Sunday, 16 September 2012
100 Ways For Passive Patient Acquisition Part III
So we are down to the last few ways of the 100 Ways for Passive Patient Acquisition for your chiropractic office!!
But before I begin the final count down, let me mention this...
after I wrote about putting an ad on Groupon in Part I (I know some of you are puking right now thinking that an ad on Groupon is devaluing chiropractic, but like I said, some of these ways that I have suggested, you may not approve with), a few weeks later, when I was checking out Groupon on my iPhone, I saw a chiropractor who had an ad for his/her decompression treatments and if memory serves, I think that in the end there were 390 purchases! That's to say... 390 potentially NP within less than one month!
In the ad the doc was charging $35 for I think, 3 treatments (the average cost of a single treatments is usually around $200). But here's the thing...a standard spinal decompression rehab protocol is 20 visits. So the doc may have lost some money at the start of the treatment plan, but he/she gained massive amounts of new patients and income.
Now, some of you may be thinking this doc got these patients who were looking for a deal and the people that they refer, may only come expecting a similar deal. However, this can be squashed by making sure that patients know that this is a one shot deal and does not apply for any other person.
Anyways... just something to consider.
When you're done reading this blog scroll to the bottom. We at Promodocs would like to send you a free gift...NO STRINGS ATTACHED... it's just our way of saying thanks for all your support!
So here are the final 10 ways for Passive Patient Acquisition (ya, I know... we got up to 70 in the last blog... but if you go through the list, you will realize that in the end, I will have given you over a 100 different ways).
Oh ya... finally... these are in no particular order and again, you may not agree with them all, but as I said right from the start, I have essentially done all of these techniques and they have all brought in new patients.
So lets begin...
1. Gym Membership Packages - Often when new members sign up at a gym, they are given their contract in a card stock folder along with some promotional material associated with the gym. My suggestion is to talk to the manager/owner and ask if it would be possible to put one of your promotional postcards in their new members package. In return, you will give your new patients a promotional piece of theirs. New gym members are great potential new patients.
2. Market to Moving Companies - Who has more torn up spines than movers? As with the Police station or fire department , give the head of human resources, owner and/or head manager a stack of promotional postcards that you have created specifically for moving companies.. Explain to the owners/managers how chiropractic can prevent injuries and down time for their workers.
3. Webinars - This is HUGE!!!! I mean M.A.S.S.I.V.E.! Webinars are lectures or seminars that are done online - on the web ("Web" "Seminars") As you probably already know, everyone searches on the internet for all their information and purchase making decisions. In fact, online shopping is a multi-billion dollar industry because more and more people prefer to do things from the comfort of their homes.
As such, what better way to reach to your potential patients when they can watch you live from their home? Where they are comfortable and more receptive to your message.
Many people (i.e. potential patients) may not come to your office simply because they are apprehensive about going to see you - Why? Because they don't know you. They may be skeptical of chiropractic or since there are so many chiros to choose from, they just don't know who to see and who to trust. So imagine how many new patients you are losing on a daily basis because of this?!
But imagine being able to spread your message, build rapport and trust with these people without ever having seen them!
This is what webinars can do for you and why they are now essential to driving new patients to your office.
With webinars, you can have your lunch and learns, lay lectures, promotions (e.g. Health Fairs) and your chiropractic info session performed online for everyone on the web to see - LIVE- while you're performing them. As such... your potential for new patient reach and acquisition is virtually unlimited!
There are some great webinar companies out there (e.g Go To Meeting), but they can be expensive as you have to pay every time you use their services, pay for the amount of time you use for your webinar, pay for the number of people who are attending your webinar, etc, etc.
But what if you could have unlimited webinars and it's free*? Even better... what if your webinar function is built into your website where you can not only promote when you are going to perform your live webinar to every visitor that comes to your site (so your visitor can make time to watch you), but when a visitor does a google search and lands on you clinic's website while your performing your live webinar, they will be instantly notified that you are performing a live lecture!
Think about it... your visitors will not only get to know you, but you'll build rapport and trust with them. How powerful do you think that would be in getting those visitors as new patients? Do you think that those visitors would more likely book an appointment after they see you live than if you just had some static chiropractic website? How about if your visitors could interact with you online and ask you questions... and you can reply back? What if your visitors can download your Gift Certificate during your live webinar? How about if you could perform as many webinars to as many people as you want for free*? If this was all possible, can you see how your clinic would blow up with new patients?
Promodocs.com has developed an advanced webinar feature that is exclusive to Promodocs Chiropractic websites that has all the above features already built in and it comes included in your Promodocs website!
Sorry...I know that was a total plug for our chiropractic websites, but we are so pumped about being able to provide our clients with this amazing feature simply because it is truly one of the MOST effective ways to market and grow your clinic quickly.
4. Sensible Shoe Stores - These are shoe stores that sell "sensible" shoes (e.g. Walking On A Cloud Shoe Store). Again, like with the pro-shops, ask to leave promotional postcards at their sales counter.
5. Promotional Hats - For the winter - wool hats with your logo (everyone will wear it in the winter) or golf hats in the summer with your logo. Just like the wool hats... everyone will wear them and they will get noticed!
6. Auto-Responders - A MUST HAVE on chiropractic websites (This is why we have included them in our Promodocs Chiropractic Website designs. This is when visitors come to your site and request information and have to leave their email address to get it. What happens here is that your website captures these emails and automatically emails out to them newsletters about your clinic and the benefits of chiropractic. WARNING: DO NOT barrage your leads with emails (eg. 3-4 or more emails per month) otherwise you will irritate your leads and they will remove themselves off your mailing list and you'll lose them forever. The ideal amount of time is to email your leads once every 3-4 weeks
7. Radio"Ask The Expert" - now, this is not a passive patient acquisition technique because you have to go out to a studio and do it live. But I have included it here because... A. it's so fun to do. B. you get huge numbers of new patients (especially if you do a call in show). C. you tend to get NPs days and weeks after the show (hence the reason I have included it in the list). I used to do a lot of Ask The Expert on the radio and it was awesome. Take my word for it and give it a shot.
8. Mobile Text Message - Just like in point #6, this is not really passive, but the WOW factor and the referrals after makes is passive. At the end of the day, text message your new patients and message the following "Hello {patient's name}, this is my personal cell phone number. If you ever have any question or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours, Dr. {your name}"
This will blow your patients away! This is not like calling your NP from your office and saying the same thing and giving out your clinic number. Here you are showing that you take a real personal interest in getting them better by giving them your personal mobile number. You'll be surprised how many friends and family members your patient will tell. You'll get a lot of referrals from just the one little thing.
9. Inhouse Referral Promotions - I left this for one of the very last ways for passive patient acquisition, simply because we all know about it and do them. But I wanted to mention it because so many clinics have these promotions, but the "prize" is so lame. Lame like a bank giving away a toaster when you open a new account.
