while another posted in 2015 has received over 18 million views.

That is a lot of exposure. But does it generate new business?

This type of advertising is called brand marketing, or what I call indirect marketing. It is the opposite of direct marketing. Direct marketing, also called direct response marketing, tries to generate an immediate response. Knowing the differences will help you manage your marketing and make it more effective for your particular situation.

Direct Marketing

The goal of direct response marketing is to generate qualified prospects that respond to an offer. When you receive a card in the mail that promotes a free dinner about retirement funds, the company that sent you that mailer hopes you reply and attend the dinner and accompanying talk. At the dinner, a speaker gives a presentation with the hope of scheduling you for a private consultation later that week. When you see an ad on Facebook for a free manual, the advertisers intend that you respond and order their manual. The distinguishing characteristic of direct marketing is numbers – you can quantify the results of your marketing efforts.

Indirect Marketing

The goal for indirect, or brand marketing, is for the name of your business to be well known and well thought of. When you volunteer at the local food bank, co-sponsor a kid’s little league team, or simply provide excellent customer service, these are all examples of indirect marketing. The results of indirect marketing are difficult to identify immediately.

Until you are in Stage 4 in the growth of your business (about 75% or more full capacity), most of your marketing efforts should be direct marketing. Indirect marketing supports direct marketing, but even if your entire town knew about your business and thought highly of it, there is no guarantee that anyone would come to see you as a customer.

Handing out your business card to someone would be an example of indirect, personal brand building. However, handing out your business card with a handwritten note on the back that said something like “N/C screening in May for Joe M. Dr. EP” might be an example of a direct response marketing.

Marketing Mix – Direct, Indirect, and Internal, External

Another factor to consider in managing your marketing is how much should be directed externally – to non-patients and customers and how much should be directed internally to your existing and former patients and customers.

It has been my experience that too few practices are industrious enough with marketing to and communicating with their existing and former patients.

Below is a chart that gives approximate percentages of how to balance your direct and indirect marketing for your practice. I have divided the development of a business arbitrarily into 5 Stages. Figure each Stage to be about 20% your full capacity.

Telling your story and the successes of your services should never end, regardless of how successful you are. Change your marketing strategies depending at what Stage of development your business is in — but keep marketing.

Carpe Posterum (Seize the Future),

Ed
GoalDriven.com

Ode To Joy

What You Must Do Before You Try to Improve Your Practice

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Will Durant

Too often, we stop doing what worked and yet wonder why our business isn’t doing as well as it had in the past.

When I would visit an office that wanted to improve, I would initially ask them what they were doing when the office was performing better?

The staff and doctors would pause, think, and gradually, the answers would begin. “Well, we used to call the new patient after the first adjustment…” “We used to have a radio program…” “We used to send out birthday cards… “We used to ….”

After each answer, I would ask, “Well, are you doing that now? The answer was usually “no.”

If business is improving, if the scoreboard shows that you are having a winning season, why stop doing what is working?

Keep doing what works!

This may seem obvious. It is. But we all fail at this one time or another, so it bears repeating.

What keeps us from continuing to do those things that are most successful? Boredom, staff turnover, or a momentary crisis when many procedures get washed overboard.

All offices suffer from what I call Procedural Atrophy – a gradually wearing away of what works. The result is only the very minimal procedures that keep the doors open are performed. Progress exams are no longer done, and the front desk no longer smiles when answering the phone.

The Goals Achieve Process – Now You Can Improve

You want to improve your business – provide better service, increase revenue, decrease stress.

But first, ensure that you are still doing what you were doing when you were doing well. Keep applying your successful procedures!

THEN, make improvements.

Various organizational processes are used in large companies that entail a sophisticated method of improvement, sometimes called Kaizen, Six Sigma, and Lean. Kaizen is a Japanese process developed by an American, but you can earn a “Black Belt” in Six Sigma. (I know. Confusing! People get paid big bucks for this stuff!) We have a very simple improvement process called the Goals Achievement Process outlined below.

  1. Review your numbers for the last few years.
  2. Notice when you were doing better.
  3. Make a list of the procedures, projects, and policies that were successful then.
  4. Also, include the level of your motivation and your attitude, and what you were doing to keep you inspired during those times.
  5. Get the successful procedures on checklists for your team to implement and ensure they are done again.
  6. Assign your manager to ensure that these procedures stay in place.
  7. Do a version of this each month, over and over.
    1. Review what worked and what didn’t the prior month.
    2. Check what procedures weren’t done or done well, or need to be improved, or discontinued
    3. Make a 4-6 step plan for the new month to improve those areas that need improvement.
  8. Optional: Use a professional coach/consultant to help you keep everything on track and improving!
  9. Also, read The Goal Driven Business.

In an entrepreneurial practice (the Personality Driven Practice), the owner is good at using their creative energy to get things started. And while this burst of energy is essential to start a business, it usually doesn’t continue once the “newness” wears off. So, they go in search of a new “shiny thing” to implement or try in their Practice.

A Goal Driven and systematized business works both creatively and methodically to become expert at doing the same procedures over and over, each time as if it was the first time. There is a vast difference between the amateur or serial entrepreneur and the expert who is still training and working to improve.

