Resource Centers:(News, information, and tools to support your practice)
February 2010
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Warnings for the Web
If you are spending more than an hour a day on the computer…read this.
The changes that are currently taking place may affect your practice and your ability to communicate for years to come. With the new technology that seems to be all consuming in many practices, doctors are forgetting why they have come to the office.
A main focus of any practice is to develop a flow for patients and to create a level of efficiency. Up and down time is determined by patients, scheduling, and the effectiveness of the chiropractic administrator.
There is a techno underbelly that has hit the chiropractor who has been in practice less than 10 years, is less than 40 years of age, and feels as though there is something being missed on social networking sites.
If you are engulfed in social networking and constantly finding yourself e-mailing, using Twitter, or looking for friends on Facebook, there is a stopgap that is consuming your practice. While these elements of marketing are important, don’t let them become an addiction or obsession, rather than a communication tool.
Making observations
The following are four observations that need to be acknowledged.
1. Use your time wisely. The way you use your time encapsulates how busy your practice will become based on time spent with your patients. If you are seeing more patients, obviously you are spending less time in front of a computer, which is how it should be.
2. Set a good example. Other people in your office are watching how you use your time. If you constantly check your e-mail during your adjusting times, your staff may soon follow your lead when they should be making reminder calls, scheduling calls, setting up outside marketing events, and so on.
3. Don’t forget what’s important. Be watchful that a change in priorities isn’t taking place. Ensure that what was once important (your practice) hasn’t been replaced with other,
4. Don’t get sidetracked. Where is the substance in too many of the conversations or e-mails being sent? [ITAL]For example:[/ITAL]Sending jokes, the latest YouTube video, or booking your next vacation takes a lot of time from what should be getting done, like seeing more patients or being an effective communicator and building relationships face-to-face.
Break the cycle
Here are some valuable tips to help you break the cycle.
• Allow two specific times during the day, preferably not during patient hours, to check e-mail and any of your online social networking sites.
• Have training sessions on utilizing staff time management and let them know that online browsing or chatting not related to the practice is not permitted or acceptable during working hours.
As an option, if you have a staff member who is a good writer and filter, have them check your practice e-mails, write your practice’s blog, and make comments on your practice’s networking sites for you.
• Focus on the high priorities of your practice. Let’s face it, e-mailing, networking, and chatting are fun, but ensure they create profit or add a significant amount of patients to your practice.
In many cases, when you send an e-mail about an event, you are at the mercy of the sender to get back to you. Believe it or not, sometimes, it is easier to just make a phone call.
• Refrain from corresponding, forwarding, and sending junk e-mail. Only send an e-mail if you have something important to say, are answering a patient’s question, or if you want to promote an event at your practice. Don’t forward junk mail to patients.
• If you absolutely can’t live without going online and chatting, blogging, or e-mailing, then do it at home, outside the office, or not on working hours.
Promise yourself that the computer sitting on your desk is not for entertainment; it is for business and unless that is how you make your living, spend less time on it and become more productive at what you do best — being a chiropractor.
The computer is an important component to every office when used properly. As a marketing and communication tool, it is exceptional, and if you use it the right way it can be your best friend.
Timothy J. Gay, DC, is a national speaker, an author, and the founder of Ultimate Practice. He can be reached at 866-797-8366, ultimatepractice@ultimatepractice.com, or through www.ultimatepractice.com
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