Tag Archives: chiropractic

End of Year Preparation for Your Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice

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From the front to the back of your practice

As farmers know, you must plan ahead and then work your plan. That is part of the Law of the Farm we discussed last week.

This is a short and fast reminder of some activities to consider as we enter into the last two months of the year:

  • Marketing – The front end of your practice. Keep it hopin’!

  • Business — The back end of your practice. Organize for the future.

MARKETING YOUR CHIROPRACTIC PRACTICE

With good scheduling and planning, there is no reason for disappointment in production for November and December. To help keep the atmosphere thankful, cheerful, and productive, here are a few promotional ideas:

Thanksgiving (U.S.A.) Turkey giveaways have been popular with many practices. The basic idea is to refer a friend and enter a drawing for a free turkey.

Thank-a-Veteran Day. Veterans Day – November 11. Special promotions, including free or discounted services or donations to local veterans’ organizations.

Donation Drives. Holiday time always brings an increased demand for helping those less fortunate. Within your office, you can set up a collection area for donation programs in your area.

Girl’s Night Out. This is a shopping/gift exchange that can take place in your office that builds community and helps generate referrals.

Poinsettia Give Away. Give away free poinsettias, one per family. Include cards with a gift certificate for family members or friends for your services.

Your External Referral Network. Deliver a fruit basket or other present personally during December with a card of thanks and mention how you are looking forward to another year working together for better health. Your External Referral Network would include any person or organization that referred a new patient to you, where you gave a lecture or screening, or in any way directly contributed to your office.

Patient Appreciation. Have a party. Your patients are part of your practice and health community. They are a select group of like-minded health seekers. Bring them together, recognize their efforts to improve their health in 2023 and 2024, and encourage them to help others do the same. Everyone gets Guest Passes to hand out to family and friends when they leave. (I still love the Flying Elvis’ coming in for a big patient appreciation party one office used to have!)

CHIROPRACTIC HEALTHCARE BUSINESS

Once you get your marketing plan worked out and in gear, take time to review the business situation of your chiropractic or healthcare practice. These behind-the-scenes details are important but not always urgent! They are pretty obvious – this is just a reminder!

Accountant. You will want to meet with your accountant to review your financial statements, including your balance sheet and profit and loss. There have been changes to retirement laws, so check with them about how they may affect you. Review your tax situation and explore strategies to minimize it. Ensure that all tax-related documents and filings are up to date.

Legal and Licensing. Check the status of licenses and permits and renew them as needed. Consult with your attorney to review contracts and legal obligations.

Employee benefits. Consider benefit reviews as well as bonuses.

Payors. You’ll want to review your insurance contracts and dump any that don’t bring a good return.

Fees. Take a look at your fees and make any adjustments that are needed.

Compliance. This can be delegated, but ensure that you at least minimally meet basic HIPAA and OSHA standards. You can check with your local state association for recommendations for these and any other requirements.

Budget Planning. Work out a general budget for next year that incorporates all the findings from your financial review and business goals.

This is not a complete list, of course.

Preparation is working on your business, not just in it, but it is just as essential.

Let’s end the year prosperous and secure for the future.

Ed

—————————————————-

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

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How to Grow a Chiropractic and Health Business

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How to grow a chiropractic business

I was recently invited to my son’s wife’s family’s apple butter cookout. Yep, that’s right, cooking apples over an open fire. It’s a tradition.

It is also apple harvest season up here in the northern Midwest. You got yur Honey Crisps, Honeygolds, Snowsweet, Fuki, Jonathans and others. Lots o’ apples!

Harvest time.

I bring this up because, well, it applies to your office. Here’s how:

THE LAW OF THE FARM

There is a metaphor called the “Law of the Farm” or the “Law of the Harvest.” Stephen Covey refers to this in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (I include a link to a short video below)

The concept comes from the observation that apples come from farmers farming. An apple orchard requires tender, loving care over the entire year from growers who plan and carry out disciplined regular work to ensure a bountiful harvest.

Aside from occasional droughts or freezes, if your harvest is poor, it is not because of the “apple spirits,” or that maybe you had a bad childhood. It is because one or more of the necessary preparatory actions needed to produce the apples were not done.

There are no shortcuts. Getting angry with the apple trees does not help.

YOUR CHIROPRACTIC AND HEALTHCARE PRACTICE IS LIKE A FARM

The Law of the Farm, or the Law of the Harvest can be applied to your practice in the following ways:

  1. Long-Term Planning. Just as a farmer plans their crops well in advance, a business should set clear goals and strategies for the future. This includes defining your mission, the key values of your team that determine its culture, the outcomes, and production goals.
  2. Investment and Resources. Just as a farmer invests in seeds, land, and equipment, you must invest in your resources wisely. First and most important, invest in your people, including yourself: training, coaching, and hiring. Marketing, in one form or another, is always a necessity. Updating software and equipment, occasionally, or the décor of your office is also an investment.
  3. Consistency and Diligence. Sticking to what works is vital. This is why I recommend job checklists as part of the Goal Driven System. It takes discipline to keep doing what works, but consistency brings about confidence in your patients and your team. Daily tasks and routines are like tending to crops regularly.
  4. Patience and Adaptation. Just as a farmer must wait for crops to grow and adapt to changing weather conditions, chiropractic practice owners must be patient and adaptable. Success may not come immediately, and you will face unforeseen challenges. Being able to adjust strategies and remain patient when unexpected failures occur is critical.

Looking at your practice as something you need to grow to produce excellent outcomes is a useful exercise.

Patience can be tough to master as a business owner when you have invested everything on the line. But if you have done your preparation, as all farmers must do, most of your concerns are for naught.

The Law of the Farm is a principle from which you can draw many associations to your practice. As an exercise, you might discuss this with your team: How can we apply the Law of the Farm to our practice and improve our service?

APPLES DO NOT COME FROM THE GROCERY STORE

Similarly, happy patients, completing their chiropractic or healthcare treatment program, being relieved of pain, healthier, and referring others do not come from the new well-advertised social media ad campaign. All the shiny new ads and promotions don’t make up for the Law of the Farm.

There are no shortcuts.

You reap what you sow — and nurture and take care of.

We are all farmers!

Ed

PS I also discuss this in The Goal Driven Business, #15 Goal Driven Principles, page 262 Be a Farmer: Grow Your Business and Your Customers

Watch this short video about the Law of the Harvest.

https://resources.franklincovey.com/mkt-7hv1/law-of-the-harvest-2

Improving Chiropractic Patient Follow Through

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The outcomes you produce as a doctor depend upon the patient following through with their care plan.