What I suggest is having a competition within your clinic where the patient that refers the most people (and that undergo care - you don't want patients to send just anyone ~e.g. some tourist they met on the street from Guatemala that's leaving the next day~ to your clinic just to get their numbers up) wins the grand prize. The first time I did this was when surround sound for home theaters were expensive and was the hottest thing going. You should have seen the number NP that came in! It was amazing AND the majority of them were long term patients.
So don't give away a free water-based pillow, a pair of orthotics or some other lame boring item ... make it cool, exciting and motivational. Like a trip for 2 to Mexico or something. This will not only exponentially bring up the energy and excitement in your clinic, but it'll drive a lot of new patients into your office.
10. Lastly... and as cheesy as this may sound... be awesome. Be awesome to yourself, be awesome to your family and be awesome to your patients and in return, you'll acquire new patients that pay, stay and refer. Being great, kind, and caring IS passive patient acquisition! Because when you do it everyday to everyone you meet, it simply becomes reflex action... it becomes effortless.
We have come to the end of the list of ways for Passive Patient Acquisition. Remember, I have done almost all of these techniques and they have worked. So chose as many as you can that you are comfortable with and start doing them this week. Even if you do half of them, and each one only brings 1 NP/mo... that's 50 new patient... or 600 NP in one year!
Good luck and start today!
A SPECIAL NOTE...
We at Promodocs would also like to say a special thanks to all the docs that have read our blogs, like our facebook fan page, emailed us with your question, and supported us. And to show our appreciation, we have designed a Chiropractic America and Chiropractic Canada print ready T-shirt design (based on the Captain America Shield) that you can receive FREE!
All you have to do is contact us by going to our website at http://www.promodocs.com and let us know which print ready image you want (or if you want both) and we'll email it right off to you!
To your clinic success,
The Promodocs Team
* the Promodocs Webinar feature is included in the monthly Promodocs website maintenance fee.
But before I begin the final count down, let me mention this...after I wrote about putting an ad on Groupon in Part I (I know some of you are puking right now thinking that an ad on Groupon is devaluing chiropractic, but like I said, some of these ways that I have suggested, you may not approve with), a few weeks later, when I was checking out Groupon on my iPhone, I saw a chiropractor who had an ad for his/her decompression treatments and if memory serves, I think that in the end there were 390 purchases! That's to say... 390 potentially NP within less than one month!
In the ad the doc was charging $35 for I think, 3 treatments (the average cost of a single treatments is usually around $200). But here's the thing...a standard spinal decompression rehab protocol is 20 visits. So the doc may have lost some money at the start of the treatment plan, but he/she gained massive amounts of new patients and income.
Now, some of you may be thinking this doc got these patients who were looking for a deal and the people that they refer, may only come expecting a similar deal. However, this can be squashed by making sure that patients know that this is a one shot deal and does not apply for any other person.
Anyways... just something to consider.
SPECIAL NOTE...
When you're done reading this blog scroll to the bottom. We at Promodocs would like to send you a free gift...NO STRINGS ATTACHED... it's just our way of saying thanks for all your support!
------------------------
So here are the final 10 ways for Passive Patient Acquisition (ya, I know... we got up to 70 in the last blog... but if you go through the list, you will realize that in the end, I will have given you over a 100 different ways).
Oh ya... finally... these are in no particular order and again, you may not agree with them all, but as I said right from the start, I have essentially done all of these techniques and they have all brought in new patients.
So lets begin...
1. Gym Membership Packages - Often when new members sign up at a gym, they are given their contract in a card stock folder along with some promotional material associated with the gym. My suggestion is to talk to the manager/owner and ask if it would be possible to put one of your promotional postcards in their new members package. In return, you will give your new patients a promotional piece of theirs. New gym members are great potential new patients.
2. Market to Moving Companies - Who has more torn up spines than movers? As with the Police station or fire department , give the head of human resources, owner and/or head manager a stack of promotional postcards that you have created specifically for moving companies.. Explain to the owners/managers how chiropractic can prevent injuries and down time for their workers.
3. Webinars - This is HUGE!!!! I mean M.A.S.S.I.V.E.! Webinars are lectures or seminars that are done online - on the web ("Web" "Seminars") As you probably already know, everyone searches on the internet for all their information and purchase making decisions. In fact, online shopping is a multi-billion dollar industry because more and more people prefer to do things from the comfort of their homes.
As such, what better way to reach to your potential patients when they can watch you live from their home? Where they are comfortable and more receptive to your message.
Many people (i.e. potential patients) may not come to your office simply because they are apprehensive about going to see you - Why? Because they don't know you. They may be skeptical of chiropractic or since there are so many chiros to choose from, they just don't know who to see and who to trust. So imagine how many new patients you are losing on a daily basis because of this?!
But imagine being able to spread your message, build rapport and trust with these people without ever having seen them!
This is what webinars can do for you and why they are now essential to driving new patients to your office.
With webinars, you can have your lunch and learns, lay lectures, promotions (e.g. Health Fairs) and your chiropractic info session performed online for everyone on the web to see - LIVE- while you're performing them. As such... your potential for new patient reach and acquisition is virtually unlimited!
There are some great webinar companies out there (e.g Go To Meeting), but they can be expensive as you have to pay every time you use their services, pay for the amount of time you use for your webinar, pay for the number of people who are attending your webinar, etc, etc.
But what if you could have unlimited webinars and it's free*? Even better... what if your webinar function is built into your website where you can not only promote when you are going to perform your live webinar to every visitor that comes to your site (so your visitor can make time to watch you), but when a visitor does a google search and lands on you clinic's website while your performing your live webinar, they will be instantly notified that you are performing a live lecture!
Think about it... your visitors will not only get to know you, but you'll build rapport and trust with them. How powerful do you think that would be in getting those visitors as new patients? Do you think that those visitors would more likely book an appointment after they see you live than if you just had some static chiropractic website? How about if your visitors could interact with you online and ask you questions... and you can reply back? What if your visitors can download your Gift Certificate during your live webinar? How about if you could perform as many webinars to as many people as you want for free*? If this was all possible, can you see how your clinic would blow up with new patients?
Well, it's now possible!
Promodocs.com has developed an advanced webinar feature that is exclusive to Promodocs Chiropractic websites that has all the above features already built in and it comes included in your Promodocs website!
Sorry...I know that was a total plug for our chiropractic websites, but we are so pumped about being able to provide our clients with this amazing feature simply because it is truly one of the MOST effective ways to market and grow your clinic quickly.
4. Sensible Shoe Stores - These are shoe stores that sell "sensible" shoes (e.g. Walking On A Cloud Shoe Store). Again, like with the pro-shops, ask to leave promotional postcards at their sales counter.
5. Promotional Hats - For the winter - wool hats with your logo (everyone will wear it in the winter) or golf hats in the summer with your logo. Just like the wool hats... everyone will wear them and they will get noticed!