As Clarence Gonstead said: “Practice. Practice. Practice. Never stop.”

Stay on the Rails

It helps to think of your business as a train. You gradually build up speed and momentum. Keep doing what is working and keep it on the rails. Then, improve it.

Have a great week!

Ed

A new review for the book The Goal Driven Business:

A MUST-READ FOR ANY BUSINESS OWNER!

Throughout the years of my Practice, Ed has helped coach our staff and change our thinking from “personality” driven to “goal” driven – allowing my office to stay open and profitable whether I am here or taking time off!

This book is so easy to understand and gives you real steps to take now in your business. I highly recommend this book to anyone who currently owns a business, is thinking about owning a business, or is a manger of a business!

Donna Brown, D.C.
Business Owner, Group Practice

Are Your “Engines” Driving Your Practice?

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A service business needs 5 different engines to become a Goal Driven Business

Five engines drive your business to its goals.

If these are installed and firing at 100%, practicing will be enjoyable and profitable. When these engines are not fully performing, the daily demands of running a business shift to, and fall upon, the owner.

These engines are functions and characteristics of a dynamic team that drive the practice toward its goals.

Many offices that seem to be doing well are driven by heroic owners fighting each day to grow their practices, and not by their engines. But this isn’t easy to sustain. At some point, it becomes too much, and they settle into a comfort zone below their abilities. As a result, their long-term goals remain unfulfilled.

This is the plight and path of the entrepreneur – brave, independent, but too often without a map on how to build a strong business that drives itself.

The five engines that drive a business to its goals are:

  1. Marketing
  2. Leadership
  3. Management
  4. Service
  5. Personal Integrity

I want to begin passing on tips on the marketing engine– what is working now and my best estimation of what will be working in the future. Marketing is vital, for without paying customers, the other engines won’t work and aren’t needed.

But before I do, I want to invite you to look at your business and gauge the health of each of your engines.

You can do this by reviewing how successful you are at achieving each engine’s outcomes (goals) and giving them a grade from one to five (1-5). 5 would be the point where the engine is achieving its goals.

  1. Marketing. Abundant new patients and goodwill with local allied businesses, organizations, and your community. A waiting list practice. (1—5: ___)
  2. Leadership. A business with clearly defined goals that are agreed upon and pursued happily. (1—5: ___)
  3. Management. Expert team members, acting as an expert team, implementing simple but effective procedures. (1—5: ___)
  4. Customer Service. Customers (patients, clients, customers) who are extraordinarily satisfied with the services they receive and their outcomes. (1—5: ___)
  5. Personal Integrity. Each team member is happy because of the positive and and responsible manner in which they manage their personal lives. (1—5: ___)

By grading each engine’s “output,” you can immediately see what needs the most work.

But these engines do not work independently. One affects the other so that there is a synergy created. As one improves, so do the others. The opposite is also true – the more one engine dies down, the more the other ones do as well.

It could be said that everything begins with leadership, and that may be true. But unless you are marketing your services, there will be no one to lead!

So next week, let’s look at a few effective marketing strategies and tactics that will help drive your business to its goals.

And by the way, how to achieve a 5 for all your business engines is described in The Goal Driven Business. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to do so.

A great new February to you all,

Ed

The Problem With Seminars

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the problem with seminars

I am all for seminars. Been to many myself. I know I have gotten useful information and, no doubt, have benefited from them.

But, their usefulness is often wasted.

I just talked to a business owner that came back from a seminar he and his doctors and staff attended. He told me that they have started hitting their best-ever weekly numbers. His office manager told me that everyone is excited.

For now.

I have seen it time and time again… go to a seminar, get stoked, come back, numbers go up for a month or so, and then everything returns to how it always was. In essence, the seminar was only a short-term, “acute care” fix that addressed symptoms. Nothing was really improved or corrected.

There is a solution on how to benefit the most from seminars. I discuss it in my book, The Goal Driven Business, from which most of this article is quoted from. The following is a story related to me from a chiropractic staff member a few years back:

“Our office was really slowing down last year. So, the owner decided to take everyone out of town to a weekend business seminar. The speakers discussed new and efficient methods for doing our work. It was entertaining and informative. Plus, we also gained some great marketing ideas. It was a fun seminar, so we were all excited when we returned to work after the weekend.

“On Monday, we agreed to get together at lunch to discuss how to implement what we learned. Some staff members had to take care of urgent matters first, so our lunch meeting started 30 minutes late. Once we finally got together in the break room and started eating, we began a good meeting, but then customers begin arriving for their afternoon appointments. We had to call the meeting to an end without getting through very much of our agenda, but we agreed to continue the meeting the following week. Turns out, we never did meet again about the seminar.

“But we were still pretty motivated from the out of town trip to the seminar and, as I recall, we had one of our best months ever. It’s my job to clean the break room and, after a few months, I noticed that the binders of information we received at the seminar were never opened; so I stored them for future reference. Now it is almost a year later, and everything is pretty much back to the way it was before we went to the seminar. Some of us are a little burned out and I don’t think we ever did implement anything from that seminar.”

