Category Archives: Chiropractors

Have You Mapped Your Patient’s Health Journey?

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woman mapping out patient flow for chiropractic office

Improving Your Chiropractic Patient’s Experience

Advertising has peaked. We are awash in ads coming at us from every possible source. We are hit with anywhere from 4000 to 10,000 ads per day.* With AI and ultra-sophisticated forms of targeting, it’s almost totalitarian.

The new marketing is customer service or Service Marketing.

Advertising has its place, of course, if it is to the right market, with the right message, and the right offer. But with all ads, the low-hanging fruit gets picked quickly, and new ones are needed.

There are other avenues of marketing your chiropractic services, but the importance of world-class service and outcomes is more vital than ever.

You’ve seen the stats:

  • 40% of customers began purchasing from a competitive brand because of its reputation for good customer service.
  • 55% are willing to recommend a company due to outstanding service, more so than price.
  • 85% would pay up to 25 percent more to ensure a superior customer service experience.*

Nothing is radically new about these numbers, but it helps to see them again.

And Service Marketing is not really new. But I believe it is and will be the dominant feature that distinguishes you from comparable providers. This is because content marketing has flooded the market. Therefore, call it service marketing or relationship marketing, turning each of your patients into raving fans who become salespeople for you is an intelligent marketing strategy.

But you must deliver the WOW!

CUSTOMER AND PATIENT JOURNEY MAPPING

Customer Journey Mapping is a relatively new term that has been hatched over the last 10 or 15 years in marketing. While the term is new, the concept is not.

Customer Journey Mapping is a procedure used to visualize and analyze customers’ end-to-end experience as they interact with, in this case, your practice.

It is essentially a flow chart.

It starts with a prospective patient’s first call to make an appointment. What do they see when they drive up to your office, walk through the door, and are greeted? It involves mapping out every encounter and even the likely emotion your patient experiences through Day 1, Day 2, Day 12, and so on.

And how far do you take your patient? Is it 8 visits and done? Do you take them through Acute Care, Corrective and Strengthening, to Supportive and Wellness? Do you have a map for your patients and do they know it? What are the milestones along the way? Are your patients excited about reaching them?

IMPROVING YOUR CHIROPRACTIC AND HEALTHCARE SERVICE

One of the exercises I covered in my book The Goal Driven Business, which has always been useful, is a complete Day 1 and Day 2 walk-through. It is rehearsing your flow chart or patient map.

Everyone watches while someone acts as a patient. I have often done this and acted as a patient. I will notice things that everyone has taken for granted — the old poster from 1989 still on the wall with the Muppets, a dead plant in the corner, a dead smile on the front desk, no explanation when I am dumped off on a therapy unit. Staff start noticing things as well. Redundancies show up, so do poor handoffs between the front desk and the doctor or from the doctor to patient accounts.

Zeroing in on how the phone is answered, an exam is done, or a report of findings is presented, you can find many small improvements that make a big difference on how your patients experience your office.

(Want me to set this up for you? Schedule a time and give me a call.)

Creating your patient’s experience is your most important marketing activity. Mapping it and practicing will help you create raving fans — that will generate even more fans.

Keep improving,

Ed

*The average American encounters around 6,000 to 10,000 ads or brand exposures per day. Source: “MIT Technology Review” article by Michael Schrage (Aug 7, 2017)

*Customer service stats. X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, by Brian Solis

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The Problem with Your Chiropractic and Health Care Marketing May Not Be What You Think

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There could be a hidden barrier that jams your growth and holds you back.

MOST OFFICES WANT TO IMPROVE THEIR NEW PATIENT ACQUISITION. That is, attract more new patients.

At least, that is what many chiropractors and other doctors will say.

Oddly enough, that is not always exactly the truth.

Michel Killen, in his book Sell Futures, Not Features, says:

“Do you want more sales? The question should really be “do you really, really, REALLY want more sales?” This might sound insane and even obvious. Of course you want more sales, who doesn’t want more sales? However having taught and coached sales for a lot of people for a long time, this is often an underlying problem that has a tendency to sabotage our sales driving efforts. …I believe that people are creatures of goal pursuit, meaning they take actions which suit their goals. This means that if a business is struggling with sales, it’s usually because deep down a part of them doesn’t want more sales. This is extremely upsetting and even distressing to a lot of people, because of course they want more sales, everyone wants more sales!””

Well, I couldn’t agree more.

CONSCIOUSLY, you probably want more new patients as you know you can see more visits and, of course, you could use the increased revenue.

SUBCONSCIOUSLY, however, there is another story entirely. The devil’s advocate pipes up and says, “with more new patients, you will come home late, miss dinners with your family, your staff will make more errors, and your notes will start to backlog. You won’t have time to exercise, and your Worker’s Comp insurance will increase.”

But because you are a strong-willed entrepreneur and a bit of a rebel, you charge ahead and spend time and money on marketing. But after a while, you notice that your numbers don’t significantly increase.

Why?

There is a bottleneck somewhere in your office, a log jam, a Capacity Constraint.

The Theory of Constraints, originally discussed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt in his book, The Goal, has become a management science that implements a business improvement system. Simplified, it is a process that goes after the biggest constraint in any production process. Once that is fixed, management hunts for the next largest bottleneck, which continues as a never-ending process of improvement.

We adapted this, by the way, for practice management, in our Goal Driven System. The primary goal of the Theory of Constraints is profit. However, to achieve this, we need to look organizationally for the primary roadblock.

These constraints can be difficult to recognize sometimes. Partly because they are hidden and partly because of “damn-the-torpedoes” bias on the clinic director’s part.

For example, the front desk coordinator has been with the doctor for a few years and does a good job. The doctor returns from a new seminar, or someone new in the insurance department is hired, and things change. The doctor notices a moment when the front desk assistant is not busy and assigns them extra work. This happens a few times, and soon, the front desk has become a clerical department, filing insurance, ordering supplies, verifying insurance, and doesn’t have time to ensure all the patients are scheduled. When the phone rings, they kinda grimace and hope it’s not another new patient because they have more paperwork to do. Three months later, the doctor notices that the visits are down and spends more money on marketing.

