Sound advice 21 consultants offer practice-building tips

What's the single most important thing you can do to build your practice? That is the question Chiropractic Economics asked 21 practice-management consultants.

Their advice ranged from focusing on practice-management basics to emphasizing chiropractic philosophy.

You'll find their suggestions arranged alphabetically by practice name. We hope you'll find the "right" advice to help you take your practice to the next level.

FLEX WITH THE MARKET
Be prepared to create a new vision for your business in an ever-changing healthcare marketplace. Keep an eye on expansion, partner whenever appropriate, and recognize the value of big thinking when it comes to the systems, organization, and structure for your business. And work diligently to make certain that everyone on your team is consistently moving in the direction of your corporate vision.

MAKE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT A PRIORITY
Building and maintaining a healthy, sustainable practice today requires the ability to work under pressure, adapt and make decisions quickly, communicate effectively, and handle multiple challenges at once.

Emotional intelligence skills are essential for the practitioner and team who want to succeed to be proactive, not reactive in the face of constant change, stress, and pressure.

Those who ignore this aspect of professional development, perhaps considering such skills "soft" or unnecessary, risk the likelihood of high staff turnover, poor patient retention, and low levels of career satisfaction. Effective practitioners master the art of self-management and persist in strategic efforts to grow their practice.

HIRE RIGHT
Marketing is a team effort, and high performing practices know that "not one of us is as effective as all of us."

These practices create extraordinary results by surrounding themselves with the right people who share a passion to see as many people as possible receive the benefits of chiropractic.

Top practices delegate marketing projects to their team members because they are accountable and acknowledged for their efforts.

TEACH 6 HEALTH-PUZZLE PIECES
Teach, and continue teaching, your patients. Focus your teaching so that they will embrace the six pieces of the health puzzle:

The nervous system must be free of interference.
Food is fuel. Food should have no chemicals, little sugar, and limited dairy.
Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, three or four days a week is critical to good health.
The body needs rest and sleep to recharge itself.
Mental attitude affects emotional and spiritual harmony. Keeping a positive mental outlook is essential to overall health and well being.
Drugs and surgery should be "cures" of last resort.

GUIDE PATIENTS INTO HIGH-IMPACT CHOICES
High-impact choices are those that have a significant emotional and perceived financial impact on the patient. Chiropractic care is a high-impact choice.

Buying vitamins and getting a massage are low-impact choices that do not require spending much, either financially or emotionally.

To help buyers make high-impact choices, we need to guide them, according to what they need understanding, clarification, advice, or reassurance:

• Understanding. Patients want to know what conclusions to draw and how this information can impact their lives. They want to understand the urgency and immediacy of care.

• Clarification. Many patients don't really understand their own needs and are grateful when you help clarify them. Teach them what the symptoms mean and how your assessments corroborate your conclusions.

• Advice. Patients want direct guidance on whether or not you think they need chiropractic care. They want to feel the advice comes from a source who is objective, impartial, and unbiased.

• Reassurance. All patients want to feel they are making the right decision. If you think you can help, tell them without overpromising.

GET THE RIGHT HELP
Being motivated and having a desire to build a practice are very important. But don't assume you know everything about building a successful practice in your town. Marketing that works in a small city usually doesn't work in a large town and vice versa. For this information, you need a consultant.

Used effectively, practice management consultants act as your marketing-smart pathfinders, "devil's advocates," and coaches. They help keep their doctors focused and channel the doctor's motivation into quickly building a successful practice. This saves the doctor's time, energy, and financial resources.

PUT KIDS FIRST
The quickest and most purposeful way to build your practice is to position your office so the child is the first patient in the family to start care.

Most chiropractors attract adults first. Then they try to convince them to bring their spouse and kids in for care. This can be very challenging and frustrating.

When you attract the child as the first patient, it is a "no-brainer" for the rest of the family to start care, because the parent "gets it." Now you have three, four, or five new patients instead of one, and you are expressing chiropractic at its full potential and it strengthens every dimension of your practice.