Sound familiar?

I bet it does. I have seen it play out almost exactly the same way countless times. Starting, and not following through. No management and marketing system is set up, and no time scheduled to ensure the system is followed, and no lasting improvement is realized.

And I am sure, for most of us, this phenomenon applies to our personal lives as well. For instance, how is your exercise program coming along? Hmm? You’ve set goals to work out more often and eat better, right? To work ON your body, not just in it. Yet, my guess is it’s been pretty hit and miss.

We want to improve, we make improvement goals, but what happens? Why can’t we achieve them? Consistently. Is it that we’re all too busy? Too lazy? There seems to be no solution, so we accept our condition and do our best.

Yet, there IS a solution, and it’ll seem like science fiction—but, it’s actually a science fact.

The Goal Driven System of Business Development covers 20 Big Shifts, or actual office adjustments, that need to be made to reach your goals — and stay there. It takes you out of the Practice Roller Coaster that forces you to finally “settle” and accept a lower level of success because the stress of the ups and downs becomes too much.

Here’s how to get the most out of seminars from The Goal Driven Business.

goals lab goaldriven.com “BIG SHIFT #1: Introducing the Goals Lab
You can’t improve your car while you’re speeding down the freeway. You must take it to a mechanic at a garage. Athletes and musicians alike spend time away from their audience to practice their game skills or their music, always improving their performance. Businesses need to do this as well. But where? And when?

 

The answer is you need to create a Goals Lab where you go to work on your business.

Your Goals Lab is a special place, a laboratory, an oasis for change. Here, you can think, study, learn, practice, become inspired, and have conversations. Here is where you go to reset your thinking and improve your actions—and the actions of others in your office as well.

I call it the Goals Lab, but you can give it another title, if you wish. Whatever you call it, this is the first Big Shift you’ll take on your journey to achieving your new goals.

Goals Lab to engineer your best route to your goals, Goalddriven.com

Why do you need a Goals Lab? Because you simply cannot focus on the other Big Shifts when you are in your office, juggling customers, staff, bills, phone calls, emails, vendors, and everything else that consumes your energy and brainpower.

Management companies and consultants may have advised you to work on your business, not just in it. While the idea of working on your business, as opposed to in it, is a clever and useful concept, I have rarely seen it applied consistently or comprehensively. Why? Because real business improvement can be more demanding than meets the eye. It is a separate activity that requires its own distinct time and place, and it has its own rules which must be followed to be effective.

I use the term Goals Lab because it is a virtual location that you visit to improve business performance. As an example, you spend most of your time with your car driving it. But you also take time to take your car to a special place where you let a mechanic work on it.

Not knowing about this place, this Goals Lab, its rules, and how it operates, is a fundamental reason why all your management books, marketing manuals, and practice improvement notes from seminars rarely get implemented.

Your Goals Lab has been mostly hidden from you. It almost has a fourth-dimensional location, which is outside the time and space continuum.”

Why don’t we spend more time on improving the business, not just working in it?

This is the real question, and it is answered in the book, The Goal Driven Business. You can read about it now, or wait for my next article where I explain WHY business improvement is so difficult and what to do about it.

Meanwhile, keep improving.

Ed

Learn more about book and get it here: https://www.GoalDriven.com

the goal driven business by edward petty

The Five Engines Driving Your Business Towards Your Goals

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A service business needs 5 different engines to become a Goal Driven Business

Having goals is not enough.

Your business needs power, and lots of it, to propel it to its goals. There are five primary engines that you need to drive your business to its goals.

  1. Customer Service and Outcomes
  2. Marketing
  3. Leadership
  4. Management
  5. Personal Power

Most businesses have a few of these engines already firing. However, in most cases, full power has not been realized. This means that you may not have enough propulsion to make it to your goals.

Let’s take a brief look at each one, and as we do so, consider how each one rates in your office: half on, fully on and functioning, or barely functioning?

Customer Service and Outcomes. As a doctor and provider, your primary focus is on providing the best service and outcomes possible. This is both in terms of the subjective satisfaction of your patients as well as the objective criteria expected in your results. But to achieve this, you need support, and this support is provided by the organization you put together as the CEO.

Marketing. As the CEO of your business, your organization must first generate customers. As a businessperson, marketing will always be your number one and primary focus. A business is dependent upon the customer. In fact, it could be said that a business is the customer. If you are not providing a service to people that pay you for your care, you do not have a business.

Leadership. An essential quality of the CEO is leadership. Leadership helps define the goals of the business and keeps the team inspired to reach them. It also insists that they are achieved.

Management. In most offices, I have seen attention placed on service, marketing, and leadership. Management, however, is often not given enough attention. Management works out how we achieve our goals. This can be a laborious and difficult process that most business owners just don’t have the time for. Plus, you are paid for your services, not for “managing.”

Personal Life Management. Lastly, often brushed aside, is how well your personal life is managed. Are you happy, and is your relationship with your family and friends healthy? Is your personal life in good order? Too often, because of the stresses of work, our personal lives can drift off in directions we later regret.

