Here it is your weekly

Chiropractic Marketing Newsletter (week 25)

-Revealing all of the “SECRETS” free of charge

I WILL BE STARTING A NEW FREE SERVICE FOR CHIROPRACTORS. CAN’T TELL YOU YET, BUT IT WILL HELP YOU MAKE MORE $$$. JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE I DO FOR YOU. TO START RECEIVING THE NEW SERVICE, YOU MUST BE SIGNED UP.

IF YOU ARE ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER TO THE FREE CD’s OF THE CONFERENCE CALLS THEN YOU DON’T NEED TO SIGN UP AGAIN, AS I WILL BE USING THIS DATABASE.

IF YOU HAVE NEVER SIGNED UP FOR THE CD’s THEN YOU WILL NEED TO SIGN UP NOW IN ORDER FOR YOU TO RECEIVE THE NEW SERVICE. (HINT-IT INVOLVES ATTORNEY MARKETING)

“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” –Albert Einstein

What Are Your Assets?
If you asked a room full of chiropractors to list the assets of their practice
down on a piece of paper, here’s what you’d typically see…

1. My office
2. Adjusting tables and other equipment
3. My computer
4. My FAX machine
5. Furnishings

…and what happens is THE most important asset never end up making its way onto the list.

THE PATIENTS.

Your list of patients is the most important and valuable asset you have as a chiropractor
- hands down, bar none!

In every successful business and professional practice, the customer or patient is perceived as, and is treated as, THE most important asset.

Think about it for a second…Let’s just say for arguments sake that your average patient comes to see you just 25 times over the course of their patronage to your practice. (I sure hope you’re doing better then this, but let’s just use this number.) And let’s just say that the average patient
is spending $40 per visit with you. That means that the average client for you is worth $1000.

As a quick side note, that # is actually known as what is called the Lifetime Value of a patient (LVP), and is something that you should try to calculate for your own practice.

The easiest way to calculate LVP is to simply ask yourself, “What does my average patient spend with me over the course of the lifetime of them being my patient?”

Getting back to my original example…take that $1000 the average patient spends with youand let’s just say that you get only 1 new patient a month, or 12 new patients each year. (You better be doing better then this, but let’s just use this number)

Those 12 new clients a year, not counting your existing client base, are worth $12,000 to you ($10000 x 12 = $12,000). Combine that $12,000 with what your current patient base spends and what do you get…something that’s very valuable…something that’s more valuable than any other asset that you have. Of course your numbers will be larger, this is just to show you the inherent value of your list.

Now…because your client list is so valuable, you need to make sure that you do two things with it:

1) Nurture that list with frequent contact,
frequent offers, and fantastic mind-blowing
customer service.

2) Consistently take measures to increase the
amount of money…the Lifetime Value…of what
your average client is worth to your practice. (Back end purchases)

The key is to consciously make it a point to take measures to increase the amount of money that each client spends with you over the lifetime of their patronage to your practice.

Remember something…you shouldn’t feel bad or uncomfortable about getting your patients to spend more money with you if you believe in the service you provide, and your ability to help your patients.

No…it’s just the opposite. You should feel great about getting your patients to spend more money on your services and products, because that means you’re helping more people experience the benefits of what you do. That’s obviously a very good thing, and hopefully why you got into chiropractic in the first place.

So, again, the key is to take consistent measures to maximize the Lifetime Value of each patient…to increase the amount of money that each client is worth to your practice.

Here are the 4 ways that you can do that:

#1. Increase the average purchase size.

This is where the value of up-selling your patients to larger bundles of non chiropractic services such as massage services and nutritional products comes in to play.

You should always be creating marketing systems to up-sell your patients from an “entry level” purchase to a purchase that gives more value to both you and the patient.

#2. Increase the frequency of repeat purchase.

This is where using things like frequent massage clubs, automatic re-supply of nutritional products.

#3. Offer your existing patients a greater variety of products and services, such as pillows, vitamins, cold laser, spinal decompression.

As I teach in my No BS coaching program, your Patients are always wondering, “What’s new” or “What’s next”, which is why you have to become prolific at creating new packages/bundles that you can offer them.

My Opinion, Yellow Pages A Waste Of Money

Yellow Pages advertising has changed from one of the best ways to advertise to one of the worst. You have no idea how often I hear doctors tell me that their Yellow Page ad doesn’t attract many new patients and they’re stuck with a monthly expense in the thousands. Advertising in the Yellow Pages today is almost a total waste of money.

