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This is a guest post by Dr. Jonathan Walker

For most chiropractors, receiving referrals from medical physicians is looked upon with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you’ve been in practice for a long time you likely remember a day when MDs would just as soon refer their patient to a witch doctor as a chiropractor. If you’re newer to the profession you might feel intimidated by the prospect of trying to explain the neurophysiology of spinal manipulation to a seasoned medical veteran.

There is no single “magic phrase” to open the referral floodgate, but there are 3 crippling fears keep MDs from referring patients for chiropractic care. These are not pie in the sky theories, but rather secrets I’ve learned from marketing to over 300 medical providers in my area as well as working with doctors all over the country.

1. Fear #1: You’ll steal their patient
Regardless of what variety of conditions you treat in your practice, when working with MDs your emphasis must be that you’re a specialist in conservative musculoskeletal care and will not try and usurp their role as the patient’s primary care provider (PCP).

I always make sure to tell other doctors that we do not function as PCPs, but that we find patients are best served when their chiropractor and medical physicians are all communicating together. This gives them the comfort that you won’t try and undermine their treatment of the patient. We expect professional respect and courtesy from MD and this goes both ways, even when you may disagree with a particular element of their management plan.

As a matter of fact it’s a good business (and social) practice to go out of your way to tell the patient what a great doctor they have and what good hands they’re in. Odds are this compliment will make it back to the referring physician, and that’s always a good thing!

2. Fear #2: They don’t really understand what chiropractors do
Most MDs seem to view chiropractic in the same light as many chiropractors do acupuncture. They believe that there is validity to the treatment, but they don’t know a lot about how it actually works.

This fear is easily conquered by ongoing education to provide familiarity with chiropractic, our level of expertise in treating musculoskeletal conditions, and the latest peer-reviewed research. For all of my PI Marketing Elite doctors we recommend one print, one electronic (e-mail) and one live contact a month. We provide cutting-edge MD newsletters and e-newsletters 100% “done for you” to make this process automatic.

3. Fear #3: Their patient will get a 6 month long treatment plan on their first visit to your office
I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of recommending long courses of care with cash pre-payment, but I do want to point out that if you want to receive medical referrals MDs cringe at the idea of a 6 month long treatment plan given on the first visit.

I explain that in my office we do a trial course of care, typically lasting anywhere from 2-4 weeks, depending on the patient’s condition. At the end of the trial we reassess the patient and if they’re making progress we start spacing out the time between visits and giving them home exercises to do.

This type of approach fits the paradigm they’re used to working within when they refer to a physical therapist, so in their minds you then become a viable option for referrals.

By preemptively dealing with these three common fears you’ll unlock an untapped goldmine of referrals, and help countless patients find relief with chiropractic care. I’ve seen it work first-hand in my own practice, and you can replicate this success in your office!

Dr. Jonathan Walker is president of PI Marketing Elite, and a full-time practicing chiropractor. MD marketing is a key area addressed in the marketing modules of PI Marketing Elite, and we provide you with turnkey tools, scripts, and strategies to use in your practice. Log onto www.newpimarketing.com or call Dr. Walker directly at 904-616-1284.

Have you set up your 2012 chiropractic marketing calendar yet?

I know it’s already 2 weeks into the year, but if your holiday season is anything like mine, it takes the first week or two in 2012 to actually relax and catch up from the end of the previous year.

One of the things you must do is write down all your plans and goals on a yearly calendar.You can not just wait until you need new patients, and then figure out what to do. This is reactive marketing and you want to be proactive this year.

For years, I used a monthly calendar on the wall that my staff and I could write marketing events down and see what was coming up.

But the furthest you can see on these types of calendars is only 30 days at a time. What we need is a “year at a glance” type of calendar.

Well thankfully this year I found the NeuYear Calendar, which is a complete year at a glance. This will hang great on the wall or back of my door.

I recommend you grab one too, and start planning your monthly marketing events, promotions, ads, etc.