But what is the real problem? The front desk is plugged up! Sure, some extra duties can be delegated to the front desk, but carefully, and ideally done at separate times when patients are not scheduled.

I have been able to increase patient volume and new patients by helping doctors locate the stuck points, the blockages in the office and open the flows. It could be a clinical assistant that is needed, a scribe, or replacing a staff member that really wants to work somewhere else. Maybe the staff needs better training, or intake forms massively simplified, or just a friendlier and less serious clinical director.

Constraints are like being stuck in a traffic jam. They wear your team down. And they affect your motivation and desire for growth.

Physical constraints result in mental constraints.

The real problem in marketing is not always with the marketing. It is often with the management. Being the entrepreneurial doctor you are, you know enough to make marketing work. You can make it work better once you fix the management of your practice and find the constraints and remove them.

Then, watch your volume pick up and your marketing really work.

Seize your future,

Ed

Want help removing all your constraints? Make an appointment for a quick all and I am sure I can help you uncover a probable bottleneck or two and give a you a couple simple solutions that could help.

Onboarding for New and Veteran Employees

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Just Focus on Goals and Expectations

The way you set up the initial relationship with your new employee will directly determine how well they perform in the first year of employment.

I don’t think that this is given enough consideration. You are in a rush to fill a position, and once you have done so, you are now just happy that it is done so you can get back to seeing your patients.

The new employee is given some training, but since everyone is busy, it is very brief and short-lived. As a result, the productivity of the new hire is held back.

New employees are not like plug-and-play appliances. Everything is new to them. The staff, the patients, the jargon, the flow of traffic, the procedures — all these which you take for granted, are to them, new.

The prospective new staff member never really knows what they are walking into. Is this going to be their best or their worst work experience? So, despite their smiling cooperation for the first few weeks, underneath, they may be worried that your business is not for them.

It can take 8 to 12 months for a new staff member to gear up to full capacity and performance. But the critical period in my observation is the first three months.

Orienting, training, and acclimating the new employee to their new job, new team, and new business is called onboarding.

Onboarding – the First 3 Months

You want each team member to be happy working with you and operating at close to their full capacity. This is what you want for yourself, right?

Once you make the decision and the new person is hired, your management work just begins.

A systematized onboarding procedure helps the new employee feel safe, that this is where they belong, and that they are important to you and your office.

As a result, a deliberate onboarding process will “increase new hire retention by 82% and improve the productivity by 70%.” (zippia.com)

I have seen this in action – both the right way and the wrong way!

We provide an onboarding checklist for our clients (which we are updating), but here are some fast tips:

1. Checklist. Assign the new employee a list of actions to be completed over the first 3 months that include orientation, study, and training. The checklist should also be assigned to a veteran staff member to help the new employee get through the checklist.
2. Ongoing meetings with the owner/doctor. You want to have the new employee have a good understanding of you and your history, goals, and plans to achieve them. Do this over lunch or coffee.
3. Relationship with goals. You want the new employee to have a relationship with the goals of the office. Go over:

a. The mission of the clinic and why this is the mission.
b. The clinic and team’s values. Who we are and how we are. (For example, we are care-aholics!)
c. The outcome of the clinic’s services. For example: happy, healthy patients.
d. Mission and outcome of their specific role.

4. Expectancy. They need to know that achieving the goals for their specialized role is what is expected. How they do it is important, but that they achieve them is most important.
5. Regular (weekly or biweekly) coaching reviews.

Re-boarding

You can do a version of this every 12 months with your key veteran staff. Why not?

Next to your skills, your reputation, and your patients, YOUR PEOPLE are your most valuable asset in your practice. Take care of them, especially when they begin, and they will help you take care of the practice.

Ed

 

Improving Patient Follow Through: The new patient log and checklist

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Working with different offices, we are always reminded of the fundamentals that apply universally. For example…

Once your patient has committed to getting better, it is your job, and everyone else on the team, to help them achieve their goals.

But in the busyness of everyday office interactions, essential steps along the way can become abbreviated or dropped out altogether.

At one office I recently visited, the patient visits and income were diving downward on a monthly trend. And this was occurring even though the new patient volume had been pretty steady.

When I inquired with the front desk staff, they told me that patients were sick, had money problems, were busy, and blah blah blah.

I asked if this was a new phenomenon. Did patients suddenly become poor, was there a new pandemic? What?

Didn’t get any real answers, as they were busy on the phones doing recalls trying to get people back in the office. The doctor wasn’t sure what was happening. To his credit, he loves adjusting and focuses on providing outstanding care – which he does, usually at a high volume.

Long story short, after investigating, I discovered that the doctor had changed up his treatment procedure slightly, and staff positions had changed. As a result, new patient financial consultations had dropped out. The patients had been getting excellent care but had no idea about their payments and were only scheduled for one visit at a time.

This was a pretty big change! A critical procedure just silently disappeared without anyone really noticing. (Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees. Plug: Consulting doesn’t cost. It pays!)

Everyone at the office is a veteran, hard-working, and goal driven. A great team. But this missing procedure was costing them thousands and preventing patients from getting the full benefit of care.

We implemented several solutions that have worked for other offices.

One solution was the New Patient Log and Checklist. I gave them a sample to customize. It is a lined sheet on a clipboard. Each new patient is listed vertically on the left column, followed by other columns stipulating key actions that should occur on each patient. The Log would include such things as:

  • Report of findings and Tx Program.
  • Multiple appt. card.
  • Financial Consult.(When, by whom.)
  • First adjustment call.
  • Attend NP workshop.
  • Source.
  • If referred by patient, what is pt.’s name?
  • Thank you card to referring patient?
  • Type [ WC, PI, C, etc.]

