March 2008

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Wellness for your patients and practice

Are you tired of having patients quit once their symptoms start to subside? Are you frustrated enough to toss all of your patients out and start over?

Although the idea might be tempting, you don’t have to do anything quite so drastic to build a family practice. Turning a pain-based practice into a successful family practice filled with patients committed to lifetime care may not be as hard as you think.

To build a high-volume family practice, implement a step-by-step communication system that conveys the consistent message that you are a family care chiropractor.

1. Market a healthier life through chiropractic care. Make this your principal marketing message.

Avoid any trickery or bait-and-switch tactics by communicating your chiropractic philosophy upfront. Let your patients know you advocate chiropractic care as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes eating well, exercising, and preventative maintenance.

You can do this even when new patients come to you in pain. Ask questions such as, “Do you just want to feel better for the short term, or do you want your spinal nerve system to be healthy for a lifetime?”

Thread your message throughout your language and patient education and you will ensure the congruency of your message from a patient’s first visit. If you communicate this effectively and consistently, your patients will understand and embrace the lifetime concept of chiropractic care.

2. Promote the facts about the anti-aging benefits of chiropractic. When people can’t do things they used to be able to do, they start to feel old.

Let them know this feeling has nothing to do with chronological age, but it has a lot to do with the health of the spinal nerve system. You can show patients just how true this is by including examples or anecdotes in your patient literature, such as telling a patient who loves to run the story of your 80-year-old patient who still runs the 10K every year.

If patients understand and believe chiropractic care will help them exercise, travel, or sleep as they used to, they will be more inclined to continue routine care. When they start to experience the benefits of not feeling old, they will not only remain regular patients for life, they will also spread the word about chiropractic and, in particular, your practice.

3. Publicize the benefits of pediatric chiropractic care. You know children who start chiropractic care in infancy and continue throughout their adolescence and adulthood have healthier spines and nervous systems, but your patients may not realize this.

Talk to your patients about spinal trauma caused by:

• The birth process;
• Youth sports; and
• Wrestling with siblings.

Explain that while a child’s spine is resilient, it needs to be checked to make sure it is growing straight, strong, balanced, and free from nerve pressure. Compare chiropractic care to dentistry: Regular checkups are safe and preventative.

If you can help patients overcome their misconceptions and fears, they will see that regular chiropractic care is an important part of healthy growth and development.

Because adults may be skeptical or fearful of chiropractic care for children, have

4. Spread the message of the wellness aspects of chiropractic. The good news for chiropractors is people are increasingly attracted to the wellness lifestyle.

The more open a person is to learning about holistic health, the more you can engage in thoughtful conversation about the benefits of choosing whole foods, drug-free healthcare, and other holistic topics.

Depending on the patient, you should be careful not to offend or cause discomfort. Be wary of how you approach these subjects. But try, whenever possible, to promote chiropractic care as part of a holistic wellness lifestyle, and your patients will see it as such.

5. Teach your staff to communicate ‘family consciousness.’ Just as you must embed your chiropractic philosophy into your marketing messages, you should train your staff to use language and ask questions that promote regular family care.

One simple way to do this is to have them ask call-in patients whether they are interested in making an “individual” or a “family” appointment. This question will introduce the idea of family care as a routine practice and common choice.

Another great question to ask is: “Is this appointment for a particular problem, or for wellness care?” You are letting the patient know upfront your office provides more than pain relief.

Your practice will be a reflection of what you teach. You and your staff should begin teaching your patients from the first encounter, and you must make sure the people who work for you will communicate your message in patient interactions.

6. Put into place a financial plan that supports long-term care. Many patients who may be interested in family care won’t even ask about it because of financial concerns. Implement a system in which families can receive discounts or pay a set amount each month, and you will be surprised how many patients take you up on it.

By making care a possibility for those who might not otherwise be able to afford it, you will not only sign up new chiropractic patients, you will also attract patients who will stay with your practice for life.

Each step you take in communicating chiropractic in your practice builds upon the last. When the information is solid and the education continuing, it is easy for people to make a long-term chiropractic commitment.

Once you implement these systems, not only will your practice volume and income grow, so will your confidence with your current patients. You can begin to transition your practice and your patients to their highest possibility with this subluxation-based, lifetime-care philosophy.

Remember, the public is searching for trustworthy family healthcare. If you master the communication strategies and keep your message consistent, your patients will trust you to provide lifetime care.

Eric Plasker, DC, author of The 100 Year Lifestyle, is the founder of The Family Practice — a chiropractic coaching and training organization that provides systems, tools, and support to build a highly successful and profitable family practice. He can be reached at 866-532-3327 or through the Web site, www.thefamilypractice.net.

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