There are many procedures to help the patient follow through. But they all stem from the mission and goals of the office and the agreements made between the patient and the doctor on the initial visits.

  • Office Mission and Goals: Help people become healthier and function better.
  • Patient Goals and Plan to Achieve Them. These are discovered and defined with the doctor, and a plan is agreed upon to achieve them.

Everything in your office is based upon these goals and this plan. All staff interactions with the patient can be considered “standing orders” from the doctor derived from the agreement made with the patient. The authority to schedule patients, work out finances, and apply therapies are all based upon what the doctor has ordered based on the above goals.

Goalineering: Aligning Chiropractic Procedures with Patient Goals

Every few months, you can review the sequence of actions the patient experiences from their initial visit to completing their treatment plan. Look at all the points that influence patient commitment to their care plan. Look at what is done, what is said, and how it can be improved and better aligned with the patient’s goals.

This is engineering your procedures with your goals – or GOALINEERING!

For example:

  1. Diagnostic procedures. (Consultation and history – be thorough; don’t be superficial. Exam, imaging) Goal: Discover what the patient wants and needs.
  2. Report of Findings procedures. (Causes of issues. Plans: consequences of no plan, mini-plan, and thorough plan. Agreement or not to care plan.) Goal: Work out the best care plan and secure the patient’s agreement to achieve it.
  3. Post-Report of Findings procedures. (Financial agreement, scheduling agreement, agreements to office policies with a staff member who is an assistant coach!) Goal: Work out all administrative details with the patient on their care plan so they can focus on their health goals without distractions or confusion.
  4. Front Desk follow-up procedures. (Aggressively friendly and a demon on control as an assistant coach! Front Desk RULES the Roost!) Goal: Keep the patient on track to achieving their goals.
  5. Daily visit procedures. (Give encouragement and reaffirm goals.) Goal: Keep the patient motivated to achieve their goals.
  6. Progress exam/reports. (Show progress, give encouragement, and reaffirming goals.) Goal: Keep the patient motivated to achieve their goals.
  7. Other: (Rewards, e.g., t-shirt after 12 visits. Patient education class and patient successes.) Goal: Keep the patient motivated to achieve their goals.

Review these activities, practice the procedures, and refine them as needed. Also, document what you say and do and keep your notes for later review and training.

Do this, and you will improve patient retention and outcomes and follow through.

Ed

Chiropractors and Other Doctors: Do You Placate Your Patients?

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Goal Driven to tell the truth. Chiropractic, business management

Faith, Confidence and Belief

It is an oversimplification to say that chiropractors, and other doctors, who remain true to their principles and goals are less stressed and more productive.

And make more money.

But I’ve seen it.

You need Faith, Confidence and Belief (FCB!) in yourself, in your knowledge and skills, and what your office can do for people. (I learned about FCB from Dr. James Parker at a Parker seminar years ago.)

With these qualities, you can tell the truth and be honest. And stick to your guns.

A naturopathic and chiropractic doctor I follow on a social media site said this:

“If someone was poisoning themselves slowly with their lifestyle habits, you bet I let them know. Isn’t that what doctors are supposed to do? Truth be told, most everyone already knew. People aren’t stupid, just in denial.

“Last time I checked it’s our job to tell them the facts. Not placate them or worry about hurting their feelings with said facts…Because that’s what most doctors are doing. They beat around the bush so as to not offend.

“Of course, I was always professional and kind, but I still called a spade a spade.

“The word doctor means teacher, not enabler.”

CASE ACCEPTANCE AND FOLLOW-THROUGH FOR YOUR CHIROPRACTIC PATIENTS

From a marketing perspective, people buy from those they trust. And they trust people who have certainty.

If you equivocate – dodge the facts – your patient will see that you are unsure what the heck you are talking about. They will be less likely to commit to a care program or follow through.

On the other hand, if you apply your knowledge and skill with certainty and confidence when you look at their case, explain it to them, and recommend a treatment plan that is best suited for them, their chances of commitment and follow-through are very high.

WHAT GETS IN THE WAY OF YOUR TRUTH

One of the benefits of seminars is that your convictions can become rekindled. You are reminded of your truth.

But after a week or so, back at your office, the fire of your passion begins to dim. And rather than gliding through your day, it starts to feel like you are plodding through mud.

What gets in the way of your pure-hearted and stalwart convictions about health and your principles and purposes?

And what is it that slows you down?

ADMIN. Administration. Everything that is NOT patient-related. The organization and running of the support machinery of your practice start to pull you into its noise, worries, corrections, and sometimes drama.

Policies, procedures, and people do not all move smoothly and cooperate conveniently or get implemented as excellently as you hope. And this can be a major distraction.

Practice management can get messy!

This is why organizational structure and management are so very essential. Maybe not when you are a wild entrepreneur just starting out. But as your business grows, administrative details flood in – and clog up the works. More than most doctors realize!

AN ORGANIZER FOR YOUR CHIROPRACTIC ADMINISTRATION

The solution is to take time to work ON your business.

Then, assign someone to be your MANAGER to help you improve the organization and take care of the admin.

They will need training and you’ll need to work with them.

And to be direct, and not to beat around the bush, if you don’t do this, you will be forever stunted in your practice growth and work-life balance. And you will lose money.

But with an organizer, someone who is managing your practice administration, you will be less distracted and more grounded in your truth to help your patients get and stay on the best track for their health. And, your practice will be more profitable.

Our high-level training for your manager (and you) begin September 18. For more info below.

Keep to your truth,

Ed

Advanced Practice Manager Training, Beginning September 18.
Find out about it here.

MUSIC You made it this far, so enjoy some music – as a tribute to Robbie Robertson – The Weight – Playing for Change.

 

How is Your Chiropractic Head Game?

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chiropractic goal driven to strike out batters.

The Hidden Game of Practice Success
‘Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical’ – Yogi Berra

Hello Sports Fans!

For my 13-year grandson’s birthday, I bought him a book on sports: Ninety Percent Mental: An All-Star Turned Mental Skills Coach Reveals the Hidden Game of Baseball by Bob Tewsksbury.

I haven’t finished reading the book, but I know the subject – how the mind affects performance. I figure any tips I can give to my grandkids, the better chance they will have.

And I figure this also applies to myself, and perhaps to you.