THE MANAGEMENT ENGINE

Using the Goal Driven System as explained in my book, The Goal Driven Business, you can learn how to get each engine fully firing so that you have abundant power to make it to your goals.

It has been my experience working with offices across the country that the weakest engine is always management. This isn’t true when the office is just beginning or stays at 40-50% capacity. But once the volume picks up, there are more details that need to be addressed. In addition to providing outstanding service, there is… everything else.

Management deals with “everything else.” And when it doesn’t or can’t, all these untended-to “Everything Else’s” start gumming up the works. Paperwork gets backlogged, phone calls and emails stack up, staff becomes disengaged, patient communications get cut short, and marketing gets put on the back burner. Soon, there is just too much work to do. This clogs up and limits your capacity to provide more and better service and adds more stress to you and the team.

The default solution, which occurs naturally, is a reduction of the volume of services to a more comfortable level. This is the Practice Roller Coaster, the syndrome that causes continuous stress and unfulfilled potential. Service volume goes up, it can’t be sustained comfortably, so the volume comes down.

But good management solves this. It takes you off the Practice Roller Coaster and allows your service volume to continue to increase, unimpeded. And with more services, with good management, there will be more profit.

Of course, if this was a simple solution, more offices would be seeing many more patients and doing much better. The fact is, it is not a simple fix as there are unseen barriers, booby traps, and dead ends that thwart your best efforts to streamline your management and procedures.

I cover this in my book, The Goal Driven Business. I shine the light on the hidden barriers and show you a path that, regardless of your personal skills and personality, you can follow and make it to your goals. The book covers a system of business development I call the Goal Driven System.

Of course, essential to effective management is having a manager! Oddly enough, there are no in-depth training programs for this role, and as far as I can recall, there never has been one. I cover the reasons for this in my book. Yet the ROI on an effective manager is 3 to 4 times, or more, than what you pay them

According to Gallup:
“Based on our largest global study of the future of work, Gallup finds that the quality of managers and team leaders is the single biggest factor in your organization’s long-term success.” (It’s the Manager, Clifton and Harter)

In October, we will be launching our first training program on the Goal Driven System that will include in-depth training for practice managers – and their CEO’s.

If you are interested, contact me  for more information about the Goal Driven System Program and how you can turn your team into Goal Drivers!

Meanwhile,

Seize the Day!

Ed

Why What You Stand For is Important

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Ed Petty, at Goal Driven, talks about masks for kids.Why What You Stand for Is so Important

I want to tell you about my experience on TV talking about masks for kids, but first, here is a related short story…

A few years back, an office asked me to meet with them for lunch. They wanted to discuss how their office was doing and if I could help them.

I liked the doctors and had known them for some time.  They had a group practice and had been in business for several years.  We met over sandwiches, and they said they had been working with a consultant who emphasized “evidenced-based” chiropractic.

My response could have been better as I look back on it now.

Barely concealing my disdain, I asked them whose approval they were seeking. Wasn’t there enough “evidence” from the results that they had with their patients over the years? Sure, double-blind studies are good for validation – but didn’t they already have enough evidence from their happy patients and their remarkable outcomes?

Had I been trying to “sell” them on our services, I would not have acted so irreverently to their seemingly serious question. But, instead, I tried to re-convince them that they did have enough proof, and the problem with their office (one of many problems) was that they were not promoting the successes they routinely achieved with their patients.

The doctors seemed equivocal about their services, so I asked them if they were committed to their profession and helping their patients reach their health goals. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a straight answer.

It seemed that they were seeking approval from some authority –  rather than from their neighbors who struggle daily with pain and poor health.

Now, years later, I recently had a friend see one of the chiropractors I met for lunch years ago. The doctor currently works as an employee for a local hospital and the office that he once co-owned no longer exists.

All this is a true story, and the lesson is that you have to have faith, confidence, and belief in your services, and mostly, in yourself.

You must stand up for what you know and use your voice to help others – find theirs.

You shouldn’t be too outrageous as this can completely alienate you from others, not unless you want to! But find your level of certainty, independence, and rebelliousness and help others to do the same.

Masks for Kids: I am on local television

I was reminded of all this recently when a local TV station asked what I thought about masks for school children. I was on our main street, and a local reporter started asking me questions. You can watch my response and that of others here. Ed’s on T.V.!

Standing up for natural health care,

Ed

Buy my book, the Goal Driven Business. It is a distillation of my 35 years of in-the-field lessons about building a profitable practice and business. It will help you help more people. Go here to learn about the Goal Driven Business –A New Business Building Methodology for Professional Practices

The Future Belongs to the Best

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Time spent on business improvement projects in your "Goals Lab," or during down time. From GoalDriven.com (c)2021

A few years ago, a staff member at an I office visited confided in me and told me the following story:

“Our office was really slowing down last year. So, the doctor decided to take everyone out of town to a weekend practice management seminar. The speakers discussed really cool methods for doing our work. It was fun and we learned a lot. Plus, we also went over some great marketing ideas. We were all pretty excited when we returned to work after the weekend.