You could add more columns, but the most vital aspect of this Log is this: it must be assigned to someone. You and the team can review the NP Log during your morning meetings or at weekly team meetings.

One of the lessons here is to always look for what you and your team are doing or not doing before you look to the environment for why your practice may be slipping – or booming!

And help your patients achieve their health goals by ensuring that they complete all the steps necessary along their health journey to achieve their goals.

Stay Goal Driven for a happier future!

Ed

In Praise of Geekiness

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Are you a chiropractic geek?

Are you a health geek?

Here is Merriam Webster: Geek: “…a person with a high level of knowledge or skill in a field…” “an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field… [The word geek has] seen increasing use with positive connotations, showing membership in a specialized group (film geek, beer geek) rather than social awkwardness.”

I like the word geek because it indicates someone who specializes in a field and is so engaged that they are not especially concerned with keeping up with what is accepted conventionally. In other words, they are a bit of a rebel.

Steve Jobs, for example, was a geek. A core value of Apple was a “power to the people” idea, that anyone could have a personal computer, not just the big corporations.

Wouldn’t Clarence Gonstead have been a geek? It would be difficult to find many chiropractors who were, or are, as engaged in chiropractic as he was or worked as hard.

I remember years ago when talking with a chiropractor over lunch and all he could talk about was the X,Y,Z axis, something about Euclidean geometry, and bilateral symmetrical function. I was trying to keep up! But there he was, in practice for over twenty years, talking excitedly about the last few patients he had seen. He was a chiropractic geek, for sure.

He also had a million-dollar practice with a very strong practice manager.

Great athletes are geeks in their field, studying and training harder than most. Same with musicians or chefs.

But it is easy to get distracted from your game. Collections, bills, staffing, procedures, marketing, insurance, taxes, and everything that goes along with running a business can cut into your productivity and dilute your concentration on your services.

Don’t let it.

Only the offices that give the highest quality services and deliver the best outcomes will survive, let alone thrive. Organize your administration such that it does not dampen your eagerness to engage with each patient, and continue to study and enhance every detail of your clinical skill.

And as a plug, this is why I wrote the Goal Driven Business – to help doctors be doctors, unfettered by administration, and free to express their skills and interests in their profession.

Organize your office so that you can focus on the science, art, and philosophy of your profession. Do so that you can look at chiropractic and its results newly each day, as if you just discovered its powerful potential to help people become healthier. Go deep on every level and rediscover your profession again, for the first time.

Be a geek.

Goal Driven to seize the future,

Ed

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Here in the United States, July 4th is a date we celebrate each year, commemorating the independence as colonies from Great Britain.

And I can’t help but see a parallel between those hardy souls in the American colonies that wanted their freedom and, well, you! Chiropractors and their teams.

To colonize means to “take control of a people or area, especially as an extension of state power… to take or make use of (something) without authority or right.” (Merriam-Webster)

It could be said that the profession of medicine has been colonized by a few corporate interests. Same has been happening with other professions and industries. A few large corporations own and control more and more businesses that were once independent.

But for the most part, chiropractic as a profession has remained independent.

It hasn’t been easy, what with the AMA and Pharma coming after you, as was disclosed in the Wilk’s trail. (That was just a speed bump for them!) But Team Chiropractic has won its independence and freedom due to the courage of those who have come before you.

And it also comes from your continuing courage today.

So, this Fourth is also about your independence and your continued efforts to do the BEST for your patients and your communities.

Celebrate this!

Yes, it is just another day at the office. But this weekend, have an extra cool drink and recognize your leadership and courage in standing up for the true health of your patients and your community.

Stay free, and help others do the same.

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

Wisconsin License Renewal Requirements

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REMINDER:  Wisconsin License Renewal Credentialing Requirements

Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs):

  • Continuing Education: Forty (40) hours minimum of state board-approved courses; four (4) of the 40 in nutrition
  • Maintain Current CPR
  • State Approved Course Listings are updated regularly, and can be found at: DC Approved Courses

Starting in October 2016 and prior to December 14th, renew online:  DC Renew

Chiropractic Technicians (CTs):

  • Continuing Education: Six (6) hours minimum of state-board approved courses
  • State Approved Course Listings are updated regularly, and can be found at:
  • CT Approved Course Listing

Starting in October 2016 and prior to December 14th, renew online: CT Renew

Chiropractic Radiological Technicians (CRTs):

  • Continuing Education: Twelve (12) hours minimum of state-board approved courses
  • State Approved Course Listings are updated regularly, and can be found at:
  • CRT Approved Course Listing

Starting in October 2016 and prior to December 14th, renew online at: CRT Renew

TIP:  Keep your transcripts and file them safely, in the event of a continuing education audit.

All licenses (DC, CT, CRT) expire on December 14, 2016 at midnight.

Questions?  Contact Lisa Barnett, PM&A Consultant, at 920-334-4561

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Links

DC Approved Courses: https://dsps.wi.gov/Default.aspx?Page=b74564c8-7d6c-4258-9809-cd118336a9f5
DC Renew: https://online.drl.wi.gov/UserLogin.aspx
CT Approved Course Listing:http://dsps.wi.gov/Default.aspx?Page=830a2718-a0f7-414c-8e97-2481f983bc78
CT Renew: https://online.drl.wi.gov/UserLogin.aspx
CRT Approved Course Listing: https://dsps.wi.gov/Default.aspx?Page=bcfb3543-eb0a-46bf-ba89-8f1fe6d84325
CRT Renew: https://online.drl.wi.gov/UserLogin.aspx

Printable Version of this quick checklist of requirements. [LINK]

Extreme Chiropractic Practice DevelopMENT! California Jam®, 2016

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Go Cal Jam

I am standing on a beach by the partially ice-covered Lake Michigan, sometimes referred to as part of  the “Third Coast.”   It is a good day!