In my book, The Goal Driven Business, I cover the 5 Engines to practice success. These are:

  1. Clinical outcomes and service
  2. Leadership
  3. Management
  4. Marketing
  5. Personal Power

No matter how competent you are as a chiropractic doctor, healthcare provider, or business owner, how inspiring you are as a leader, how consistent and enterprising you are as a manager, or intelligent as a marketer… if you don’t have the positive energy to make things happen, your practice will falter.

Personal Power is the “Hidden Game” of practice success.

The first chiropractor Dave and I worked with had multiple doctors and together saw over 2,000 visits per week. (I still have the stats!) A recurring theme he would tell his associates was that practice success was an “inside job.” This meant success was dependent upon their mental attitude.

But one’s mental attitude is dependent upon something much deeper. You can always “fake it till you make it,” which might sometimes be necessary. But it is not authentic.

What is authentic is your happiness. Happiness underlies your mental attitude. Your Personal Power comes out when you are happier.

So, how do you become happier?

Using Your Signature Strengths In Your Chiropractic and Healthcare Practice

One method that has been proven to improve a person’s happiness is to focus on your strengths – what you are good at – and less on what you are not so good at.

Martin Seligman, Ph.D., is a strong proponent of Positive Psychology. In his book Authentic Happiness, he discusses common virtues that all people in all cultures have agreed upon over time. These virtues can be translated into specific Character Strengths. Each of these strengths has 3-5 subcategories for a total of 24-Character Strengths.

We all have a different set of more dominant strengths, which Seligman calls our Signature Strengths. For example, one person may be strong in humor, gratitude, and fairness, while another person’s Signature Strengths could be creativity, curiosity, and gratitude.

“I do not believe that you should devote overly much effort to correct your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths.”

I cover this in practical detail in my book, The Goal Driven Business, and it is part of our upcoming Management and Leadership Training course, our 11-week intensive training especially for practice managers beginning on Sept. 18.

We all have our confusions and apprehensions — our mental monkeys that get in the way of our happiness and limit our Personal Power. You see this in your patients and staff, and I am sure you notice it now and then in yourself.

But a legitimate goal is to be happy, and in so doing, you can unleash your power and win at the “Hidden Game” of practice success.

By focusing on what you do best, and allowing your team to pick up all the rest, you can go a long way at winning the “Hidden Game” of practice development.

Having your team pick up “all the rest” requires good management. So I recommend you consider our Management and Leadership training for your manager this Sept.

Stay strong in your strengths,

Ed

You can take a survey and discover your Signature Strengths at
www.viacharacter.org

For more information about our Management and Leadership Training. www.GoalDriven.com/mba

Image: Wikipedia

Chiropractic Training Doesn’t Cost – It Pays

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“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler


I just returned from a Parker Chiropractic Seminar.

There were some excellent topics and knowledgeable and informative speakers. I met some wonderful chiropractors and staff, attended a few classes, and learned new things. And, as always, was thankfully reminded of old things.

Some doctors brought their staff. This can be expensive, I know. But it is worth it.

Employee education is essential. First of all, it pays off. Case studies of individual companies show that financial returns vary between an increase of 30% to even as much as 7,000%!*

Stats show that companies invest in employee training. For example, on average, smaller companies (from 100-999) spent $1,678 in 2022 and 67 hours per employee. The total spent on employee training in the U.S. in 2022 was 101 billion.**

This means that even if it costs $5,000 to take your team to a training seminar, you should see an extra $1,500 in collections on top of the money you’ve already spent.

People want to do their best but need the knowledge to do so. I often refer to the Self-Determination Theory, which, through research, has shown that all of us have an inherent desire for advancement and improvement. Good training supports this intrinsic goal.

Providing training for your staff shows that they are an integral part of providing patient care and achieving practice success. It demonstrates your respect for their value as team members.

The world is changing mighty fast — as you know. The Parker seminar had two keynote speakers discussing critical social and health-related issues that are rapidly developing and will impact practices. I will report on this next week. Staying current with evolving technology and social trends allows you and your team to stay innovative and in better touch with your community.

Parker has great classes, but there are many other practical seminars. In the fall, most state associations have conferences with training programs within driving distance of your office. And beyond seminars, there are online courses, books, and your personal teaching.

I often encourage doctors to assign staff to read relevant books, sections of books, or specific videos and bonus them for doing so. The staff can present what they learned at a team meeting so everyone learns.

It is easy to feel we don’t have the time or the money to invest in training – for ourselves or our staff. But with deliberate practice and coaching, training improves performance and income.

Like chiropractic, training doesn’t cost – it pays!

Seize the future through study and training,

Ed

References:

Toffler: “Rethinking the Future: Rethinking Business, Principles, Competition, Control & Complexity, Leadership, Markets, and the World” (1998m Rowan, Toffler)

Hiring, Retaining, and Engaging Staff Post COVID

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The Goal Driven Practice by Gallup

I remember listening to Bruce Lipton talking in San Francisco at a Life West seminar about how chiropractic was so advanced that cellular biology, specifically epigenetics, was just starting to catch up. My thought listening to him was that, while chiropractic was perhaps ahead of its time, its management was still in the Industrial Age.

Michael Gerber of E-Myth fame and many other consultants emphasize the importance of procedures. Procedures, systems, and routine methods that bring about consistent results are the “best practices” businesses strive to achieve. This is the basis of the franchise model.

But while procedures are important, people are more important.

Therefore, the most vital procedures are those that you use to help your people become more competent and motivated. These are leadership and management procedures.

Leadership and management have always been important. But we are in the 2020’s now, long past the Industrial model of assembly-line procedural work. We are past the Information Age. And now, past COVID.

The world has changed, and how we run our practices must also change. The old model of the dominating doctor and his secretary, or “girls,” hasn’t worked well over the last 20 years. And now, we have seen many offices struggling to find, retain, and engage qualified employees and doctors.

Just as my book, The Goal Driven Business, was being published, I became aware of another book that Gallup just recently published called It’s the Manager. Not to brag, but much of what they explain is also covered in my book, especially for practices. What I like about Gallup, aside from validating my information, is the stats from the hundreds of studies they have completed.

It is now vital that you take on the role of Clinic Director or senior manager, which is different from doctor or business owner, and develop your leadership and management skills.

In short, you need to create a Goal Driven team of employees, doctors, and patients – all working together to achieve positive goals. This is a holistic, even futuristic, model of business.