“On Monday, we agreed to get together at lunch to discuss how to implement what we learned. Some staff members were still dealing with patients, so our lunch meeting started 30 minutes late. Once we finally got together in the break room and started eating, we began a good meeting. We were interrupted with a few phone calls, and some patients started arriving early for their afternoon appointments. We had to cut the meeting short and didn’t get to discuss much of topics of the seminar, but we agreed to continue the meeting the following week.

“As it turned out, something always came up each week and… we never did meet again about the seminar.

“But we were still pretty pumped from the seminar and we had one of our best months ever. It was my job to clean the break room and, after a few months, I noticed that the binders of information we received at the seminar were still on the break room table, never opened. I stored them away for future reference.

“Now it is almost a year later, and everything is pretty much back to the way it was before we went to the seminar. The numbers are back down, some of us are a little burned out, and I don’t think we ever did implement anything from that seminar.”

—

Sound familiar?

I bet it does. I have seen it play out almost the same way countless times.

We are in the improvement business. We help people improve their health. We should be able to do the same for our business and for each other. In fact, if you are not constantly improving, your patients will seek practices that are.

In this new decade, apart from the many new events and changing tides of culture, technology, and mega-corporate influence, your future success is up to you. And it will be primarily based on the quality of your service and your outcomes – the experience your customers receive.

A report from a survey by Microsoft underlines this:

“As customer expectations continue to climb, it becomes more challenging for brands to set themselves apart from the competition. Markets are increasingly crowded, and both price and product are being steadily overtaken by customer experience as the number one brand differentiator” (Microsoft 2018, State of Global Customer Service Report).

More than any other short-term marketing tactics you may be using, only the best offices will thrive in the long run. And those will be the offices that are working on consistent improvement. Mediocrity could get you by in the past. But now, the future belongs only to the best.

But I have noticed that most offices just do not spend enough time consistently on improving their performance. After studying this for some time, I have observed a number of obvious and even hidden barriers that prevent us from working on improvement. I will explain what these are in a later article, but the following steps can help you ensure that you work ON your business to improve it, not just work IN it.

Your Improvement Clinic – Your Goals Lab

  1. Time spent on improvement doesn’t cost. It pays! Some business owners are concerned that time spent on improving the business or staff is too costly. It can be if the training or planning is poorly done. But remember that:
    a. Better team efficiency generates better revenue.
    b. Better trained and focused team members generate better revenue.
    c. Better outcomes generate better revenue.
  2. Head Coach. As the owner and CEO, you are also the Head Coach. How your team does – the business – is in large part based upon your coaching.
  3. Give it a name. In my new book, The Goal Driven Business (to be launched on July 4th of this year), I use the term Goals Lab as it is a location where you can go to work on getting to your goals faster. It could be your breakroom, a restaurant, a park, the reception area – anywhere really. You can call it your Practice Field, Improvement Dojo, or Mystic Garden! Just consider it a place and time that is separate from your time with patients.
  4. What gets done.
    a. Team meetings for communication, review, coordination, and planning.
    b. Team training and practice.
    c. One-on-one training and practice.
    d. Personal training, study, meditation.
  5. Schedule these routinely – weekly, monthly, quarterly, and as needed.
  6. No interruptions, no calls, 100% attention present.
  7. Be challenging. You don’t get better unless you question what you have been doing to see how it could be better.
  8. Go over this with your team. Let them know that they, too, are coaches. And players as well. So, improvement is a team activity, one that requires responsibility and professional discipline.

Your car mechanic can’t work on your car when you are driving it down the freeway. You can’t see patients while they are driving their forklift at work or cooking dinner for their kids at home. You need a separate time and place dedicated to work on improvement.

Your goal is to create an expert office that generates expert results and gives your patients the best experience they can receive from any other comparable health care business.

Imagine your business being so good that patients not only drive in from across town, or even across the state, but fly in from all across the country to receive your services. Imagine that there is such a demand for your care that you even build a motel next to your facility to accommodate the out-of-towners.

Well, there was a Doctor of Chiropractic who was just that good. His name was Clarence Gonstead. His advice?

“Practice. Practice. Practice. Never stop.”

Ed

Ed Petty - author

Selling the Invisible — Patient Education: An Inexpensive Marketing Procedure with a Big Return

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1

[Link to a checklist of patient education procedures below.]

Educate your patients!

There are so many reasons why — let’s look at a few of them. Then, I will show you how your team can implement your patient education procedures.

1. Selling the Invisible. Unlike buying a refrigerator, your patients are purchasing something they can’t see.

They are receiving a service for which there are no concrete, tangible references for them to judge whether the services were excellent, complete, or long-lasting. Outside of immediate relief from their symptoms, they may wonder if you provided a great service, shortchanged them, or are recommending more than they need.

On the other hand, you know the length, breadth, and depth of what you provide. Virtually, you can see the outcomes, know the measurements, understand the symptoms and know what they point to. But to your patients… it’s all an illusion. They have to trust you and what you say.

Typically, once the symptoms are relieved, many patients believe that the condition is resolved. But through education, your patients can understand how your treatment recommendations are a pathway to fully resolving their condition.

2. Beyond Your Services – Your Patient’s Optimal Health. Beyond your services and the treatment program you suggest, your patients will benefit from general health knowledge. Health is a lifestyle, including exercise and nutrition, but the healthy way of living is distorted by unrelenting drug advertising and propaganda.

