What’s Your Excuse
By drbeck | February 8, 2010
No matter where you are at in life or your practice, there is hope. While we can’t sit on our haunches and “believe” success into our practice, we can be inspired by others, which should cause us to then take action.
This guy is making the best of what he has. Are you?
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing, Coaching/Strategies | 1 Comment »
New Chiropractic Keyword Found
By drbeck | February 5, 2010
Imagine my surprise when, as I was getting a new ChiroPatients Online client set up yesterday, I found a new chiropractic keyword. Not another word for chiropractic, but a keyword that is a symptom your patients have.
(If you’re not familiar with the term “keyword”, you may want to read a previous post where I covered this called How To Use Internet Keywords In Your Offline Marketing.)
Here’s how it happened…
Ever so often, as we’re setting up a new client, I’ll do some keyword research using Google’s keyword generator tool. With this tool, you type in a keyword like “neck pain” and it will throw out about 700 related words people search for on Google. Plus, it will show you how many searches each keyword gets per month.
As I’m working on a list of symptoms that people would type in Google, I stumbled across an interesting keyword. The keyword list Google’s tool generates for you always includes related keywords.
However, this time a keyword popped up that was not one I had heard of before. I just assumed it was a mistake. Something Google just through in the list because it sounded like another keyword, but wasn’t really related.
But since it gets over 300,000 searches monthly, I thought it would be worth checking it out. I typed into Google’s search engine, and sure enough it’s a related keyword.
I’ve never heard it used before — not in chiropractic school, not in practice, and not by any consulting group. Maybe they teach it now in chiropractic school, but I doubt it.
So I went ahead and put the keyword into my client’s Adwords campaign. When I checked his account this morning, I was shocked to find this keyword triggered my client’s ad 10 times in his area in the last 24 hours!
Since his ad only show for a 20 mile radius around his practice, this is big. Very big because his ad is the only one that shows. No one else knows this keyword exists, therefore they aren’t bidding on it. That means he’s the first and only ad that person sees on the page. And he’s going to pay a very small amount when someone clicks his ad.
For example, a typcial search on Google looks like this. With 3 ads up top, and 8 down the side.
This of course drives bids way up, making it very costly to be in #1. But imagine if you were the only ad showing for a popular keyword. Then you get to be #1 with very little cost. And even more important, you’re the first thing people see on the page and the only ad showing.
In the interest of my clients, I can’t reveal what this keyword is. But I did confirm it’s a new keyword. By using Google’s Trends tool, it showed that the keyword just came into use in 2009. Google Trends will show you how popular a keyword is over time. And you can see if it’s trending up or trending down.
My guess is that MD’s are telling their patients they have this problem, and the patients are going home to search for it online. Here’s a screenshot of the Google Trends research.
The lesson from this is that it pays to do your research. And it definitely pays to know what you’re doing with Adwords so you can be first in the market for new keywords. Without the internet and Google’s keyword tool, I’m not sure chiropractors would even know this word was being used at this level for another 3-5 years.
If you’d like someone to handle your internet marketing for you, check out this free webinar. (We have room for only 2 more clients this month.)
http://www.ChiroPatientsOnline.com
Topics: Internet Marketing | No Comments »
How The Mighty Fall
By drbeck | January 28, 2010
This week, I read Jim Collins’ new book How The Mighty Fall: And How Some Companies Never Give In. I knew this book would have application to chiropractic offices as soon as I read the back cover in Barnes and Noble.
“Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.” – Jim Collins
How true this statement is. Not in a mystical, ‘think and it will happen’ kind of way. Not in a flippant statement some consultants throw at their clients for a ‘pump-me-up’.
But simply a statement of truth.
The success of your practice depends on you! Not the economy. Not the size of your town. Not where you practice. Not the government’s attempts at screwing up healthcare. Not Obama’s spending that you’ll never see a dime of.
Sure, these things make practice a bit more difficult. No one would say they don’t have an affect. But they are not the determining factor in your success.
You would be amazed at the doctors who’ve simply given up marketing their practice the last couple of years. And paid dearly for it. Some haven’t done any outside marketing in 10 or 20 years, but now find themselves forced to due to a declining practice.
Granted, most marketing out there sucks at bringing in new patients. Yet there are proven methods and strategies that work.