6. Auto-Responders - A MUST HAVE on chiropractic websites (This is why we have included them in our Promodocs Chiropractic Website designs. This is when visitors come to your site and request information and have to leave their email address to get it. What happens here is that your website captures these emails and automatically emails out to them newsletters about your clinic and the benefits of chiropractic. WARNING: DO NOT barrage your leads with emails (eg. 3-4 or more emails per month) otherwise you will irritate your leads and they will remove themselves off your mailing list and you'll lose them forever. The ideal amount of time is to email your leads once every 3-4 weeks
7. Radio"Ask The Expert" - now, this is not a passive patient acquisition technique because you have to go out to a studio and do it live. But I have included it here because... A. it's so fun to do. B. you get huge numbers of new patients (especially if you do a call in show). C. you tend to get NPs days and weeks after the show (hence the reason I have included it in the list). I used to do a lot of Ask The Expert on the radio and it was awesome. Take my word for it and give it a shot.
8. Mobile Text Message - Just like in point #6, this is not really passive, but the WOW factor and the referrals after makes is passive. At the end of the day, text message your new patients and message the following "Hello {patient's name}, this is my personal cell phone number. If you ever have any question or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours, Dr. {your name}"
This will blow your patients away! This is not like calling your NP from your office and saying the same thing and giving out your clinic number. Here you are showing that you take a real personal interest in getting them better by giving them your personal mobile number. You'll be surprised how many friends and family members your patient will tell. You'll get a lot of referrals from just the one little thing.
9. Inhouse Referral Promotions - I left this for one of the very last ways for passive patient acquisition, simply because we all know about it and do them. But I wanted to mention it because so many clinics have these promotions, but the "prize" is so lame. Lame like a bank giving away a toaster when you open a new account.
What I suggest is having a competition within your clinic where the patient that refers the most people (and that undergo care - you don't want patients to send just anyone ~e.g. some tourist they met on the street from Guatemala that's leaving the next day~ to your clinic just to get their numbers up) wins the grand prize. The first time I did this was when surround sound for home theaters were expensive and was the hottest thing going. You should have seen the number NP that came in! It was amazing AND the majority of them were long term patients.
So don't give away a free water-based pillow, a pair of orthotics or some other lame boring item ... make it cool, exciting and motivational. Like a trip for 2 to Mexico or something. This will not only exponentially bring up the energy and excitement in your clinic, but it'll drive a lot of new patients into your office.
10. Lastly... and as cheesy as this may sound... be awesome. Be awesome to yourself, be awesome to your family and be awesome to your patients and in return, you'll acquire new patients that pay, stay and refer. Being great, kind, and caring IS passive patient acquisition! Because when you do it everyday to everyone you meet, it simply becomes reflex action... it becomes effortless.
We have come to the end of the list of ways for Passive Patient Acquisition. Remember, I have done almost all of these techniques and they have worked. So chose as many as you can that you are comfortable with and start doing them this week. Even if you do half of them, and each one only brings 1 NP/mo... that's 50 new patient... or 600 NP in one year!
Good luck and start today!
A SPECIAL NOTE...
We at Promodocs would also like to say a special thanks to all the docs that have read our blogs, like our facebook fan page, emailed us with your question, and supported us. And to show our appreciation, we have designed a Chiropractic America and Chiropractic Canada print ready T-shirt design (based on the Captain America Shield) that you can receive FREE!
To your clinic success,
The Promodocs Team
* the Promodocs Webinar feature is included in the monthly Promodocs website maintenance fee.
Friday, 3 August 2012
100 Ways For Passive Patient Acquisition PART II
Okay... first of all sorry for the delay!
We had a lot of great feedback with Part I of 100 Ways For Passive Patient Acquisition and we are pumped about sharing part II with you!
Again, just like I mentioned in the last blog, you may love some of these ideas and some you may hate. But, as previously mentioned, I have done them all (with just a few exceptions) and they all work. So use what you think will work for you.
Lastly, these are in no particular order.
So, let's get started...
40. Mailers - This is an obvious one, but with a slight twist. You can send out a bulk promotional mailer by sending massive quantities via the post or a mailing service... OR... better yet and to greatly increase your response, you can hand deliver them yourself. But instead of just dropping them off in the mailbox, knock on their doors and introduce yourself. This works incredible well and is a great idea if you just opened shop and you want to have that personal connection with your neighbors.
Going door to door and introducing yourself to your neighbors greatly increases the chances of them coming to your office as opposed to just sending a bulk mailer to their home. Note: make a note of the people that you have a face to face contact with and send them a follow-up letter saying how nice it was to meet them etc. and then continue with monthly mailers.
41. Senior Residence - this is a really good one! You can go to those senior centers that are run by the government (where their residents are quite ill etc.) or you can go to the ones that are for healthy active seniors. I personally recommend the senior centers that are privately run where the residents live independently for 2 reasons... 1. Generally they will have their own cars to drive to your office with. 2. They have extra income to pay for your care. Of course, you can always spend a 1/2 day there and perform adjustments on site.
42. Senior Centres - center organizers love to hold presentations and seniors love to listen to information on health. Great place to get NPs.
43. Pro-Shops - (I'll put this under one listing, but it could count for 3-5 different ways as there are so many different types of proshops :) ) Pro-Shops at gyms, golf clubs, tennis clubs etc.
44. Sandwich Trucks - sounds tacky? Not at all... especially when you think where these trucks go... construction sites and offices. Great new patient potential. And guess what? The advertising gets noticed and it's dirt cheap. Just negotiate with the truck owner.
45. Sandwich Trucks Pt. II - while your doing the ads on their truck, have special promo business cards (or postcards) made up the the driver can hand out to his customers.
46. Mobile Sign
47. Bill Boards
48. Lawn Signs - these are the little signs that you see stuck in the grass on the side of the road. Very cheap and you can get like 100 done for very little.
49. Kids Sports Sponsor
50. Charity Raffles
51. Flickr - http://www.flickr.com A great site for pics etc and helps drive traffic to your chiropractic website
52. Mattress Company
53. Physiotherapist's office
54. Massage Therapist Offices
55. Police Stations - NO... not for the criminals or the deviants of society. lol Make a promotional poster up and have placed in their meeting rooms or lunch rooms. Police generally have great coverage for chiropractic.
56. Fire Departments - Same as the police stations. They too have great coverage.
57. Ambulance - Same as above. BTW, it has been my experience that these guys are HUGE supporters of chiropractic. I used to have a bunch of them as patients!
58. Library - great place and the library will allow you to put up a promotional poster up a week or so prior to the presentation and most libraries have a calendar booklet-type hand out that they will write a small blurb about your presentation. I have had some huge turn outs from this... in fact, I've had presentations where over 100 people attended!
59. Grocery Store Presentations - some of the larger grocery stores have community centers inside them that are dedicated for presentations and workshops. Just like the library they have a hand out that they give to their customers and they will help promote your presentation. This was great because not only did I get patients from the attendees but I also go a lot of the workers to come in as well.
