Category Archives: The Goal Driven Business

More New Chiropractic and Healthcare Patients Through Positioning

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Joe Montana and chiropractic

Positioning is a marketing term that refers to how your services are perceived in the minds of customers or potential customers.

For example, you get two different concepts when you think of a Timex $40 wristwatch and a $10,000 Rolex. In selling these products, advertising deliberately tries to position each in your mind so that they are different but appealing.

The fact is, they do about the same thing. But, positioning them can make each more appealing to different groups of people. In marketing Timex watches, for example, they might show busy people working or athletic people with a tagline that says: “takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” On the other hand, Rolex offers images of elegance or authoritative men in suits. Both of these appeal to different groups of people with different wants.

HOW CAN POSITIONING GENERATE MORE NEW PATIENTS FOR YOUR OFFICE?

Let’s start with the position chiropractic has in most people’s minds. According to a Gallup Poll in 2015, 60% of Americans think chiropractic is effective for neck and back pain. Only 11% disagree. The rest don’t know or are neutral.

That means that, in consumers’ minds, you guys generally have the position of treating neck and back pain. Here is one approach to using this:

NATIONAL PROGRAM – Spinal Health Month

You can position your services with a national health campaign. This is what Big Pharma did with the COVID jabs, and what they do with flu shots. It’s manufactured marketing, of course, and promoted authoritatively as part of a national program.

You can do the same! (An application of guerrilla marketing!)

And remember, your stats are better than Big Pharma’s and corporate medicine! (You should probably ensure that your patients know this.) While respecting the good work of individual MDs and certain medical clinics and organizations, which there now seems to be more of after COVID (E.G. FLCCC), keep in mind that the U.S. medical system comes in LAST compared to other industrial countries.(link below)

The American Chiropractic Association promotes what they call National Chiropractic and Health Month in October. Also, Congress recognizes October as National Spine Health Awareness Month. And although a bunch of MDs also promote this, you could use it. I recall when the ACA, and maybe the ICA, promoted October as National Spinal Health Month.

I don’t think it really matters. You can promote your own National Spinal Health and Fitness Month and position your services next to this campaign. We have done this over the years very successfully. Figure that your campaign is more helpful and therefore more legit than those promoted by the drug industry and its lackeys and mercenaries.

There are dozens of approaches to this. I’d be happy to spend a few minutes with you to give you some ideas that have worked. You could:

  1. Send out reactivation letters. “It’s Spinal Check-up Time!” and offer a free screening, discount massages, or just healthy cupcakes.

  2. Put a banner in your office; “October is National Spinal Health Month — Schedule your family for a Health Check-up.” Print up a poster and fliers and encourage your staff to have patients bring in those they care about for a check-up.

  3. Send out an email promotion for this important national event.

ATHLETES

How about another example, maybe for November?

Despite the little medical emphasis on the importance of exercise, people are finding out on their own how vital physical activity is to maintain their health. To some degree, more people are becoming amateur athletes.

Go with this!

Position your services as designed to improve athletic performance. Stay in the Game Longer! Position your services next to famous athletes who testify how chiropractic was essential in achieving their accomplishments in sports. (Link to some chiropractic athletes below.) Promote the fact that all U.S. professional football teams have chiropractors. In fact, you can look up your team’s chiropractor. (link below.)

You could call the team’s D.C. and possibly get a quote or meet with them for a photo opportunity. You could meet with the local high school coach, promote this, and arrange screenings for their players.

By positioning your services next to successful high-performing athletes, the audience can easily make the association that your services must improve physical and functional performance.

So those are a couple of ideas for using positioning to generate more new patients, reactivate former patients, and keep the ones you have.

You’re the coach. Get the team in for care!

Seize the WIN!

Ed

Pro football chiropractors.

U.S. Health system ranks last.

Athlete quotes on chiropractic

Some promotional ideas for October:

Gallup poll on chiropractic favorability.

—————————————————-

If your practice building efforts aren’t taking you to your goals,

there are reasons — many of which are hidden from you.

Find out what they are and how to sail to your next level by getting and implementing my new book, The Goal Driven Business.

goal driven business building methodology

The Goal Driven Business By Edward Petty

goal driven business buy now button
 
 
 
 

Back to School Month

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chiropractic back to school, goal driven

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
(Attributed to Nelson Mandela)*

September is almost here, and soon the schools will be busy.

Since doctor means teacher, why not go all in on education and teaching this month?

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR THE KIDS

Support your teachers and the kids they teach.

This September, you can align your office with a local school and support other teachers and their students.

There are many approaches to this. You can call or visit a school and tell them you would like, along with your staff and patients, to make a contribution of some kind to a specific department or activity. These could be new uniforms for the marching band, art supplies, or supplies for the kids in need, like calculators, notebooks, and book bags.

