Patients to Profits

With just a few exceptions, the doctors I have found over the years to have the highest level of success are those that use some version or variation of a Day 1 / Day 2 procedure with all new patients.

Generally speaking the Day 1 procedure includes consulting with the patient about their condition and performing an examination.  The Day 2 procedure is when the report of findings (ROF) is delivered and a treatment plan is recommended.

And while many doctors have these procedures in place they are often still missing the triggers that spark a patient to not only accept but downright want the care that the doctor is proposing.

       If your consultation and report of findings could use a refreshing boost for 2013, consider the following suggestions I have provided below:

            1. Prize Yourself: Based on the ideas of Oren Klaff in Pitch Anything, you are the ‘prize’ not your patient. Don’t let the term throw you as egotistical. It simply means that instead of trying to convince the patient as to why they should take your recommended treatment, in the Day 1 consultation let them know you will be asking them questions to determine if you will be accepting their case in your office and if you cannot then you will help get them to someone that can. By starting your Day 1 consultation with this mindset you will likely find that your case acceptance will improve considerably.

       2. Pick one Part: We’ve all had patients that present with neck pain, knee pain and low back issues. While you can and will no doubt help them with all these problems, when it comes to helping a patient understand and commit to the care they need, try focusing in on their one primary complaint for the bulk of your Day 1/Day 2. By focusing the bulk of your consultation and ROF on the complaint that most significantly affects their life, you will avoid confusing the patient and prevent the less painful problems from diluting the seriousness of their major issue.

       3. Show and Tell: People are visual and the better you appeal to that sense the less you’re going to lose them in your explanation of ‘what’s wrong.’ Whether it’s a surface EMG graph, a posture picture or an xray, by showing patients what is causing their pain you will stimulate more than just the auditory sense and have doubled their understanding of what you are explaining.

        4. Discuss Consequences: If you’ve been in practice for even a couple of years then you have many times seen the results of people living life with unresolved subluxations.  Headaches, arthritis, disc problems, immune system compromise and chronic pain are just a few of the common side effects.  Whatever you believe are the potential issues your patient may suffer down the road for not correcting their condition right now, share them – Share them honestly, confidently and without embellish but without reserve. The patient is paying for your professional opinion of their condition…don’t be afraid to give it.

        5. Recommend a Second Opinion: Some patients are suspicious that doctors might over prescribe care based on a self-serving motivation for more income. And while there’s no doubt a few dirt bags in every profession that will make recommendations stemming from a selfish verses serving mindset, that is not the majority. The majority of chiropractors actually under-prescribe care because they are doing it from a poverty position of wanting the patient to take some care verses no care at all. Don’t do that. Instead present the treatment plan you know the patient needs and then let them know that if they want to get a second opinion you understand but either way treatment needs to get started right away before this condition becomes even more complicated. By recommending a second opinion you are giving the patient reassurance that you are more concerned with their condition than your own pocketbook (And in almost every case because you are gently pushing the patient away a little it will actually result in an increased desire for the care you propose.).

Regardless of how much care you are recommending to your patient for their specific diagnosis, following proven protocols and including the right psychological triggers in your delivery is the only way you can truly bridge the sometimes very wide gap between the nearsighted pain relief view a patient has about your services and the amount of chiropractic care you know they really need.  The more patients you ‘get through’ to the more people you are helping maximize their potential and busier your practice will get.

Add the above suggestions into your current Day 1/Day 2 procedures and role play it with a staff member or local doctor so that what you say and how you say it becomes more natural, more effortless and subsequently more effective and successful.

If you don’t currently have protocols you use for the first 2 visits a new patient is in your office, then make 2013 the year you get them in place. Use ours, use a friends or create your own but have them because by not having proven procedures is the best way to create a struggling practice.

Dr. Daron Stegall is an Express Keller Chiropractor in Texas, a chiropractic consultant and co-developer for Patients to Profits – The Complete Chiropractic Success System. He has owned and managed 12 successful clinics during his 16 year career while taking the time to coach hundreds of fellow chiropractors on how to make business success simple.