60. High Schools
61. University Lectures/ Sports Teams - great way to get the teams to come to your office.
62. Networking Clubs - I'm not a really big fan of this one and it really only brought me a couple patients here and there, but its helps. You have to consider the time you dedicate to this vs. the patients that you get from it and determine if you think it's worth it.
63. Coffee Shop Cups - this one I have not done, but I know a doc that did this and it worked well. Go to your local coffee shop (has to be an independently owned one - not like a Starbucks or Second Cup chain). You can talk to the owner and say that you'll help pay for the cost of their cups if you are allowed to put your clinic name and contact info on them.
64. LED Lights - I have not done this one, but I did see another chiro do this. You may think this is tacky, and perhaps it is, but his car was a Mercedes and I thought that it lessened the tackiness of this concept. These are those LED message runners that you can place in the back window of your car that other drivers can see and read. This will, without a doubt, get noticed. I never had a chance to ask how it worked for him, so I can't report how successful it is.
65. Licence Plate Frames - these are relatively cheap to produce and they really get noticed. Put your name and contact info along with a message like..."Feel'n fine cuz I got my spine aligned at XXX" (I know that was bad, but it was the first thing that came to my mind)
66. Mall Signs - can be pretty inexpensive and works well. We got a lot of the seniors come in when they noticed it during their mall walks in the morning (before the shops opened up).
67. Pod Casts - if your information is good and you have a following, it works well
68. Video Presentations - works well. Check out http://www.promodocs.com and see how we have made video presentations HIGHLY effective in driving massive numbers of new patients to your clinic!
69. Staff Bonusing - don't overlook bonusing your staff for both bringing in new patients themselves and helping achieve your monthly goals. This doesn't have to be just money, I used to give them gifts or Gift Certificates. Most I mostly gave them money as an incentive and that worked super great!
70. Taxi Cab Ads - This works well if you have a clinic downtown.
Well, that's enough for today. I will put the rest up next blog.
I hope that you have found this useful and of course, I always welcome your feedback!
We Gaurantee That'll You'll Be Blown Away
We had a lot of great feedback with Part I of 100 Ways For Passive Patient Acquisition and we are pumped about sharing part II with you!
Again, just like I mentioned in the last blog, you may love some of these ideas and some you may hate. But, as previously mentioned, I have done them all (with just a few exceptions) and they all work. So use what you think will work for you.
Lastly, these are in no particular order.
So, let's get started...
40. Mailers - This is an obvious one, but with a slight twist. You can send out a bulk promotional mailer by sending massive quantities via the post or a mailing service... OR... better yet and to greatly increase your response, you can hand deliver them yourself. But instead of just dropping them off in the mailbox, knock on their doors and introduce yourself. This works incredible well and is a great idea if you just opened shop and you want to have that personal connection with your neighbors.
Going door to door and introducing yourself to your neighbors greatly increases the chances of them coming to your office as opposed to just sending a bulk mailer to their home. Note: make a note of the people that you have a face to face contact with and send them a follow-up letter saying how nice it was to meet them etc. and then continue with monthly mailers.
41. Senior Residence - this is a really good one! You can go to those senior centers that are run by the government (where their residents are quite ill etc.) or you can go to the ones that are for healthy active seniors. I personally recommend the senior centers that are privately run where the residents live independently for 2 reasons... 1. Generally they will have their own cars to drive to your office with. 2. They have extra income to pay for your care. Of course, you can always spend a 1/2 day there and perform adjustments on site.
42. Senior Centres - center organizers love to hold presentations and seniors love to listen to information on health. Great place to get NPs.
43. Pro-Shops - (I'll put this under one listing, but it could count for 3-5 different ways as there are so many different types of proshops :) ) Pro-Shops at gyms, golf clubs, tennis clubs etc.
44. Sandwich Trucks - sounds tacky? Not at all... especially when you think where these trucks go... construction sites and offices. Great new patient potential. And guess what? The advertising gets noticed and it's dirt cheap. Just negotiate with the truck owner.
45. Sandwich Trucks Pt. II - while your doing the ads on their truck, have special promo business cards (or postcards) made up the the driver can hand out to his customers.
46. Mobile Sign
47. Bill Boards
48. Lawn Signs - these are the little signs that you see stuck in the grass on the side of the road. Very cheap and you can get like 100 done for very little.
49. Kids Sports Sponsor
50. Charity Raffles
51. Flickr - http://www.flickr.com A great site for pics etc and helps drive traffic to your chiropractic website
52. Mattress Company
53. Physiotherapist's office
54. Massage Therapist Offices
55. Police Stations - NO... not for the criminals or the deviants of society. lol Make a promotional poster up and have placed in their meeting rooms or lunch rooms. Police generally have great coverage for chiropractic.
56. Fire Departments - Same as the police stations. They too have great coverage.
57. Ambulance - Same as above. BTW, it has been my experience that these guys are HUGE supporters of chiropractic. I used to have a bunch of them as patients!
58. Library - great place and the library will allow you to put up a promotional poster up a week or so prior to the presentation and most libraries have a calendar booklet-type hand out that they will write a small blurb about your presentation. I have had some huge turn outs from this... in fact, I've had presentations where over 100 people attended!
59. Grocery Store Presentations - some of the larger grocery stores have community centers inside them that are dedicated for presentations and workshops. Just like the library they have a hand out that they give to their customers and they will help promote your presentation. This was great because not only did I get patients from the attendees but I also go a lot of the workers to come in as well.
60. High Schools
61. University Lectures/ Sports Teams - great way to get the teams to come to your office.
62. Networking Clubs - I'm not a really big fan of this one and it really only brought me a couple patients here and there, but its helps. You have to consider the time you dedicate to this vs. the patients that you get from it and determine if you think it's worth it.
63. Coffee Shop Cups - this one I have not done, but I know a doc that did this and it worked well. Go to your local coffee shop (has to be an independently owned one - not like a Starbucks or Second Cup chain). You can talk to the owner and say that you'll help pay for the cost of their cups if you are allowed to put your clinic name and contact info on them.
64. LED Lights - I have not done this one, but I did see another chiro do this. You may think this is tacky, and perhaps it is, but his car was a Mercedes and I thought that it lessened the tackiness of this concept. These are those LED message runners that you can place in the back window of your car that other drivers can see and read. This will, without a doubt, get noticed. I never had a chance to ask how it worked for him, so I can't report how successful it is.
65. Licence Plate Frames - these are relatively cheap to produce and they really get noticed. Put your name and contact info along with a message like..."Feel'n fine cuz I got my spine aligned at XXX" (I know that was bad, but it was the first thing that came to my mind)
66. Mall Signs - can be pretty inexpensive and works well. We got a lot of the seniors come in when they noticed it during their mall walks in the morning (before the shops opened up).
67. Pod Casts - if your information is good and you have a following, it works well
68. Video Presentations - works well. Check out http://www.promodocs.com and see how we have made video presentations HIGHLY effective in driving massive numbers of new patients to your clinic!
69. Staff Bonusing - don't overlook bonusing your staff for both bringing in new patients themselves and helping achieve your monthly goals. This doesn't have to be just money, I used to give them gifts or Gift Certificates. Most I mostly gave them money as an incentive and that worked super great!