You can also get the kids in for a back-to-school check-up and include a short workshop on backpack safety.

Whatever your plan is, promote it in your e-newsletter, on posters and handouts, and your social medial platforms.

You can also offer a special discount to teachers.

Staff often have great ideas and love to work on special projects like this. Get them involved!

While these types of promotions are not designed to generate boatloads of new patients, they can be fun, generate goodwill, and establish your business as a trusted community member. All of this supports your other marketing activities.

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR THE ADULTS

Because staff and doctor education is important, but not urgent, it is typically put on the back burner. This is true with many things, including patient care, where we focus too much on pain relief and not enough on correction, strengthening, and wellness.

Your Patients

As health professionals, you know that healthcare information in the marketplace borders on criminal. Corporations that produce soft drinks don’t warn about the harmful effects of high fructose corn syrup, “food” companies about the dangers of linoleic oil in cooking oil, or corporations that sell farm and lawn products about the toxins from weed and insect killers.

The benefits of chiropractic and non-corporate health care certainly aren’t promoted, and we have seen what happens to the M.D. s that speak out against the well-funded medical narrative.

Inform While You Perform, and in doing so, you help your patients become healthier and position your practice as a genuine HEALTH practice. Be a rebel, and educate your patients on health: corrective care, strengthening, care, nutrition, diet, exercise, and all the basics of good health that can’t be patented!

You and Your Team

The fall seminars are coming up! State conventions often have teachers that actually teach practical information! Schedule yourself for a weekend this fall… and take your staff.

Fall State Conventions. Staff education is more important than you might realize. First, they learn some valuable concepts and procedures. But beyond the obvious, investing in their education shows you recognize their value. They are an integral part of practice success and patient outcomes and are worthy of the investment. They also see that they are part of a larger profession – that there are others besides you and their practice mates that have similar jobs, challenges, and rewards.

Chirofest. Besides your local state conventions, a shoutout to Chirofest out in Vancouver WA. Dr. Paul Reed does a great job, and nothing compares to the Oregon coast, two hours from Vancouver.

Goal Driven Management and Leadership Training. Our own Practice Management and Leadership Training starts September 18th. We are limiting enrollment to just 7 offices for our Founder’s Round and we still have a couple of spots open. There is absolutely no training like this anywhere. Let me know if you are interested. It’s an amazing deal — but only if you want to improve your income and create an even more dynamic practice manager!

Seize September,

Ed

More info:

Goal Driven Management and Leadership Training

ChiroFest seminar

Your state association

The Goal Driven Business book by Ed Petty

*Nelson Mandela quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Madison Park High School, Boston, 23 June 1990; reported in various forms

What Is Effective Chiropractic Practice Management?

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You would think that management, by now, as a subject, would be scientific. That corporations would employ skilled managers with their MBAs from prestigious universities that effectively applied administrative technology to nurture their companies.

Nah, it’s not like that.

A research study was conducted by Nicholas Bloom* and others aimed at determining how effectively management procedures were being used in U.S. companies. They found that only 15% of U.S. companies scored above a 4 on a 5-point scale. More than 30% scored a three or lower. Companies outside of the U.S. scored much worse.

Management is primarily personality driven – a little like politics and show business. And sometimes, the mafia. Some companies do well because there is a dynamic genius at the helm. Others do well because they were there at the right time. Others appear to do well because of the money they borrow, steal, or collude with government regulators.

I know some very successful chiropractors who are good managers. But they were good mostly because of their temperament and not because of their conscious use of management techniques.

Unfortunately, most management focuses on supervision. It is a form of spectator-ism and policing. Like watching robots on an assembly line and reprimanding errors and deviations.

Good management focuses on improvement. First, keep things working, then how can we all improve it? It is servant based.

In my book, Goal Driven Business, I cover this as part of the Goal Driven System.

For practical purposes, management has two different functions:

1. Keep doing what works.

2. Continually look at how the procedures and systems could be improved.

If it worked yesterday, you should do it today and also tomorrow.

Then, improve it – little by little.

If you want to make a big change, when the entrepreneurial spirit hits you, do a trial run first. Don’t disrupt the systems that are working.

A good number of practice problems occur for one reason:

You stopped doing what worked!

This applies to the front desk, patient accounts, new patient onboarding, team management, and marketing procedures.

If it worked once, it would probably work again. Just improve it if it is outdated – and if that doesn’t work, revert to what worked.

I know – your workdays can get boring and sometimes you want to go and chase the shiny things. Fine. But keep doing what works until something proves itself to be better.

I will be teaching a management course later this year. If you are interested, let us know and we’ll get you on the waiting list. It will be for you and your manager. Each class will be small to allow for more personalized instruction.

Good management underlies all your activities – managing your patients, your practice, and even your life. And especially your future!

Seize the future with good management!

