Tag Archives: fall

The Real Reason For Low New Patients

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Why Two Chiropractic Doctors Couldn’t Grow Their Practice

A few years back, a long-time client of ours gave me a call and said that he had hired two new doctors.  He asked if I would visit his office and see if I could help them grow their caseloads.

I told him that I was happy to pay him a visit.  A month later, I was touring his office and interviewing his team.  I then went out to lunch with the two new associate doctors.

I got to know them and asked them questions.  They were not shy about their goals. They told me that they wanted a “high volume” practice.  They boasted that they felt that it would not be difficult to see as many visits per month as the senior doctor by the end of the year.

They went on about philosophy, BJ Palmer’s “Green” Books, clean food and wellness. Both were young and looked fit and seemed eager.

They said that they wanted marketing help. They talked about how they had been working on social media, but felt that the owner doctor wasn’t supporting them enough by buying advertising.  It wasn’t blatant, but they seemed to be blaming him.  I acknowledged this and said that was something we could look into.

I knew that their practice statistics were very low. I told them that marketing comes down to caring about people – caring enough to talk to them, and caring enough to be honest about how you can help them.

They nodded like zealots. “Absolutely!”

I then said:

“OK, look around this restaurant and describe a possible health issue with some of the customers. Just pick one and do a very preliminary screening based upon the way they are sitting or walking.”

This didn’t go as well as I had thought it would. Both doctors, I discovered, didn’t look at the fellow customers in the restaurant.  So, I prodded and finally got one of them to mumble a possible health issue with someone who was walking out.

I then asked each for their business card. Neither had one on them.  I paused to give them a look: “What?”

I had taken a couple of their cards each before lunch and placed two of them in front of each doctor.

Then I said:

“I liked what you both said about wanting a large practice and wanting to help more people. I would like to help you. So, to start, I would like you to get up from this table and find someone in the restaurant, introduce yourself, and hand out your card. If possible, make an appointment for them to come see you.”

They both looked at me as if they saw a ghost.  Gripped by fear, they both slumped down in their chairs. Neither would do it.

Seeing this, I suggested they talk to the cashier or waitress, or the manager.  Now the fear turned to a dismissive attitude, as if this exercise was beneath their dignity.

We ended lunch and went back to the office. We met with the owner doctor and discussed the situation. Over the following weeks the two doctors agreed that the relationship wasn’t working out and decided to leave on good terms to start their own office.

— — —

You don’t have to be a hyper-extroverted charming salesperson to be an effective marketer. In fact, this may act against you. The largest office I have ever worked with was seeing over 2,000 visits per week.  And the owner was serious and gruff, and talked like an angry fishing boat captain.

Marketing starts with a burning desire. It begins with an almost obsessive drive and purpose to help others by getting them into your office.  Marketing then depends on your belief and confidence in your skills and service. And it hinges entirely on how much you really care and empathize with each patient or prospective patient. And then, there is the effort you put in. You gotta do the work, and this means sometimes long hours, long weeks, and long months.

And as the C.E.O of your business, it also means getting the rest of your team to feel the same.

Again:

  1. Desire. Drive
  2. Confidence and belief.
  3. Compassion and empathy.
  4. Effort. Work. Sweat!

There are thousands of different methods to market your services. These may include “social media,” big goals, and “philosophy.” They may include newsletters, workshops, or back to school promotions. But in the end, marketing is communication, whether done electronically, through print, in groups, or one on one.  It is always and especially – one on one. In time, you will find what works best for you.

But no number of manuals, books, or coaching will do a damn thing for you if you don’t have the desire, the belief, the empathy or put in the work.

Marketing Plans for Your Chiropractic Office This Fall

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As we move from the summer months into fall, I thought that it might be helpful to preview some marketing ideas for the rest of the year.

Below is a link to several articles on our web site referencing marketing procedures and programs for the autumn and the early winter months.

Marketing is basically physics: for energy to come in, energy has to go out.

