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Here it is your weekly
Chiropractic Marketing Newsletter (week 7)
-Revealing all of the “SECRETS” free of charge
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PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS SERVICE, WE ARE DEPENDING ON BUZZ MARKETING
GREAT NEWS!!!!!!! My new website WWW.FreeDCHelp.COM is up and running. This site’s purpose is to provide a repository of materials that will be helpful to those in the profession. On this site will be posted archived articles as well as sample reports, letters and marketing materials — FREE. I also hope that as much assistance that this site may be able to provide to you, that you will see the need to pass along this “Secret” to others.Please do not hesitate to contact me, drvernonchiro@aol.com, if you feel that you may have information, resources or web content that could provide additional assistance to those in the profession. Please feel free to write me with comments or criticisms.
Remember: To get the most out of this newsletter, I suggest that you print it out and read it-don’t skim it-Refer back to it when implementing your marketing plan
(If you read the whole newsletter there is a special free bonus at the end-You could cheat and go directly to it, but you would know you cheated-NEVER CHEAT!
Additional Info. Lead generation:
Here is some additional info regarding lead generation boxes. One of our readers has recommended a great web-site www.leadbox.com as a source for ready to go lead generation boxes.
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The 80-20 Rule-What Is It? How Does It Apply To Me?
Many of you have heard of the 80-20 rule. The official name for the rule is “The Pareto principle” named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of income in Italy went to 20% of the population. The rule is also known as the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity. Basically the rule states that, for most events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
The rule is used by business today to tell their sales staff that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. In a chiropractic practice this rule can apply in many ways. For example, 80% of your billings will come from 20% of your patients, and 80% of your problems will come from 20% of your employees (You know I’m right on this one!). The rule also means that 80% of your referred patients will come from 20% of your practice population. In marketing your practice, 20% of your marketing efforts will bring in 80% of your new patients. This means that 80% of what you do to market is worthless. So the trick in both of these scenarios is figuring out where the 20% is. That’s why it’s so important to keep track; figure out where your new patients are coming from. The rule also means that 20% of what you do every day is vital, the rest is trivial. If your work day is getting too hectic, stop and look at what you really need to focus on; find the 20% that’s vital and leave the rest to another day. Every day, think about the most productive things you could be doing, and focus on them. See if you don’t have a dramatic turnaround in productivity…and income!
Now let’s talk about YOU, the doctor who gave up his/her e-mail address to receive this newsletter. Why did you do it? Well if the theory holds true 80% of you did it because you were curious you wanted to see if there was information that was really available for free while 20% of you did it because you thought that maybe this information could help increase their practice. The same 80-20 rule hold true regarding your belief systems, 80% of you are looking for the gimmick, the catch? While 20% of you are taking the information and running with it. This is how it always is, not only in chiropractic but in most businesses, and that is why only 20% of the chiropractors who subscribe to this site will increase their practice income and volume, while 80% will languish in mediocrity. This same 80% will subscribe to, purchase and/or attend every chiropractic marketing program available, spending 3, 5, even 10 thousand dollars, and in the end DO NOTHING WITH THE INFORMATION.
The big joke among the chiropractic marketing gurus is that some kits never get opened, and among the ones that do most docs never get past the first CD. Even if the rest of the CD’s are blanks only one doc out of hundred will even get that far to notice and then complain to the company. Like a magic trick, once the secret is known, the magic wears off. Now that I’ve given you 6 weeks of secrets, well like I said for some of you the magic has worn off. The major reason for this is that the new patient secrets required extra work involving the doctor and/or staff, what you wanted was someone to come in and do it all for you.
Most of us have stuff around the house and garage brought off info commercials, ads, radio, TV, etc., still new or barely used. These items can found for sale at flea markets, eBay, and newspaper ads, donated or just thrown in the trash, still in great shape. It is part of the human condition, called instant gratification. We got it, now do we actually use it? That’s called work! Most of you want that great practice, but don’t want to work for it.
Because of the technology we use we know precisely how many people open the newsletter that they subscribed to, it is over 60%, this means that 40% 0f the people WHO VOLUNTARY SIGNED UP never even bother to open it. We also can tell what links are accessed so that tells us who is taking advantage of what we are offering on WWW.FREEDCHELP.COM. A great example is last week’s discussion about patient reactivation cards. (see offer at bottom of this newsletter) Just like the rule said only about 20% of you took advantage of these, the other 80% will continue to use junk cards or worse yet have no system at all in place to reactivate patients. Why is this? Why is it that only a percentage of you will implement a marketing calendar or a marketing plan of any kind? The reason is simple; it is the reason why 80% of the most successful practices in the US are run by 20% of the licensed chiropractors. All of the others (the 80%) make excuses as to why they are not as successful. These include, I’m not a salesman, doctors shouldn’t sell healthcare, I’m a doctor not a businessman, it’s not ethical to tell people about subluxation, people shouldn’t have to pre pay for their care, I think chiropractic is only good for musculoskeletal injuries and the gazillion more. These are nothing more then excuses to try to justify your failure are a chiropractor. The real reason is that you don’t want to work at it; you don’t want to implement systems that work. You will continue to buy programs attend lectures learn new techniques, buy new equipment, all in the hope of securing the magic bullet that will make you a successful doctor. STOP WASTING YOUR TIME, MONEY AND EFFORTS, success comes from you not to you. Get your ass off the pity chair, and start WORKING, YOU need to at the very least start a database and start communicating with your patients, old and new alike. The number one reason Chiropractors fail to acquire a consistent flow of new patients is because they lack a solid new patient attraction system. They hate doing the marketing dirty work with a passion. Writing letters, creating sales copy, mailing letters, recording messages, doing follow up, Tracking follow up, Working hard, Sending emails and all the other mandatory work associated with getting and keeping new patients. The only reason that anyone in this profession is struggling is because they refuse to work at developing their practice. Every one of you could be, should be making $150,000-$500,000 a year, if you would onlyJUST DO IT.
