In Chiropractic and Healthcare Clinics, Patient Reviews Are More Than Marketing

One of our chiropractic clients just sent me a patient review.

It expressed a profound improvement in the patient’s life. It was moving!

I am sure you have similar reviews.

Patient testimonials are useful in marketing and demonstrating your credibility. There is software that captures and encourages positive reviews, and you can just ask patients to write something about their wins. You can also record the patient talking about their health success in a short video. These can be included on your website, social media, and in your newsletter.

MORE THAN MARKETING

But testimonials and reviews are more than marketing.

FIRST, they are a personal statement sincerely expressed by your patient. Your patients courageously express their wins so other people can learn about them. They are standing up for themselves and the doctors and staff that helped them.

This is not a small thing — you should personally acknowledge any review you receive.

SECOND, you and your team may not always see or appreciate the outcomes of your combined work. Aside from providing clinical services, there is also scheduling, payments, note-taking, patient communication, and marketing. Plus, everyone shares a hundred other administrative tasks. All of this eventually results in a great result for your patient.

In college, one summer, I worked in a cannery. I was a “tray boy,” I put trays of empty cans on a stand and then took them off once the cans were filled with fruit (pineapple) from a conveyor belt that never stopped. That’s all I did. I never saw the completed canned products, their labeling, or even enjoyed eating them. I was basically a robot, a cog on an endless conveyor belt.

Similarly, team members can focus on their specialties and not always see the transformative results they are helping to create with patients. Work can become routine, just an assembly line that never ends.

LASTLY, the testimonial describes your WHY.

The idea of “Why” was popularized by Simon Sinek and his Ted Talk and posted on YouTube in 2009. He uses a 3 ringed circle to illustrate this idea.

The outside circle describes WHAT the business does. The next inner circle describes HOW the business does what it does. And the innermost circle describes WHY the business does what it does.

“Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent.

“Some know how they do it … But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by “why” I don’t mean “to make a profit.” That’s a result. It’s always a result.

“By “why,” I mean: What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? … the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations — regardless of their size, regardless of their industry — all think, act and communicate from the inside out.” *

Everyone in your office, patients, staff, and perhaps people in your community, know WHAT you do. You provide health care. Some of your team members might know HOW you do it – what procedures you use and how they work for patients.

But to have a fully engaged and motivated team, and even a patient community, you need to keep connecting them to WHY the offices does what it does. And not just the office “mission statement,” but WHY this is your mission.

IN YOUR OFFICE

1. Thank each patient for their review.

2. Connect team members and their work with the clinic outcomes and patient successes.

3. Connect everyone, including yourself, with the WHY of your services.

Ed

P.S. IN OUR OFFICE:

When the doctor sent me their patient’s review, I realized that, for all of us at Petty Michel & Associates and our Goal Driven Training, this was our WHY as well.

*references: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare