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.

Are you using the internet to its full potential in your practice?

Most chiropractors are only touching the tip of the iceberg. The list is almost endless of tactics to use: email marketing, PPC ads, blogging, mobile apps, Facebook pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google SEO, etc., etc.

In every country around the world more people are using the web every day. Check out this short video showing just a few stats:

Do you have a “philosophy of chiropractic marketing? You should.

No, I’m not talking today about B.J. Palmer or issues of mixers and straights.

Here’s what I mean…

There’s a lot talk in chiropractic about “philosophy”, namely the issue over what chiropractor’s believe about their own profession.

Likewise, marketing is always a hot topic because doctors, rightly want to grow their practice, serve more people and increase their incomes.

But one thing you rarely see mentioned is the phrase “philosophy of marketing”.

The word philosophy has many meanings, which can be anything from literal Greek meaning of “the study of wisdom” to the more often used sense of man’s attempt at searching for truth (think Socrates and Plato).

But the meaning I’m after today is neither of these, but simply “a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs.”

So what you need is a system of principles for guidance in marketing! Simple to do, right?

If only it was. If you’ve been around the profession for very long, you’ve heard dozens of different “principles” of marketing.

Here’s a few BAD philosophies of marketing I’ve heard…

• Don’t spend more than $100 per new patient
• Marketing is unethical and is only for snake oil salesmen.
• Just do a ton of spinal screenings and you’ll be fine.
• You’ve gotta just out in the community, pass your card around more.
• Make every patient get their family members check within 10 days, or you “fire the patient”.
• Get a fancy website up and people will flock to your door!

Maybe you think I’m exaggerating? Okay, I only exaggerate a bit on the last one! But the others I have actually heard almost verbatim.

These are not effective philosophies of marketing for your practice. What is a good philosophy?

“I will do any type of ethical marketing as long as it shows a good return on investment.”

This philosophy works because it covers all of the above bad ones and more. To get a good return (ROI), you’ve gotta get qualified new patients, like I recommend with my chiropractic ads.

And it doesn’t matter if you pay $101 per new patient. What matters is the ROI.

Maybe passing out cards is a good idea. Maybe a good website will work. Maybe spinal screenings are effective. But the only way you really know is by measuring their ROI (which in the case of spinal screenings should factor in your time spent.)

That’s my philosophy of marketing. Do you agree or disagree? What’s your philosophy?

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.

1. Monthly print newsletters will be more valuable.

I know, you’re probably thinking print newsletters have gone the way of the dinosaur, and that email, Facebook, etc. are “da bomb!” But the fact is people are starting to demand a more personal relationship with their businesses. All you have to do is look at the Occupy Wall Street movement to sense how people now see a big gap between the products they buy and the companies who provide them. (Also, for more on this, watch the second video here on Dr. Loop’s blog.)

What about email newsletters you ask? You should be sending those too, at least 2 per month. But does it mean more to you to receive a birthday card by snail mail or an e-card? Sending a print newsletter with a real postage stamp is still a very effective way to communicate with current patients and get more referrals.

2. Videos will be more effective on your website.

Video has been around for a number of years on the internet, but it really hasn’t become the norm yet. However I think in 2012 that will start to shift. A few reasons for this are: almost everyone has some type of broadband internet access now, Youtube is more popular than ever, and sites like Facebook are using more video. At the least you should test a video of yourself on the landing page of our website to see if it increases conversions. Using tools like Google website Optimizer will let you easily figure out if videos are more or less effective for your site.

3. Neuropathy, Decompression and other niche specific newspaper ads will continue to get high returns.

Like the print newsletters mentioned above, you may have bought into the lie that newspapers are now extinct. However, in most markets, this is not the case. Many of my clients got their best returns ever on newspaper ads in 2011, especially when using neuropathy and decompression ads. I know there are plenty of other people out there telling you how a jillion internet things will bring in hundreds of patients. And some of it will bring in patients. But don’t neglect the trusted source of patients like the newspaper. The key is using very good copywriting to reach specific niches that are really responsive.

4. Facebook, Google + and other Social Marketing sites will become more important in your chiropractic marketing plan.

Many chiropractors have heard of Facebook. Less have heard of Google+. Unfortunately, doctors treat these sites like everyone else, a place to post all your personal happenings. The problem is most patients aren’t interested in the fact you just “checked in” at the local burger barn. Sure, some personal interaction is necessary to maintain a following. But, you also need good copywriting and intentional posts to cause new patients to act and pick up the phone to call. Another important and often overlooked aspect of these sites is that they help with your search engine rankings. Having Facebook likes and Google+’s on your website will help it come up higher in Google Search, which will translate into more new patients. Just remember, Facebook and Google+ are effective tools, but they are not the only game in town. So, don’t spend 100% of your time and money fiddling with them.

