What Makes You Stand Out in the Chiropractic Crowd?
How ‘Special Practice Factors’ Can Help Market Your Practice
By Timothy J. Gay, DC

Have you ever sat down to consider what makes your practice different and special? The focus here isn’t your technical certainty or your ability to be a great doctor, even though these are two of the most important differentiations that you may have.

What you really need to home in on is what makes your practice different from the other practices in your area. Why do people choose to come to your office rather than going to the doctor down the street?

The primary reasons patients choose your clinic are called your “special practice factors.” What that means is your ability to differentiate yourself and your practice meaningfully.

One of the most effective ways to do this is to generate excitement and enthusiasm for you, your practice, and for chiropractic. Just like with a stack of dominoes, this spark must start with you. You are the catalyst that will create excitement in your staff, and ultimately in your patients.

Excitement is contagious, and when presented to your patients as one of your special practice factors, the potential grows wildly as your patients tell others about what a high-quality office you have and how caring and talented the staff and doctors are.

Have you ever attended a concert or an event that lacked enthusiasm and excitement? Did it make you want to rush back for more? Of course not! The same principle applies to your office. Excitement has nothing to do with phony smiles, overdone advertising or fancy office decor. But it has everything to do with your passion for providing chiropractic care and making your passion become believable to others.

Are you taking advantage of the endless benefits that can come from promoting your special practice factors?

Take a moment to write down a list of your special practice factors. For example, some of the most important factors might include: excellent service, solid experience, healthy results, caring, convenient, affordable, modern and efficient, just to name a few.

Here is a sample list of some other special practice factors that you might want to emphasize in your practice:
• quick relief
• quick/on-time service
• convenient location
• high-tech
• highly credentialed
• community health authority
• gentle
• responsive to emergencies
• convenient hours
• will travel to patient if needed
• community service
• holistic health philosophy
• family tradition of service
• pediatric practice.

Be careful when choosing your special practice factors. Your factors need to excite not only you, but also your market. Remember that when you do market your special practice factors, you must be able prove each claim with specifics to make it believable. That is why it is important to create ones of your own that you can back with evidence.

The Rockefeller Foundation stated in a recent survey the reasons patients left their current chiropractic professional:
• 14% left because of ignored complaints;
• 9% left because of competition;
• 68% left for no special reason.
That means that almost seven out of 10 patients left because they felt no one cared about them, they were not made to feel special, or they felt like they were being taken for granted. That’s why the absolute key to having a busy practice is to show your patients that you care.

Here are some simple examples of how to show you care:

• Waiting time: Let patients know you value their time. If they have to wait too long, they should be rewarded with movie tickets or something similar to acknowledge that long waits are not a normal part of your practice (sometimes with extenuating circumstances, like a patient emergency, it may happen; but when it does, do something special to show you care).

• Water: Provide a water cooler in a hallway on the way to the adjusting rooms or somewhere that is not conspicuous, but as patients become familiar with the office, they know where it is. This will show patients you care about their comfort.

• 24-hour emergency number: Even if the number goes to a pager and you call the patient right back, it may be that special practice factor that makes a difference in your office. (You should, of course, have a disclaimer on your pager or phone recording that tells patients to seek immediate medical attention in the case of a true emergency.)

• Flowers: Send a nice bouquet of flowers to patients who are good referral sources (i.e., after a patient refers in three patients). This shows you appreciate your patients for thinking enough about you to refer their family and friends.

• Affordable ways to pay for services:

- Put an automatic charge card machine in your office. If you haven’t done this before, it is a must. Many patients pay with a credit card and it makes for a convenient special practice factor.
- Offer monthly payments on an
interest-free basis for a set time period.
- Handle patients’ insurance billing and needs for them.

• Phone inquiries: Treat phone inquiries about care as an opportunity to attract any patient. Nine out of 10 shopper calls are lost due to the lack of scripting, not knowing how to answer the questions, and failure to ask the inquiring patient to set up an appointment. Make sure your staff uses this opportunity to talk about the special practice factors in the office.

• Caring gestures: Touching a patient on the shoulder is a caring gesture that lets the patient know you understand and are concerned. A handshake is another gesture that can create a special bond with a patient. When you shake hands with the patient on the first meeting in consultation, at the end of the examination and X-rays on dismissal, before the report of findings and after the first adjustment, it becomes natural that periodically they expect the handshake as a natural bond that has a meaning of “working together.”

The point is to show your patients that you care no matter what. People enjoy feeling appreciated, recognized and cared for. Have your patients rate your office on a scale of 1-10 on any of a number of areas to evaluate their perception of the quality of services they are receiving.

Make caring an ongoing effort. When patients make their appointments at the front desk, have your CA say something as simple as, “Is there anything else we can do for you today?”

Whichever special practice factors you choose to emphasize, be sure to present them with excitement. Excitement for the services you offer can’t help but sell others on you, your practice and chiropractic.

Excitement turns suspects into prospects, prospects into new patients, and new patients into patients for a lifetime. Put your special practice factors to work in your office and watch the difference in your patients, your staff, but mostly in yourself.

Dr. Gay was voted Washington State’s “Chiropractor of the Year” twice during his 23-year career as a practicing chiropractor. He is now a national speaker and consultant with Ultimate Practice Systems. He can be reached at 866-797-8366 or via the web at www.ultimatepracticesystems.com.