* Harvard Business Review, November 2012 Nicholas Bloom

—————————————————-

If your practice building efforts aren’t taking you to your goals, there are reasons — many of which are hidden from you.

Find out what they are and how to sail to your next level by getting and implementing my new book, The Goal Driven Business.

The Goal Driven Business By Edward Petty

Does Goal Setting Really Improve Performance? Ask Science.

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young boy celebrating success
FOR THE WIN!
 
There you are, sitting at the team meeting at the beginning of the month.
 
What goals should you set for the new month?
 
And… does it really help? I mean, after so many months (and years) of goal setting, so many seminars, and books that say you should set goals — does it really matter if you set goals for this month?
 
And what kind of goals?
 
And, does your team really care?
 
And, do you? (lol)
 
Well, here’s the deal: YES, goals do matter.
 
Here’s some evidence from a study by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, who summarized 35 years of empirical research on goal setting theory*. They found that setting specific and challenging goals led to significantly higher levels of task performance than easy goals or no goals at all. They found that goals:
  1. Direct activities towards goal-relevant activities and away from goal-irrelevant activities.
  2. Can be motivational or “energizing.”
  3. Affect persistence.
  4. Encourage people to use the knowledge they have acquired.
But goal setting is affected or moderated by many factors. For example, Locke and Latham found that feedback and commitment to goals were critical for goal attainment.
 
FEEDBACK
 
You and your team need to know how you did last month. You all need to know if you are heading toward your mission or away from it.
 
The clinic director or manager should individually meet with each team member and review how they did. This should be done in a friendly and collaborative manner, ideally each month.
 
The idea of employees being a TEAM also necessitates the concept of a COACH. So, the clinic director or manager must act as a coach and help individuals, and everyone achieve goals.
 
COMMITMENT
 
According to the Study, goal commitment is linked to the importance of the goal. In my experience, this is improved by:
 
  1. Examining the mission or why of the practice.
  2. Reviewing patient successes and outcomes.
  3. Allowing team members to participate in goal setting so that it is their goal, not management’s!
  4. An occasional group goal and game, with a deadline that may include a reward.
As part of the Goal Driven System, we emphasize 3 categories of goals:
  1. Production. These are usually monthly goals such as new patients, visits, kept appointment percentage, and case completions.
  2. Organization. These are important but not urgent goals, including training, catching up on backlogs, planning, and other activities. Because these are not always apparent, vital functions can become neglected. A checklist of duties helps with this, and then reviewing them monthly.
  3. Greater Goals: professional and personal. No one works just for production or organization, so setting goals for long-term achievements is essential. We aren’t just workers — we are dreamers and explorers. We like to adventure, and we like to play.
Goals are part of games, and games should be fun. We humans like games, from the Olympics to the most recent popular computer game. It is part of our nature.
 
My grandson just had his 7th birthday. He’s a big basketball fan. I gave him a couple of presents. The first one he opened and quickly tossed aside. The second present was a large book with photo’s of basketball players and their stories. As soon as the wrapping paper was off, he raised it over his head, cheering: “for the win.” And ran off with it like the wild boy he is!
 
So set goals and play the game.
 
Keep it fun and go FOR THE WIN!
 
Ed
 
 
*https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12237980/

Will AI replace chiropractors? I asked AI.

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AI robot in office setting typing. I ca-an adjust you no-w.

AI is all the rage. AI art, AI music, AI writing, and on and on.

These services are impressive. Manufactured-for-you newsletters, articles, art, and music. All done at relatively high quality.

AI could replace writers, artists, and musicians as it has with taxicab drivers with Lyft and Uber. Maybe it will soon replace truck drivers, computer coders, customer support specialists, media jobs, legal assistants, accountants, etc.

So, I wondered, how about chiropractors?

I asked a few AI-powered services about the future of chiropractic and how AI might affect chiropractors. Here is an example of one of the answers:

“Could AI replace chiropractors?

“According to the current research, AI is unlikely to replace chiropractors [3]. Chiropractors perform several tasks that require human capabilities, such as manipulating the spine and musculoskeletal system to treat patients, diagnosing health problems, and advising patients on recommended courses of treatment. However, AI can assist chiropractors in various ways [1]. AI can help with data management and analysis, providing insights for personalized care and health research. Moreover, AI can save time and money, allowing for more high-level tasks and automated back office work in a chiropractic clinic. It can help clinics put computer intelligence to work and improve patient journeys [2].

References: [1] Chiropractic application of artificial intelligence in medical … [2] Chiropractors Embrace Artificial Intelligence and Create … [3] Will “Chiropractor” be Automated or Replaced By Robots?

= = =

So, for now, I think you’re safe. But automation is increasing – exponentially.

In my book, the Goal Driven Business, I address this issue and refer to other scientists and authors who have studied the subject.