And the simple fact is that if you’re not marketing your services to the public, it’s just a matter of time before you’re practice will decline.
Back to the book. Collins has taken various failed companies and studied them to determine what caused their decline. Based on this he has uncovered 5 stages of decline.
Below I list the 5 stages and show how they apply to a chiropractic office. I’ve chosen to give our imaginary chiropractor a name, Dr. Decline, so as not to insinuate that all chiropractors are declining. But it’s very likely many of my readers will be in one of these 5 stages, whether they know it or not.
Hey, I admit I went through stages 1-4 in my early days of practice. Most of us do at some point. But hopefully reading this will help you to recognize it better next time.
Are you in one of this 5 stages?
1. Hubris Born of Success
Hubris is a word from ancient Greece that means overbearing pride or presumption. It’s the thing in Greek mythology that always brought down the hero. It’s what Proverbs 16:18 says well “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. ”
This is what Dr. Decline says at some point, “Things are going great right now. I’ve done well. Money is coming in. Why should I even pay for that ad in the newspaper anymore? I can cut back and just rely on referrals. After all, my patients refer because I’m the best doctor in town, not because of some words they read in my newspaper ad or website.”
2. Undisciplined Pursuit of More
Collins thought his data would show declining companies had become complacent and lazy, watching the world go by. But his data showed quite the opposite. He found “overreaching much better explains how the once-invincible self-destruct”
Here our doctor says to himself, “Maybe I’ll buy that new decompression table or new rehab equipment. What’s a big fat lease payment when I’m doing this well. We better hire some new staff too, to get ready for big growth. Things have been busy lately, after all. And I’ll have money because I’ve cut back on my marketing expenses too.”
3. Denial of Risk or Peril
This is when the effects of stage 1 and 2 are starting to set in. Money is still coming in, but signs of danger are starting to appear. There aren’t a lot of new patients on the books next month. The bills are starting to pile up. But the leaders deny the risk.
But our good doctor says, “Ah, it’s probably just the economy or the summer slump or insurance companies. Things will be fine. After all, I’ve been in practice over 10 years, and I’m still here, right?”
4. Grasping for Salvation
The risks of stage 3 have now become a reality, throwing the company into a sharp decline. Collins says this is a pivotal time and brings up the critical question of “how does its leadership respond?”
Does Dr. Decline grasp for a savior in the form of a charismatic chiropractic coach, a “bold but untested strategy” or any other number of magic pill solutions? What he does here is pivotal because once in stage 5 below, there is no coming back.
5. Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
“The longer a company remains in stage 4, repeatedly grasping for silver bullets, the more likely it will spiral downward”, says Collins. The leaders abandon all hope and either sell out or liquidate assets.
This is a sad state for chiropractors when this happens. Let’s hope Dr. Decline never gets here. But the truth is some chiros do.
So how do you prevent the 5 stages of decline listed above?
It’s hard to say for your particular case. But a couple of general guidelines are “don’t ever stop using marketing that works” and cut, cut, cut your expenses.
Oh, and kill that awful sin we all struggle with: pride!
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing, Coaching/Strategies, Decompression Marketing | 2 Comments »
Are you Doing This in Your 2010 Chiropractic Marketing Arsenal?
By drbeck | January 21, 2010
Today’s featured blog post is by billy Sticker of http://the3weekauthor.com
How would you like some free and low cost marketing/advertising? In this economy (heck, in any economy), you want to get the most “bang for your marketing-buck,” right? Well then you need to write a book. Having your own book needs to be a part of your marketing tool chest.
Here is a quick list of 10 reasons why:
1. Credibility
Being a chiropractor already gives you credibility, but what sets you apart from other DC’s? If you write a book on your expertise, it can set you apart. All else being equal, people will choose the author (recognized expert) 9 times out of 10.
2. Free Publicity
Being a doctor and an author can make it easy to get media attention. Your local media is always looking for quality content for their followers (TV, newspaper, local magazines, radio). You can write a press release and attract media attention worth tens of thousands of dollars in free exposure for you and your practice.
3. Patient Education
One of the most important keys in patient retention is patient educations. A great Report of Findings coupled with a “system” of educating the patient throughout the course of their treatment is instrumental in getting a patient to follow through with care.