Low-fat diets, diet soda, statins and other drugs are still an accepted part of the conventional health model. Pharma is increasingly pouring billions into advertising — $328.6 billion in 2016 from $116 billion in 1997.(1 ) In addition, there are untold sums spent on lobbying your elected officials and paying for their election expenses.

Health reality is being manufactured for corporate profits rather than for personal and family health and longevity. Your patients and neighbors in your community don’t have a chance without your calm teaching of the facts on how to achieve a healthy and long life.

3. Customer Education — From a strictly commercial point of view, other businesses are seeing the advantages of customer education. According to learning industry analyst John Leh, “In a world where customer success increasingly determines overall business success, customer education has become an imperative.”(2)

Studies support the idea that customer education pays off. According to studies by ThinkJar, a customer strategy consultancy, “Customers are thirsty for more information and knowledge.”(3) And a study by Eisingerich and Bell conclude that customer education improves the trust in the company.(4)

Major businesses are investing large sums in educating their customers, and a leading customer education platform, Skilljar announced it has raised $33 million in funding. That is a significant investment! Their goal is to provide tools to companies to better onboard, engage, and retain customers at a large scale.

So if you want healthier patients and a healthier community, and if you would like to generate more profit, simply spend more time educating your patients. It is not that expensive! But as with most value-added programs in a practice, projects rarely start, and when they do, they are abandoned almost as soon as they begin.

To avoid this, use a checklist!!

Download the Patient Education Checklist for some ideas on what you can do to educate your patients. Assign a team member this checklist and give them 1-3 hours per week to work on selected projects and report on them at your meetings. They can take on the role of Patient Education Coordinator and help everyone on your team up their game in patient education.

The more your patients know, the further they (and you) will go.

Ed Petty

1. Consumer Reports, January 14, 2019 
2. Avramescu, Adam. Customer Education: Why Smart Companies Profit by Making Customers Smarter.
3. Interview with Kolsky, Foundoer of ThinkJar. Huffpost, 10/15/2015
4. Andreas B. Eisingerich, Simon J. Bell, February 1, 2008 
Photo from UCLA

Selling the Invisible – a favorite book of mine by Harry Beckwith

Time to See the World and Your Future Anew

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See the Word AnewI have been in touch with most of you and, for the most part, you all are doing relatively well during these days of COVID-19. Of course, the keyword here is… relatively.

Whatta time, eh? Historic, that is for sure. It will change our society and our world as nothing has since, perhaps, WW 2.

The Lighthouse in the Storm

Your role, right now, is so very important. Perhaps more than you know.  Your patients have fears, questions, and doubts. Their parents could contract COVID, perhaps they could. They are out of work or soon will be, and there is the apprehension that all of this is a government plot towards totalitarianism.

With all the communication regarding our current situation, you have to remain as a calm source for sound, researched data that provides comfort and solutions. You will have to be a lighthouse in this storm.

YOU are independent. You do not work for a drug company, and you are not beholding to a boss that works for a hospital or a government agency. Therefore, when patients come to you with worries and questions, they trust that what you tell them is unadulterated, unbiased, and accurate information.

And even more, they hope that you genuinely care.

Time to See the World Anew

In some sense, the world is experiencing a big “Time Out.”

Perhaps we can all take this time to become closer to our families and friends. My daughter is cooking more, my son is homeschooling his kids, and I am practicing guitar tunes from my old 1960’s book of folk songs!

I notice on my walks and runs that here, in Milwaukee, the air is fresher, cleaner, and the sky is bluer. Less smog from our southern neighbors and nearby freeways and overhead airplanes. The difference is striking and one can only imagine what we have been breathing in all this time!

It is spring, you have a family and friends, and you have your own self. COVID-19 doesn’t change this.

Good to Great: Redesign your NEW Business.

But what I am most looking forward to is the NEW.

Right now, you have a unique opportunity, during this temporary slump, to reimagine and redesign your business.

You’ve had a good, perhaps a very good business before. But as Jim Collins explains in his book, Good to Great, good can be the enemy of great.

The Good is now the Old, and we have this moment to review our goals and engineer better pathways to them.  Now, you can create the Great!  This will be your new version of your business based upon all you have learned as a professional and as a business owner or stakeholder. This new version can be your best creation ever.

Over the next few months, we will be discussing this, and I and all of us at PM&A, look forward to helping you and your team create the business of your dreams.

Looking forward to the future,

Ed

PS Happy Earth Day!

Fight the Nocebo Effect

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Knowledge is your lighthouse.

I am sure that all of you are trying to stay up with unfolding events regarding the virus and the governmental recommendations – and enforcement — to deal with it.

We are, as well.

I am sending this email out to encourage you to watch an informative video by Del Bigtree, who reviews the facts and numbers of the virus pandemic. It is a bit long, so I am sending this out this weekend in case you have more time to watch it.

I have also included an article by Bruce Lipton. Dr. Lipton is a cellular biologist who taught medical students at the University of WI medical college and often speaks at chiropractic seminars.