“Your Replacement is Being Shipped Now

“According to Richard and Daniel Susskind, the traditional professions will cease to exist in the state that we currently know them. In their very capable book, The Future of Professions, the authors state: “Whatever terminology is preferred, we foresee that, in the end, the traditional professions will be dismantled, leaving most (but not all) professionals to be replaced by less expert people and high-performing systems.” (Page 185)

= = =

Obviously, no machine is going to adjust patients any time soon.

But we have to be careful that we don’t substitute AI and automation for our personal care for our patients.

I recently talked to a chiropractic assistant about sending out birthday cards to patients. You, know, an actual card (postcard), hard copy, mailed. She couldn’t see the point. “Why not just send a text? It’s part of our automated program.” I pointed out that the text could be coming from an apartment in Nigeria, and your patient would never know the difference.

Nothing against texting, but our world is superficial and impersonal enough.

Here is my recommendation: AI, automation, and electric screwdrivers are all tools. Used correctly, they can help you provide better service. Used incorrectly, you can be persuaded to have automation take the place of you.

A pathetic example is the bulk chiropractic electronic newsletters you can buy as an automated service. I am all for newsletters, but these types of newsletters do not improve the communication between the doctor, the office, and the patients. They are just bland content.

This is why we help our clients send out their own newsletters to their patients.

AI and automation will never replace you if you utilize them as tools to improve your services, outcomes, and communication with your patients and patients to be.

Delegate and Automate
But Don’t Abdicate

Happy Spring(Autumn Down Under!)

Ed (Written by Ed Petty!)

Practice Fundamentals – Communication and Control

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“Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”
— Michael Jordan

It’s always the basics. The fundamentals.

This is what all efforts to improve performance – and health — go back to.

All of your efforts in practice management boil down to communication and control.

All the books on procedures, patient management, and practice management can be distilled down to communication and control. Those are the basics you need to get to your goals and those of your patients.

  • Doctors, and staff, that have excellent communication with their patients have many referrals and a busy practice.
  • Doctors who communicate well with their staff have a happy and full practice.
  • Doctors that have positive control with their patients see their patients succeed.
  • And business owners that have proactive control over the office – are prosperous.

Of course, the inverse of these facts is also true. Whether out of fear, confusion, or fatigue, when these fundamentals are not administered, things don’t go well.

Communication

I was recently helping a doctor and the practice manager improve their patient financial consultations. The manager and doctor had worked out what to say that they liked. They called it a “script.”

A few months passed, and I noticed their patient retention had not improved. Neither had collections or other metrics. When we did some training on how the patient consultations were performed, we found that the staff focused on the memorized script, not the patient. Their communication was robotic, and they never got to know the patient. We replaced the script with a simple outline and let the staff get to know the patients. Visit average and collections improved.

Good communication is alive, interested, and empathetic. It results in understanding.

Control

Another office we worked with complained about low collections. They had plenty of new patients — the veteran doctor got great results. After investigating, we found that the report of findings and treatment plans were rarely completed, and scheduling was hit-and-miss at best.

And that’s not all. The doctor and staff often came to work just a few minutes before patients came in. Sometimes they came in late.

This office was out of control — and so were the patients.

Positive control is moving a project, patient, or condition from one status to a predetermined goal. This is what a procedure does. A well-run business has procedures, protocols, and systems that it adheres to achieve its daily and weekly goals.

Management

Management is implementing effective procedures, with excellent communication, to achieve goals.

In all your practice improvement efforts, check first if the procedures are being done, and then if they need to be improved or removed. Then, look at the quality and quantity of communication used to implement the procedures.

Improve the fundamentals — your patient and team communication and control — and you will have a prosperous and happy 2023.

Seize your future – with a smile!

Ed

Going Public or Going Purpose

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Be like a juvenile delinquent!

The chiropractic model for care follows three main stages, according to many patient educational articles. These are 1) Relief, 2) Correction and 3) Maintenance and Wellness.

I am sure it could be nuanced into other levels or worded differently, but these three make sense to me — so much that it inspired me to write a book – The Goal Driven Business.

But I had another inspiration.

I read a book about a young French-Canadian rock climber who lived in Southern California and was not finding the equipment he needed. So, he became a blacksmith and started making his own. In the late 1950s and ’60s, he started the Chouinard Equipment Co and made climbing gear for other climbers. He also wanted better outdoor gear, and so founded Patagonia, a clothing company.

The name of the book was Let My People Go Surfing. It was by Yvonne Chouinard and tells the story of how he grew Patagonia.

Patagonia, now a 50-year-old company, has done very well financially. It has also done very well for the quality of its products and services and its employees. But it is also driven by the goal of making Earth healthier.

Patagonia demonstrates three goals I believe every business has: 1) profit, 2) expert service and people, and 3) higher purpose. In my book, I reference examples of how the best companies focus, knowingly or unknowingly, on these three goals.

