Issue 3 - March 2005

5 reasons why patients don't come back
By Jeff Smith

Do some of your ideal patients drop out of your practice? Do you know why? Here are five surprising reasons why patients quit coming to see you — or perhaps don’t use your services in the first place.

1. Does your ‘health mirror’ have a bad reflection? Chiropractors must reflect the healthy lifestyle they espouse to their patients. If you are not an example of optimal health yourself, why would you expect your ideal patients — especially those who are healthy and in great shape — to listen to you?

If you are subluxated — physically, emotionally, financially or spiritually — your ideal practice members will know it. They won’t say a word — but they won’t come back, either.

Become your own best practice member, a mirror of the healthy lifestyle you want your patients to live. Your waiting room will be a reflection of that, filled with your ideal practice members. Anything less is not truly living the philosophy of chiropractic.

2. Do you ignore the ‘Mercedes paradox?’ Did you know that charging too little hurts your practice more than charging too much? This has to do with the “Mercedes paradox.”

If you were looking for a new car and the sales person offered you a brand-new Mercedes for only $7,000, would you buy it? Many people wouldn’t, because that price would seem “too good to be true.” And those who would buy it would certainly question what the sales person was hiding to allow her to sell it so cheaply.

The same thing applies to your services. If you price them too cheaply, your patients will seriously question how valuable they really are.

3. Do you understand the ‘inverse dollar commitment?’ It’s a fact of human nature: People are more committed to things they pay more for.

Look in your own practice for examples of this. Are the patients you have adjusted for free or at reduced rates the same ones who cause more headaches than all of your other patients combined?

An effective way to increase patient compliance with their care plans and to build a practice filled with lifetime wellness-care patients is to raise rates, not lower them. When you raise your prices, patients comply with your care plans more closely and consequently get better results.

4. Do you believe your patients are paying for an adjustment? One reason doctors are hesitant to charge what they are worth is that they mistakenly believe they are charging for the adjustment.

In successful wellness-for-life clinics, patients value many things given to them that have nothing to do with the actual adjustment. For example, they value the experience of being in the office — they feel pampered, or special or loved because of the attention that is given to them.

And they value the wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise the doctor brings to the profession.

Your ideal practice members do not pay for the few seconds or few minutes it takes to adjust them.

They are paying for the many hours it took you to learn how to adjust them properly. Once you “get” that on the deepest level, your fears about asking for the fees you deserve will dissolve forever.

5. Do you believe you are building a practice? The final reason your practice is not packed with ideal practice members every day is that you mistakenly think you are building a practice.

The most successful doctors do not build practices. They build communities that attract others. And they build a lifestyle for themselves.

The distinction is critical: A patient who comes to a practice for an adjustment wants to get in and out as fast as possible. He wants his problem fixed and doesn’t want to have to come back again.

But a patient who comes to a health community looks forward to her visit. She wants all of her friends and family to come with her and become part of the community.

She feels good when she is in the community because the atmosphere is relaxing and fun. And, because she likes the community, she will have no desire to “move” in the future.

This building of a community feeling is what the world’s wealthiest doctors call the “country club secret.”

Many exclusive country clubs require $25,000+ upfront and then annual dues of $25,000 or more — yet they often have waiting lists to get in. Why? Because they have created communities that people want to be a part of.

Many cutting-edge doctors are catching on to the power of that idea and transforming their practices into what can be viewed as “health country clubs.”

And by doing this, they are able to charge premium fees, have long waiting lists of ideal patients who want to come in for care and easily fund their own ideal lifestyle so they are truly living in harmony with the chiropractic mirror.

Jeff Smith is the founder of The 2X+1 Chiropractic Mastermind, a private community of top doctors from around the world which he leads, along with Dr. Tony Palermo and Dr. Tom Preston. He can be contacted at stressfree19@yahoo.com or through his Web site, www.chiromastermind.com.