Once a year I send out a promotion for the wildest and most unique chiropractic seminar I have seen in 30 years.

“Out-of-the-box” is a cliché that doesn’t really do Cal Jam justice.  Like extreme sports, Cal Jam pushes the boundaries of what is customary and conventional.

But isn’t that chiropractic?  Isn’t that you?

Chiropractic is unique (and wild) because it has purpose and soul.

Purpose and Soul, plus plenty of… Rock and Roll.

At Cal Jam!

Hope to see you there!

Date: March 18-20, 2016

Link to site: California Jam: www.CaliforniaJam.com

Health Independence and Freedom – For Chiropractors and Your Patients

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Here in the good Ol’ USA, we are about to celebrate Independence Day, the date we commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and declared our freedom from the yoke of the British Empire.

I think for those of us in health care this day bears special significance.  In fact, I think of the chiropractic profession in particular.

Chiropractic has remained independent for 120 years. It has been fought by monopolist trade organizations, suppressed, and slandered, but it still stays outside of the clutches of Eli Lilly, Merck, or Monsanto.

To Chiropractors and those who work in the profession: You are brave, tough, and independent. You are living the American Way. You are a gritty bunch for sure and have maintained your integrity for putting care before profits.

The challenge you have is not only to remain free, but to help your patients and community also be free and independent.

Your patients are at the receiving end of billions and billions of dollars that are spent to manipulate them to purchase products that are known to be unhealthy.  Through pervasive and clever marketing and massive efforts to influence government, Americans have become over fed, over medicated, and under nourished.  Obesity rates have tripled (11% in 1960’s, 37% 2010)1, drug consumption has soared (average 7 per person in 1993 to 12.2 per person in 2014).2 Vaccination recommendations for our children from our government has increased from 64 in the 1950’s to over 1000 in 2013 (69 doses of 16 vaccines between day of birth and age 18).3

And the results?  American’s health rates compared to other countries are abysmal. We are the worst or close to it in many categories. 4    Yet this is not what is advertised, so it would be shock for most Americans to hear that in the competition with other countries for the best health care, that they are losers.

The true American Way5 was and is to question authority, seek the truth and to stand up for justice.

But the truth can be obscured and the path of least resistance is easier, and it can seem more acceptable to simply follow convention and herd mentality.  But the facts are there – provided by whistle blowers, mothers, and researchers, and we all need to look at the facts, do our research, and continue to educate ourselves and stay vigilant.

We can’t forget our patients… they too need to learn how their health choices have been manipulated, how they have been deceived, and what they should do to truly improve their health.

There is a price to pay for freedom. It takes work and is not always easy, but — it is the American thing to do.   Stay brave, stay alert, and continue to help your patients achieve better health.

Happy Independence Day from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, USA

References.

  1. Obesity.
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/2419425-2-healthcare-stocks-that-appear-to-trade-below-fair-value-estimates
  2. Drug Usage.
    Generation Rx How Prescription Drugs Are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies by Greg Critser (https://danmurphydc.com/Critser.pdf) , also http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/retail-rx-drugs-per-capita. www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/imshealth/Global/Content/Corporate/IMS%20Health%20Institute/Reports/US_Use_of_Meds_2013/Percent_population_prescriptions_per_capita.pdf
  3. Vaccinations.
    http://www.nvic.org/CMSTemplates/NVIC/pdf/49-Doses-PosterB.pdf
  4. Rating American Health Care.
    http://www.nvic.org/CMSTemplates/NVIC/pdf/49-Doses-PosterB.pdf
    http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/Briefing-Note-UNITED-STATES-2014.pdf
  5. The American Way.
    “The American Way of life is individualistic, dynamic, and pragmatic.” (Wikipedia: The American Way)

Was Darwin Wrong? Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Was Darwin wrong? Let’s find out.

BUT FIRST CONSIDER THIS  WARNING:

You and your staff may have an uninspected cultural bias that is toxic to you and your office and is negatively affecting your best efforts.  This could be happening right now as you read this!

 How could this be?

Well, ingrained in our culture is the idea that to survive, we must compete and overcome others.  It is a win-lose world: either I win and you lose, or you win and I lose.

This idea had much support with the work of Charles Darwin.  Darwin’s perspective of evolution included the concept of survival of the fittest with a sort of “dog eat dog” theme.

However, recent studies suggest this is not entirely the case.

“When biologists look closely at nature they cannot help but notice cooperative partnerships that do not comfortably fit with the competitive struggle that is central to Darwinanin evolution.” (Darwin’s Blind Spot: Evolution Beyond Natural Selection, Frank Ryan)

This theory of cooperation in evolution was actually put forth 50 years before Darwin, by a Frenchman by the name of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarack (1744 – 1829), who established evolution as a scientific fact.

According to Bruce Lipton, “Not only did Lamarck present his theory fifty years before Darwin, he offered a much less harsh theory of the mechanisms of evolution. Lamarck’s theory suggested that evolution was based upon an “instructive,” cooperative interaction among organisms and their environment that enables life forms to survive and evolve in a dynamic world. (Biology of Belief, page 11)

But Lamarck’s ideas, which also included what is now called epigenetics, were cast aside and rejected until recently. So, instead of seeing that organisms in nature evolve symbiotically and cooperatively, Darwin saw that: “living organisms are perpetually embroiled in a struggle for existence. For Darwin, struggle and violence are not only a part of animal (human) nature but the principal “forces” behind evolution advancement.  Darwin wrote of an inevitable “struggle for life” and that evolution was driven by “the war of nature, from famine and death.” (Bruce Lipton, PhD, Biology of Belief) [my emphasis]

The idea of “survival of the fittest”, obviously, is not very cooperative. In an office, it can create brooding jealously, competitive back stabbing, fear and defensiveness, and make us objectify our patients as “cases” and statistics. It can create at a division between us and our patients — between each other.