The best offices I have worked with over the years have also been committed to these three goals. They cared about providing the best service to their patients, but also to their staff. They were committed to helping as many people as possible be healthier. And, of course, they insisted on profits.

Chouinard, with his family, own Patagonia.

That is until this month. Valued at 3 billion dollars, Chouinard announced that they are giving the company away. He could have sold it to … Amazon, for example, or they could have made it a public company. Instead, he donated it to a fund called the Patagonia Purpose Trust. He says, “Earth is now our only shareholder.”

“Instead of “going public,” you could say we’re “going purpose.” Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”

I encourage you to look into Chouinard’s lessons on business, which he acquired through trial and error as we do! I have some links over on the blog (see below.) There are many business lessons to learn by studying the trials of other business owners in different types of businesses.

But I guarantee you that if you commit to these three goals, in the long run, just like with your patients, your business and your life will thrive.

And one other note!

I think ol’ Yvonne would have been a natural chiropractor. He reminds me of you guys. In an interview in 2017, he says:

“One of my favorite quotes is if you want to understand entrepreneurs, study the juvenile delinquent because they’re saying, you know, this sucks. I’m gonna do it my own way. And that’s what the entrepreneur does. They just say this is wrong. I’m gonna do it this other way. And that’s the fun part of business actually.”

So, have fun, and seize the future,

Ed

For links and other references, go to our blog here: Goal Driven

Ed Petty in front of Chouinard Equipment Company, Ventura California

 

Patagonia home page
https://www.patagonia.com/home/

Interview with Chouindard
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/572558864/patagonia-yvon-chouinard

News articles
https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/xebzib/yvon_chouinard_gives_patagonia_to_charitable/

https://www.inc.com/yvon-chouinard/patagonia-ceo-let-my-people-go-surfing-why-company-mission-is-not-profit.html

Book
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/let-my-people-go-surfing-yvon-chouinard/1124064053?ean=9780143109679

The Value of Creating a Practice Community

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Where everybody knows everybody else’s name

Do your patients consider your practice so cool that they want to hang out with you more?

Do they come in early just to soak in the vibes and chat with other patients?

Do you have a practice club?

There are sizable benefits to creating and sustaining your own practice community. The fact is you probably loosely have one already. It is a rich resource that, if better organized and cultivated, can improve patient retention and referrals.

People want to be part of something larger than themselves. This includes belonging to a group whose values they share. Edward Deci, Ph.D., says it is an intrinsic, innate motivation we all have.

A practice club, or organized community relations program, strengthens your connection with each patient. But in addition, it builds relationships between your patients and even non-patients who are supportive of your practice.

I grew up in a small farm town. We had a very busy barbershop. It was always full of men, smoking cigarettes and talking to the barbers – and each other – about the comings and goings of our small town. I think my dad dropped in at least every other day. The barbershop had created its own interactive and slightly exclusive club.

As a more organized example, the motorcycle company Harley-Davidson established the Harley Owners Group, nicknamed HOG. You must own a Harley motorcycle to belong, and then you are eligible to attend many events the company sponsors and receive discounts on all its products. I know a few HOG members, and they are loyal to the brand and share a bond with each other. And they are active, servicing their bikes and using Harley products.

Organizing Your Community

You can sponsor your own “rallies” and probably have. Patients attend, see you and your staff outside the office, and get a chance to talk. But even more, they can connect with other patients. This is how your practice network strengthens.

You can better organize your community by delegating someone to be your Community Services Coordinator for a few hours every month. They would plan and implement various events, with everyone on staff would participating.

In addition, they could start an online club, such as a private Facebook Group. Your patients would be invited to join, as well as local businesses who share your values.

In my experience, most community-building efforts rarely amount to much because there is no one in charge to keep the group energized. Events are “one and done,” with little follow-up. This contributes to the Practice Roller Coaster effect. They do work at generating referrals and improving retention, for a while, but the energy created ebbs away.

Authentic newsletters, events, phone calls, a social media group, success stories, and special bonuses help keep the community humming along.

Network Effects

Network Effects is an economic term. It simply means that the more people use a company’s product or service, the more valuable it becomes. The larger your network becomes, the better the service improves. And the better your services improve, the larger your network becomes.

It is momentum related. Think of a flywheel or pushing a car with a dead battery. (ugh). Once you get it going, the going gets easier.

From my favorite HOG advertisement:

“It’s a free country. Live like it.
Screw it, let’s ride.”

And also,

Seize your future,

Ed

Want to improve your community building? Schedule a call and we can look at options. To schedule, go here.

In the Sierra’s

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

Motivation

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No matter how many goals you say you have or how you write them out, unless you have the motivation to achieve them – you won’t.

“Motivation is the driving force behind the energy required to complete a task… a person’s willingness to exert physical or mental effort in order to complete a goal or set aim. (Psychology Dictionary.org)

This is a key element in a Goal Driven Business.

You first need to define your goals – and they must be practical as well as meaningful. But you also need the drive to achieve them. Without the drive, the motivation to get to where you want to go, you are just a poser in the business world.

(Case #345) The doctor and I had discussed a plan to motivate his team and increase production. This was many years ago. Over lunch, we had a team meeting to announce the plan to his other two doctors and about 10 support staff. He announced that if certain goals were met over the next 7 months, everyone could get a trip to Hawaii.

Everyone was shocked. Including me! The doctor and I had discussed a two-month plan for rewards based upon a modest performance improvement – but not Hawaii and not the increase in production he wanted. He came up with this on the spot during our meeting.

But that afternoon, amazingly, the phones lit up. People were calling in for appointments. (Never mind that this was an example of Innate or Quantum Entanglement!) As I recall, they had their best month ever. But unfortunately, they soon realized that the goals were unrealistic, they had little support to achieve them, and the doctor saw that he couldn’t afford it even if they did reach their goals. The practice subsequently went into a long-term slump.

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

What is the lesson? Well, there are a few of them, but I want to focus on motivation.

While it may seem like people become motivated because of the “carrot,” or the reward, there are deeper reasons – or principles.

Edward Deci, along with others, put forth a new framework for motivation called Self-Determination Theory. Essentially, it states that we are all driven by intrinsic goals as part of our fundamental nature. Our reward comes from the satisfaction we feel from the achievement more than from any external prize.

These are the three intrinsic goals we all share:

AUTONOMY. We all want to play in our own sandbox! We need to feel in control of our own corner of the world. Just like we don’t like insurance companies intruding into our clinical decisions, staff does not like being micromanaged.

COMPETENCE. We all want to be superheroes! Deep down, the prospect of becoming more skilled, more masterful, and better able to be in control of our environment is a drive we all have.

CONNECTION. We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. This manifests in two ways: a) being part of and working with a supportive group or team, and b) working to help bring about something more significant than our paycheck or the accomplishment of our everyday tasks.

The office staff was excited to go to Hawaii, but this was not necessarily because they could lie in the sun. It was because it was a huge goal that gave them a very large sandbox to play in – together – to work for a very large result.

Self-Determination Theory is why games work. In Kevin Werbach book, For the Win, he discusses the subject of Gamification.

“For thousands of years, we’ve created things called games that tap the tremendous psychic power of fun. A well-designed game is a guided missile to the motivational heart of the human psyche. …monetary rewards aren’t even necessary because the game itself is the reward.”

Whether it is a sporting event, video game, or Sheepshead (a popular game of old-time Wisconsinites, so I’ve heard), we love our games. And I think we need them.

But it all goes back to the principles of Self-Determination Theory.

Remember when you started your business? The challenge that lay ahead? The new business card that identified you as the hero to conquer new plateaus?

Those drives are still there and can be rekindled, regardless of prior disappointments.

As Soon as You Make a Goal—You Have Created the Potential for a Game.

Win or lose, IF the principles of Self-Determination Theory are in place, you will be motivated and so will those with whom you work.

Apply these principles to yourself and your team – for the game, for the fun, and for the win!

Seize the Future,

Ed

For more information on how to apply self-Determination Theory, games, and motivating yourself and your team, please purchase the book,
The Goal Driven Business. [Link to sell page]

 

The Goal Driven Front Desk

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A dynamic front desk can increase your visits by 20%, maybe more if you have the room. On the other hand, a dysfunctional front desk can constrict the flow of patients and hold your office back.
I have seen instances of both.
There is much more going on and at stake at the front desk than most doctors and staff appreciate.
Ordinarily, you would think that the billing department is the most demanding. There are hundreds of details that need to be learned and followed with excellent discipline. This position requires professionalism and expertise.
But this function is not on the front lines of the constant patient, phone, and doctor interactions and interruptions. Managing patient accounts can be regulated and organized to maintain a calm and comfortable workflow.
Therapy and adjunctive services are often undervalued, but the patient flow is usually smooth, and they are not faced with unexpected patients or phone calls.
It is interesting to note that the front desk has the highest turnover in most offices.
But properly set up and managed, this department can be an engine of growth and stability in your office.
Let’s look at some of the more important attributes of the front desk:
  1. It represents you and your services. It is your ambassador to the world outside your office. The front desk reflects what you stand for and the quality of your services.
  2. It is the first and the last contact – and impression –with anyone in the office.
  3. It can convert inquiries to new patient appointments.
  4. Rapport and relationships. The front desk can provide world-class service to patients, improving patient retention, reviews, and referrals. (The 5 Rs)
  5. Direct marketing. The front desk can directly promote clinic services to patients, hand out coupons, and promote upcoming events to generate patient referrals.
  6. Team member support. The front desk can support the insurance department and all team members to create a positive, upbeat day every day.
  7. Case Management. The front desk can contribute to case management by relaying any comments or observations relative to the patient’s care to the doctors.
  8. Fully Scheduled Day. The front desk fills the appointment book and keeps it full.
Let’s imagine an ideal front desk and put it at a “5” on a 5 Point Scale.