We have been building new courses to train doctors and their managers in leadership, management, and marketing principles which we will pilot later this summer. (Replying to this email lets me know if you might be interested. I will keep you in the loop.)

But let’s start creating your Goal Driven Dream Team now.

Let’s begin with a recommendation from Gallup:

“Gallup recommends that organizations immediately change their culture from old will to new will. These are the six biggest changes that we discovered: [I only include the first change below.]

“Millennials and Generations Z don’t just work for a paycheck — they want a purpose. Their work must have a meaning. In the past, baby boomers and other generations didn’t necessarily need meaning in their jobs. They just wanted a paycheck. Their mission and purpose were their families and communities. For millennials and Generation Z, compensation is important and must be fair, but it’s no longer their primary motivation. The emphasis for these generations has switched from paycheck to purpose – and so should your culture.”

Seize your future,

Ed

Do What You Do Best and Delegate All The Rest!

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Doctors doctor.

They care for patients and earn their trust. They get results and sweat the details.

It is upon your services as a caring and competent doctor that EVERYTHING ELSE in your office exists. The phones, the computers, the software, the supplies, the emails to you, and of course, the support team and all of the details they deal with — the whole operation is just there so you can see and take care of patients.

The office is there for you, your doctors, and providers to improve the health of your patients. We all know this, but sometimes, we can get lost in the forest of “Everything Else.”

Everything Else is all the administrative details and the confusion and conflicts that need to be sorted out each day. Everything Else is everything other than seeing your patients.

When you deal with administrative functions, the capacity for seeing your patients shrinks.

It costs your business thousands of dollars when you spend time on administrative details that someone else could be managing.

But, if you don’t take care of the administration, who will? Staff are helpful, however they don’t know as much as you, and probably aren’t as motivated. Your license, debt repayments, reputation, and livelihood are on the line.

Most doctors find themselves in a kind of a trap.

It is a nice slogan, To Do What You Do Best and Delegate All the Rest, but how do you do this? Whom can you delegate to? Which team member should you delegate work to, and when do you have the time to train them? When do they have the time to be trained? And on what are you going to train them?

How do you break out of this trap?

There are real reasons why this is difficult to do, and there are also fake reasons masquerading as real reasons.

Many of these reasons are hidden or even counter-intuitive, and so it is difficult to breakthrough and take your practice to the next level. But if you know what these barriers are and get some help, you can break out of the trap and build a business that is less dependent upon your management of administrative issues.

Here are just 3 suggestions that can help you.

Give It Up to Your Team. Your team wants to be empowered to do more. This fact comes from Self-Determination Theory. (I discuss this at length in my book, The Goal Driven Business.) They want their own sandbox to work, and once they have conquered that, they want to level up and somehow learn more and or do more. Just like you!

Your Lab. Part of the Goal Driven System includes the Lab. This is your Goals Laboratory. The Lab is where and when you work ON your business, not just in it. This is when you take the time for yourself, or with your team, or your coach or coaches and colleagues. This is where you will review, analyze, study, train, and recharge. Lab Time is time you take for improvement. Here you are not the DOCTOR. Here you are a coach for your team, a student for yourself, and the Clinic Director/CEO to review how your business is working.

The Vital Few and Pareto. Only a minor percentage of your work each day is vital. This is according to the Pareto Principle, which states that around 20% of what you do produces 80% of the important outcomes. The key is to recognize your 20%. With this principle in mind, don’t be fooled – you have the time to go to the Lab and work on improvement. Improving your business, like improving your patients, is part of the 20%.

If you feel that your practice growth is stuck, if you feel that your business can grow more, consider the three recommendations above. Read the book The Goal Driven Business, especially the Chapter You Can’t Get There From Here. You can also give me a call and we can talk. Maybe I can give you some tips that might help.

Let’s help more people!

Ed

PS I thoroughly cover how to get out of the Admin Trap in The Goal Driven Business.

Got a practice question? Interested in our upcoming management training program? Need help about something? Let’s talk.

Networking for Chiropractors and Health Providers

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 (This is part 2 following the last blog on the best known marketing secret.)

Networking is a marketing method that generates referrals from your direct efforts, from your patients, and from outside referral sources you have established. This is not only the most cost-effective form of marketing for new patients but helps to retain the ones you have.

YOUR PRACTICE IS A NETWORK

If you think about it, your practice itself is a network. A practice is a network of relationships created and sustained through communication and service. This is my definition, though yours could be similar.

Networking is simply creating a connection with another person in which you both share an interest in common and enjoy talking with each other.

Networking is getting to know people — who know people.

But I would also add – getting to know people you are interested in. Effective networking can’t be faked.

THE 4 COMPONENTS OF NETWORKING

I have seen 4 major components of effective networking:

  1. Genuine interest in people. The best health networkers are interested in their active patients, inactive patients, and people in their community.

  2. Genuine interest in the services they provide. The best networkers are excited about their services and what they can do for people.

  3. Give in abundance. Effective networkers are givers. They provide excellent clinical service as well as free assistance, such as health tips, special events, referrals to other providers or services, a book, or a smile. And they educate others about the health subjects their services address.

  4. Organization. A structured program needs to be in place to ensure net-working continues.

Venues for Networking

Table Talk. This is your private time with your patient. Be curious about them and how they are doing. Then, tell them about what is interesting to you about their health, about health subjects, and your services. Often, patients may see you for back pain but may not know that you also treat headaches and other issues.

Continue the Table Talk. Follow-up with your custom newsletters. I stress this routinely. You have hundreds, if not thousands, of people you have seen whose trust you have earned. You have started a relationship with them — why neglect it? This is why, for those offices on our new Mastery program (more about this soon!), we insist on sending out personal, customized emails for you monthly.

Social media is fine, but it is different. Posting a success story or an upcoming event is fast and easy. This helps with social proof and brand awareness. I have also seen it useful in short spurts for advertising, driving readers to a lead page, or making a phone call. But organically, few people will see your unboosted post. “If you have 2,000 Facebook fans usually only 2-5 people will see each post you publish” says Stuart Marler from Retriever Digital. (Mail Munch)*

Internal Events. In-house events from workshops on health to organic farming, barbecues, appreciation days, and yoga classes — the ideas are endless. And even if only 3 people show up, well promoted, you create the image that your office is an alive and vibrant health center.

External Events. There are the usual events: the Lions Club pancake breakfast, the local parade, the 5K Walk-Run, the art fair, the County Fair, and all the summer events that local communities host. These are great opportunities to meet new people.

