Stay in Front of Your Prospects When They’re Ready to Buy -
Not When You’re Ready to Sell

By Claudio Gormaz

A key factor in building a successful practice rests with being able to identify where patients are in their buying process and catering to their needs. This strategy is known as “cycle selling.” You must identify, track, and position your practice and products in front of your best patients when they are ready to buy - not when you are ready to sell.

Cycle selling recognizes that different prospects enter your lead generation system at different levels of need. Cycle selling gives you a disciplined way to evaluate each patient’s needs, rank them accordingly, provide your services to those with an immediate need, and graduate the others up the ladder of need to closing the sale. The process allows you to stop ignoring and missing out on several small windows of opportunity that can, over the course of time, create a rich pool of profitable patients.

In short, understanding buying cycles represents the line in the sand that separates those who are doing okay from those building successful and profitable practices.
In the process of developing a thriving practice, it is crucial to understand that most prospects respond out of genuine interest, not out of an immediate need.
Some reasons prospects might not be ready to buy right
now may include:

• The current budget is completely allocated.

• They don’t have immediate health problems or concerns.

• They need more education on how your services and/or products can help them.The chiropractic profession is filled with services that create sales opportunities, depending on the interest you create. However, nothing can be sold if you do not know where a patient is at the moment you call on him or her.

The cornerstone of the “cycle” is that you are entering into a long-term relationship with your prospects, who ultimately become your patients. Everything you do and say with these prospects needs to be done in the spirit of their benefit. In turn, in time, and with the build-up of trust, they will tell you of their unique circumstances.

Build your practice and define your patients’ cycles through creativity. Reach patients through fresh and novel concepts that benefit them and that serve as ways to get them through your door so you can provide them with quality chiropractic care to help them achieve optimal health. For example, create a newsletter featuring beneficial health-care advances and your services. Promote stress-relieving massage therapy sessions if you work with a massage therapist. Feature athletic services, nutritional supplements, etc. You are providing these value-added services to help solve some of your prospects’ concerns, and this positions them through the cycle.

Your relationship with your patients is gold! Develop, nurture, and protect them over a course of years. You share with them, and they will share with you.
Remember, different prospects may respond to your offers at the same time, but for different needs. They are often at different levels of maturity in the selling cycles.

Some are just looking or comparing; some know they have a problem, but aren’t quite sure what the solution should be. Some have planned well and know they will need your services soon (i.e., their current doctor is retiring). Others have an immediate need - they want and can afford your care right now.
If you don’t know your prospects, you will never know where they are in the cycles.

In order to identify where a prospect is in the cycle, you must first understand these four tenets:
1. Classify: Not all prospects are equal. Treating all prospects equally is fatal to your business. Increasing sales requires the constant discipline of moving patients along the sales cycle. You must be acutely aware of where patients fall in the cycle and treat them accordingly.

Qualify each prospect as quickly as possible. Remember, a patient who has an immediate need and ability to pay should be given much more attention, and sooner, than someone who is just looking. Don’t forget to cultivate the remaining prospects until they are ready to buy.
Once you have qualified your prospects, classify them as follows:
A. Immediate need and ability to pay -your best 20% prospects.
B. Will need your services within the next three months.
C. Interested, keep in contact.

2. Contact all of your prospects. Contact depends on how the patient is classified. “A” prospects (from the ranking method just mentioned) may require e-mails, faxes, or phone calls regarding time-sensitive special offers, educational seminar,s and special health-related reports. “C” prospects are put in the loop to receive regularly scheduled correspondence (once per month or quarter) via a brief phone call, fax, or an e-mail with an attachment, addressing points of interest they expressed at an earlier meeting. “B” prospects fall somewhere in between.

3. Be consistent. Contact your best prospects/patients a minimum of eight times per year, preferably 12.
Maximize your selling opportunities by consistently contacting your prospects with personalized, relevant information. Your prospects will have you in mind when they are ready to buy.

2. Consistent contact builds a powerful bond of familiarity, trust, and expertise. Your competition may not be calling on your prospect; create a situation in which your prospect would rather buy from someone who has consistently provided valuable information and education.

Consistent contact also moves your prospects along in the buying process, educating them to make their buying decision sooner and leading to quicker and more abundant sales.

4. Be credible. The more frequently you give your prospects something of real value, the more likely they are to buy from you when they are ready. Educating your prospects with strong third-party case studies, beneficial health-care information, or even published news sources are exceptional, non-intrusive ways to establish yourself as both an expert and someone who cares about his or her patients.

Now, all you have to do is gather plenty of prospects - or rank the ones you’ve already accumulated - and you will be ready to start working toward a more profitable practice.

Mr. Gormaz is co-owner of Business Booklets International, LLC. He has more than 15 years of experience in strategic marketing, advertising, and public relations, including six years working with the chiropractic profession. Mr. Gormaz can be reached at 888-333-1520; or visit the company's website at www.businessbookletsinternational.com