Plus, an article that states 99% of those who died from the virus had other illnesses.

(Links below.)

We must watch out for the GENERALITY of the virus. For example: “COVID-19 could kill us all!” “Who says?” “They do.” “Who is “they.””  “The authorities.”  “Who are the authorities?” “Those who are in charge.” You have to break it down and be as logical as you can.

I recommend that you review these sources, add to it what you are learning, and using your best judgment, continue educating your team members and patients/members/clients! 

Be the lighthouse in your community.

Education and knowledge displace fear and uncertainty.

Let’s eradicate what Dr. Lipton calls the “nocebo” effect — the opposite of a placebo.

And let’s continue our fight to help people get healthier!

Keep educating,

Ed

By the way, no one is saying you must close your office.  Even in California where San Francisco has a “Shelter in Place” or strict quarantine.  For example, the California Chiropractic Board of Examiners, on their website,  states:

  1. Should My Practice Remain Open?
    The Board does not have authority to close businesses or practices solely as a result of COVID-19.

YOUR SERVICES ARE VITAL!

The Exec. Director of the Kansas Chiropractic Association, in a letter to their state Governor (March 20, 2020), stated:

“We understand that with the severity of the current pandemic hospital emergency rooms may soon be filled with patients complaining of pulmonary symptoms. We offer our services in diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal complaints presenting to emergency rooms. Many Doctors of Chiropractic have arranged to be a referral point for their local emergency rooms on these conditions.

“We are prepared to see these patients in our offices that are already taking every precaution available to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.”

 

REFERENCES

Del Bigtree   Coronavirus Quarantine  March 19

Bruce Lipton Cornonvrus 2019-Covid-19 UPDATE

Bloomberg News March 18, 2020   99% of those who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says

Children’s Health Resources

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Happy Health ChildThe following are some sources of information regarding the health crisis affecting our children.

===

The Children’s Health Defense is a powerful organization that is on the front lines in fighting corporate propaganda promoting harmful drugs for kids. They have many lawyers, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., working on exposing false information and corruption regarding children’s health.eBook Sign-Up—The Sickest Generation
Free eBook: The Sickest Generation: The Facts Behind the Children’s Health Crisis and Why It Needs to End Children are the key to a successful future and a prosperous nation, yet American children have never been sicker with a vast array of chronic illnesses. (Also available in Spanish.)

The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Front Men
By the Children’s Health Defense Team

The Medical Journals’ Sell-Out—Getting Paid to Play
By the Children’s Health Defense Team

Science Library
This database contains hundreds of peer-reviewed, published articles on environmental contaminants that are implicated in the rise of the childhood epidemics we are currently experiencing in the U.S. and other industrialized nations.

===

Pathways is a long-standing publication with health articles that is free to members of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. Its website has links to many articles, a few of which are below:

Pathways to Family Wellness

Are We Making Our Children Sick?
http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Nutrition/are-we-making-our-children-sick.html

Natural Immunity
http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Informed-Choice/natural-immunity.html

Ear Infections in Kids: Natural Remedies to Ease Ear Pain and Enhance Function
http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Holistic-Healthcare/ear-infections-in-kids-natural-remedies-to-ease-ear-pain-and-enhance-function.html

===

There are many books on children’s health, and it is fascinating to search to find them. Commit to buying at least one per month, reading it, reporting on it to a team meeting, and placing it in your Lending Library. Have your team members do the same! Here are three:

Books

A Compromised Generation: The Epidemic of Chronic Illness in America’s Children Paperback – September 16, 2010 by Beth Lambert

The Vaccine-Friendly Plan: Dr. Paul’s Safe and Effective Approach to Immunity and Health-from Pregnancy Through Your Child’s Teen Years Paperback – August 23, 2016 Paul Thomas M.D.

How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor: One of America’s Leading Pediatricians Puts Parents Back in Control of Their Children’s Health Mass Market Paperback – May 12, 1987
by Robert S. Mendelsohn MD

Goal Driven: Faster to Your Goals!

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David Goggins

Now and then I see a motivational talk that I find inspiring.

It doesn’t happen too often.

Below you will find links to an interview with David Goggins. I can’t say much about it other than I found it inspiring and relevant. He reminded me that by pushing through, and not dodging from, discomfort when working toward important goals can lead to success and fulfillment. An important lesson for us all.

David talks about how he achieved his goals. He is an American ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete and former world record holder for the most pull-ups done in 24 hours. He is a retired United States Navy SEAL who took part in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.

Please watch it. If it resonates with you, you may want to watch it with your team and discuss afterwards.

Sincerely,

Ed

Photo from Wikipedia
Thanks to Dr. Maxwell for the reference.

Links to interview:

NOTICE: Some use of profanity #@!*#!

  1. 57 minute version: Search David Goggins on Impact Theory, With Tom Bilyeu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78I9dTB9vqM&pbjreload=10
  2. 23 minute version: Abridged version: The Most Motivational Talk EVER! – David Goggins
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrT1eHs1b0 
  3. 10:30 minutes How to Conquer Your Mind and Embrace The Suck  

May is Good Posture Month

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May is Good Posture Month.