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The Power Of The Press Release
Although we have touched on this subject in an earlier newsletter, I thought it important enough that I wanted to stress the point about the benefit of getting publicity absolutely free. This specific tool will allow you to enjoy tens of thousands of dollars in advertising for your practice for just “pennies”!
It’s very important to remember that any time you make a change in your practice, have a special event, hire a new team member, open a satellite clinic or do something unique, you can very likely get coverage in your local newspaper, radio and television news via the “press-release”. The issuing of at least one press release a month is crucial. A press release should be on your monthly marketing calendar.
The use of a press release works great as part of an overall marketing campaign. An example would be if you just purchased a mailing list of new residents in your area and sent them an information package about your practice, imagine the recipient of your marketing piece also finding an article from the local paper about your practice. You’ll immediately gain credibility and the trust factor will also be much improved right out of the box. It’s weird how it works, but once someone sees an article about you in the press, you become “credible” immediately. Unless of course, the article that you’re featured in is all about how you have been arrested for scamming some insurance company.
Once your prospect thinks your business is legitimate, he will be much more likely to use your services. We live in a crazy world filled with people who will do anything to rip someone off for a few pennies this makes people skeptical and for good reason. They’re afraid of getting ripped off or being taken advantage of.
Any steps you can take to show them that you are running a legitimate business and that you can be trusted will be a bonus for you and will pay big dividends in the long run. Like everything I offer I have posted 25 sample press release that you are free to use. You can view them by clicking here. PLEASE REMEMBER WHAT I TALKED ABOUT IN THE 80-20 RULE SECTION-TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE!
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Asking For The Money $$$
As we talked about last week there are various payment methods used by chiropractic offices. Probably the number one method is the medical office model -this is known as “pay-per-visit”. The advantage to this method is few or no accounts receivable. The disadvantages include high patient cancellations, low new patient flow, and low hourly capacity. This practice is not highly productive. The next is what I call the “pay-when-you-can” method – extends credit to anyone who wants it. The advantages to such a liberal credit procedure are considerable – high productivity, an abundance of new patients, high capacity per hour and impressive statistics (however, in the majority of cases these statistics as not reality). The major disadvantages to this practice are high overhead and low profit. The third cash practice system is referred to as “case fees.” Although it may be the most controversial way of running an office it is one that I’ve come to embrace. However, let me say that it is not for everyone. The major downside is that the doctor needs a very high tolerance level which must be sustained over a long period of time. Patients who have paid for a case fee, especially those who have paid a whole year in advance have higher expectations. For instance, if they pay $3,000 they will usually expect results far beyond the call of duty. They think the doctor owes them time – at their convenience! What does the doctor do with patients who want to sit and talk forever? Legal ramifications must also be considered with case fees. Although not as much of a problem to doctors practicing straight chiropractic, some states have looked upon this as an implied cure. Other states require that case fees collected must be put in escrow until services have been rendered. One more thing about a case fee practice is that the doctor must be extremely confident in what they are presenting. They must believe that the care being recommended is in fact based on some objective formula, otherwise the patient will see right through it, so unless you truly believe that the subluxation is devastating to an individuals health then you would probably be best to avoid this method of practice.
While some members of the profession have defamed doctors who use the case fee approach, calling it the health club approach, I personally think that it increases compliance and thus results are better which, should yield increased referrals. The choice is yours, each method has positives and negatives. In all of the above scenarios there must be an exchange of money for services and the asking for money is one of the most difficult procedures that doctors seem to have. But why?
After speaking to hundreds of chiropractors and reading tons of material on the subject there is one common denominator that separates those who can ask for money and those who can’t, that is value. What value do you place on what it is you do? The question of the value of the chiropractic adjustment remains controversial, the medical model mentality tells us that we cannot charge $28-$40 for a 2 minute procedure, so we add all kinds of bullshit like hot packs or a massage or a vibrator of some sort, knowing dam well in our hearts that the real reason we are doing these things is not for a clinical benefit, but to fill dead air. In essence we do it in order to have the patient’s perception of the value of their visit increase. Now, because we have done these bullshit procedures we have no problem or less of a problem asking for the $30. So the real problem with doctors who say they hate asking for money or that they leave the money aspect of the office to their CA or that they feel it’s inappropriate for the doctor to discuss money with the patient is that they don’t value what they do. They are confused about the specific nature of the service they are providing and its value.