5. Developing a mobile site will become a necessity.

As my friend Terry Dean recently pointed to, more and more people are using iphones to access websites like Facebook. Look at the stats from the link below, which state that “more than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices “:

https://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Also, realize that one of the most common uses for a smart phone is to check email. That means every time you send an email with a link back to your website that person is going to your website on their phone. Even though I prefer to use the internet on my PC, I have an iPhone and iPad that I use often and realize it is just more convenient to click a link now rather than wait until later when I can access the website on my home desktop.

I’ll be working hard to implement these changes in 2012. I recommend you do the same. Also, I’ll keep you updated on any new tools and strategies I’m working on next year. Happy New Year’s.

Are you getting the best prices when running your ads?

Some of my clients are saving thousands on ad prices each year. And
we’ll show you how their doing it.

Last week I interviewed special guest Carol Ann Smith on the subject of “How to Save Thousands On Your Newspaper Ads”.

Carol has years of experience working for chiropractors and saving them thousands in advertising prices. In 2010 alone she
helped bring in over 300 new patients from newspaper ads alone for one chiropractic office.

Here are just a few points we discussed:

To see the recorded video, go here:

http://ultimateadservice.com/start

Yours for greater success,
Michael Beck, D.C.

It’s often said that to have success in your practice, you’ve got to focus on “a big hairy goal” or see the “big picture” or get “the big idea”.

This is true enough, but not precise enough.

You see, once you have that big picture, then it’s time to get to work. And inevitably as you focus on accomplishing that big picture day by day, you realize there are tons of tiny little steps!

There’s marketing, exams, paperwork, treatment notes, billing, etc., etc. The carpet sure looks dirty and the toilet isn’t perfectly clean either. And who’s going to change that light bulb that’s been out in the closet for 5 weeks?

“No worries, don’t sweat the small stuff” you tell yourself.

But then you begin to realize that big picture isn’t really materializing. And that big hairy goal is looking so hairy you’ve forgotten why you wanted to accomplish it in the first place.

What’s the solution?

I recommend you be more concerned about the details of your business. Someone’s got to sweat the small stuff. It does matter what you wear to your office. (If it didn’t matter you would wear your pajamas.) Patients do care if your breath smells like rotten garlic after lunch.

And you’ve got to make sure your staff understands your high standard of excellence in keeping your office efficient and clean. Nothing turns a patient off more than a dirty, smelly and unorganized office. Does your office smell like greasy fast food after lunch? Is Mary’s perfume at the front desk enough to knock your next patient out?

But here’s the key to “sweating the small stuff”…

You should only be “sweating” about a specific topic only once. As the owner, it is your job to make sure it gets done. Either by you or by someone else.

Make a list of everything you do in your business each month. Then ask yourself what you are good at and what you like to do. You might even give each task a rating of 1 to 5, 1 being something you absolutely love and 5 being something you hate to do.

Then start with the 5′s and ask yourself who else could do those. For example:

Need light bulb change? That’s Carol’s job to take care of. (Make a note to put that on her to do list and regularly check it.)
Billing? Outsource it or hire someone part time in-office.
Marketing? Get a done-for-me marketing program that works (highly recommended: The Ultimate Chiropractic Ads).

Check out my More Tools page to see other examples.

Now once you’ve taken as much off your plate as you can, you should have plenty of time to focus on what really matters. Plus, your office will look, smell and be more efficient as a result.

Regardless of what anyone says, success really is in the details. Yes, have a big goal. That’s not difficult. Lot’s of people have goals.

It’s the getting things done part, the accomplishing of multiple tasks all at once, that is the hard part. This is why most people never accomplish their goals.

Details matter. The whole world is full of details.

Just check out this video and stand amazed at the details of God’s creation (it’s full HD so you can full screen it and enjoy it.).

I frequently get this type of email message…

“Hi Doc. I just ran one of your ads. We got 20 calls and 11 came in for the exam. How can we get better results from the ads?”

Unfortunately this is a huge problem in chiropractic offices (or any health practitioner for that matter!)

The problem here isn’t the ad. After all, it brought in 20 new patients calls! But to have only 55% of those calling in show up for the first visit is ridiculous.

But you want to know the scary part? This is happening in almost every office around the world.

Most doctors never realize this is happening in their clinic. I know I didn’t when it happened to me.

It may not be as bad as the example quoted above, but as you know, every lost new patient is worth thousands of dollars to your clinic.

How many new patients are you missing out on just from bad calls.

