After graduating from chiropractic school, most DCs who try to start a practice soon face a stark reality: They need steady, strong income to pay down debt and fund marketing and growth.
Yet you may have been told that there are no easy ways to build a practice quickly. The good news is that you can, in fact, get off to a fast start.
Here are six ways to more than triple the size of your practice in less than three years.
1.Spend money to make money.
The adage is true: You must invest to make a profit. This is especially true for chiropractors. If you don’t invest in marketing, you will not build your patient volume. How much you should spend varies by practice and location, but a general guideline is to spend up to 25 percent of your income on marketing. Once you have reached a comfortable level of weekly intake, you can reduce your marketing investment to 10 percent.
2.Choose the business you want wisely.
Marketing works best when it is specific and targeted. Tell potential patients exactly what kind of business you want.
Patients relate to descriptions of the symptoms that they have and not their diagnosis. So if you want decompression patients, for instance, your marketing efforts should tell prospective patients the symptoms they are feeling and they will respond.
Before you go after new patients, analyze your practice by asking yourself three questions:
- What do I have the most capacity to do?
- What do I make the most money doing?
- What gives me the most energy, and what am I great at doing?
3.Master the media mix, message, and movement.
Your media mix is your recipe of marketing to drive business. Don’t get talked into spending all your money in one place. You should be looking at digital, social media, news- paper ads, events and seminars, direct mail, personal injury programs, and internal referral campaigns.
Your marketing message should be symptom specific, so your prospective patients can relate to the care you provide.
With regard to movement, your prospective patients need a clearly defined path to get an appointment. This can be a phone number, a Web address that leads to an easy-to-fill-out form, or an RSVP card. Make it simple and easy for a patient to contact you.
4.Manage your reputation.
Nowadays, no one with an Internet connection will come to your office without first investigating you online. It is essential that you manage your reputation by reducing your negative ratings and growing your positive ones.
There are a number of companies set up specifically for doctors to maintain their online reputation. Whether you monitor your image yourself or use a professional service, take control of the discussion about you””it is easier than you might think.
5.Capitalize on the co-risks.
Patients often need additional services, but you must take the time to offer them. The best time to “sell” to patients is when they are in your office and willing to take care of their health. Look for new ways to help patients and they will be more loyal to you. The best patients usually become the best sources of referrals.
6.Measure and report key metrics.
It is a truism that “what is measured grows; what is measured and reported grows exponentially.” In fact, in addition to measuring, ensure the whole team knows the numbers they are expected to hit each week, month, and quarter.
If you do these six things just a few hours a week, your practice can triple in size in less than three years. Even better, your practice will be more profitable and fulfilling because you will be bringing in the business you want.
John Luginbill is the founder and CEO of The Heavyweights, which offers a marketing process that helps healthcare practitioners achieve rapid growth. He can be reached atjohn@theheavyweights.com or through turnupyourvolume.com.