I got to thinking about all of this as another Valentine’s Day approached. As it turns out, Valentine’s Day is observed all around the world and has been around for hundreds of years, even as early as 300 AD. And, it wasn’t always about romantic love. One legend has it that:

“… in order “to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment”, giving them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine’s Day.” (From Wikipedia)

The Greeks had 4 different types of love:

  • Agape =Charity, or the love of Man for God or vice versa.
  • Eros = We all know this – romantic, intimate love.
  • Philia = Love between friends or family.
  • Storge = love of parents for children (Wikipedia)

Valentine’s Day is about love. Romantic love, sure but also about charity, generosity, compassion, caring – all kinds of love. And this takes us back to the notion that love, or a type of love, has been the basis for survival of all species on this planet – including mankind. Survival of life forms requires mutual support on some level – survival is cooperative and caring.

In many offices I have noticed a degree of an adversarial undercurrent. You can almost feel a sub-sub culture of “dog eat dog.”   You have experienced this, I am sure.  For example, if the mood is wrong, the phones don’t ring. Right?  When there is a high degree of compassion and care and good will for each other and for the patients, the phones start ringing.

To some degree , Darwin’s “war of nature” may be embedded in the culture of your office. Darwin was right about many things, but life evolved through cooperation and caring – not through war.

Look: Your patients want to survive better. Just find out what their goals are and help them get there.  They will need some education and coaching, sure – you have had thousands of hours of what they are just now hearing.  But care for them and do your very best to help them get to their health goals.

Your doctor wants to practice and live better – find out what she wants and help her get there. You may have to ask lots of questions and train and read and struggle at it for a while, but keep at it and you can make a big difference. In turn, this will help your patients do better – and of course, you do better as well.

And doctor, your team members want to do better and also have better lives – find out how you can help them do so – and do so.

As I mature, I truly see that this planet is getting smaller and that we are all in this adventure together, for better or worse.  Hopefully, for the better.  But there are no guarantees. If we are to get it better, it all comes down to what we can do here and now to help each other MORE than we have been.

The world can be a struggle, but we all have evolved because of cooperation, caring for each other, and love.  If we continue to do so, we can continue to evolve in our practice’s and business, and in our lives.

And have no doubt, Petty, Michel and Associates are in the mix as well. We love your patients, team members and you, and want to do all we can to help you survive and thrive.

Here are our best wishes to you that everyday – is Saint Valentine’s Day!

#  #  #

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (From the New Testament, Corinthians 13:4-8, “love” is elsewhere replaced by the word “charity.”)

10 Practice Development Strategies for Chiropractors in 2015

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[If you think that you could make more money selling pharmaceuticals, injecting patients with vaccines and promoting flu shots in front of your office, these recommendations are not for you. For those matters, you might want to ask Palmer Chiropractic College or the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association for their opinions.]

What strategic moves should you be taking now to make sure that you have a better year in 2015 and in years to come?

After reviewing current literature and statistics, and based upon my observations and experience, I have put together a report which makes a number of recommendations that can be helpful to you. I have also included an extensive list of references for your further study.

The report contains a lot of information and so it is only for the serious practice executive. It will be a useful resource for you to refer to while you implement some of the suggestions I offer. Reading time is about 15 minutes. It offers new views on practice marketing, management, and leadership, with 25 specific recommendations.  To go straight to the main course, go here:

Here is a shorter version:

Executive Summary – 10 Strategies to Prosper and Flourish in 2015 and Beyond

1. Know Your Environment. The Medical-Pharmaceutical industries are spending more to dominate the market place. Their efforts are becoming more pervasive in reach and more covert in manipulation. At the same time, wellness statistics continue to grow. More people are turning to organic foods and are focused on wellness.

2. Marketing Positioning. My recommendation is to embrace the popular movement towards natural health and own it. Be its champion. You are the Healthy Life Doctors. This is your niche.

3. Unique Selling Proposition. Stay committed to your core services, but articulate your Unique Selling Proposition to your specific market niche(s). Not everyone is your patient. Select certain markets that are already reaching for your type of services: people fed up with drugs, baby boomers who want to stay healthy, mothers who want to avoid drugs for their children, athletes, employers who want healthy employees, etc.

4. Get More For Less. Watch your economics but don’t get stuck in a scarcity mindset. Central to economics is a return on investment -ROI. Invest in yourself and especially in making your support team expert professionals. Learn and apply the Pareto Principle (how 80 percent of your results come from just 20% of your efforts).

5. Insurance or Cash? Yes! Take insurance but don’t kowtow to the Insurance Cartel. There are millions of people who want help and can pay for it and are just looking for a solution. You have to let them know that you have their solution.

6. Shift from Personality Driven Practice to Team Driven Business. The successful offices of the future will be team driven and systematized. Each team member has to be an expert as a specialist, as a team member, and as a marketer. And each should try to achieve this as well. The doctor will delegate most marketing and administrative details to others.

7. Shift from Solo Practice to Group Practice. For those of you who are ready, you should join forces with other doctors in a group practice. This has not had a lot of success in the chiropractic profession as it has in other professions, but the time is right now to band together synergistically as brothers and sisters. There are many good reasons to do this now. However, it has to be set up — and maintained — correctly.

8. New Role: CEO and Leader. Why do CEO’s get paid so much? Because they can make such a positive difference in the business. Up to now in your career you have taken on administrative and marketing projects mostly from the role of doctor, or perhaps owner. The CEO role probably has not been emphasized. Shifting to the role of CEO changes everything. Growing a business becomes easier, you have more time available, and you make more money.

9. Seek Out and Integrate Your Greater Purposes with Your Business. The power for your office, and you, comes from those things that mean the most. This would include your family and your spiritual pursuits. But our world is smaller and we live in a networked economy and culture. Your office, in its own right, has to be a leader in your community and environment and contribute in some way beyond its walls. This also includes having a voice in your professional organization. Your greater purposes also include your personal hobbies. Since you are not working on an assembly line, many of these purposes should be integrated into your work.