4. Patient Retention
If a patient understands the reasons and benefits for continuing care, they usually will follow through with their care. If implementing a patient education system using your book doubled your PVA, it would also double the value of the patient – which potentially means that you could double your income without seeing any new patients.
5. Marketing Tool
When you self-publish, it is possible to get your book printed for $2-3 per book. It usually means ordering large quantities of 1000 or more (I teach DCs how to get that price with no minimum order), but at that price, you can give them out when you do lectures or screenings. And maybe even use them as a door prize.
6. Referrals
Your patients will be proud and excited they go to the doctor that “wrote the book on…” You can pass your book out to existing patients and ask them to hand it out to friends and family to generate referrals.
7. Eliminate Competition
With your new system in place (free publicity, patient education, patient retention, marketing, and referrals), your competition cannot compete. Becoming the recognized authority in your local market can set you above the other non-author chiropractors in town.
8. Legacy
The older we get, the more we want to leave our mark for generations to come. Can you imagine your great grandchildren reading your book? Think about it, if your great grand mother or father had written a book, wouldn’t you like to read it? Your book lives on long after your gone.
9. Increase Profits
With new found fame, comes the potential for increasing profits – your PVA has almost doubled since you wrote your book, referrals are pouring in, and people are still calling from the TV interviews they saw you on. Their are new patients everywhere!
10. Fulfill a Dream
Most people, when asked, admit they have always to write a book. And of those people, many never will. It is a great feeling to hold your finished book in your hands – to know you have accomplished something many people only dream of.
If you have ever thought of writing a book, do it. Fulfill your dream and grow your practice.
Author and Marketing Expert, Billy Sticker, is the founder and CEO of The Instant Influencer, which has been hailed as the fastest, easiest, and most affordable way to writing and publish a book. He is recognized worldwide as a leading expert on the subject and regularly consults chiropractors and other professionals that want to attain global exposure and a celebrity-like following by having a book. For more information go to http://the3weekauthor.com
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing, Marketing for Referrals | No Comments »
Discover An Ethical Treatment Plan Proven to Help Neuropathy Patients
By drbeck | January 17, 2010
Have you tapped into the very hot neuropathy niche yet?
Due to the aging baby boomer population, there are currently millions of cases of peripheral neuropathy worldwide.
- In March of this year, a California legislative task force on peripheral neuropathy was established and reported that over 20 million Americans suffer this disease.
- It Is Anticipated That by 2010 Sales of Neuropathic Pain Drugs Will Double To US$5.5 Billion.
- Almost 1 million neuropathy related keyword searches were performed on Google last month in the U.S.
With my ads, it’s easy to get neropathy patients in the door. But then how do you help them get better?
Find out on Tuesday 1:00PM EST, 12:00 CST, on Jan. 19th when I’ll be hosting a webinar entitled “Discover An Ethical Treatment Plan Proven to Find and Help Neuropathy Patients”.
Register here to watch the replay:
http://www.neuropathychiros.com
I’ll be joined by two experts in the neuropathy field.
Dr. John Hayes, DC and Dr. David Phillips, PhD have combined efforts to develop a tested and replicable treatment system for patients with peripheral neuropathy.
Dr. Hayes will be taking us through exactly what he does with his patients to get them better. I think you’ll be surprised at how easy his protocol is to implement in your practice. And rest assured, it does NOT advocate outrageously expensive equipment, or cold laser therapy!
Here’s just a few of the conditions Dr. Hayes has used his system for…
-Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
-Post ChemoTherapy Neuropathy
-Diabetic Lumbopelvic Plexopathy and incontinence
-Failed Lumbar Back Surgery
-Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
-Multiple HNPs with bilateral Radiculopathies
-Idiopathic Polyneuropathy
-Chronic, intractable Myofascial Pain
In addition to Dr. Hayes, we’ll be joined by Dr. David Phillips. Dr. Phillips invented the world’s first infrared ear thermometer and received The Inventor Of The Year Award 1987. Dr. Phillips also invented the nano-silver based cure for Molluscum Contagiosum, a previously incurable childhood skin disease.
Now, he’s developed a unique device that’s proven to be 94% effective in the treatment of the chronic pain of Peripheral Neuropathy.
And you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive this equipment really is!
Make sure you’re on this exciting webinar.
