Going beyond the $1 million practice
by Daniel T. Drubin, DC, and Peter J. Drubin

Lets face it … a million dollars isn’t what it used to be. However, the million-dollar practice is more prevalent than ever. Your decision to create a high-revenue business is a matter of clear intent that is backed up by action, passion, purity of purpose, and effective marketing.

And while a great many chiropractic practices experience businesses that exceed the million-dollar mark in revenue, the high-income practice seems to elude so many practitioners who desire it, as well as the quality lifestyle it brings.

The practice of your dreams begins with patient-centered service and thinking that focuses on the best interest of the patient and goes on to exceed the patient’s needs and expectations.

Doing this requires turning your practice into a business. What’s the difference between a business and a practice? Simple: A business runs on systems, organization, and rock-solid procedures and can thrive in the absence of the owner-doctor, while a practice is almost totally dependent on the owner-doctor’s presence on a daily basis.

How do you make the shift to the million-dollar practice and beyond? Perhaps it’s easier than you think. It is widely understood and accepted in the world of business that people and businesses must be reinvented every five to seven years or risk becoming obsolete.

For so many longtime practitioners the latter is exactly what has happened. They have been so busy working in their practice; they have forgotten to spend enough time and energy working on their practice.

In doing so, they have lost sight of their true potential and all of the personal and professional freedom that comes with a business that can run and expand without their day-to-day presence.

Here are some tips to build a million-dollar practice and beyond.

1. Visualize results. Know exactly what you want and be clear about your time frame. Remember: Goals never work in ranges. And, since the mind works in pictures, you must be able to see the million-dollar practice before you can own it. So, start by envisioning what you want and work your way backwards from there.

2. Leave the past behind. Use last year’s office statistics only as a point of reference. Your past has nothing to do with your future. Create a year-round marketing calendar and fill it with events — at least two internal and two external marketing events per month.

Marketing drives business, so the more effectively you market, the more you grow the opportunity for the million-dollar practice.

3. Take one step at a time. Divide the journey to your goals into achievable steps:

• Determine your current office visit average (OVA), which is the average amount you collect per patient visit.

• Divide your total income goal by your OVA. That gives you the number of visits you need in a year to reach your goal.

• Divide by 12 to give you the number of monthly visits needed.

• Divide by 4.3 (average weeks per month).

See how small the numbers look now. Sell the small numbers to your team; it will be easier for them to digest.

4. Build team spirit. If you want to create the million-dollar practice, your entire team must want to create it also. Design your goals with your entire team and let them know that they are an intricate part of the well-oiled machine.

5. Reward commensurately. If the practice does not grow, you don’t bonus.

• Divide your total collections from last year by four. This is how much you need to collect each quarter to match last year.

• Determine a small percentage of the growth above the established base (about 7 percent to 9 percent) to divide among team members.

• Distribute this percentage unevenly amongst your team after each quarter — unevenly because each person should receive a percentage of the distribution based on his or her level on contribution.

6. Hire the best. In the book Soft Sell, author Tim Conner describes the complete salesperson as being comprised of 50 percent attitude, 25 percent people skills, 15 percent selling skills, and 10 percent product knowledge.

Keep these figures in mind when it comes to hiring new team members. Remember: While you can teach a person about a product or service, attitudes tend to be hard-wired.

7. Educate your patients. Teach your patients about supportive/maintenance care. When you make your report of findings presentation on their second visit, characterize providing supportive care as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: “Mrs. Smith, we will have you on supportive care in no time.” If you focus on getting this message to your patients, office visits will increase quickly. And it will help both your patients and your revenue.

8. Never settle. Achieving success requires direction and increased awareness. Always know exactly where your practice is and what you need to do to reach your goals. Then, keep moving in the direction of what you want, never stopping until you succeed.

When you incorporate these eight steps and maintain a clear action-oriented marketing plan, as well as keep your team involved in your growth plan by sharing revenue with them, you will experience the business expansion you desire.

Daniel T. Drubin, DC, is the president and founder of 4th Dimension Management Corp., in Oro Valley, Ariz. Peter J. Drubin has a degree in business administration from Hofstra University and has worked financial management. The authors may be contacted by phone at 520-575-0207 or by e-mail at change@xmission.com.