Some doctors network with their church, or their local school affiliation as a high school coach, or with women’s groups like La Leche. Some doctors become involved with an ethnic group, and network with them. Se Habla Espanol? Often the connections are made via the patient.

You can also start creating your group. Visit the autobody shops and create a PI referral network. Or become the go-to source for local ballet, dance, and drama participants. Or, become THE motel chiropractor in town.

ORGANIZING YOUR NETWORKING

Organization. The biggest barrier to networking is a lack of internal structured organization supporting your marketing. I covered this years ago in the Marketing Manager System. Similar to the systems for your front desk and billing departments, you should have routine procedures, stats, and someone in charge of your marketing projects. And they need guaranteed time each week to work on the marketing.

Team. Each member of your team should be a trained and motivated networker – both in and out of the office.

The goal of networking. The goal of networking is the same as the mission of your practice: to help as many people as possible become healthier.

Stay interested and curious — give abundantly and educate.

Let’s do it!

Ed

Need some tips on how to improve your networking? Let’s talk.

* https://www.mailmunch.com/blog/email-marketing-vs-social-media

—————————————————-

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

 
 
 

Chiropractic Has Always Been Organic

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Chiropractic has always been organic. Earth Day, goaldriven

You can improve your marketing by aligning your services with positive causes in society.

A fitting example occurs this time of year.

Earth Day is on April 22 (Saturday). It promotes a healthy planet and stands for protecting the earth’s natural resources for future generations.

Earth Day had several early separate beginnings but was finally pushed home by a senator from the great state of Wisconsin, also its former governor, Gaylord Nelson. The first Earth Day was in 1970 and “brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform.”

But Senator Nelson was also a proponent of natural health and fought for chiropractic.

In a statement to Congress in 1963, Nelson said, “Chiropractic has become increasingly accepted as a safe and effective form of health care…I believe it is time that Medicare beneficiaries be given the opportunity to receive the benefits of this form of health care.” Nelson’s efforts helped pave the way for chiropractic care to be included in Medicare in 1972.

If you distill it all down, it is all about health: a healthy planet and a healthy body, naturally.

People want this – your patients and your community. They want a healthy planet and a healthy body.

This may not be apparent because of advertising and corporate news. There is a relentless pitch to your patients and community to eat cheap bad food, that a toxic environment is no big deal (“move along, nothing to see here”), and that drug stores are health stores.

But despite the billions spent on promotion and lobbying for bad food, bad medicine, and covering up the poisoning of our planet, the innate (and tribal) wisdom of us all prevails. The sales of organic foods and health supplements are booming. The natural healthcare industry, including chiropractors, acupuncturists, and integrative health providers, continues to grow. And there is increasing concern about how pollution causes deaths and illnesses, not to mention climate change.

I bring this up for two (2) reasons:

Reason #1: Marketing: Chiropractic and Earth Day

By aligning your office with Earth Day, eco-conscious consumers who value natural and sustainable products and services will see your services as a desirable alternative to medical practices. You are the obvious choice as health doctors.

Years ago, we put together some posters and pins related to Natural Health Week, coinciding with Whole Earth Week and Earth Day. Some offices still use versions of them! (Link below.) You can do something similar this Friday, next week, or all month. For example:

  • Hand out seeds to grow vegetables in the backyard. Include a coupon for a family member or friend.

  • Support a local health food coop and bring in healthy muffins for your patients.

  • Create a community clean-up drive.

  • Partner with environmental and health organizations. You can share events, newsletters, and create allied relationships.

But there is another reason I bring this up.

Reason #2: This reason is BIG. It will have to wait till tomorrow,
Wednesday, April 19.

But please stay tuned!

See you Wednesday!

Ed

Link to Posters and References at our blog.

 

Failure to Follow Through

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It is the ‘follow through’ that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop. — Charles Kettering

Failure to Follow Through

If it worked once it probably will work again

There is a management disease that many businesses, including chiropractic and other health practices, can suffer from. It is called “Failure to Follow Through.”

I noticed this at one of the first offices I worked with in Northern California – years ago. Their numbers were down. When I visited their office on a hot summer day, the reception room was empty, and few patients were scheduled. I noticed they had a thick binder of photos of patients and staff on the lower shelf of a dusty bookcase. The photos showed happy staff, doctors, and patients. There were also patient success testimonials, several years old.

We all met together for a staff meeting. I asked the doctor and staff if they could name a few specific actions they did back then. I said, “let’s start with marketing.”

Well, it turned out that they ran advertisements for a bi-yearly promotion. So I asked if they had done this in the last few years. “No” was their answer.

“What else were you doing at the time,” I asked. They said they always discussed financial and scheduling arrangements away from the front desk. Are you doing that now? “No.”

What else were you doing during that time? “We used to call the new patient after the first adjustment.” They also did progress exams. “Doing it now?” “No.”

The list went on and on.

Being the brilliant practice management scientist that I am, I encouraged them to re-implement what they had been doing. They did, and a few months later, the office was filling up again.

Practice Management

If it worked once, it probably will work again. Make minor improvements as needed, but why change the system if it is working?

Well, you can get bored, right? Or a staff member who knew the system left and their duties were not replicated by someone else. Or, everyone gets bored, so you feel the need to change things to bring excitement back into the office, and key procedures quietly start disappearing.

Discontinuing your successful procedures can create a roller coaster ride for your practice, with numbers going up and then down. And this can cost you thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.

A checklist of successful procedures is essential, but that is not enough. They need to be reviewed regularly.

That, too, is not enough. We need to keep the practice environment fresh and lively while still maintaining those activities that are helping us grow and develop. We are not on an assembly line, and we are not robots!

I cover this in my book, The Goal Driven Business. (See Goal Driven Principle #17, Goals, Games, Groundhog Day). This is part of the Goal Driven System of practice development and includes checklists, reviews and coaching, and other components, such as gamification.

Gamification is a new term for an old principle: we like to play games! As video games became more prevalent, businesses saw that they could adapt elements of gamification to help engage employees and customers. Nothing new, really.

To make your office feel new again, you can think of a new promotion for this summer or new colors to paint the office. Spend a morning reviewing your goals, mission, and policies, and then go to a spa for a reward! One office creates a health theme each year and makes t-shirts promoting the theme for staff and patients.

Keep it fun — but stick to your winning ways.

Patient Management

ALSO… like practice management, patient management can also be affected by failure to follow through. Your patients need help to adhere to their treatment plan to achieve their health goals.