If you have questions, you’ll be able to type them in on the webinar and we’ll be answering them in a Q&A session at the end. I’ll see
you there.
P.S. Just like spinal decompression was all the rage 5 years ago, the neuropathy niche is only going to get bigger and bigger. Don’t be the last chiropractor in your town who taps into this market of patients.
No doubt there are neuropathy patients in your town right now looking for help. They’re tired of being pumped full of drugs to stop the pain. They want a natural solution.
The only question is how are you going to reach them and what treatment protocol will you be using.
Register here to watch the replay:
http://www.neuropathychiros.com
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing | No Comments »
Spinal Decompression Marketing Elite
By drbeck | January 7, 2010
Why isn’t your decompression table packed with patients all day long?
This really is the ‘Million Dollar’ question for your practice. So the answer must be more marketing, right?
Well, yes and No. Join me for a Free webinar, where’ll explain “How to Fill Your Practice With High Quality Decompression Patients”
To watch the replay, go here:
http://www.decompressionmarketingelite.com
You see, almost all chiropractors with decompression tables are using outdated, rehashed advertising and marketing techniques — those that worked in the golden days when decompression first came out.
But we both know these techniques don’t work anymore.
The world has changed. Potential patients you’re trying to persuade to come in have grown increasingly resistant to these obsolete marketing strategies.
In 2010, I’m going to help one doctor per area have their best year ever by using my new Decompression Marketing Elite program.
Life’s too short to sit around waiting for the next patient to come in, while the table you paid thousands of dollars for collects dust.
No secrets held back.
Find out everything you need to know about this decompression marketing program now…without closing your office and spending thousands of dollars to travel to a high-pressure “Discovery Day”.
On this free webinar, here’s what you’ll discover…
- How to receive a new decompression marketing tool each month, bringing in quality new patients who stay, pay and refer.
- The only one-on-one personal decompression coaching, tailored to your practice to personalize the proven system to your own unique practice and city.
- How to get monthly decompression marketing webinars, where you’ll see exactly what other successful doctors are doing in their practice and discover how to increase your conversion rate to high-fee care plans.
- How to guarantee you’re the only doctor using this decompression marketing system in your area.
- How to finally stop living on the threshold of financial freedom and take your practice to a new level.
If you have a decompression table in your practice, you do not want to miss this call. Come and watch me reveal exactly how I’ll be doing it.
Because this program will be area exclusive, if you’re in a competitive area you should at least attend to make sure you’re not giving up a golden opportunity.
There was even a Q & A session after the webinar. Join me from the comfort of your office or home computer.
http://www.decompressionmarketingelite.com
P.S. Do you think there will be more or less patients with herniated discs in 2010? How about in 5 years from now?
Decompression is not a fad, because disc problems are not a fad. It’s time you really tapped into this booming market.
Topics: Decompression Marketing | No Comments »
The Biggest Mistake I See With Ads
By drbeck | January 5, 2010
Are you making this mistake?
I speak with quite a few chiropractors running my ads in their local newspapers. Recently a doctor sent an ad to me that he had ran. He wanted me to give him my opinion on my it didn’t work.
At first, I had difficulty identifying if it was even my ad. The photo certainly wasn’t mine. The headline didn’t look right or even make sense to me. And the spacing was terrible.
It could only be called “my ad” in the same sense a Filipino barber cracking someone’s neck could be called a “chiropractic adjustment”!
Then I realized where he’d gone wrong…
He had committed the biggest mistake when it comes to newspaper advertising.
Here’s the mistake.
Don’t let the newspaper rep or the art department direct you into wasteful spending. Their job is to sell you the ad space, not sell you the ad design.
Don’t be a victim to this one. If you’re new to advertising or it’s the first time you are running in a particular newspaper, an experienced ad rep may try and put the pressure on you.
For example, the first time they look at one of my ads, they might tell you that this is not the typical ad that they see. It doesn’t look like the tanning salon’s ad or the MedSpa’s weight loss ad. It does not have color, it does not have graphics, it was not designed by their design department.
Come one!
These people are clueless when it comes to writing an effective ad. How many courses, coaching programs, or classes have they had on copywriting, marketing, or even chiropractic?
Zero. Nada. Zilch.
A newspaper rep is trained in selling ad space. A graphic designer is trained in…you guessed it…graphic design work!
Any ad that they would design is based on what the designer or the ad rep thinks is a good ad. They have not been trained to develop proven, effective ads, nor do they know your business, the type of patient, and the type of emotional words and copy that would draw the best response.
Many of ad reps will not even know what a “copywriter” is, and yet they work in the advertising industry!
I don’t recommend ever letting the ad rep or the design department do anything to your ads, other than format them, to fit in their paper.
You do not want them to move paragraphs around. You do not want them to move the picture to the other said of the ad or to the top or to the bottom. You do not want to change the size of the headline.
Now they may need to change it from a 4 column to a five column ad, for example, but make sure when you see the proof, that everything is still there. And the photos are specifically place, so if they resize the ads, try to get the photo to stay where it should!
I’ve seen newspapers (and some doctors) horribly butcher the ads I wrote. Ads with a specific purpose, layout, picture, etc. Then the newspaper art department will come in and convince the doctor that they can “improve the ad”.
Which usually means completely rewriting the headline and replacing my ‘empathy building’ photo with one of their pictures of a guy holding his back.
What Should A Good Rep Do?
A good newspaper rep should simply assist you in placing the ad. They’ll give you the different numbers you need to make a decision. You know, make sense of the overly complicated price layouts they have. Compare the price between a half page ad and 10,000 inserts.
Then you make the decision and place the ad you already have.
If you get a billigirent ad rep who insists they can develop a better ad for you, one with less copy and more graphics, say this,
“Sure, you can design and run whatever kind of ad you want for me, as long as you do it for free!”
Then I’ll pay to run mine (your Ultimate Chiropractic Ad) and we’ll compare the results. We’ll compare the ROI.
What’s that Mr. Newspaper rep? Oh, you don’t know what ROI is? Well that stands for Return On Investment, something I track on every ad.
Come into my office, let me give you a lesson on marketing…
This and other problems dealing with newspaper ad reps can be found in section 3, Manual 1 or on CD-Rom #2 of my ad kit.
Other topics discussed in section 3 of the manual are…
- How to negotiate the best ad position for the lowest price.
- What section of the newspaper you should never, ever run an ad in.
- Use this special phrase with your ad rep and get 50-80% off your ads month after month.
- Negotiating tricks that ad reps use against chiropractors.
- How to choose between a big, metro newspaper and a small community paper. (This one may surprise you.)
- Why you should never agree to run multiple ads in a newspaper until you’ve done this!
- The 5 pitfalls chiropractors must watch out for when running newspaper ads.
- How to determine which ads to “roll out” in a big way in other marketing media.
- When to run your ad as an insert and when to your run it as a regular space ad.
If you haven’t picked up the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads yet, find out more here…
http://www.ultimatechiropracticads.com
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing, Newspaper ads | No Comments »
What Are Your Goals for 2010
By drbeck | December 31, 2009
What are your business goals for 2010? You are going to write down some goals, right?
I recommend you spend a couple of hours over the next few days giving thought to your goals. Once you’ve determined very specific goals, write or type them out on a sheet of paper.
Do not just write down the number of visits you want to see each week. Too many chiropractors are still hung up on the “I want to see 300 a week. I want to see 500 a week.” (If you’re still in this mindset, you must read my previous post The High Volume Lie, which had quite a few comments.)
Here are the goals I would recommend you have, in order of significance…
1. Gross income and net income.
Contrary to what some politicians believe, paying taxes and hiring employees isn’t your main purpose in business. Profit is the reason you started a business in the first place. If you just wanted to just adjust patients, you could work for someone else. You opened your own practice to make a good income and life for yourself and your family. Reaching this goal will determine who well you accomplish the next 4 goals.
#2. Number of New Patients Per Month
You might be wondering why this isn’t #1? Simple really. If you aren’t taking home an income to feed your family, it doesn’t matter how many new patients you have. Back in my “dumb days”, I had plenty of new patients, but gave away so much care my family struggled to make it. (Read about my dumb days inside the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads site.) To find out how to increase your new patients monthly, look at my last couple of blog posts, where I make some predictions of what’s going to happen in 2010.
