KEEP IN CONTACT WITH YOUR CLIENTS
Build a database
By Eric Pearl, DC

Patients and clients who care enough to invest in healing modalities, such as chiropractic, want to feel a connection to the practice they choose to trust.

In turn, these satisfied patients reward the practice with repeat business and referrals.

The first step toward building this type of reciprocal relationship with those in your care is to develop an accurate and reliable client database. Some practices elect to use a simple sign-in sheet to capture home and e-mail addresses and only send out flyers, brochures, or e-mail blasts once every quarter.

But savvier practitioners choose to maximize, or even automate, their database as part of an existing Web site. The database becomes a lifeline that connects the practice to its patients.

10 BENEFITS

Consider these 10 benefits of database building:

1 Brand reinforcement. Sending regular branded messages highlights your practice’s image and reminds clients that you and your staff stand ready to assist them.

2 Affordability. Depending on the number of people in your database, postcards can be an affordable way to contact your client base or, better yet, e-mail blast your database through your existing e-mail and Internet account and save postage.

3 Patient engagement. Leverage your database to engage customers in new facets of your practice and special event offerings.

4 Fast contact. If you have an e-mail database, use it to announce holiday practice hours, sudden office closures, or service specials with short lead times.

5 Access to new clients. Sending e-mail announcements that can be forwarded by satisfied clients to their friends and family is an excellent way to grow your business. The same holds true for newsletters that can be forwarded with a simple keystroke.

6 Forum for client feedback. Opening a channel of communication with your clients can prove invaluable. While profit and loss statements tell your practice’s story with numbers, customer comments reveal strengths and weaknesses in customer service and quality control.

7 Sense of community. Regular, tasteful communication engages clients. They feel involved with your practice when they are approached with consistent messages that are useful and interesting.

8 New or redesigned product offerings. Well-written content shared in a concise manner saves time for patients and staff. Streamline customer service and minimize phone calls by using your database to deliver updates on new products and services.

9 Targeted marketing. The more detailed your database, the more searchable it becomes. This tool tailors marketing efforts to the wants and needs of specific clients. Offering a special on massage therapy? Blast a note to clients who use that service on a consistent basis and show you are committed to offering them every opportunity to take advantage of your diverse practice.

10 Increased visibility. Marketing is all about sharing your practice and growing your business. Contacting your database regularly increases the chance someone new will hear about your services and make an appointment, or refer someone who will.

NOW BUILD IT!

Smart practitioners understand hot leads are the best leads and existing clients are the first place to begin marketing efforts. A proactive approach to collecting contact information is most important.

It’s not enough to have a sign-in sheet or a note in a file. Don’t expect clients to ask to be added to your database. Let them know you send out a variety of mailings by e-mail and snail mail and you don’t want them to miss anything.

Remind them they benefit from staying well-informed about your practice.

Ultimately, brand recognition and customer confidence are priceless assets when it comes to building and maintaining a successful practice. Keeping the lines of communication open and continually sharing information about your practice instills customers with a sense they are remembered and cared for. It’s about added value, and nowhere is that more easily accomplished than with smart database management.

Eric Pearl, DC, is an internationally recognized author and alternative healer. He shares the work of Reconnective Healing through seminars and conferences worldwide. He can be contacted through his company’s Web site, www.TheReconnection.com.