 

5. GOAL DRIVEN FRONT DESK. The appointment book is full. The front desk staff are cheerful, having fun doing their jobs, and genuinely interested in every patient and phone inquiry. They sincerely care for each patient and non-patient. They have a strong intent on helping patients complete their programs by keeping their appointments. They personally and professionally want to achieve the mission of the office and encourage patients to help them accomplish this mission by bringing in family and friends. They also help the rest of the office achieve the office’s mission. They are sending out positive “vibrations” to help more people. They are proactive and Goal Driven.

 

Below this level, we find the front desk that is struggling.

 

2.5 A COPING FRONT DESK– The appointment book is 50-70% full. The front desk is trying, but it is not keeping up, which creates a bottleneck to patient flow. (Subluxated) Even though the staff wants a full appointment book, subconsciously, they don’t want any more work until they catch up.

 

2. A SLOW FRONT DESK. The front desk operates at a “comfortable” 40-50% capacity. The staff is pacing themselves, keeping up with computer tasks, insurance, and following the scripts for phone and patient encounters. However, they are mostly disengaged from the front desk and office goals.

 

1-2. GIVEN UP and BORED. I only describe this because I have seen this condition. The staff is ignored or badgered. In either case, they feel relegated to a 4th class employee. They hide out and pretend to work, essentially having quit and just waiting until something better comes along.

 

You can create a Goal Driven Front Desk. It is not achieved overnight, but once it is established, you’ll be close to a dream practice and a Goal Driven Business. We will cover some tips on how to create a Goal Driven Front Desk in another newsletter.

 

In the meantime, stay Goal Driven,

 

Ed
“Your brain sends out vibrations all the time, and your thoughts affect your life and other people’s. They pick up these thoughts and get changed by them.”
– Bruce Lipton (Biology of Belief)

SPECIAL PROMOTION – The Kindle version of the Goal Driven Business is FREE Oct 21st – 25th.

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the goal driven businessSPECIAL PROMOTION
National Chiropractic Month
The Kindle version of the Goal Driven Business is FREE
from Thursday, October 21 to Monday, October 25
= = =
What’s in the book? To give you an idea of some of the subjects covered in the Goal Driven Business, I put together a list which you can find below. You can also access this on the website, GoalDriven.com
In addition to the Free Kindle version, when you also sign up for our
Goal Driver’s newsletter with tips you won’t find anywhere else, you will receive 10 Powerful Goal Driven Tools FREE to build and develop your practice.
or go directly to Amazon and get the Goal Driven Business book only, in hard copy or Kindle download
I truly recommend you get the free Kindle version of the Goal Driven Business book. I also encourage you to pick up a hard copy. It is valuable information which we have used over the years to improve offices, just like yours. A hard copy book is nice to read, and re-read, like Dr. Peter Heffernan mentions:
“Ed has nailed it, with all his years of experience, in this book!
Read it and reread it, it is that valuable.”
J. Peter Heffernan D.C. DPhCS.
= = =
The Goal Driven Business –
A New Business-Building Methodology
List of subjects and key concepts
Part 1. Your Road, A Hero’s Journey.5
We Can’t Get There from Here.7
The Practice Roller Coaster and What Causes It10
Symptoms Of a Personality Practice12
16 Attributes of A Successful Business and Practice13
The 3 Goals Of “To Live Better.”19
First 2 Goals and The Eisenhower Matrix20
Goal 3: Your Greater Purposes23
Applying the 3 Goals to Improve Business Performance 24
The Synergy of the 3 Goals 33
The Hidden Barriers to Practice Success35
The E-Myth and Michael Gerber39
Your First Big Shift to Your Goals: The Goals Lab Where You Work on Your Business.43
Pareto Principle and How to Add More Time to Work ON Your Business. 47
Parkinson’s Law of Time 52
Edwards Deming and Kaizen54
Goals Achievement Process (Kaizen for Practice and Business Improvement.)54
The Coaching Review for Team Member Improvement 56
Your Practice Development Map: The Stages in Developing Your Business61
The 5 Engines That Drive Your Business to Its Goals66
The 20 Big Shifts You Will Need to Make to Achieve Your Goals67
Self-Study and Review of Part 170
Part 2: The Map and Manual to Your Goals72
Stage 1. Launching or Relaunching Your business. The Marketing Stage75
Peter Drucker and the Purpose of Business79
What Is Marketing79
Becoming a Marketing Evangelist 80
Simon Sinek and Your Why82
8 Successful Marketing Attitudes83
Overcoming Fear of Marketing Using The 8 Marketing Attitudes and WOC
86
Direct Marketing Versus Indirect Marketing 89
Unique Selling Proposition and Your SOB92
Marketing Boosters and Fast Action Marketing Tactics 93
Stage 1 Study Review99
 Stage 2 Blueprinting Your New Business. New Roles, Goals, & Flows 101
Moving Past the Personality Driven Practice103
Servant Leadership: Your New Role – Coach And CEO.105
Goal Driven Team Members – Characteristics and Key Training Elements109
The Goal Driven Manager – A New Role Than Leverages The CEO Role112
Your Marketing Coordinator and Other Key Roles in Your Business114
New Goals: Determining Your Higher Goals and Calculating Your Financial Goals116
Tony Hsieh and Your Core Values123
New Service Flows: More Efficiency for Better Service 126
How To Find Bottlenecks, Eliyahu Goldratt and The Theory of Constraint
127
Creating Your Systematized Marketing Machine129
Marketing Mix Chart for Each Stage of Your Growth 132
Time And Money Charts to Showing How Much to Spend on Your Marketing at Each Stage. 134
Study Guide Review on Stage 2  136
Stage 3 – People and Procedures: Implementing the Blueprint141
Why Employees Are Disengaged: The Assembly-Line Mindset144
Hierarchy Of the Boss and Employees as “The Girls”146
Summary Of the Old Practice Management Model149
Big Shift #12: The Employee as A Goal Driven Expert and Team Member
150
Self-Determination Theory and Edward Deci: Secrets to Employee Motivation152
Daniel Pink: And Greater Purposes and What Motivates Us154
9 Steps to Making Goal Driven Expert Employees155
Hiring The Right People – Jim Collins157
Let My People Go Surfing – Yvonne Chouinard 159
Goal Driven Procedures: Faster and More Effective159
The Humble Checklist162
The Checklist Manifesto – Atul Gawande 163
Simplicity And 80/20 Principle – Richard Koch163
A Sample Checklist165
Big Shift #14: Goal Driven Continuous Improvement – the Engine Within Your Business. 166
The Learning Organization – Peter Senge168
Study Guide Review on Stage 3 172
Stage 4 – Using Lean Management to Improve Customer Service and Personal Power175
How To Deal With 5 Common Challenges When You Are Winning178
Lean Management: How to Get More for Less180
Why Your Service Needs to Be World Class 183
Your Replacement Is Being Shipped: The Dismantling of The Professions — Susskind & Susskind185
7 Barriers to Extraordinary Service187
9 Components to Delivering Goal Driven Outstanding Customer Service190
Ken Blanchard and Raving Fans190
Become The Best Like Pablo Casals, Jiro Ono, Clarence Gonstead191
19 Steps to Create Extraordinary Customer Experience194
Freeing Your Personal Power201
Ben Franklin and His Practical List of Virtues202
Martin Seligman And Virtues in Action203
The 3 Goals and Your Personal Power205
Study Guide Review on Stage 4 207
Stage 5 – Total Team Leadership – Your Goal Driven Business211
Managing The Groundhog Day Syndrome to Avoid Burnout214
Creating Team Leadership Is Now Possible. Here Is How:215
Integrating Your Greater Goals for a More Powerful Business220
The Golden Gate Bridge Again – and Your NEXT New Game.224
Study Review on Stage 5  226
Part 3: The Reason for Everything: The Heart of the Goal Driven Business228
Getting Out of The Box. How Quantum Physics Can Help You to Your Goals. Sheldrake, Frankl 231
Conclusion – Liberty 237
Part 4. The 23 Principles of the Goal Driven Business238
1.      Power of Choice 241
2.      Constant Improvement 244
3.      Goals 245
4.      Self-Determinism and Drive 247
5.      Reality – Confronting the Brutal Facts 248
6.      Communication 247
7.      Collaboration and Self-Organization Works Better 251
8.      The Bridge to Your Goals: Procedures and Policies 253
9.      The Vital Few and 80/20 254
10.  Keep It Simple, Make It Simpler 255
11.  Log Jams 256
12.  Leverage Points 257
13.  Newton’s Laws 259
14.  Be A Farmer – Grow Your Business and Your Customers 260
15.  Be A Hunter – Direct Your Unique Selling Proposition to You Target Market 261
16.  Goals, Games, Groundhog Day 262
17.  Deliver the Goods – Abbondanza! 264
18.  Roles 265
19.  Getting Away 266
20.  Training and Coaching Make an Expert Team 268
21.  Network Effects 269
22.  Our Thoughts Affect Our Business and Life 270
23.  The Golden Rule 272