July 2002

Words or Concepts?
When It Comes to Patient Communication, There’s a Difference
By Ivan Delman, DC

There’s a Russian saying, “Bread is the kindest and warmest of all words.” But, is it actually the word “bread” that is appealing, or is it the concept that is warm and appealing?

Take the word “chiropractic.” Does that word, alone, give you the same feeling? No, it’s the concepts implied by the word chiropractic that evoke an emotional reaction, whether warm or cold - not the word itself.

The same thought process applies to our approach in informing and educating current and prospective patients. No matter how we coat the pill, the fact remains that chiropractic is just a word until you surround it with a concept. In other words, what feeling does the word chiropractic evoke in your listener?

In the process of working to influence potential patients to use our services, and current patients to remain in our care, we sometimes try to sell the word, rather than the reality. To have power, your words must elicit concepts and beliefs projected by those words.

By themselves, words are weak and sometimes confusing, unless they summon feelings from within the reader or listener that will clarify and add emotion.

As an example of clarity, take the word “gargoyle.” Is it the statue of a grotesque figure looking down on you from the roof of a medieval church, or does it describe you gargling with an olive-flavored mouthwash?

Another would be when the visitor asks a nurse, “Do you know how long people stay in bed after surgery?” Her confused answer was: “The same amount of time as short people.”

If you want to test the emotional content of your words, change the name of your reception area to waiting room. Patients don’t usually mind being “received,” but they sure as heck don’t like to “wait”. (Okay, on second thought, don’t test that principle yourself - believe me, it’s true.)

Our practice took advantage of the patient’s aversion to waiting. We advertised minimal wait times. Both staff and doctor worked hard to keep patient waiting time to no more than five to 10 minutes. This was accomplished by scheduling new patients before or after regular visit times, and by having walk-ins taken only after regularly scheduled patients.

The positive reality of our service also meant that we gave all patients sufficient quality time to allow delivering the best chiropractic treatment possible. If there wasn’t enough time during a scheduled appointment, we asked the patient to return later at no additional cost.

So, how do we go about using the information about words vs. concepts to communicate with your patients and to build strong relationships? An excellent beginning would be to base your chiropractic marketing on the perceived needs and desires of your current and prospective patients.

When you begin to examine those needs and desires, you’ll discover most of them are more interested in trusting relationships, personalized service, and relief from their presenting condition than your years of study, current techniques, or shiny new office equipment.

Okay, so how does all this relate to getting your community to use your wonderful and effective chiropractic services? One of the many ways is to concentrate on creating a partnership with your patients.

When you’re discussing chiropractic, relate your discussion to your patient’s situation and use examples such as, “John, if we can get your shoulder to be more functional, it should substantially improve the smoothness of your golf swing.” Or “Frank, I know the G-forces in turn nine are creating a lot of neck pain during your race. By changing the shape of your head rest and with chiropractic treatment, we should be able to reduce the strain and get your neck to work more naturally. You’ll then be able to better focus on your race.”

Another way to better conceptualize and strongly communicate the benefits of your chiropractic service is to place it into a special category. In other words, you have to get across to your listener how special you are and how successful you’ve been with the problem they are presenting to you.

Your conversations must be personalized to your listener. For example, if someone is relating how he or she has had headaches for the past X number of years, you can personalize your comments by telling the patient a parallel story about your recent success with similar headaches.

Don’t make the mistake of promising resolution of the problem, because you really don’t know yet if that will be the case. What is true is that you’ve had success with a similar problem. That’s a “Twin Story.”

Creating a niche for yourself allows you to focus your patient information to that particular niche. This avoids the problem of overloading your listener with too much data.

Most people will only hear one fact in a proposal and forget the rest of your points. The easiest way to avoid that is to offer only one fact to your prospective patients, then re-state that fact several different ways.

Repeated exposure to a singular point will inevitably, during that conversation, strike home. Just be certain that your point is directed to a benefit perceived by your listener.

Try to remember the ears/mouth ratio. You have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you talk.The best way to find out what your patient wants is to listen. You can then better evaluate how and what you’ll be able to provide. Even if you occasionally have to refer patients to another practitioner, you have made points in their mind. They will not forget.

There’s a Native American proverb that best sums up the importance of knowing what your patients have to tell you: “Listen, or your tongue will make you deaf.”

Dr. Delman is the author of “The Business of Chiropractic: How to Prosper AFTER Startup” (the Second Edition of this how-to book was recently released). He has degrees in both business and chiropractic. His experience includes 20 years in business management, then 20 years as a chiropractor before retiring to write and travel. He can be reached at ivan@businessofchiropractic.com; or sign on to his website at www.businessofchiropractic.com