PLAN, THEN WORK THE PLAN
Stop trying to build a great practice on a get-rich-quick scheme, such as a piece of equipment, billing code, or service that promises to put you in a pool of money in a matter of months.

Paint a picture of the practice you want and develop a five year plan to get there.
Support the plan with the ethical strategies.
Be willing to make changes necessary to complete the plan. If you keep on doing what you are doing, you will keep on getting what you are getting.
Work the plan consistently for five years. Get a coach to hold you accountable. Few reach the dream life because they don't stay with the plan for a long period of time. Become accountable!

KEEP AN OPEN DOOR
Many chiropractors are all too familiar with patients who have decided to terminate treatment after relief of their chief complaint. Don't feel as though you have failed because some patients decline to follow through with your corrective-care plan. Instead, keep an open-door policy.

Be respectful of their decision and let them know that your door is always open.

They are probably pleased by the great results they received and will return to your office when the pain comes back. Let them walk out without scolding them, but develop a plan

to educate them on the importance of completing corrective care when they return.

KNOW YOURSELF
Know who you are; know what you've got; and tell your story enthusiastically to as many people as possible and new patients will abound!

CATCH YOURSELF DOING THINGS RIGHT
We have been taught and conditioned to focus on mistakes. We have been taught to seek counsel to help remedy those mistakes.

Although handling problems is part of any endeavor, success comes from doing things right. Make a life-works and practice-works checklist to record your feelings and actions when you produced a positive result. Become conscious of your successful actions so you can repeat them on purpose.

CONDUCT A DAILY 10-MINUTE MEETING
Ten minutes before starting a patient shift, gather your team in a private area. Go over your schedule, new patient log, and missed appointment log. Ask for suggestions to anticipate tougher spots in the day from the players, and put them into play if you can. Be a good listener. Then start your day with some energy and focus, as a team.

CONSISTENCY + ACTION = SUCCESS
Everyday take three actions to build a successful practice.

Ask 10 percent of your patients for referrals;
Ask 10 percent of your patients to attend a spinal workshop; and
Make one external marketing effort, such as giving out a business card or calling to schedule a talk.

Action compounded with consistency will drive you to create the successful practice.

INTEGRITY FIRST
Give the best care possible to your patients and run a high integrity practice that centers around the care you provide. With this as your foundation, you can build a million-dollar-plus practice, a great life for you and your family, and become a leader in the profession and your community without ever having to worry about it being taken away from you.

Also, speak the truth to your patients without fearing rejection, build your skills every day for the rest of your life, and have a blast being a chiropractor. You deserve it and your community needs you.

BE CONTAGIOUS in 15 seconds
Be passionate! Passion is contagious. It is often followed without question because it is attractive. In all walks of life, a person's passion stands out. When you are driven by your passion, the results will be the most rewarding.

Be able to express who you are and what you do in 15 seconds or less. Create an instantaneous connection between you and chiropractic.

Set a goal to achieve a "burning desire."
Interview the top three practice-management firms.
Hire the firm that best fits your style of practice.
Demand from your coach a method to hold you accountable.
Train your CAs in strategies for rescheduling missed visits, scheduling multiple appointments, asking for referrals, scheduling spinal screenings, and providing financial consultation to patients.

PAINT A PICTURE OF YOUR PRACTICE
Develop an image of what an ideal practice would look like to you, then write a complete description.

Describe what the practice looks like as you drive up to it, how the internal structure operates, what your support staff looks like even how the office smells!

Once you have a solid description of your ideal practice created, it becomes your goal. Immerse yourself in your work and create a life, not just a living.

LEARN TO COMMUNICATE
Develop the communication skills necessary to educate patients so they can understand the need for care. Educate, educate, educate! This includes marketing, consultation, reports-of-finding, staff management, and dealing with vendors and professionals.

CONVEY YOUR PASSION
Tell the truth about the devastating effects of subluxation on human potential. People don't know what chiropractors do. Even patients who have visited a chiropractor may not know what a subluxation is.

Communicate with your patients with unconditional certainty. Your patients will buy your passion. Tell the chiropractic story by using a great special report, and have a system in place to educate your patients about subluxation throughout their care.