Ideally the energy is well directed and of a high quality, but mainly, it has to get out.  Quantity first, then gradually, improve the quality.

But everything is done twice: first in your mind and then in the world. First comes the meta-physics, then comes the physics

This is why the most important and first step starts with you – your faith, confidence, and belief in what you are doing and especially, why you are doing it.

Organizational system failures or personal situations can often get in the way that distract us and cause us to lose sight of our purpose or of the great results we have achieved for others in the past.

And, there will always be the negative few that seem to outweigh the positive many.

Sometimes we focus on the “barking dogs” that come out to chase us for a while rather than concentrating on the fire we are racing towards to put out.

Marketing is about communication. It is an “outflow” that sooner or later, directly or indirectly, generates an “inflow.”  It is your creative voice that is either filled with mission and purpose, or is forced and desperate. Stymied by failures or disappointments, our “voice” can recede to a whimper or a mumble.

But the fear that can grip us is mostly an invention because too often, we take things too seriously.

The fact is, as Ben and Rosa Zander point out in their book, The Art of Possibility, most of life is just “invented.”  I listened to Ben Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, give an inspirational presentation at the chiropractic seminar called the WAVE in San Francisco in August.

He advised that when we slip and make a mistake, we should just throw out our arms, lean back slightly and exuberantly and say: “Fascinating.”   We just can’t take things too seriously and instead we should move on passionately expressing ourselves. Not bad advice from a maestro whose goal is to get musicians to play better.

You could also go out to a field or park and just yell: “I am the greatest and the world loves me and wants to come to my office.”

Don’t be surprised if the universe cooperates.

Marketing your services, like helping people get better, should be enjoyable. It should be fun. You should be smiling and laughing.

And you know, as the song goes:

♪ When you’re smiling, ♫When you’re smiling,♪
♫The whole world smiles with you,♫
♫When you’re laughing, ♫When you’re laughing,♪
♪The sun comes shining through,♫
♫Wishing you plenty of smiles and all the best,♪

Ed

Click Link for more Marketing Articles

Here is a great rendition of the song by Frank Sinatra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=351l62Yx0oI

Fall Chiropractic Marketing

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Here are some quick ideas for you to consider for your fall marketing of your chiropractic services.

There are different approaches to these themes and projects. Please give us a call anytime for advice on how to implement them. You can also find them on your MMS computer program. For those of you on the MMS Coaching program, you can also find information on your Member’s site, which is updated often.

Internal/External

  • September – Kid’s Day
    i.    Spinal Care Class (New patients and their guests friends.)
    ii.   Care To Share Program (Referral drawing)
  • October – “Pinched Nerve Awareness Week” (October is national Spinal Health Month.)
    i.    Reactivation Program
  • November – “Headache Awareness Week”
  • December – Donation Drive
  • January – Weight loss and Fitness Programs

Community Services
Now is an excellent time to work on setting up your external community events. Schedule workshops and screenings in business, clubs, and organizations over the next 5 months – through January.

An important key to setting up these events is knowing what it is you are going to provide. For example: a workshop on headaches, or fitness, or a screening, or something else entirely.

We have found that there is a direct ratio between having a clear idea of what service you are going to provide and the success in scheduling the event. Here are some ideas, but again, there are many more on your MMS computer program and please call if you have any questions.

  1. “8 Healthy Home Remedies for Relieving Headaches”
  2. “How to Stay Fit When You Sit”
  3.   Company Health Fair
  4.   Employee Appreciation Luncheon

Lastly, and as always, keep yourself inspired.  One way to do this is to keep learning and working on improving your procedures.   Fall is not just a time when children get to learn. We always have the opportunity to improve if we just study.  We can analyze our new patient intake procedures, our patient education programs, our clinical protocols for different cases, etc.

If you are feeling like your practice is getting boring, just study it. Learn how it could be improved.  A professional is constantly improving.

Till next time,

Ed