Most practice management companies, (check with them all) have downsized the ads for over 90% of their clients. The low numbers of new patients generated doesn’t warrant the cost of an ad.

Today fewer people are using the Yellow Pages to find a doctor! In the past, Yellow Page ads attracted major medical, Medicare, cash, Workers’ Compensation and PI patients. Then along came the HMOs and PPOs which took over the major medical market. Today, 70% of prospective patients look in their HMO and PPO directories, either the book supplied to them or on-line to determine which doctors to go to. They don’t look in the phone book!

Now your Yellow Page ad attracts cash and Medicare patients who characteristically are of a lower case value.

Yellow Page companies thrive because their advertisers never bother to see if they are getting their money’s worth.

In my opinion, the doctor’s Return On Investment (ROI) is usually too small to continue advertising in this media.

Another new problem is that there are too many telephone books. Advertising in multiple books is too expensive. If advertising in one book returns a very poor ROI, advertising in three books will compound your loss three times. Neighborhood books are ineffective and are a waste of money.

If doctors reduce their Yellow Page ad in the main Yellow Page book to place one in a neighborhood book, they will reduce their ROI from the main book and get an even lower ROI in the neighborhood book — a double loss.

The books are too cluttered. There are too many divisions within the same telephone book, i.e., clinics, chiropractic physicians, etc. This confuses the prospective patients and lessens your chances of attracting these patients.

If you are set on doing a Yellow Pages ad then look for a three-to-one ratio — or higher. Every dollar you spend on a Yellow Page ad should make you $3.00 or more. One dollar goes towards your overhead, one dollar pays for the ad and the third dollar is your profit for your work. There are no exceptions to this rule.

To determine if you are achieving a minimum three-to-one ratio, use the following three-step method:

1. Total up the number of new patients that were attracted to your office by your Yellow Page ad over the previous 12 months and the services rendered to these patients.

2. Determine how much you paid for the ad for the prior 12 months.

3. Divide the amount of money you spent for your Yellow Page ad into the number of services you rendered to these patients and see whether you have a three-to-one ratio or higher. (Your services should be three times higher, or more, than the cost of your ad.) If your Yellow Page ad produces less than a three-to-one ratio, it’s a dog. Don’t repeat it.

Note: Don’t skip the above step. While it entails a bit of work, it’s the only way to determine your ROI. When you don’t know your advertisement’s ROI, you will be wasting most of your advertising dollars.

I always wanted better ways of dealing effectively with challenges, without sacrificing a rich private life. Like you, the last thing I want is more weekends away from my family and fun. That’s why I spent the last five years developing and testing my coaching program.

“Why would you pay another consultant thousands of dollars, plus travel expenses, for you and your staff, lose income being out of your office or quality time with your family (weekends, vacations, etc) when you can have all the Practice Building and Marketing information you need at an affordable rate with? There are no hidden expenses, no upsells or $3000.00 boot camps to push, because I give it all to you for one very low monthly price of just $100 and you get 100% of my support. My January 2008 class is sold out. In order for me to give you the personalized attention that most of you need I only accept 10-12 people a session, so please if you are interested in joining me for the April 1^st class, let me know now, it will fill up very quickly. If your situation is truly desperate and you truly (don’t BS me) can’t afford the money right now but would like to be part of the April program, contact me and I will defer you monthly payments until you start making some money. But please, don’t take advantage of me, if you can afford it don’t tell me you can’t. CLICK HERE if you want more info.

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS TED KOREN CONFIRMED

I have spoken to my friend Ted Koren, DC, he has agreed to do a conference call on MONDAY JANUARY 17^TH AT 9 PM (EST). Ted will be discussing how to successfully market your practice using printed materials. For those of you who think this will be a sales pitch for Ted’s products, you’re dead wrong. There will be no sales pitch; Ted will discuss the issues of vaccination, government regulation, cash practices, and much more. People pay a great deal of money to hear Ted; he is a featured speaker at the Masters Circle and other state and national meetings. I guarantee that you will leave the call with at least 2 great ideas that will make you money the next day.

IMPORTANT INFO:

WWW.FREEDCHELP.COM It is prepared in Microsoft Word, so you can edit it and get it off to the printer immediately.

Until next week,

Yours in health

Lenny