Here’s some benefits listed on their site, which led me to buy one immediately:

• It’s big, coming in at 27″ x 39″ this means you can see the whole year at once. “You no longer have to page through a traditional calendar (or on your small computer screen), to see the whole year. You can layout your goals for the year, set future deadlines, and clearly see the passing of time. Also, it has bigger squares so you can write more.”
• No space between months. “The week is the currency we think in, so this calendar focuses on presenting 52 weeks, rather than 12 months.”
• Brilliant aesthetics. In Making Ideas Happen, author Scott Belsky says “the design of your productivity tools will affect how eager you are to use them; attraction often breeds commitment.”
• 2 calendars in 1! It has a horizontal orientation that fits perfectly above your desk, or you can flip it over for a vertical orientation that fits perfectly on your door.

Now that I shown you which calendar I think is best, what do you do with it?

Call a staff meeting one day during lunch. Start by explaining your mission for your practice and the goals you have for this year.

Then begin brainstorming with your staff about the different types of marketing ideas they have. Make sure to give them room and freedom to talk. Even if they have a bunch of bad ideas, just write them down. You never know when they’ll say something you’ve never thought of.

My staff would often come up with many successful in-office marketing procedures from the past that I had totally forgotten about.

Once you have written down, everything you can think of, start prioritizing your list. Put a “1″ by the most effective, “2″ be second most effective, and so on.

Side note: Do not base effectiveness on what feels like it did the best last year. Feelings do not turn into dollars. Measure effectiveness based on your return on investment numbers you recorded for all marketing last year. And if you didn’t keep good records, go back and see if you can figure it up now. Remember, ROI equals the amount you brought in from a given marketing campaign divided by the money spent on it.

You might want to throw in something new for 2012 that you haven’t tried before. A few suggestions would be:

• Neuropathy or decompression newspaper ads
• Google Adwords
• spinal screenings (but with a caveat, see here)

Then begin writing on your calendar all the 1′s, 2′s, etc. spread out somewhat evenly throughout the year. So you don’t want all your ads to come out in March and have the rest of the year empty.

If you wanted to do it according to budget, you should write the amount to spend beside each campaign to. For example, on February 20th you might write “Run Neuropathy Ad for $1000 or less”. (To see how to save money on running your monthly newspaper ads, watch this free webinar.)

If a month get’s too busy, slide things forward into the next month. You should be marketing every month of the year, no exceptions.

Now you have a marketing calendar set up. Try to stick to it as much as possible. You may need to edit and change things throughout the year. That’s fine, but make sure you take a look at the big picture before making rash decisions.

Do you have any other good ideas on planning your marketing calendar? Let us know in the comments below.

To bring in high quality new patients, you need to focus on specific niche markets. A niche market is simply a “subset” of a larger market.
There is everyone who could be a chiropractic patient, but within that group, you can divide them even further into specific niches.

Niche marketing can make a huge impact on your practice. The spinal decompression boom of the last 4-5 years shows this to be true. But you don’t have to invest in expensive equipment to do niche marketing. Just match up good advertising with niche conditions, and do what you already know how to do…help people get well!

So what are the best conditions to focus on in 2009 and beyond?

The answer to the question of “what niches should you focus on” will depend quite a bit on how your office is set up. If you have special equipment, like detox machines, decompression tables, or cold la-sers, you’ll want to focus on those niches first.

With that said, there are some very good niches that will bring you good quality new patients, thereby being more profitable. Here are my top 5

1. Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia affects at least 6 million women in the US each year, and these patients aren’t getting answers anywhere else. The key is connecting with these patients on their level. These patients usually need nutritional and lifestyle advice as well. Important to recognize if you sell products in your office that can help their condition.

2. Herniated/ Degenerative Discs. These patients have usually tried multiple medical routes with little to no help. Many of them are facing surgery and would love to find a more natural solution. This market is available even if you don’t own a decompression table. But having one can help.

3. Arthritis. Osteoarthritis alone affects nearly 21 million people, accounts for nearly a quarter of primary care visits, and half of all NSAID use in the U.S. This group focuses on the baby boomers which are currently the most affluent group in America. You may be thinking you’ve been helping people with arthritis for years, but are you using the term “arthritis” specifically in your marketing?