If you think I’m full of it just talk to members of your staff. Ask them why they think it’s vital that people to come to your office for service. Their answers should be very revealing.
So before we can teach the doctor how to ask for the money that they deserve and earned by virtue of their service we need to teach them why what they do has value. You must have a clear sense of purpose, completely dissipating a sense of helplessness. I want you to have a clear vision for… your profession and its role in society… your community and your role in it… your practice and the nature of the services it provides, only then will you be comfortable asking for payment for the service you have rendered.
It’s hard to ask patients for money when you yourself are confused about what you are doing.
How do we determine the value of an adjustment? There are all kinds of methods out there, some based on your expenses or overhead, there are others that determine the average fee in a region. Most doctors just pick a number out of the sky. In my mind none of these are very good. The first thing you have to acknowledge is that adjustment is not just a mechanical action, chiropractic should not be viewed as a mechanistic practice, it is and should always be viewed from a vitalistic standpoint. Thus when you make a correction, when you deliver that adjustment, you are not fixing a backache, you are making a difference in that persons life. Let me clarify. For those of you who continue to practice a mechanistic method of chiropractic, the difference that you make in the life of a patient is that you have relived his/her back pain. The vitalist believes that they have allowed this individuals nervous system to function better and that the patients overall wellbeing has improved. In both cases the adjustment has a value, however if explained to you as a patient which would have a greater value in your mind? You see it’s a mindset, you must become philosophically sound. And when patients start telling you, and they will, not about there back pain going away, but about their lack of a need for an inhaler, or that for the first time in 5 years they had the energy to play with their children, or that they have been taken off certain medications by their physician because they no longer need them then you will start to see how powerful and how important what you do is. Can you really place a value on the things I just mentioned? Do you think the mother who now has the energy to play with her kids and doesn’t have the pain from her fibromyalgia wouldn’t pay whatever you asked? Does she think that you’re not a doctor? You know the answers to these questions. Get on board with me and I promise that you will have the ride of your life in this profession; you will proud of who you are and what you do. Once you have this confidence asking for money is easy. You see it’s not the aversion to ask for money that most chiropractors have, it’s insecurity in themselves. It stems from a doubt about what it is they do, they are comfortable talking about back pain because they can justify manipulation from the “scientific literature” the truth is that that there is a great deal of literature out there that say’s manipulation is not effective in the treatment of back pain.
The five recommendations below should be followed. I will be sending out CD’s in the next month that will discuss this somewhat complicated issue in detail. You must be on the mailing list to receive these CD’s, click here if you haven’t joined the list yet. The subject requires a great deal more discussion then we can cover here. But these guidelines will help you get started and give you an overview.
- I think it’s very important that you do a report of findings with a patient. This does not have to be an hour long thing. Ten minutes is usually enough time to review x-rays and explain to the patient using whatever visual aids you have available that can explain in simple terms what a subluxation is and how it can affect the body’s overall health.
- You must have some visual aid to explain to the patient what a subluxation is and what it can do to their nervous system. (X-ray, model spine, phases of degeneration chart, thermal scan, surface EMG) People always understand things better when they can see them. I even take digital photographs of patients x-rays and mark them with arrows and then print them on glossy paper and give them to the patient. Patients love this, they can show their spouses what their problem is and can explain to a limited extent what it is the chiropractor does and that maybe they should go and have their spine checked.
- You must make an honest determination what amount of treatment a patient will require, this is based on your experience as well as using the objective testing you have performed. By this I don’t mean orthopedic tests, I’m talking about x-rays, MRI’s and thermal scans. If the total is 30 visits over 3 months, then say it is, even if their insurance plan covers only 20 visits. Conversely if they have a plan that covers 30 visits, don’t automatically say that the patient needs 30 visits for their acute phase, when in reality they only need 20. BE HONEST.
- Explain to the patient that their insurance only covers an acute or chronic injury and that although more and more insurance companies are starting to recognize the benefit of chiropractic maintenance care, his particular policy doesn’t, so there will be a fee of $______ to get adjusted every week, however you can offer them a 20% bookkeeping savings in the form of a discount on a year of maintenance care if this is pre-paid. YOU WILL BE SHOCKED, I WAS, AT HOW MANY PEOPLE TAKE THIS OPTION.
- The best advice I can give you is just ask for the money. I’m not going to go into the philosophical esoteric bullshit about the laws of exchange. The entire process is a confidence issue. If you are telling the truth, if you believe what you are telling the patient is for their benefit and not for the benefit of your wallet, then you will have no problem asking for money.
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Next week:KILLER ADS
I will be posting various scripts that some of the coaching companies recommend to the website WWW.FREEDCHELP.COM early next week.
Have a great Labor Day weekend
Until next week,
Yours in health,
Lenny
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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 12:49 am and is filed under Weekly Newsletter Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.
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