Patient loyalty reduces marketing costs
By Bob Levoy

Our studies indicate that the typical practice loses anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent of its patients each year. In many cases, marketing is needed — just to replace those who have left.

That’s wheel spinning. A far less costly alternative would be to focus instead on patient retention.

What accounts for patient loyalty? One of the factors frequently mentioned by patients is, “They treat you like a friend, not just a number.”

Obvious? Perhaps. But many chiropractors are so focused on marketing and patient volume that they overlook the importance of patient retention.

Two ways to improve customer contact are through the use of a “personal note screen” and follow-up calls.

• Personal note screen. In the office of Drs. Howard L. Kletter and Paul Baron, Garden City, N.Y., each of the office’s 10 computer terminals uses a personal note screen. The screen displays personal information about each patient: family members’ names; hobbies; upcoming events such as graduation, vacation, or perhaps a recent event, such as a birth in the family. Such information is gleaned from conversations with patients during office visits (or from reading the hometown newspaper) and then entered into their records.

The office policy is that before speaking with a patient, everyone is to bring up his or her personal note screen on the computer and scan it. This practice takes only seconds and changes the entire polarity of a conversation with a patient.

“What it does,” Kletter told me, “is help bring back some of the warmth we lost as our practice grew and our staff became larger.”

• Follow-up phone calls. Follow-up phone calls to patients after a first visit produce a powerful personal connection. They may also have clinical significance.

You can make these from the office (between patients), on the way home from a car phone, or from your home. They do not need to take a lot of time.

Explain the purpose of the call by saying at the start, “I’m just between appointments (or “on my way home” or “about to sit down to dinner”), and I was thinking of you. How are you feeling?”

Occasionally, patients have discomfort following a first adjustment that they didn’t expect, along with varying degrees of concern about what it means.

The situation may just call for reassurance, a reminder of (previously given) home-care instructions, or other special instructions depending on the symptoms.

In such cases, you have an opportunity to turn even this highly positive emotional connection into a truly memorable one, by telephoning an anxious patient a second time later the same day or evening to see if the home-care instructions or just the passage of time have improved the situation.

Follow-up phone calls occasionally uncover situations that require further attention. More frequently, they give patients “peace of mind” about what they’re experiencing and evidence your genuine interest in them.

RETENTION VS. LOYALTY

Patient retention is not the same thing as patient loyalty. If you’re the only chiropractor in town, you’ll retain your patients. Suppose however, other practices open up in your area, will your patients remain loyal?

Loyalty implies a choice. It’s a very important distinction.

“Core service doesn’t generate loyalty,” says Stephanie A. Busty, a training specialist at New York City’s Beth Israel Hospital, said in a New York Times article, “It’s getting the service up to extraordinary levels. We want to exceed expectations. We want to knock their socks off.”

Action step: Schedule a staff meeting to discuss the importance of patient loyalty and what you can (collectively) do to “make it happen.”

Bob Levoy is a seminar speaker and writer who focuses on the healthcare industry. His most recent book is 201 Secrets of a High Performance Dental Practice Elsevier/Mosby (January, 2005). He can be reached at 516-626-1353.