4. Neuropathies. Sciatica, numbness, tingling, radiculopathies, and other never problems fall into this group. This is a very motivated group that must hear from you soon so they will not be confined to a life of surgeries and dangerous medications. This is the newest of the 5 listed, because so many people are getting neuropathies these days. One doctor recently sent me the following email about doing neuropathy marketing…

5. Headaches and migraines. Approximately 22 million women are affected by migraines alone in the United States. Because these patients have suffered for many years (some since childhood), they will be a very good patient and can be easily helped by chiropractic care.

There’s my Top 5 niche conditions to focus on in 2009. You could probably add a few more but you’ll find the 5 above to be excellent quality patients when it comes to staying, paying and referring.

Some say the recession of 2009 will be around for a long time. Others think it’s going to turn around soon. Regardless of what the future holds, one prediction can be made…

“Those Chiropractors Who Excel At Marketing
Will Be Least Affected By The Economy (And Will Most Likely Prosper)”

Today I’m going to cover seven new patient marketing methods you should be using in 2009. While there are plenty of free ways to market your practice, these 7 deal with paid new patient marketing.

1. Blogs. Blogs are the new websites. They are interactive, change regularly, and are absolutely loved by Google. This means that you can start a chiropractic blog and be at the top of searches on Google. Dr. Walker in Florida started his blog after studying the blogging lesson in my ChiroMarketing Academy program, and jumped straight to #1 for Google searches on the term “chiropractor” in his area. Just after a few weeks, his new blog even beat his long standing traditional website that was only ranked #4. (There are at least 10 other clinics in his area trying for that #1 spot.)

2. Chiropractic Newspaper Ads. A properly written and laid out newspaper ad can bring in tons of new patients. But most chiropractors do this wrong. They either run a “pretty” and boring brand image ad or they run an outdated and overused ad that came with a kit over 10 years ago. Today’s consumers are much tougher to connect with, and what worked 10 years ago isn’t going to cut it today. Your ads have to connect with the reader emotionally and empathetically. They have to believe you really do care. (This is why I developed The Ultimate Chiropractic Ads.) Newspapers are around to stay, and if you’re not using them you’re missing out on many quality new patients.

3. Email Marketing. Email technology has come a long way. You can now load up a pre-written series of emails and have them go out over time to a prospective or current patient. Because this is all automated, you can set it and basically forget it. The key is writing good emails that actually convince patients to pick up the phone and call. I teach two lessons on this in ChiroMarketing Academy and give two recommendations. To do it yourself, I recommend Aweber’s email system. To have it done for you, I recommend the dashboard system.

4. Referral marketing. Unlike many chiropractic consultants, my systems for getting more referrals has nothing to do with pushing patients to refer, forcing their family to get checked, or any similar procedure. Everyone talks about referrals, but few people actually give you tools or systems that you can use to bring in more. One very simple referral system is mailing a well-written (not pushy!) “stick letter” to new patients. We tracked the stick letter referrals in 2007 and it brought in over $100,000 to my practice that year. You can pick it up as a free bonus to the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads here.

5. Google Adwords. Adwords is Google’s very sophisticated marketing machine. When you search for a keyword on Google, you see ads at the top and down the right side — these are Adwords ads. You bid a certain price to be up near the top, and each time a person clicks the ad and goes to your website you get charged. There is huge, huge potential with Adwords for your practice. Google has almost 80% of the U.S. search market. This means your potential patients are likely using Google every day to learn more about healthcare solutions you offer. But be forewarned — I see a lot of chiropractors screw up on Adwords, wasting a ton of money (and these yellow page services offering to do it for you aren’t much better.) Adwords is easy to set up, but can be difficult to get right. Two of the 24 lessons in ChiroMarketing Academy are focused on Adwords…one basic lesson and one advanced one.