70. Taxi Cab Ads - This works well if you have a clinic downtown.
Well, that's enough for today. I will put the rest up next blog.
I hope that you have found this useful and of course, I always welcome your feedback!
One Small Plug...
Promodocs has just launched the most advanced chiropractic websites available today. So if you are looking for chiropractic website designs that will deliver more new patients than you thought possible go to http://www.promodocs.com or call 1-800-652-0592 today.
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Thursday, 21 June 2012
100 Ways For Passive Patient Acquisition
This blog article is about 100 different ways to achieve
passive patient acquisition!
Actually,
there are much more than 100, as
different techniques can be used multiple times (e.g. promoting to several
different golf stores) . Now, I wanted
to get all 100 in this blog, but I realized that the blog would be far too
long. So, I’m going to break down into a couple of blog posts.
PLEASE NOTE: I have written these 100 different ways to market your
chiropractic clinic in NO particular order and some of these different
techniques you'll love, others you will hate and some you’ll feel indifferent
to. However, regardless of how you may
feel about them, you need to know, that I have done every single one of them
and they have all brought patients into my office.
Lastly, before doing
any of these techniques make sure that they fall within the guidelines of your
association.
Let’s start….
1. Newsletters – this one is obvious and essential. You need to be in constant contact with your
patients and leads. Both to educate them
and to keep your clinic top of mind. By
keeping your clinic top of mind, when your leads or patients are hurt or
whatever the case may be, you will be the first doctor/clinic they think of and call to book an appointment with. E-mail
newsletters are great, but they can kill your clinic if you do it too
much. How many times is perfect? Every 3-4 weeks. Any more than that you will not only upset
your leads/patients because you’re bombarding their inbox with constant emails,
but they will remove themselves from your mailing list and you will have lost
them forever.
2.
Golf Stores – talk to the owner and ask if you
can put some of your business cards on their sales desk or better yet, promotional postcards offering
customers some promotional offer. In
exchange, any customer that undergoes care will receive a Gift Certificate of $X
towards their next purchase at the store. Promotional postcards work the best
and make sure there is a blank space on the card where the golf store can stamp their contact
information. You can see a sample
postcard cover if you go to our Promodocs Pinterest page.
3.
Shared Marketing Mailers – using a 8 ½”x 11”
sheet of white paper (or larger if you want) for your mailer, divide it into ad spaces and get local
businesses to purchase them (give your clinic the largest ad space) and put their logo, contact info, special promo offer and a small blurb. Charge a fee that will not only cover your
printing costs, but delivery costs as well and have it mailed (either by post
or a private company) to residences in your local area. So by having the costs covered, this marketing piece will be free for you.
4.
Penny Saver – Low cost and great
readership. Works really well in smaller
town.
5.
Nutrition Stores – network with a few health
food stores (much like the golf store example) so that you can have promotional
postcards along side the cash register.
6.
Grocery Store Announcement Boards – I’m not a
very big fan of this one, but you can pin up your business cards or promotional
post cards for people to take.
7.
Craig’s List – I have known of a couple
chiropractors that swear by the effectiveness of posting their clinic on this
site. In fact, years ago, I found my
first lawyer on Craigs list and he was great.
8.
Kijiji – same as #7
9.
Bus Signs – bus signs are very effective and
surprisingly inexpensive. I prefer the
ads being on the outside (back or side) of the bus because it is more visible, noticeable
and more eyeballs will see it. If you
put the ad on the side of the bus, make sure the ad in on the street side of
the bus and not the curb side.
10.
Hospital magazines – you’ll be surprised at how
many people at the hospital who read these magazines are wishing that they
knew of a better treatment alternative to their or their friend's/family's condition other than medicine.
11.
Hospital TV monitors – Same as above
12.
M.D.’s offices
13.
Lawyers
14.
Accountants
15.
Local papers –
they have a good readership, relatively inexpensive and you are
targeting your clinic's local residence/market.
16.
Leaving your business cards with your tip –
servers see a lot of people so you never know who they will give your card to (if he or she doesn't use it themselves). I gotta say, I was uncomfortable with this at first and then I saw that it worked... I wasn't uncomfortable anymore.
17.
Article Sharing Site – promote your clinic with
a blog and article sharing sites.
18.
Website – Chiropractors are everywhere and they all
have chiropractic websites… and so, it’s
not enough to have just a website for your clinic. All
too many websites are static, boring and are the same from clinic to
clinic. This being the case, potential
patients will chose a clinic by just throwing
a dart at the monitor and see which website it hits. It’s ESSENTIAL to have a website that not
only stands apart from all the rest, but that addresses the triggers and
demands of the modern consumer (“Modern Consumer” does NOT mean young
consumers, but instead it's the new consumer mindset that is in everyone from
the age of 15 to 70 years old). If you
do not address this new mindset, you will simply NOT get the new patients
numbers you want. It is for this reason, Promodocs has developed
the most advanced and most effective chiropractic website templates available
on the market today that has been specifically designed to set your clinic
apart and address the triggers that motivate visitors to become your new patients (Our site will FINALLY be live this MONDAY!! YAY!!!).
19.
YouTube – an amazing 50% of internet users will
chose to watch a video over going to a website first. So video tape yourself during talks or just
record yourself doing info sessions and put the video up on YouTube.
20.
Twitter
21.
Pinterest – this is the fastest growing social
website today.
22.
Facebook – A MUST.
23.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – having your
site ranked high in Google is essential.
If your site is “below the fold” (i.e. in order to see your site on Google
you have to scroll down), you will get minimal activity. You need to be ranked #1 in Google (or at
least within the top 3 spots). Promodocs offers their Platinum SEO Package
which the most comprehensive SEO package in the industry at the lowest possible price.
24.
Yellow Pages – the online Yellow Pages… NOT the
yellow pages that are delivered to your house.
25. Theater Ads – Theaters are now willing to put
ads (static or non-static ads) up on the big screen before the movie.
26.
Radio – Of the conventional media platforms
(i.e. Radio, print and TV, radio is still holding its ground) Also, don’t think radio is expensive because in
some regions of the country it's amazingly cheap!!
27.
T.V. – very expensive but if your message is
right and you hit the right shows, you'll get massive numbers of new patients.
28.
Spinal Scans – don’t do it yourself, instead
hire others to do it for you. Make sure
you train them well.
29.
Magazines – you can place ads in them - they
are not as effective as they used to be (since readership is on a downward trend). HOWEVER, try to become an Expert in
the magazine and get your own column.
Even offer to do it free. Your
pay will come from the new patients that read your column.
30.
Local Papers – Like in the above example, become the Expert and get your
own column.
31.
Local Businesses – leave promotional postcards
in dry cleaners, sports stores etc. The
more people see your cards around town, the greater the chance they will come
to you if they need your services (Top of Mind).
32.
Builders and Construction sites – network with
these companies as their workers are well known for having aches and pains.