10. Get an Executive Coach. Why does corporate America spend over a billion dollars on executive coaching? Because the return of investment proves to be at least 7 times, and in some cases, 10-49 times cost. Executive coaching doesn’t cost – it pays.

An executive coach is different from a clinical coach. An executive coach will help you be a better CEO – a better leader, marketer and manager who builds a team driven business which allows you to delegate most non clinical duties.  He or she will help you sort out what tasks will produce the greatest positive effects for your business, and help you get those tasks done. He or she will be your partner, counselor, confident, coach, teacher, drill instructor, and friend.

The future has never looked brighter, but the challenges are not slight. This makes your success all the more important – and sweeter.

Ed Petty

 

Independence and Dr. Jim Sigafoose

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Dr. Jim Sigafoose, 1985

Dr. Jim Sigafoose in San Francisco, 1985

What makes chiropractic so remarkable is that it works so effectively.  If you work in the chiropractic profession or receive chiropractic adjustments, you have witnessed this first hand.

But there is another factor that makes chiropractic even more remarkable – something that makes it truly unique above most if not all professions.

It hasn’t sold out. For the most part, since its inception in 1895, it has maintained its integrity. It has remained relatively independent and free from mega corporations that have otherwise hijacked our so called “health care” system.

It has stood up to the medical-industrial complex, and though coerced and bribed and enticed to go away or give up, chiropractors and their supporters have prevailed. With your help, it has stood strong and unbowed.

Certainly, there are odd roads that segments of the profession have tried to go down every now and then, not the worst of which has been catering to the “health” cartel. And the chiropractic profession will need to find its way to work more inter-dependently with all legitimate medical and health disciplines.

But most of all — it needs to continue to be itself.

Jim Sigafoose reminded us what chiropractic is and who we are in the chiropractic profession.

Yesterday, I was informed that he passed on.

I have to get personal here. Years ago I worked with Siggy, as did my business partner, Dave Michel. In the 80’s we hung out and worked with him in certain management seminars, or would work with him in the field with our clients. We recommended our clients attend his seminars, his “Gatherings”, and buy his educational material.

Siggy was my own Bob Dylan of chiropractic. He was a troubadour that didn’t play for any king nor cater to any earthly lord. He couldn’t be bought. I am not a doctor of chiropractic, but your profession appealed to me because it was so helpful and revolutionary – and even respected the spiritual aspect mankind. Dr. Sigafoose represented chiropractic to me in this way and were it not for him, I am sure I would be working in other endeavors than chiropractic.

At a WAVE seminar sponsored by Life West a couple of few years ago, Siggy went on the stage and challenged the audience why they felt they needed all the products sold by the vendors lining the hallways of the seminar. He said that he didn’t think saying this was going to be appreciated by the sponsors of the event, but I am sure Siggy felt the principles were more important than the profits.
After his talk, he walked down and sat down by himself. I went over and sat beside him and we listened to Bruce Lipton give a great presentation – full of science and slides.

People like science and slides. But science and slides should simply prove the principles – which was actually Dr. Lipton’s whole point. D.D. Palmer had it correct back in the 19th Century.

As did Siggy.

When he talked, the complexity of what we do in chiropractic fell way, like rust falling off of a hinge. Like crusted ice breaking apart on a car windshield here on a Midwest winter, when Siggy talked, you could see the truth better. And it was a truth that you already knew but was obscured by mental and physical clutter.

Siggy’s message seemed to motivate you not be a warrior, but to be a more loving servant.

I guess mostly I always felt Siggy was my friend and that he genuinely liked me. But I only say this because it seemed to me that he made everyone he touched feel like they were his personal friend.

He was passionate, he cared, and he suffered. He was tireless. He did not retire. He kept going. He was courageous. And I think he did all this because, most of all… because of love. I think he loved chiropractic, God, his family, his patients and all patients, and those of us who work in chiropractic.

Today in America, we celebrate our independence. But with independence comes responsibility and the need for integrity. Forfeit your personal and professional responsibility, care less, comprise more, and you will gradually slip into the state of dependence.

This is the tide that is rushing at your patients – to become more dependent upon drugs and vaccinations, entertainment, and big business masquerading as government.

For those of us in the chiropractic profession, we owe so much to those who have come before us, like Dr. Jim Sigafoose. For, like America, we have been given the hard won gift of independence. Through Dr. Sigafoose’s work, and others like him, we are reminded that we have to work to stay independent and help our patients to do the same.

(same article in PDF form for download)

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Here is a short clip with Siggy.  4 minutes

SiggySummer

Chiropractic Team Tryouts: Tips on Interviewing Potential New Team Members

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tryout
 Tryout: a test of someone’s ability to do something that is used to see if he or she should join a team, perform in a play, etc. (Merriam-Webster)

 

We routinely help our chiropractic teams with the hiring process.

Getting the right players can make all the difference in whether you are a winning team or just a mediocre one.

 It is often difficult to find the right candidate for the job. The prospective employee is trained to be sweet at the interview and have an impressive resume and you are expected to ask her just the right questions that will evoke her true character. This is usually not adequate.

In addition to interviews, practical tests that challenge candidates for the job position can be included as part of the hiring process. Much like a “tryout” for any sport team, musical group, or an audition for a play, we want to see how the prospective new employee performs.

A good management motto is: “Look, don’t listen.” This definitely applies to hiring.

After the first interview, if you are still interested in the person, have them come in again for a practical interview. This is the “tryout” or audition. For the front desk position, present them with some challenging but common situations and have them demonstrate how they would handle each. Have them demonstrate as in role playing, not just tell you how they would do it.

 In the examples below, the doctor can be in the role of the patient, or prospective patient, or have another team member in that role.