6. Yellow Page Book. Every consultant I’ve ever had said stay out of the yellow pages (not surprising considering the other bad advice they gave me!) But the chiropractor down the street had a full page double spread colored ad in there. Were they just stupid or did they have a reason to be doing this for 10 years? Could it be the consultants just didn’t have a clue what a good ad looked like, so their best advice was to stay away from the yellow pages? People who want a solution today are going to pick up a phone book and find someone to go see immediately. This is especially true for people over 40 — they aren’t going to turn on their computer and search through all the different websites. Once you have the right ad to run, it’s a very smart media to be using. If you know how to do it correctly, you can get a very good response.

7. Telemarketing. Using telemarketing services with a reputable company is such an easy way to get new patients. Some doctors have this misconception that telemarketing is some kind of sleazy way of bringing in new patients. It’s nothing of the sort. One client of mine is getting 10-15 new patients a week from telemarketing, and converting a very large percentage of them to care. Sure the conversions are probably going to be lower than new patients from the strategies I mentioned above, but it’s really return on investment that you should look at. I ran telemarketing campaigns for almost 6 years straight and always made money on them. If you’re interested in the company I worked with that checks the do-not-call lists, makes sure the patients can speak English, and even calls businesses, then leave a comment below.

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Have you ever picked up a chiropractic journal or magazine, and looked at what the consultants/coaches in our profession are selling and teaching?

I recently received a journal and noticed the following terms being used…
-pressing
-high energy
-training
-high volume
-philosophy
-technique
-case fees
-rythmic flow
-consciousness
-”attacking” medicine

You may remember that famous commercial on TV years ago.  The one where the old lady would get the hamburger, look at it kind of funny, and say “Where’s the beef?”

That’s what I wonder about many of these coaching programs. Where’s the beef? Where are the tools and solutions that answer the major problems of growing your practice?

The #1 problem in the chiropractic profession is getting quality new patients. This isn’t a theory, but a fact — lack of marketing tools and strategies keeps more practices from growing than any other factor.

Yet, you’ll be hard pressed to find a single article in a journal or magazine even mentioning this topic. (I’m not opposed to coaching by the way, with the right kind of coach it can be very effective in growing your practice. But I get sick and tired of the half-truths and hyperbole that is preached by most chiropractic coaches!)

Why do consultants have to go to great lengths to teach on the small things in your practice, yet fail to give you considerable strategies and tools to bring in new patients?

I fell victim to this many times in my first 2 years of practice. Hours and hours spent training on a script, report of findings, or specific procedure — only to wonder when the new patients were going to magically appear.

Granted, I should have known something was up when these coaches kept introducing unique terms they had come up with. Even though I was an adult and had been in chiropractic awhile, I never quite understood what or how these terms related to growing a chiropractic practice.

That is why I created this blog. To give chiropractors free information on marketing and advertising their practices. And since the popularity of this site has grown over the past few months, I’ve had more than one chiropractic consultant express their “dissatisfaction” with me giving away this valuable teaching.

This is also why I created The Ultimate Chiropractic Ads. Chiropractors need tools that work in their office…tools they can implement and see results from right away — not next month or next year!

Will you join with me in 2009 and help our profession flourish? Will you focus with me on those things that really matter?

Let’s throw out those fancy terms that aren’t really important in growing a practice. Let’s get right down to the truth of the matter.

Here’s where you’ll find 90% of my blog focus this year…

#1. New patienet marketing. I’m going to give you more tools and strategies, free downloads and forms, more information than any consultant will give away.

#2. New patient conversion. Once the new patient is in the office, now we need to convert them to care so they can pay, stay and refer.

#3. Retention. There are many non-forceful strategies that you can use to keep, reactivate, and build relationships with your current patients. (Some consultants teach that you must “force” or “scare” a patient to stay under care. I believe this is unethical.)

If you want to learn how to improve the above three things in your practice, then this is the place to be.

On the other hand, if you’d rather read about unbelievable hype like “How to build a huge, humongous, oversized high volume practice that collects case fees the size of Warren Buffet’s Retirement Fund!!!” , then you know where to find that type of teaching.