#3. Average Dollars Collected Per Visit
This is one many chiropractors neglect. It doesn’t matter if you see 300 a week if you’re average collection per visit is only $10. This number is really telling about your practice. It will give you an overall picture of how well your doing with adding additional services plus how well your staff is doing with collections. To figure the REAL number for last year, divide total collections by the number of patient visits. (To figure the FAKE number in case the real number scares you, look at your “recommended care plan sheets” and divide the cost by the recommended visits.)
#4. Case Value Average
This is the average value each new patient case will generate in your office. (Figured by dividing your total monthly or yearly collections by the number of new patients you saw in that period.) The higher this is, the more likely you are getting paid for what you do and giving the patient quality care. Above $2000 is good, below $1000 means you’re going to be in trouble if you hit a slow month of new patients. Hint: You don’t raise this number by recommending care the patient doesn’t need, but by adding additional products to your practice that the patient does need or want. Examples: massage, rehab, decompression, and supplements.
#5. Number of Visits Per Month
Here we finally get to many chiropractor’s favorite question, “How many you seeing a week doc?” Weekly is okay, but I think setting goals for the month is better. Weeks can go up and down depending on holidays, vacations, etc. This number is important, but not nearly as important as the above 4.
These are the five must-have goals. You can have others of course, and should.
I recommend using The One Page Business Plan by Jim Horan for getting it easily mapped out.
I got this book last year and it is by far the best book on business plans. Don’t think you only need a business plan when you start up a new practice. This book helps you lay out a real vision, mission, and attainable goals.
It’s a step-by-step easy to follow workbook and CD-Rom. (After being completely misled by an early chiropractic coach about the terms “vision” and “mission”, this book helped to finally clear this up.)
The good news is that it helps you produce a concise business plan (hence the name of the book) which you can refer back to easily. I printed it out and kept it on or by my desk all year.
Then, throughout the year as you consider new strategies for your practice, you can ask yourself, “Does this new addition to my practice fit my vision and my mission?” or “Will this new marketing tool help me reach my objectives?”
By doing this, it will help you to stay on track. You’ll be able to look at it quickly and get a reference point for where you are headed.
In addition to having my business goals on the One Page Business Plan, I have an additional paper where I write my personal goals. This includes family vacations I plan to take, the number of books I plan to read, spiritual goals, marital goals, etc.
Get started now with your goals. By next week you’ll want to hit the ground running with accomplishing those goals.
Topics: Coaching/Strategies, Newspaper ads | 3 Comments »
5 Predictions for 2010, Part 2
By drbeck | December 28, 2009
As we finish out 2009, I want to look forward at some possible trends in 2010. Today’s post looks at the last 2 predictions (out of 5 total) I see for next year. To view part 1, click here.
#4. Better Internet Marketing For New Patients
While chiropractors have been using websites for over a decade now, I predict an increase use of the internet to get new patients. This reasons for this are many — increasing use of the internet in general, rising popularity of Facebook and Twitter, Google’s affinity for blogs, and more.
In 2010, it’s likely that the majority of chiropractors will realize that internet marketing is about effectiveness, not the flashy graphics and “pretty websites”. Even in 2009 I noticed many of the website developers were removing their ‘rotating spine’ charts and adding more content instead.
Content really is king with search engines like Google. I have found that we are able to get professional websites with direct response copy up quickly using blog software. Then we ad a few blog posts written from the doctor-to-patient view point, and within days Google is ranking our brand new website in the top 5 spots. We can then keep this doctor there by adding new blog posts over time.
While many chiropractors realize the usefulness of organic or free search engine optimization, most do not yet grasp the potential of pay-per-click marketing (PPC).
Based on this, I also predict that more chiropractors will discover how well Google Adwords can work for new patient marketing. It surprises me that more chiropractors are not taking advantage of this great marketing tool. Many tell me it’s because they’ve tried it and it doesn’t work. However, the problem occurs when doctors send Adword’s “visitors” directly to their homepage on their website. By using condition-specific landing pages, with direct response copy, plus email marketing follow-up, my internet marketing clients are finding this method very successful and will continue to do so into next year.
Admittedly there is a learning curve to Adwords, along with the reward and punishment system Google has built into it.
But in my opinion its well worth the time spent for the return on investment, especially in the long run. Of course for those who don’t want to learn it or don’t have the time, we created ChiroPatients Online specifically for this reason.
