Resource Centers:(News, information, and tools to support your practice)
October 2009
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Grow with the flow
Generating and maintaining new patients
By Amy Lucas
There are advertisements in almost every trade publication that promise large numbers of new patients if you pay for the “secret ingredient” each company has to offer.
Why are so many companies vying for your marketing dollars? Because they recognize many of you know you need new patients in order to grow, but aren’t sure how to get them. These companies have determined your needs and are attempting to provide you with their product as a solution.
You don’t need products or secrets with empty promises of new patients. Instead, you need to take the growth of the profession into your own hands and develop a plan to generate new patients, consistently — day in and day out.
7 steps to success
The following are seven steps to generating and maintaining a consistent flow of new patients all year long.
1. Highlight the need for chiropractic services. When the general public gets a headache or low-back pain, many take pain medication, use ice or heat, or consult their primary care physician rather than seeing a chiropractor first.
The challenge is to educate your community about the benefits of chiropractic care so that seeking your care becomes the most desirable option. Community education can happen in many ways, but it is most effective through face-to-face marketing.
Although chiropractic has become more-widely accepted, it is still not often on the list of options when someone has the very symptoms caused by the mechanical problems you treat everyday.
By talking face to face and one-on-one, you are able to determine individual needs, the cause of the symptoms, and then provide chiropractic as the solution. The prospect you talk with learns that chiropractic is an option and a new relationship is established.
He or she institutes faith in you as an expert and decides to give chiropractic a try because of your genuine concern and the education you provide.
2. Find venues to meet people. Every community has an endless number of opportunities to meet people. Check with your local chamber of commerce for annual community events or research expos at your local convention centers.
Some other venues to explore include fitness centers, wholesale stores, drug stores, athletic fields, sporting events, benefit walks and runs, local festivals, grocery stores, sporting goods stores, events for children, events for older adults, employee benefits fairs, holiday events, a kiosk at your local mall, home and garden shows, golf courses — the list is infinite.
3. Map your marketing calendar. Once you have a list of events and venues, map them on a calendar. Set a goal to participate in four events per month to start.
Most events are free, but some require you pay an initial fee to secure your spot. You may need to call several months in advance as some fill up quickly.
If you find there are only a few community events in any given month, begin calling businesses in your area to secure marketing venues. In other words, create your own “event.”
The important element in this planning
4. Determine what service you will provide. In order to secure an opportunity to talk with people, you will need to explain the value of the service you’re providing.
One way to engage prospects in a conversation about their health is through a spinal screening or posture analysis. Discussing your findings as a result of performing the posture analysis is an excellent way to begin a conversation with someone about their health.
When pitching the service to an owner or manager, explain that with the spinal screening, you are providing a form of public health education, which is similar to when hospitals offer blood pressure checks.
When the owner or manager allows you to set up a small table and provide this service, it shows his or her concern for his customers’ health.
He may want to know your motivation behind providing this service. Explain that this opportunity simply allows you, as a professional, to become better known in the community, and that you strive to maintain a consistent presence as a doctor who is continually educating your community.
5. Attitude is everything. Attending an event by sitting behind a table with a big bowl of candy on it and reading a book is a waste of time! Go into each event mentally prepared. Your attitude will make or break your success.
If you imagine yourself talking with hundreds of people before you arrive at the event, you will be excited to be there! That enthusiasm will cause those attending to gravitate toward you.
If you pay to participate in an event or take the time to ask a manager if you can come to his store, be sure your attitude is right before you ever arrive and that you are visibly ready to engage people in conversation.
6. Maximize your time. Schedule your marketing events in three or four hour shifts so you can stay physically and mentally fresh. If you participate in an event that lasts all weekend, for example, check into splitting the time with another doctor or have a staff member cover some of the time.
You could even hire a greeter to simply greet the prospects who are walking by and ask them if they would like a free spinal screening. When they agree, your greeter could help them complete an informational sheet that gives you a list of symptoms to discuss.
Once your greeter introduces the prospect to you, he or she can go back out and greet others. This way, you are able to stay busy talking with people the entire time, and others aren’t missed while you are focused on one individual.
7. Be faithful to your goals. Doctors often see the influx of new patients as a result of their marketing efforts and begin to pull back from their original plan so they can focus on the care of their new patients.
Caring for your patients is an essential component. When you stop marketing, however, you quickly lose the inflow of new patients.
Don’t get stuck on the roller coaster ride of marketing and then stop to treat your patients only to realize you need to be out marketing again. If you remain faithful to the goals you’ve set each month, you will begin to see consistency in your practice.
A successful, established chiropractic practice is a result of years of determination and drive toward your goals, excellent patient care, and a resolve to educate your local community every day, every month, and every year.
Amy Lucas is the vice president of marketing at Fulk Chiropractic, a clinic of nine doctors in Olathe, Kan.
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