For the Front Desk position, you can have the candidate take on the following situations:

  •  Appointment book is full. Patient calls in and wants to see the doctor.
  • Patient calls in and is in pain.
  • Calls but is skeptical of chiropractic
  • Calls, asks how much for an adjustment, and then says it costs too much
  • Patient is leaving after an adjustment, needs to be scheduled, and the phone is ringing.
  • Patient owes $37.67. Collect it.
  • Promoting upcoming talk, next Tuesday at 6:30 on “Spinal Fitness.”

Someone applying for Patient Accounts could role-play the following:

  • Perform a patient financial consultation on a new Medicare patient who also has a secondary.
  • Call for chiropractic benefits.
  • Receive a letter “not medically necessary.” What actions to take?
  • Promoting upcoming talk, next Tuesday at 6:30 on Spinal Fitness.

Other situations can be presented that are appropriate for your office, depending on the position, such as therapy, external marketing, etc. Be creative and keep it fun, but challenging.

You can give the candidate a few lines to help them, but tell them you want them to improvise to the best of their ability. It doesn’t have to be perfect and probably won’t be that smooth as they are new to your office.

What you are looking for is their ability to be genuinely interested in the patient. You want to see how much in command they are of the situation, their friendliness, compassion, and general quality of their communication.

If you want a winning team, when hiring, use “Tryouts.”

Pilot of the Wheelchair: The Girl and Her Passenger

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This short story may not seem at first to pertain to your chiropractic office, but it does.

In the hot afternoon Sunday traffic, in the right lane waiting to turn right, our lane had stop moving.

Crossing the busy six lane intersection heading toward us was a man in a motorized wheelchair.  His face was full but motionless and looked worn. I couldn’t be sure, but he had that straight-ahead look of someone who was blind. He was maybe upper thirties or mid forties with short hair, perhaps a wounded veteran who paid no mind to the antsy cars that waited for him and his wheelchair.

Sitting on his lap was a thin little girl. Maybe eight years old.  She was curled up, cuddled with one of her shoulders against one of his. As they were crossing the last three lanes, she stretched out her arm with an open hand as if to say “halt, please let us cross.”

She had the look of a girl who had not had an easy life but was happy to be with this person whose immobile legs she rested on.

Once they made it to the other side our lane started to move. The pair moved closer as I moved forward. It appeared as if she was acting as the man’s eyes and told him when to go. I had the sense that he was a family member, perhaps her father, by the bond they seemed to share.

As I passed them in my nice air conditioned car, I looked closely at the girl and waved to her and smiled. She looked at me directly as I drove by. She gave me a wave and beamed a big smile as if to say “Thanks. We just made it across a busy road and me and my pa are having a Sunday outing.”

In my mind, her face reminded me of pictures of Anne Frank, the girl in Amsterdam that kept a diary before being taken by the Nazis to her death in 1945.

I would have liked to stop and help her in some way. Or say “hi” to the man in the wheelchair who looked so stoic. Maybe there was something I could do for them.

But the fact is – they did something for me.

They set an example – of courage, caring and love. They had heart: For each other, for their goals, and seemingly for their adventure.

Not everything can be put into a mission statement or measured by statistics.  No “boot camp” can teach this, and even if all your policies and procedures were followed perfectly, you could still miss it.

Heart.

One office I know has so MUCH heart the whole town loves the office and the office loves the town. The fact that there is a 2-3 week waiting list of new patients is the biggest challenge the office has.

By training and professional experience, I have a bias towards procedures, organizational structure and production.  No doubt, without these, offices would experience anarchy or insolvency. But I have also learned that heart is more important.

We can all become discouraged at times. Emotions and confusions can affect your patients as they do you and this can put a barrier around our capacity to care.  This may be affecting you or your office now.

But this is only temporary and not the real you.

This is what the little girl gave me. Her wave to me was a “thank you for stopping to let us cross the road”, but also, “we are all in this together.”

That is the lesson I am left with.

There is heroism all around us. Simple and quiet examples of selfless caring and love pass us by daily if we were to notice.  People want to help others and want help as well. Why? Because we are all in this together. Because we care. Because we have heart.

Training on procedures such as the report of findings is fine, but your patients aren’t adversaries and neither is your community. They want to get better and they want to help others to get better.   Really care for them, really love them, be honest with them, and have the courage to always do this, and they will never leave you.

Whatever your office mission statement says, if you have one, it should say what is in your heart. And if you follow that, I am sure you can successfully pilot your team on its adventure.

#  #  #

Ed Petty

JUST RELEASED: New Chiropractic Music Video – “Munson Style”

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Just released: A new professionally recorded music video by Dr. Cindy Munson, a chiropractor in Plymouth, Wisconsin.   It features her staff, family, and some of her patients.

The more times you watch it the more little clever trivia you can find. The scenes were well thought out.

What is remarkable about this office, which is actually demonstrated by this video, is the exceptional leadership provided by Dr. Munson.  With her great staff, she has created a true chiropractic “Dream Team” – a group of professionals working together for the betterment of their patients and their community.

Feel free to let Dr. Cindy know how you liked the video or any thoughts or questions you may have.

We are proud to say that we have worked with Dr. Cindy and her team for many years.

www.drcindymunson.com

Finding the Right Mix for Your Chiropractic Promotions

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THE PROMOTIONAL RIVER

I sometimes receive emails and calls from chiropractors requesting a quick fix for their lack of new patients.   I often wonder if they ever got the idea of symptomatic care versus corrective and wellness care.

Effective marketing requires more than just a killer advertisement or long copy reactivation letter or a spinal screening.   It has been said that good marketing doesn’t depend on one promotion to get 50 new patients, but rather 50 promotions each generating one new patient.

Generating a high volume of new patients in your chiropractic office requires multiple channels of communication.   Consider how a river grows – through lots of tributaries. The Mississippi starts out like a creek, but then other creeks run into it and it grows and grows.