Stick-to-itiveness is simply being true to our goals.

Make improvements along the way and keep it fun. But help each other and your patients follow through.

Your goals are waiting for you!

Ed

She Wanted to Teach Chiropractic Staff

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Greater Prosperity through Goals, Leadership, and Teaching.

woman teaching to a crowdEffective leaders are, first and foremost, good teachers.
We’re in the education business. — John Wooden

Greater Prosperity through Goals, Leadership, and Teaching

A highly productive and prosperous chiropractic clinic always has a goal driven team for support.

Motivation is directly linked to goals and leadership. When anyone pushes their way towards their goals, they are leaders. And one of the primary methods of leading is through teaching.

This is how you lead your patients to their health goals – you educate them at the initial report, the progress report, and each visit where you Table Talk!

In a Goal Driven Practice, eventually, everyone takes a leadership role. And leaders teach.

Teaching, in and of itself, is motivational.

She Wanted to Teach

I will never forget an outstanding example of this, though disappointing in some ways.

One of our clients hired a woman to be his office manager. She had big goals while working at another chiropractic office but was not encouraged to pursue them. So, she found an office, one that we worked with, where the doctor supported her mission.

She was a powerhouse on the front desk, but also worked with the staff and the doctor on improvement projects. She told him that she would work with him for one year, and if the numbers reached a certain level, she would replace herself, receive a substantial bonus, and move on. However, she had a bigger goal in mind. She wanted to begin a team training program for other chiropractic staff throughout the state.

We worked together on this plan for the entire year. The office was already busy and doing well. But after she started, we saw the volume increase significantly. She was a great team trainer, and after a year, she won her first game. The numbers increased on a sustained basis by over 20%. The owner was very pleased.

The disappointment occurred when she visited doctors around the state to encourage them to have their staff train with her. She also promoted her services to the state association. The reception in all cases was mild. She could not convince the doctors or the association of the advantages of having their staff on a professional training program.

She eventually took a high-paying position at a corporation in another state.

Teaching is Leading

As the chiropractor, and the Clinic Director, you are a leader – and a teacher.

In a Goal Driven Practice, you also want each team member to be a leader. The fact is, in their own way, they want to be leaders. Maybe not on the stage or in front of an orchestra, but leading by actively pushing their way to their goals and the office’s goals as well.

Each one of your team members has professional and personal goals. Just like you do. These goals should align with the goals of the office. You can help to unleash the power of these goals, for yourself, and for each team member, in the following ways:

1. Accept the fact that pursuing goals is leadership. And a function of leadership is teaching.

2. Do your own in-office seminars. Teach your team how to achieve the goals of the office, and especially, why.

3. Meet with each team member and help them write down their professional and, optionally, their personal goals. Then, help them achieve these goals.

4. Have them teach. For example:

a. At occasional staff meetings, one team member can give a presentation on some aspect of their job, a core value of the office, or a chapter in a book or a video.

b. In one year (or two) after they are hired, require all staff to help you give the first half of a lay lecture.

A Goal Driven Practice is not dependent upon the doctor. Instead, it is dependent upon goals and, as such, is more profitable, provides better service, and is more fun to work in.

Seize the future and your goals,

Ed

Contact us on the link below if you are interested in discussing how we can help you create a Goal Driven Practice.

Also, read my book! 😊

*https://www.expressionsofexcellence.com/ARTICLES/wooden_interview.html

Contact Us

The Generosity of Service

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How to be happier and more prosperous

One of the unique characteristics of Petty, Michel & Associates is that we visit offices and provide on-site coaching based on what we see.

I remember one doctor whom we worked with for several years. When I visited his office, as soon as he saw me, and the minute he was free, he’d say, “Ed, come on over here, let me check you.”

He didn’t ask permission.

He saw many patients in the morning and the afternoon and always took time over lunch for a workout.

He was focused on adjusting anyone in his sight. Patient after a patient. And because he was so focused, he communicated with certainty and authority and earned the trust of his patients.

If you can strip away from your mind all the administrative tasks, worries, and challenges and just focus on seeing patients, you’ll be happier and see more people.
All the “other stuff” slows down doctors, the administrative tasks that seem to multiply exponentially. Your mind can be either dominated by business concerns — or by the joy of giving and serving.

You have the skill and ability to help others, which must be honored and given full reign to be expressed to its total capacity. It shouldn’t be withheld or hoarded.

A well-trained team and a practice manager are vital. They allow you, and the other providers, to practice your art while they care for everything else.

I have talked to many doctors who visit third-world countries and flat-out adjust 100-200 people in a day. No admin interruptions, just individual after individual, courageously providing service and practicing their craft without concern about reimbursement. They have told me that they would get into a “Zone,” or into a flow… and experience an intense kind of present-time consciousness that they don’t experience in their offices.

Dr. Sid Williams, who founded Life Chiropractic University in Georgia, promoted the idea of “Lasting Purpose,” which was defined as “to give, to love, to serve in abundance without expecting anything in return.”

Being generous doesn’t mean giving your services away. Generousness is a mindset of abundance. It is not withholding your gift and craft but practicing your art freely and abundantly.

To do so, train your staff to take care of everything else and delegate the admin tasks to them. We can help with this. But it first starts by committing to a value of service generosity. In our company, Petty, Michel, & Associates, one of our core values is delivering services in “Abbondanza,” Italian for abundance.

In physics, every action has a reaction. This is also expressed in ancient texts: the more you give, the more you receive. You’re persuaded each day to get lost in admin concerns. Don’t. Get “lost in service.” Admin details need to be tended to, but only during non-patient time, and most should be delegated to your team.

Be a Giver and be generous. Educate, care for, and help more people. Take on this attitude, and you’ll have more fun and be more prosperous.

Ed

*Sid Williams quote: https://lifewest.edu/dr-sid-williams-honored-in-life-wests-sid-square/

Bruce Lipton and Physician Health Thyself

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Edward Petty with Bruce Lipton, PhD GoalDriven.com petty Michel and associates

Edward Petty with Bruce Lipton, PhD – GoalDriven.com – Petty Michel and Associates

Why doctors should stay Innately positive and healthy

Chiropractic is more than a mechanical act to improve a patient’s health.

I remember years ago attending a Parker seminar when Dr. Jimmy was still alive and seeing a large drawing describing “Innate to Innate.” A concept I believe he may have learned from Thurmond Fleet who developed Concept Therapy.

Bruce Lipton, PhD, is a cellular biologist, has taught at University Wisconsin Medical school, at Stanford, as well as Life Chiropractic College West. I have heard him speak on several occasions, read his books (Biology of Belief) and consulted with him personally about my book (The Goal Driven Business.)

I think Dr. Lipton expresses the concept of Innate scientifically:

There’s a concept in quantum physics called “entanglement,” which is when one energy source entangles with another so that they interfere with each other. This interference can be positive and harmonious, as with energy healing, or it can be negative.

Physicist Amit Goswami published an article in a physics journal showing that entanglement affects people. He had two people meditate together and then separated them into two chambers where they couldn’t see or hear one another. When one person had a light strobed by his eye, it caused the firing of a certain frequency in the brain. Remarkably, at the same moment, the other person’s brain also fired, even though he never saw the light. This proves what we intuitively knew, that the energies of people can affect one another.

What Goswami’s study demonstrated is that when two people become entangled, one person will conform to the energy of the other person. When one of them is a healer whose cells are vibrating at a higher level, the client’s cells become entangled, and their energy is lifted. That’s why that old saying, “physician heal thyself,” is so important, even though most don’t understand it: If the physician’s energy is going to influence or, in scientific terms, “entrain” the patient’s, the doctor’s must be higher. (source on blog)

I have seen examples of this in many of my office visits over the years. You might have an interesting discussion with your staff at a team meeting about how the “vibes” of the office affect the patients.

Has anyone pulled a patient file and the patient suddenly called? Have you ever had a great team meeting the phones start to ring? Have you seen a patient improve just because you felt connected to them?

So, please stay healthy and stay positive, in alignment with your greater purposes and greater powers.

And pass it on.

😊

Ed

Lipton: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/healing-over-the-phone_b_1011510

 

BARC Basic Activity Recovery Cycle

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yoga helps chiropractic care and practice management

Otherwise known as taking a break

We need to take breaks.

Small breaks every few hours, longer breaks every week, even longer breaks every several weeks.

Our bodies and our minds require periodic interruptions from our work, according to the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle theory, as discussed by Loehr and Swartz in their book, The Power of Full Engagement. We need to take time away whether we agree to it or not, it seems.

The authors present evidence that supports this theory and explains this cycle as activity and then recovery.

They say:

“We can only push so hard for so long without breaking down and burning out. Stress hormones that circulate chronically in our bodies may be temporarily energizing, but over time they prompt symptoms such as hyperactivity, aggressiveness, impatience, irritability, anger, self-absorption and insensitivity to others.”

“We live in a world that celebrates work and activity, ignores renewal and recovery, and fails to recognize that both are necessary for sustained high performance.

“The simple, almost embarrassing reality is that we feel too busy to search for meaning.”

So take small breaks and then larger breaks to disengage so that you can better engage with your patients and with each other to provide better service.

And support your team to do the same.

I’m not promoting this so you can let up on your production goals or so that you can be nice to your team. Far from it.

Production goals (New patients, Visits, Collections) need to be balanced with organizational improvement goals. AND THESE need to be balanced with greater meaningful goals.

So take some time to surprise your kids with a fun adventure, have a long lunch date mid-week with your spouse, spend a day volunteering, or travel to Costa Rica to play in the waves and take in some yoga.

Like I’m doing now!

Carpe Futurum (Seize your Future)

Ed

How to improve performance by taking more breaks is thoroughly covered in my book The Goal Driven Business which you can purchase here.

Goal Driven Business

 

 

Your Patient’s New Year’s Goals

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Your patients’ goals are why we are here.

They are why your staff came to work today and why you went to your last licensing seminar.

Your patients’ goals are why you have a practice and are in business.

So, what are your patient’s goals? What do they want?

On the surface, it is usually to relieve discomfort or pain.

So, like you do, after your initial consult, exam, and imaging, you tell them the cause of their pain and present your treatment program. They nod in agreement, and you begin care.

But when the patient sees the staff member to work out their finances and scheduling, they may have a glazed look and not be too sure what you just told them. Something-something about submarines, or joints, or spondy low dices.

The next week you wonder where they are. Your front desk does recalls. You spend money on more marketing to get more new patients.

You may have experienced a version of this in the past.

And at home, the patient may even feel that they got what they wanted or thought that they wanted. Maybe they feel better. But did they really get what they wanted?

There is a quote questionably attributed to Henry Ford: “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!'”

I get the point. But what people wanted, though they did know about a Model-T, was to travel faster with less horse poop.

You know that four adjustments, in most cases, won’t provide the health solution that the patient needs. But your patients don’t know what you know!

Was that why they didn’t come back for another visit, because you didn’t educate them enough? No.

Was it that you did not motivate them enough? No.

An excellent book on sales that I recommend is by Harry Browne, The Secret of Selling Anything. Brown points out that people are already motivated. 

You don’t have to motivate your prospective patient when you initially see them. You just need to discover what is already motivating them.

This takes place in your initial consultation and history, which I feel is the most crucial part of the new patient onboarding process.

Brown offers these three steps.

  1. Discover. Discover through intense listening what they want. For example:
  • What do you consider most important for you about your health?
  • What do you think is the biggest problem regarding your health?

These questions, and others, open the door to understanding what the other person wants. And if they know you understand them and are authentically interested, they will be more inclined to listen to you and trust you.

  1. Summarize. The second step is to summarize what the patient said about what they want. This brings out what they said on the table so that you both can agree. For example:
  • So, as I understand it, you are looking to get rid of the pain, not for just a week, but altogether so that you can get back to playing polo with your grandkids, correct?

Now you both can agree on what they want.

  1. Solve the problem. The third step is educating them on what you have found after your exam and imaging. But you direct the education to exactly what they especially want. Now they are interested because you are addressing the motivation that they already had.

This is a simple procedure that is genuine and caring. Not always easy to find these days, so you will stand out from others by using this method.

I would even spend time now and then rehearsing this. Even the pro’s practice.

Brown is not the only person who has offered this procedure as it is so fundamental. But we can never be reminded of the basics enough. He also said:

…the secret of success is:

 Find out what people want and help them to get it.

Help your patients achieve their goals in 2023, and they will help you achieve yours.

Seize 2023!

Ed

The Future

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It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future.
(Viktor Frankl)

Traditionally, the first of any New Year is an excellent time to take stock of the prior year and make plans for the year to come.