33.
Car Magnets – these are really cheap to make. You can put a large one on your car and you can give smaller ones to your patients so that they can put them on
their car The key to this is to not make it look like some boring chiropractic office magnet with a pic of you or a spine and your
clinic contact info. Make it humorous or
really cool looking so that your patients will be proud to put it on their
car. You can even offer them a small
discount off their care if they do it
for you.
34.
Referral Packages – give them out to your
patients. ONLY give them out if they ask about sending someone. NEVER, just out right ask your patients for a referral. It will create an uncomfortable setting and potential resentment. There are ways to ask directly but that's beyond the scope of this particular article. However, if you want to know the exception, please email us.
35.
Chiropractic T-shirts – give them to patients
that successfully finish their rehab program, who start care or as a referral gift.
They will wear them all the time and others will notice them. Email us at Promodocs if you want us to send
you our FREE “Chiropractic America” or “Chiropractic Canada” print-ready T-Shirt design with an
Avengers theme (they will be ready July 1st, 2012 - it'll be the Capt. America shield but instead of the white star in the middle, it'll be a white C1 vert! - really cool looking - if I do say so myself! :)
36.
Pro Shops – at a golf club, tennis club, gym
etc. EXCELLENT PLACE FOR NEW PATIENTS!
37.
Sandwich Truck – put your ad on the back of
their truck. It’s cheap and they visit a
lot of people who have the potential for back pain and other injuries.
38.
News Article Sites – these are sites that
reporters go to when they want to to get information on a topic for a story that they want to write. So they may contact you if you uploaded an
article of interest. NOTE: Often these are pay sites, but if your story
is picked up or they ask you for an interview, it could give you and your
clinic a lot of exposure.
39.
Groupon – this is a site that sells
products/services at a huge discounted price, but the offer is only available
if enough people are willing to buy. Not
a big fan of this method, but it can bring a few patients in and you can turn
these patients into long term patients and they are also a good referral
source
That's it for now.
Well, I know that I stopped at a strange number, but the
blog was getting to long so I decided to end it here.
However, in my next blog will give you another big list of even better
ideas (and some worse ones).
Well, I hoped this helped and as always, we are there
for you and if you ever have any questions on how to better improve your
clinic, please email us... we're more than happy to continually give you free
advice.
ALSO!!! Our NEW Promodocs website and chiropractic website template will FINALLY BE LIVE ON MONDAY!!!! So please check us out (http://www.promodocs.com) and
see why our websites are shaking up the industry!
Lastly, we want to thank all of our docs that made our
latest addition to our chiropractic posters, such a massive success. Our “Innate Flow” poster is still holding the
#1 spot for highest sales!
Yours,
The Promodocs Team
Friday, 18 May 2012
The Reason Why Working "In" Your Clinic Is Detrimental To Your Clinic's Success
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Over the last few weeks, I have been getting a lot of emails from fellow chiropractors telling me how their clinic numbers are dropping or just staying stagnant even though they've been spending so much time at their clinic.
Is it the economy? Is it the bad press?.... No it's not!
Here is a typical letter that I have received in the last few weeks...
"Dear Richard,
I've been in practice for a couple of years now and I work 5 full days a week. I already have a relatively slow practice and now my numbers are starting to drop. I went from seeing 80 patients/week to now only seeing 50-60!
What should I do? Please help!"
First of all, this doctor only sees 80 patients per week, that's only 16 patients per day (with working 5 days) and 80 patients is what a chiropractor can typically see in just a single day.
So going back to the title of this blog... The Reason Why Working "In" Your Clinic Is Detrimental To Your Clinic's Success, whether you have a super busy clinic or a super slow clinic, working "IN" you clinic can make your numbers drop.
As someone once told me, the key to chiropractic clinic success (or any business for that matter) is to work "ON" your clinic not just "IN" your clinic! That is to say, doing activities that will build traffic to your clinic.
For instance, the chiropractor above could easily keep his chiropractic office open just 2 1/2 days per week. By doing this, he will benefit in 2 immediate ways...
- By shortening up the work week, he will make his clinic look much busier. Having a busier clinic makes your office appear more successful, which in turn, will make converting consults to patients much easier.
- Cuts down on your expenses (e.g. don't have to pay your receptionist as much)
Meaning, you now have the freedom to do more talks, more promotions, more networking, more strategizing... more practice building things.
See, all too many chiropractors and other business owners think that they have to be at work to build a successful clinic/business. This is just not the case!
Unless you have, what I call, PASSIVE PATIENT ACQUISITION TECHNIQUES - promotional techniques that will automatically drive new patients to your clinic without having to actively get them (which will be the topic of my next blog! Here's a major technique... ALL chiros need powerful chiropractic websites.
If you're not networking or doing a promotion, go to a coffee shop with a pen and paper and think of ways to improve your clinic, think of cool referral contests, places to do talks, new marketing material - marketing to MDs, Lawyers, other chiropractors.
Here's a task you can do on your time off (and we'll talk more about this in the next blog)... think of 75 to 100 ways to get new patients through your door. It's a challenging task, but a fun one.
Just think of it this way... if you just get 1 patient per month from each of these ideas, that's potentially 100 NEW PATIENTS PER MONTH!!
Now say, just 50% of your ideas brings you 1 new patient per month... that's 50 NEW PATIENTS PER MONTH!
Even if only 25% of your marketing ideas work, that's still 25 NEW PATIENTS PER MONTH and that's still an awesome number!
And when those patients start coming in and see your busy clinic (because you're still only working 3 days a week), it will appear that you have a successful clinic, it will increase the likelihood of your consults starting care and it will increase your referrals!
And so, as you increase your patient numbers, start to increase your working hours. For instance, when I started practice, I only worked 2 1/2 days per week and seeing about 40-50 patients per day. Later, I increased my days to 4 full days and I was seeing about 80-100 patients per day.
I could have increased my work day to 5 days per week, but I have always been a big fan of long weekends and so I have never worked a Friday, Saturday or Sunday (well, I did but only on rare occasions).
So to sum it up... you WILL develop a more successful clinic when you work ON your clinic than if you work IN your clinic.
Just make sure that when you take those days off you PROMOTE your clinic AND WORK FULL days ON your practice. Don't just use it to run errands or watch your recorded episodes of Dexter (lol).
So tighten up your work week, spend less time in your clinic and build yourself a wildly successful clinic!
Remember, I'm here for you. If you ever have any questions or concerns, just like the doc in the email above, please feel free to email me at contactus@promodocs.com. I will ALWAYS give you free advice and will ALWAYS try to reply within 24 hours.
One last thing... Promodocs has created the most powerful chiropractic website templates for chiropractors that is truly breaking industry standards. Our team has incorporated features that no other chiropractic website company offers that will drive huge amounts of new patients to your clinic and give your clinic massive online exposure.