I am not sure who claims this … the ACA (American Chiropractic Association) and ICA (International Chiropractic Association) used to, but after a fast look at their websites recently, it doesn’t look like they do anymore. Plenty of other websites do, however.  See below, for examples.

Posture is a big deal, apparently, from a clinical and health point of view. Patients should know this.  But patients are also concerned about their appearance and no matter how much you spend on your clothes, nothing looks good when you have poor posture. There are also mental ramifications to poor posture as well. So… lots of good material here to promote and help your peeps!

Use this event as a reason to encourage your patients to bring in their family and friends. You can change the flier to a community ad for anyone to come in. Use the sample poster and edit to suit your needs. Hang it in your office, fold and include in patient statements, include in your newsletters.  Use the promotion all month, or just for one week to make it more “special.”

Attached is a sample poster flier in Word and in PDF format, also an article I wrote on this event some years ago for some more ideas.

Carpe Diem (Seize the Day…and the month of May!)

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

Useful links:

http://posturemonth.org/posture-month/

http://www.whathealth.com/awareness/event/correctposturemonth.html

http://www.straightenupamerica.org/

Sample Poster (PDF)

Sample Poster – Customizable (Word – active clients)

Science Facts on Posture

November and December Marketing — and Your Higher Purpose

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Petty Michel Associates Practice Promotions

November and December are special times for patient marketing, whether you are promoting to prospective patients, active, or inactive patients.

Usually, we have found that internal marketing is better during this time of year as you don’t need to compete with commercial businesses as they slug it out in an advertising frenzy. You can prepare now and schedule your external promotions and community services for January and February. Of course, if you see an excellent opportunity for external marketing now, take it. But the primary focus should be internal for these two months.

November and December are “cozy” months. In North America — we have Thanksgiving. This is a time we give thanks for all our blessings and gifts and family and friends. It is a time when people feel grateful. Christmas is also a time of good cheer and giving, as is Hanukkah and other holidays.

And, for some of you, it is also the season of the yearly hunt — when you bring home the ring tail pheasants, the turkeys, and “da ‘tirty point buck.” (Wisconsin-ese for “the 30-point buck.”)

Your promotions should align with the spirit of the season to be most effective. Donation drives are often held. There are many churches and associations in your town that need help as they prepare to assist the less fortunate.

“Toys for Tots”, “Food for Families”, or “Coats for Kids”, are many popular promotions by local media stations. I don’t doubt that they are helpful, but I do sometimes question their sincerity.

Of course, you want more customers, that is the nature of business. But you must lead with your mission statement first.

Any promotions should stem from your higher purposes.

The Higher Purpose Company
In The High Purpose Company, (Arena, 2007) Christina Arena reports on her team’s study of 75 companies’ efforts at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

She shows how corporations, by doing good, by providing better conditions for employees, more sustainable sourcing of raw materials, and contributing to beneficial causes in their communities, generate more income.

“The central findings of my research can be distilled in the following way: superficiality fails whereas authenticity prevails. Companies that falsely approach corporate responsibility as a form of marketing, public relations, or even philanthropy don’t produce the most meaningful results. In fact, they often waste their money and create additional liabilities. Conversely, companies that truly approach the practice of corporate responsibility as a fully integrated business strategy, wisely investing in profitable solutions to meet unmet social and environmental needs and problems find their performance greatly enhanced.”

According to the Harvard Business Review, business spent more than $15 billion in 2016 on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. (Davidson, July 7, 2016) And according to, Linda Novick O’Keefe, founder of Common Threads, “that number is rising as businesses see signs that investments in CSR improve company performance, talent recruitment and retention. (O’Keefe, 2016) “Giving in Numbers”, a study published by the CECP that analyzes giving and corporate societal engagement trends, revealed companies that increased giving by at least 10 percent between 2013 and 2015 actually experienced upticks in revenue and pre-tax profit, while all other companies saw a decrease in both.”

Your “WHY?”
Marketing must be honest, and it has to tell why you are doing the marketing. As Simon Sinek reminds us:

“Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By WHY I mean your purpose, cause or belief – WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?

People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year.” (Sinek, 2009)

I recommend finding charities or causes in your community that your patients care about. That you care about. Then, go talk to the head of the charity yourself – get involved – personally. Emotionally.

One office paid their staff for one hour for every two hours they went out of the office and worked on a community project.

And it doesn’t have to be charities. A Kid’s Day with “Saturday with Santa” can be a ball. One office holds a patient appreciation party with their patients each December with a Christmas Elvis impersonator singing Christmas carols. The one I attended was packed, and a little wild. But everyone talks about it for the rest of the year.

Your patients, and your neighbors, want what you want – a better and healthier community. Communicate that in all your promotions and you’ll get better results, and have more fun.

And, many thanks for you do from all of us at PM&A!

Ed

A list of sample promotions on our web site – see reference below.

References

Arena, C. (2007). The High Purpose Company. Harper Collins.

Davidson, R. H. (July 7, 2016). CEO Materialism and Corporate Social Responsibility.        Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Retrieved from https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2016/07/07/ceo-materialism-and-corporate-social-responsibility/

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