Goals

In business, there are two (three, but for now, we will look at two) types of goals for your business:

  • Production Goals
  • Organization Goals

Setting production goals for where you want to be 12 months from now is the easy part of goal setting. The hard part is working out the organizational support you will need to achieve your production and collections goals. It could be more than you think!

But keep this in mind:

chiropractic and your services are never the primary barriers to practice success.

It is always management. It is the administrative issues connected with organization, including marketing, that gum up the work, gets in the way, slows your business down and holds you back.

Motivation

Part of management is managing your motivation. Yep… motivation needs to be managed. Keeping your spirits high and your drive strong is necessary for an organization to flow.

And this takes us back to your goals.

Visualizing achieving your goals will stimulate your motivation – and your drive. If you can’t see any way to your goals, well, that can be depressing. But if you can… if you can envision accomplishing your future goals, you will be motivated.

Viktor Frankl

I reference Viktor Frankl in my book, The Goal Driven Business.
Speaking of his experience in a concentration camp, “As we said before, any attempt to restore a man’s inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal…”

He also said, “Even when it is not fully attained, we become better by striving for a higher goal.”

For your goal setting for the New Year, I recommend you start with your higher goals, the 3rd type of goal, which are beyond production and organization. For example, what brings you bliss? What gives you meaning?

  • Time with family and friends?
  • More vacations to more interesting places?
  • Going for the WIN of your best production and collections year ever?
  • Building a church?
  • Getting a diplomate in nutrition?
  • Improving patient outcomes?
  • Speaking out about health issues more?

Begin with these goals – the higher, wilder, richer ones. Then, look at your production goals, then your organizational goals.

I encourage you to dream just a bit and look at next year as your playground. What higher, richer, and wilder adventures would you like to accomplish?

Have some fun considering these types of goals and all the ways you would like to achieve them. This will add zest and a special spirit to your production and organizational goals.

Help with Your Future

We want to help you with your future. Your work is important, and helping you achieve your goals has been a driving force and a higher goal within our company for over 30 years.

For 2023, we have a few openings for our Private Client status on our Goal Driven Program.

If you are interested in working with us, please reply to this email, and we will schedule a time to talk.

All of us at Petty Michel & Associates want to help you achieve your goals in 2023

Seize the Future! (Carpe Future)

Happy New Year

Ed

Reference. More information on this is covered in sections in The Goal Driven Business, starting at page 19 and page 116.

What gets measured gets done

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Your Goal Driven Analytics Scoreboard

Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Sometimes you think things are worse than they are.

But then again, sometimes you think things are going better than they are. And then, BANG! Poop hits the fan!

What is the best way to determine how your business is doing?

Your Scoreboard

Your numbers are the best indicator of your Key Performance Indicators. They are your dashboard. Your Google maps. Your altimeter, as you take your business off the runway and up towards your goals.

In our consulting work, too often we see major management changes based on a minor error, hearsay, or emotions. This can have long-term devastating results.

On the other hand, improvements that show up on the stats can be ignored if no one is watching them.

One office we worked with continued to see an increase in new patients referred from a local gym. But amidst the busyness of the daily patient care, they hadn’t noticed. Since we closely monitored their numbers, I saw this increase in new patients from a local business on their New Patient Tracker. After discussing this with the doctor and manager, they finally took action to strengthen this valuable relationship. Last I heard, they are continuing to get referrals from this location.

You can miss the good things — as well as the coming crash. Numbers help you predict what needs fixing before things get ugly and what needs reinforcement to keep the good times going.

Ultimately, statistics tell you if you are moving towards your goals or away from them.

Unfortunately, most offices do not keep clear and consistent track of their numbers.

As a result, business owners do not get the information they need to manage their business properly. Software can spit out reports which can help, but they are not enough. And usually only partly used, if at all.

Here are some fast tips for your stat analysis scoreboard:

  • Key numbers. Monitor numbers week-to-date and month-to-date, especially new patients, visits, charges, and collections.
  • Individual providers. If you have multiple providers, find some way to measure their production. This can help both of you manage performance.
  • Percentages. Use percentages, such as visits divided by new patients, to give you an idea of how long your patients are staying with you.
  • This year to last year. You should be able to compare this year-to-date with last year-to-date.
  • Line charts. We use line graphs plotted over a couple of years. These clearly show what is trending — up or down.
  • New patients. Track the sources of your new patients as well as the types of new patients.
  • Weekly reports. Have someone in your office give you a daily, or at least a weekly and monthly statistical report.

Keeping statistical analysis in place has proven so valuable for offices that many clients have asked us to keep providing their stat analysis for them years after completing an intensive service with us.

While this is not a major service we offer, we realize how useful it is in our Goal Driven System of management.

Therefore, we have decided to start offering our Goal Driven Analytics program as a service to more offices.

We are only taking 5 new clients on this program for now, first come, first serve.   It is moderately priced and, as most of our clients can verify, managing by the numbers is invaluable. To learn more about the program, we’ve posted some more info, with the link below. If interested, just reply to this email, and we can set up a time go over the details.

But whether we provide you with your statistical analysis or you set it up yourself, I can’t recommend a more valuable management tool for managing your business profitably. Not only is it effective, but it is fast!

Your analytics scoreboard will help you smoothly navigate to your goals.

To your greater prosperity,

Ed

More info on the Goal Driven Analytics Scoreboard.

Health Never Takes a Holiday

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fitness santas

Let the parties begin!

It’s beginning to look a lot like that special time of year. That very busy time of year with parties, food, traveling, shopping, cooking, and extra tasks.

A wonderful time of year. BUT…, please remind your patients that

Health Never Takes a Holiday!

They shouldn’t stop brushing their teeth, taking showers, or taking a pause from their yoga classes! These are all health activities that are just as important as their health program with you.

Yes, it’s OK to have an extra slice of pumpkin pie, stay up a bit later wrapping presents, or have a few drinks with an old acquittance, but encourage your patients to stick with THEIR health program.

Stopping and then starting again is tough. You lose your gains and momentum… so it is easier to just keep the ball rolling.

You can make a poster to help you remind your patients to keep working on their health. It also reminds you and your staff to keep your patients on track. Add something to your newsletter or a whiteboard with your Table Talk.

And in the spirit of the Season, you can click below to download free customizable sample posters for your patients. (We have many posters and patient scripts for our clients.)

Keep your patients Goal Driven to improve their health for a happier future!

Then, keep calm and party on!

Ed

Link to Posters- Health Never Takes a Holiday

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