And the price? It's unbelievable! So check us out at www.promodocs.com
Just to let you know, the new site and chiropractic site will be up in just a couple of day. So we're a bit late on our launch date, but that's a good thing because we are adding another exclusive Promodocs feature that will make your Promodocs Website so much more effective!!
Hope this helps,
Richard
Saturday, 28 April 2012
The 6 Most Effective Ways To Avoid Clinic Burnout
Clinic burnout is a VERY common occurrence, whether you have a busy clinic or a struggling clinic.
If you have a busy successful clinic, burnout can come from constantly having to go out to promote your office or almost being like a robot and repeating the same chiropractic message/script to your consults, ROFs and existing patients or from having to quickly bounce from room to room adjusting patients.
If you're just opening up a new clinic or you have a struggling clinic and you're burning the candle at both ends trying to make a go of your clinic and just trying to pay the bills.
Regardless of how you get to clinic burnout, the experience is the same...
The great thing is... there are easy ways to re-energize and get back that excitement about practicing like you had on the last day of classes at your chiro college. And I'm going to tell you about it right now!
Here at the TOP 6 ways to get out of a slump...
At first, I was met with hesitation because the chiros didn't know if I was their competition down the road. So I told them that I am calling docs from completely different states so that there is no conflict of interest and we can openly share our insider secrets without having the office down the road using them.
If you have a busy successful clinic, burnout can come from constantly having to go out to promote your office or almost being like a robot and repeating the same chiropractic message/script to your consults, ROFs and existing patients or from having to quickly bounce from room to room adjusting patients.
If you're just opening up a new clinic or you have a struggling clinic and you're burning the candle at both ends trying to make a go of your clinic and just trying to pay the bills.
Regardless of how you get to clinic burnout, the experience is the same...
- Dread knowing that Monday is tomorrow and you have to go to the clinic.
- Just don't want to get out of bed to face another day at the office.
- Don't want to spend another weekend doing another promotion.
- Don't have the energy and the focus to give what your patients need.
- Always tired during the work week, but have lots of energy on your days off.
The great thing is... there are easy ways to re-energize and get back that excitement about practicing like you had on the last day of classes at your chiro college. And I'm going to tell you about it right now!
Here at the TOP 6 ways to get out of a slump...
- The Pareto Principle: A.K.A. the 80-20 Rule - roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. That is to say, get rid of the patients that just whine and complain and bring down the energy in your office. Do the promotions that bring in the best patients. Don't waste your time on all those other promotions that only bring in a few, but you have to spend HOURS getting those few. Of all the task that you have to do, only 20% of them matter. So ONLY work on that 20% as those are the ones that will drive 80% of your business/clinic.
- Write It Out: Often people become overwhelmed because they feel that they have so much to do and they just don't know where to start. So they start tasks haphazardly and just spin their wheels and get no where because they are jumping back and forth from task to task trying to get everything done. AND at the same time, busying themselves doing less important tasks and NOT the important ones that will truly benefit them and their clinic. But, if you write out your task in a list format, you will realize that you actually have less to do to achieve your goals and you'll know which tasks are the important ones.
Here's what I do... on my wall (in my home office), using cue card, I have 3 columns. The first column is the "To Do" column. 2nd column it's the "Doing" column. 3rd column - "Done" column. So I then write down each task on 1 card and put them in the "To Do" column and as I start a task, I move the card into the "Doing" column. When I finish that task... I move the card into the "Done" column.
You will be AMAZED how it removes your stress levels! Because now you see what you actually have to do (and as you move the cards to the "DONE" column you get a lot of satisfaction as you see your tasks getting completed) AND you realize that it's a lot less than you think you actually had to do. - Go On A Spontaneous Vacation: Right now, think of a place you want to go to (the Caribbean is really cheap this time of year), book it for 3-7 days from now (so that you give your patients the heads up), and then just take off! Ya, you heard me... just jet! I did this. During a super stressful time in my life (and I had an insanely busy office), I took off for 3 weeks. You might be thinking, "What are my patients going to think?!" Well, when I got back after 3 weeks, NONE of my patients said anything and the clinic started back up as if I never left! My advice... JUST DO IT!
While I was on vacation, I not only came back super charged and ready to go back, but I also came back with amazing marketing and promotional ideas that built up my clinic that much more! And more importantly, my patients were feeling much better from my adjustments because I was able to focus more! - Change Up Your Clinic: Paint the wall, get new chiropractic posters, new flowers, new furniture etc. Don't have the money for that? That's fine.. then just rearrange your furniture, change the patient flow patterns in your office, change the music in your office to more pop or energetic music. If you are already playing pop music, switch it up to jazz or ambient music.
Instead of wearing jeans and a T-shirt or golf shirt in the office, wear dress pants and a dress shirt or vice versa.
Or have some fun contest in your office. Do some Give-Away to the patient that brings in the most referrals within the month, organize a food drive. do a Chiro Quiz Contest (i.e. make up a sheet of 10 questions about chiropractic that your patients have to answer and hand in on their next visit. Then at the end of the month have a draw - person who's name is drawn must have answered the Qs correctly. Winner get a gift certificate to a nice restaurant). - Go to a Chiropractic Seminar: Although you may think that you're the only one suffering, believe me, YOU'RE NOT ALONE! A great place to get motivated, learn new ideas, get the moral support you need, is from Chiro Seminars. Not only is it a great escape from your office, but it sets your mind straight so that you can get back into the game.And My ALL Time FAVORITE... with LASTING Results...
- Network With Other Chiros (WITH A TWIST!): First of all get a Magic Jack (i.e. internet phone where you can call anywhere in North America (and some other countries) for free.
Second: Find successful chiropractors in different states or provinces. I did this by Googling different chiropractic websites. I had 2 main criteria that I used to gauged a successful practice... - Quality of their website - Was the site just slapped together with no thought just so that they had a website, or did they have a high quality site because they took pride in their clinic.
- How did the office look - Did the office look professional, clean and modern or did it look like just a plain office with typical M.D. office chairs, plain walls, and just really no thought involved.
At first, I was met with hesitation because the chiros didn't know if I was their competition down the road. So I told them that I am calling docs from completely different states so that there is no conflict of interest and we can openly share our insider secrets without having the office down the road using them.
It Was A HUGE Success!
We'd all talk once a month and email each other whenever we had an issue. Great support network and we'd always come up with kick ass marketing ideas.
And all of our clinics grew and we never had a burnout as we supported each other when needed!
(NOTE: Don't form your group of chiros from seminars that you regularly attend r chiros that you already know obecause often your ideas will be too similar and there won't be that degree of anonymity you can be completely open with . Just do random Google searches (i.e. "Arizona Chiropractor") and use the criteria above. Believe me it will work much better!).
Hope this helps!
Promodocs
One last thing...
If you're one of those clinics that have an unimpressive and ineffective website or your website is not driving new patients to your clinic like its supposed to, Promodocs is developing the most powerfully effective chiropractic website available! NO EXAGGERATION!