Much of his advice can be found for free on his blog found at www.successfulchiro.com.

He can be reached at http://www.expresschiropractickeller.com

As we get ready to begin the second half of the year, this week is a great time to…

1. Review what you set out to accomplish this year
2. Determine if you are on the right track for hitting those goals
3. Create a second half strategy to ensure you and your team accomplish the goals

Most of us go into a new year full of optimism and fire with goals to have a greater impact on the lives of our local community, grow our practice to a new level and of course improve upon our own lives both professionally and personally. 

We are just coming off the holiday season ‘high’ where we were basking in the spirit of giving and appreciation for how great life is and how fortunate we really are and so it only makes sense that we carry that positive change outlook over into the New Year.

However, somewhere between January 1 and now, this little thing called life often begins to creep in and slowly impact the visions and direction we laid out only a few months earlier.  If the daily grind has slowly nudged you off the path you set for you and your practice or even if you just sauntered into this year with no particular direction in mind, follow the simple strategies below to get back on course and retake command of the ship for great second half success.

Regain Perspective: With everything that happens around us during each day in the clinic, i.e. seeing patients, doing paperwork, dealing with insurance companies, putting out fires, etc., it is easy to develop the mindset that all of these disruptive things are happening to you when in reality they are just everyday parts of life happening around you.

We are human and the hassles of everyday practice, and life, can and often do impact us personally and slowly change our outlook on what being a chiropractor is really all about. Now is a great time to take a few minutes to regain your perspective on what your role in healthcare, your community and even life in general is really all about.

Celebrate Your Victories: What have you and your staff accomplished this year that can give you a reason to celebrate. And I am not just talking about a big obvious success but rather even just the small ones that often are overlooked.

Are you above your average patient volume from last year? Even just a little? Did you collectively make it through a tough period as a team…say a big change in insurance in your area or some other change that shook your foundation but in the end you made it through?

Whatever the victories, large or small, write them down right now and then set up a couple of hours in the evening with your staff to meet and give them the pleasant surprise of a positive recap of ‘our victories so far this year’ and of course use that to also springboard into the action plan for the remainder of the year.

Take Action: As Michael Masterson says in his book Ready, Fire, Aim, it is often better just to take action first, and then make corrections or alterations later. Otherwise, you risk never taking action at all.

Think of 2 or 3 changes or improvements you have been planning to take action on and just do it! If you have a staff person that you have been meaning to replace because he or she has proven to be nothing less than an anchor pulling the clinic down, cut her loose. 

If you have been thinking about gathering patient emails and beginning to send out promotional and educational emails to your patients every couple of weeks as part of your chiropractic marketing plan, now is the time to take the action steps to get that going. If you have been planning a new strategy to improve your patient recall and reactivation system, now is the time to start teaching your staff the new protocol.

Whatever it is that you have been planning to implement, improve or crank up a notch, get going on it now; you can always refine it as you go along.

The reality is that you are the captain of the ship. You may have an office manager or C.A. who can ‘do it all’ but the fact still remains that at the end of the day you set the tempo for those that follow your lead. Take an honest and unbiased look at what is working to further your growth and prosperity and what is holding you back.

As well, don’t forget to take an honest look within. In what ways are you contributing to catapulting your practice to new heights and where are your short comings that are preventing you from achieving the level of prosperity you envision for yourself and those that count on you for income.

If you find you are lacking in your knowledge in one or more areas of practice and it is holding your clinic back from the growth you are aiming for, make the commitment and take the steps towards gaining the knowledge or even seeking the chiropractic consulting you know you need to get you on the path to success.

Drs. Daron Stegall and Troy Counselman are co-founders of Patients to Profits – The Complete Chiropractic Success System, a 3-Pillar training system that teaches doctors turnkey clinic protocols, online and offline chiropractic marketing strategies and business skills designed to help chiropractors thrive in today’s healthcare environment. They have personally owned 12 successful chiropractic clinics during their 16 year career while coaching hundreds of fellow chiropractors on how to make business success simple.

Much of their advice can be found for free at www.successfulchiro.com. They can be reached at info@PatientsToProfits.com.