#5. Deeper Patient Relationships
Because of what many are calling the New Economy, patients are more careful with their money. Even though we are moving out of the recession and the overall economy will improve in 2010, people are not ready to be back in the 2008-2009 feeling where money was tight.
If you’ve been in practice for long, this really is no surprise. Patients, being human beings like the rest of us, tend to drop out of things over time. Yet I expect this to rise in 2010 as more healthcare opportunites will come into the market combined with more careful spending mentioned above.
Both of these, the careful spending and more competition, means that chiropractors will have to work harder to keep their current patients.
It still surprises me that doctors are willing to spend so much to get a new patient, but scrimp on spending anything to keep them over the long term. Something as simple as mailing a chiropractic newsletter once a month is a bare essential. Holding true patient appreciation events and creating V.I.P. lists will take your practice to an even higher level.
Other great strategies for keeping your patients longer include dinner workshops, patient of the month programs, referral contests, and stick letters.
You can also expect more online patient communication to grow in 2010. The most powerful of these is email marketing, but many chiropractors will also get their facebook and twitter pages up and running.
This concludes my 5 big predictions for 2010. I recommend planning for them sooner rather than later.
Did I miss one you thought was important? Do you have a prediction I didn’t mention? Leave your comments below.
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing, Chiropractic Newsletters, Decompression Marketing, Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »
5 Predictions for 2010, Part 1
By drbeck | December 22, 2009
As we finish out 2009, I want to look forward at some possible trends in 2010. Today’s post looks at the first 3 predictions I see for next year. While these are things you should think about, I’m not a prophet and could be proven wrong on some of these. So make sure and get a “multitude of counselors” before completely changing your business. They are simply my best guess at what’s going to happen and I’ll be advising my coaching clients in this direction.
1. More Cash Practices.
The number of cash practices will continue to increase. Having run both a cash-only practice and a more mixed practice, I generally stay away from this argument. It seems in the past, most people making the cash-only choice were doing it for purely philosophical reasons, and not for business reasons. My opinion has been that if insurance is good in your area, why not use it. And based on clients and customers I’ve spoken with, that has worked well.
But things are about to change. As I write this, it appears the U.S. government insists on getting its hands into the insurance game. No matter what some of the articles in chiropractic journals might say, this will not end well for chiropractors (or Americans in general). No matter your political standing, you know this will be true.
Here’s why..
Do you currently like the Medicare payments? Well, under this new legislation a proposed $480 billion dollars in cuts to Medicare will be done over 10 years. Do you think chiropractors will be at the top or bottom of those cuts? How well do you enjoy Medicaid in your state? Now even more of your patients will qualify for Medicaid under the new government “health exchanges”.
Because most Americans will have to buy into these exchanges, or pay a $750 fine, more people will have these plans. This likely will not bode well for your practice. I could go one, but have 4 other predictions to cover. You can read a summary of the proposed bill here.
#2. More Focus on Specific Niches
Because of the drastic effects mentioned above, I predict more chiropractors will have to focus on specific niches. This is good because it will allow you to help more motivated patients and you can charge higher case fees.
Niches are subgroups of the overall patient population. Not only will you need to market specifically to them using language they understand and related to (as in the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads), but you’ll need to set up specific treatment plans for them. Examples include spinal decompression, neuropathy, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, etc. As you can see, some of these niches will require you to purchase additional equipment. But this need not be overly expensive, especially if you look at what other people are doing.
For example, Dr. Hayes showed us how he put together his neuropathy treatment program in the recent webinar we did (replay at http://www.neuropathychiros.com).
It’s better to make these changes now before you have to because of lower income. A practice focusing on and marketing to a few specific niches is the key to having a high-income, low-stress office.
#3. Additional Products and Services.
Predict chiropractic offices will focus on selling additional products and services to their patients. This includes additional products and services the patients is already getting somewhere else. Different types of nutritional supplements that help in healing and weight loss. Physical therapy or rehab services that increase that speed healing.
For the patient, this will will be a benefit since they can get more in one place, and have the doctors recommendation too. The benefit to you of course is increased income and patient satisfaction. The more satisfied they are, the longer they are likely to stay a patient in your office.
Look for Part 2 next Monday, where I’ll discuss the 4th and 5th predictions for 2010.
Topics: Chiropractic Marketing, Coaching/Strategies, Decompression Marketing | 2 Comments »