Our team of young and highly talented web engineers have developed our Chiropractic website templates with advanced web features that not only enhances your visitors online experience and education, but will also drive more new patients to your office than you ever thought possible! Watch the short video below or check out http://www.promodocs.com.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Chiropractic Membership Clinics - Are they destroying chiropractic?!
Over the last few days, I have seen a Facebook post going around of a clinic's ad that says, something to the effect of, "Unlimited Chiropractic Care for ONLY $49.00!" (similar to the ad above).
And a ton of chiropractors jumped on the thread... some bashing the marketing campaign and some supporting it.
Those that were knocking it stated that it was devaluing chiropractic, that it was an insult to the chiropractic profession and that it was sending out the wrong message about chiropractic. Whereas those that were in support of these clinics/ads were saying that by providing such an offer, it makes chiropractic more affordable and therefore assessable to more people.
Now, I should state that I have never used this type of marketing and I don't think that I would have ever used it if I still practiced.
Promodocs is very excited to announce that they are presently developing groundbreaking chiropractic website designs that are truly revolutionary!
And a ton of chiropractors jumped on the thread... some bashing the marketing campaign and some supporting it.
Those that were knocking it stated that it was devaluing chiropractic, that it was an insult to the chiropractic profession and that it was sending out the wrong message about chiropractic. Whereas those that were in support of these clinics/ads were saying that by providing such an offer, it makes chiropractic more affordable and therefore assessable to more people.
Now, I should state that I have never used this type of marketing and I don't think that I would have ever used it if I still practiced.
HOWEVER...
My questions are... Is it really devaluing chiropractic? Is it sending the wrong message?
Before I continue, let me say this... there was once a chiropractor that put a box on the wall and told his patients to pay whatever they thought the adjustment was worth to them (which I think is a very noble idea). Of course, I don't know what the average collection was, but I am sure some people left very little money whereas other left a lot.
Either way, patients probably paid what they could afford so that they could have money to return for another adjustment.
Although this example is different from the Membership model, one could argue that chiropractors should have fixed rates for their treatments otherwise it devalues care. I personally do not think that this is the case, but arguments can still be made.
The main problem that I see is simple mathematics. If a clinic is going to charge $49.50 (more or less) per month for unlimited care, how many patients does one have to adjust to make a profit? or even just sustain their clinic's overhead?
As such, this is a model that I would never engage in.
However, does it devalue chiropractic or sends the wrong message about chiropractic? I would say that it doesn't, so long as the chiropractor that is offering this fee structure does not make the fee the focus for the patient to come in for care. Instead, the focus has to be about chiropractic, the philosophy of chiropractic, and the absolute importance of chiropractic to one's health.
Once you make the focus about money/fees, then you have completely devalued chiropractic... regardless of the amount you charge.
Someone once said, that if you don't piss someone off with your marketing, then you're doing it wrong.
As such, given the marketing concept that I talked about and my opinion on the matter, I know that there will be those doctors who will agree with me and others that will disagree with me.
However, no one can argue that all chiropractors have to stress the importance of chiropractic in one's life.
However, no one can argue that all chiropractors have to stress the importance of chiropractic in one's life.
Either way, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!
One Quick Note (and shameless plug)...
Promodocs is very excited to announce that they are presently developing groundbreaking chiropractic website designs that are truly revolutionary!
Promodocs has acquired an elite team of young web engineers that have incorporated advanced web technology into their chiropractic website templates that will allow doctors to not only enhance their online visitors' experiences, but will also reach more online visitors and have more new patient bookings than any other chiropractic website design... GUARANTEED!
For more information on our chiropractic websites, please visit http://www.promodocs.com today and watch our video.
Promodocs would also like to announce their latest chiropractic poster called "Innate Flow". We just launched it and it has become one of our fastest selling posters! The Innate Flow poster is ONLY $29.50ea (24"x18" HxW). Also, take advantage of our FREE SHIPPING offer!
Promodocs would also like to announce their latest chiropractic poster called "Innate Flow". We just launched it and it has become one of our fastest selling posters! The Innate Flow poster is ONLY $29.50ea (24"x18" HxW). Also, take advantage of our FREE SHIPPING offer!
Monday, 5 March 2012
Which Will Convert Your Consults to New Patients Easier? Pay Per Visit or in Installments?
In this economic time, money is an issue for everyone... and so you might ask, which method of payment will my consults be more likely to accept in order to undergo care?Pay per visit or in installments.
Well the answer depends on a few factors...
1. Perceived Value.
2. Demand
3. Financial Status.
Perceived Value:
Perceived value is the view that your consult has on your offering. Do they see value in what you are offering? Do they think that chiropractic will help them? If so, do they see it as a "short term fix" or a "long term fix"? Is it worth their time? Is it worth their money? Do you "sell" them on chiropractic, do you "over sell" them on chiropractic or do you make them want to "buy" into chiropractic?
Demand:
Are there patients in your waiting room and treatment rooms when your consult comes in? Does your clinic look quiet? Does your front end staff look busy? Do you have a waiting list?
Financial Status:
Simply... does your patient have the income to pay for treatment?
Although there are other factors, I feel that these are the most important factors, but often your consults' financial position tends to be the biggest factor in the decision making process... or is it?
Your goal typically is to have your consult realize the importance of chiropractic and that money is of little importance.
Have you ever wanted something so badly, say some exciting new gadget, you can't really afford it but somehow you scrape up the money and get it? Well you're driven to do this because of the messaging that the company has put into their marketing.
A consult will react the same way... make them realize that they have to have your care. Now, don't sound like a used car salesman and of course, NEVER be dishonest. Instead, stress the importance of chiropractic and make your patient realize that their health is an INVESTMENT, not an EXPENSE!
So if you have addressed the above factors, that is to say, you have a great looking clinic, a "perceived" busy clinic, you've emphasized the importance of chiropractic care, you've not oversold chiropractic, you've made your consult understand that their health is an investment, then you have made finances a non-issue!
Remember this one important note...
People Don't Like To Be Sold Anything.
People Like To Buy!
So if you have everything in place, finances should never be an issue.
Having said that, due to these economic times, money issues are generally to be top of mind for any purchase. But to decrease the fear of spending, people like security. One of the ways that you can offer them that security is to provide them with the option of paying per visit.
The great thing about having patients pay per visit, is that they are more likely to start care due to the level comfort of being able to discontinue care without any hassle (i.e. having to go through the refund process after paying in installments).
While your new patient is now under care and has that level of comfort, you can gradually teach them and reinforce the importance of chiropractic care, following through until their treatment plan is over and the importance of maintenance care.
People are generally more receptive to information gradually being presented to them, than having a shot gun approach... especially when they may have a certain degree of apprehension in their "purchase".
If you are having difficulty in having your consults pay in installments, try having them PPV. The chiropractors that have contacted us (contactus@promodocs.com) for advice on this matter, have boosted up their consult to NP by 80-90%. But not only this, by gradually educating their patients (and by gradually, I mean talking chiro every other visit or so), they have also skyrocketed their conversion for maintenance patients.
I hope this helps!
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