We call this the promotional mix – the blend of different approaches you use to communicate the benefits of your services.

On the following page, we have listed just a few important categories of effective promotions for your office.  Of course, there are others, but we have found that these work well and can act as a good foundation.

Mississippi

FOUNDATIONS OF PROMOTION

Effective promotion starts with individual and team motivation. It then should be entwined with all of your basic routines each day, from the way the phone is answered to the consultation and patient examination.

Beyond this, you can schedule specific health topics months in advance and offer them as workshops or “Awareness Weeks” where you provide a free screening exam and info.

Occasional special promotions should be scheduled, such as “Kid’s Day”, and community services should also be scheduled, such as screenings, relationship building with external referrals sources, and workshops.

Your presence on the Internet has to be constantly added to.

These are some of the main categories of your promotions, though advertising and public relations events can also occur now and then.

PromoMix(larger image)

KEY PROMOTIONS   

1.   Motivation.  You and your team’s desire to promote the benefits of your services create the energy to make your marketing work. Constantly nurture this.  Start with WHY?

2.   Basic Service and Chiropractic Care Procedures.   This is your foundation. Marketing is embedded in the heart of all the basic duties you do every day.  You should constantly review and try to improve on the marketing aspect of your procedures.  Be ever more cheerful, more genuine, more caring, and giving of extra-ordinary care and service.  Have “Present Time Consciousness.” It is helpful to have a checklist of these procedures to review.  Little things can slip aside and go unnoticed and a checklist helps flush everything out for inspection.  Work on a procedure or two every month so that you are constantly improving.

3.   Special Promotions. These are promotional events that can be internal, external, or both. For example, flowers to women on Mother’s Day, a Kid’s Day, Community Appreciation Day, Anniversary Day, etc.  They can be tied in with holidays, community days, parades, donation drives, etc. Most have an offer for a free service, but not all. These are IN ADDITION to the monthly education themes. Schedule these every other month or so. Promote these on the Internet and in newsletters.

4.   Community Education Program  (Monthly Health Themes) We have found that this program gradually builds momentum and if managed well, brings in more patient referrals, external new patients, and returning patients directly and indirectly. Here are some steps to make it successful.

a.    Select monthly themes around a condition or healthful topic. Can include headaches, kid’s health, motherhood, nutrition, cooking class, exercise, golf clinic, etc.
b.    Schedule a workshop time or “Awareness Week” (free screening exam last week of the month)  at the end of each month.
c.    Customize a poster. Samples on our Members site or make up your own.
d.    Do a YouTube video on the subject the month before. Post on Facebook, web site, YouTube channel and embed in your email
e.    Send out an email notice promoting the event, with a link to the video Health Tip, testimonial, etc.
f.    Send a hard copy newsletter with testimonials mailed to some of your patient files now and then (3 months) and all files every 6 months.
g.    Posters distributed locally and as statement stuffers.
h.    Press releases can be sent to local papers/electronic calendars.
i.    Ads are an option.

5.   Community Services. These are scheduled each month and include screenings, workshops and external referrals source development (MDs, businesses, DDS, auto body shops, etc.)

6.    Keep The Conversation Going: Internet And Newsletter.  Update your Internet presence and post new info regularly. Set a goal of how many hours it gets worked on each month, eg.  1 hr a week.  You could also use a checklist (we have one on our PM&A Members site). This would include Facebook postings, YouTube, directory sites (Yelp, Healthgrades.com. etc.), and search engines (Google, Bing, etc.).  And, of course, your website/blog.  Add patient testimonials, photos, and health tips. Keep posting – but keep most of the info local and “newsy,” just short of gossipy.  Also, send out electronic and hard copy newsletters with similar newsy content and notices for upcoming promotions, talks.

7.   Public Relations and Advertising.  Radio ads and print ads promoting specials events can be helpful now and then. Public relations such as press releases and donation drives can add long term good will and should be done a few times a year

3 Month Marketing Planner [Link]

Monthly Goal Setting for the Chiropractic Team

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Chiropractic Team Goal Setting

At the beginning of each month you want to see that your team sets new TEAM GOALS.  You can also set individual goals privately at a different time, but TEAM goals are most immediate and important.

Each goal setting session always begins with a REVIEW of the past month. This gives the opportunity for the group (or individual in individual goal setting) to explain how they did and how they did it. And it gives you the opportunity to listen and then give some feedback. The feedback could be praise, or otherwise.

After the review, set the goals.   Group goals should be simple, usually just Office Visits and New Patients, though Collections can also be included. IMPORTANT: Let the group set the goals. You should negotiate the goals, but it has to be theirs.  Once these goals are set, ask the group (or individual) how they/we plan to achieve these goals? Get at least 3 action steps.

The last goal should include a “greater purpose” goal or two. This could be a party at your house next Thursday night, Betty, the Front Desk Coordinator will give a book report on one of the books in the Lending Library at next month’s Team Goal Setting meeting, and a check to see who is going to volunteer for working at the food bank next Saturday evening.

Why? You should also spend some time discussing why you have these goals. This takes you back to your MISSION.  Numbers for numbers sake is a soulless and goalless pursuit.

 In sum:

  1. Review last month’s numbers. Were they up or down from the prior month?  Ask.
  2. Then, ask why? Get the team to figure it out. Let it be a brainstorming session if possible.
  3. Let them tell you and you listen and question as needed.
  4. Acknowledge. Praise or show disapproval, as appropriate.
  5. Then ask for action steps to achieve goals.
  6. Then, get a few “greater purpose” goals.
  7. Then, continue with the rest of the staff meeting, such as announcing upcoming events, miscellaneous, etc. Include some discussion about WHY these goals are important.
  8. Do the same for individual team member’s right after the Team Goal Setting, or soon after.

 For more information on how this procedure is done, refer to the webinar called the Fast Flow CEO.