Survey results Products add to a clinic's success


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Survey results
Products add to a clinic's success
By Linda Segall

Chiropractors who offer products to their patients tend to be more successful than those who do not. That's one of the discoveries we made when we analyzed the results of a recent product-marketing survey of our readers.

According to the survey, chiropractors who offer products to patients tend to have higher gross revenues in their practices — $279.7K, compared to $273K average gross revenues of chiropractors who do not offer products.

Comparing DC groups

Chiropractors who carry products for their patients tend to be slightly younger (41.6 years old) than those who do not carry products (43.1 years old), according to the results of our product-marketing survey. They have also been practicing for a slighter shorter period of time (12.4 years) than their colleagues who do not sell products (14.85 years).

Perhaps the most important comparison between these groups concerns revenues: Chiropractors who sell products have bigger average practice revenues — $279.7K, compared to $273K revenues of those who do not offer products.

Characteristic	DCs who offer products	DCs who do not offer products
Age	41.6	43.1
Time in practice	12.4 years	14.85
Solo practice	79.4%	90%
Group	20.6%	10%
Male	75.5%	95%
Gross practice revenues	$279.7K	$273K

Our survey also showed that more than one-fourth of patients (26.2 percent) buy products from their chiropractors and that ancillary products contribute on average 7.2 percent to gross practice revenues.

Our poll included responses from 125 chiropractors. Of them, 84 percent offer products to their patients; 16 percent do not.

WHAT IS OFFERED?

Product sales average 7.2 percent of gross revenues, a number that translates into approximately $20,140 of extra income — not a small amount!

Just which products bring in the most revenues? The top five money-makers are:

Nutritional products, which account for 29.6 percent of all product sales;
Pillows, 16.9 percent;
Ointments, 15.3 percent;
Foot orthotics, 11.6 percent; and
Hot and cold compresses, 7.9 percent.

INTERNAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

Products don’t march off the shelves by themselves. Patients need to know about their availability. Although chiropractors market ancillary products in a variety of ways, the most popular is through displays (61.6 percent). The least popular way is through telemarketing (0.8 percent). Almost half (48.8 percent) of respondents use patient referrals as a method to market. And slightly more than one-third (34.4 percent) use brochures as a product marketing method.

Other methods include newsletters (15.2 percent);

e-mail (9.6 percent); auto-shipping (9.6 percent); advertising, Web, and direct mail (4.8 percent each); and telemarketing (0.8 percent).

WHY BOTHER?

Extra income is nice — and that’s why almost half (49.6 percent) of respondents provide products to their patients. But the overwhelming reason why you bother carrying them? Eighty percent of respondents say they carry products because they want to help their patients.

Here are the reasons respondents gave:

Products help patients (80 percent);
They provide an additional source of revenue (49.6 percent);
Offering products is good for the practice (44 percent);
Products help doctors serve their patients more professionally (30.4 percent);
Providing products in-house is a convenience for patients, strengthens the bond patients have with the office, and assures that patients get high quality products (12 percent).

Why don’t some chiropractors sell products?

Our survey showed that 16 percent of chiropractors who completed our survey do not offer products to their patients. Why not? Here is what respondents told us:

They do not want the added work (40%);
Offering products is against their philosophy (30%);
Ancillaries do not generate enough revenue (30%);
Respondents do not have enough space in the clinic to carry inventory (25%);
Offering products is not in the scope of practice (25%);
Products are too expensive for patients (15%);
They have no administrative support (5%);
Respondents feel that selling products is not ethical (5%)

Linda Segall is editor-in-chief of Chiropractic Economics. She can be contacted at 904-285-6020 ext. 207, or by e-mail at lsegall@chiroeco.com.

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