Here are a few current numbers on this issue reported in our industry:

• 98% of all new patients call on the phone first to schedule.
• 50% of all lost patients are caused by poor patient handling at the front desk.
• 79% of all advertising is wasted on leads that don’t convert to new patients

Think about it.

You may have spent thousands on marketing in your office which should bring in tons of new patients and revenue, but one person stands between the patient and the doctor; how well are they doing at their job?
For years I’ve urged the doctors using my ads to track their results. Not just from the calls coming in, but the return on investment for each ad campaign run.

Yet, we all get busy and tracking often falls by the wayside.

But finally I’ve found a solution…

Recently I came across a call tracking and call recording application designed specifically for doctors.

It’s called MyDoctorCalls and it is simply the best solution to tracking ads, staff phone training. In fact, the benefits this application will provide with amazing improvements in your marketing.

While this program is relatively new, I’m hearing reports of a 10% to 50% increase in new patient appointments showing up.

Here are the big 3 benefits you will see with MyDoctorCalls:

1. Increases new patient appointments so you can get more out of what you’re already doing.
2. Tracks the results (especially ROI) of every ad or marketing campaign you run.
3. Brings in more existing patients to stay on their recommended care plan.

Let’s do the math…

If you are currently booking 15 new patients per month without call tracking and call recording, you can expect to see an increase of 2 to 8 new patients per month after implementing the technology.

The same metrics apply to current patient appointments as well.

Here’s what a few big names in the profession are saying about this program…

Daniel Murphy, DC, DABCO – “MyDoctorCalls is the most innovative tool I have seen in years!

Gerard Clum, DC – “Recording your calls with MyDoctorCalls is the single-most important thing you can do for your practice.

John Brimhall, BA, BS, DC – “Doctors can double or triple the amount of new patients they receive with MyDoctorCalls!

I recommend you check out this service immediately. They have three very affordable, customized packages for you to choose from and no contracts.

Go to this website to sign up and use the code BECK100 to get $100 off:
www.MyDoctorCalls.com/sign-up

You can even get a live demonstration of the whole program at the convenience of your own computer. I did a live tour via screen sharing software and it was quick and easy.

I got to see all the benefits this program can provide and I flat out told them they are charging way too little for everything it does.

Go to this website to sign up and use the code “BECK100″ to get $100 off.

Have you ever been pitched a product or service, but you’re not sure what you’re buying?

I’m not talking about minor details either. I’m talking about when you have absolutely no idea what is going to be included in this product, but you sure do know that it’s the…

“awesomest, coolest, bestest ever product that you must buy now before your whole world comes to an end!”

You see this type of marketing everywhere nowadays. It’s usually personality driven, meaning the marketer tries to sell something based on their charming personality, huge riches or hyped up talk… instead of just telling you what the product or service can actually do for you.

This is a well honed science in the “make money online” niche. I see it all the time. At least one guy who called himself the “Rich Jerk” was honest about it, although so crude he’s now gone with the wind. (And that’s not a parody site either.)

A well known internet marketing guru will start a video of himself surfing on the beach, jump into his Ferrari and speed away to his office where he’ll draw on a white board. He’ll show you what you’re doing wrong and then promise to fix your problems if you only buy his $5,000 course.

Try to find out what’s actually in the course, and all you get is more videos and pictures of big houses, more girls and fast cars. Here’s a parody I made on this topic:

This type of selling is contrasted with a clear list of features and benefits of a marketing package. (For example, check out the multiple videos and bullet lists describing exactly what you get in the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads.)

In case you think this is blog post is just a rant, I do have a point.

Chiropractors do this too.

Now most of you know better than to flash fancy cars and big houses to Mr. and Mrs. Average Joe. This will only make then run away from your practice.

But many chiropractors will take extreme measures to make the patient really like the doctor — then completely fail at showing the patients the benefits of their care.

In your office, you should be giving the patient a list of features and benefits of their care. Usually this would take place in a report of findings, “Mrs. Jones, I recommend 25 treatments over the next 3 months [feature] so that we can help your spine and posture return to normal, allowing you to be active in your life again [benefit].”

So give up the fast cars and big houses type of selling, and just talk to your patients about how your care will benefit them.

I got fed up with marketing, “pushing” patients to refer, hard-sell tactics – honestly I was ready to quit the profession entirely.

It wasn’t that I hated chiropractic. It was that no one could show me an effective way to market and grow my practice. I had spent thousands on marketing systems and coaches, but to what point?

My pregnant wife was struggling up three flights of stairs each day in our new “apartment home” – sometimes having to lug over 50lbs of grocery with two toddlers in tow.

I began to think my uncle was right years ago when he said…

“Why Don’t You Go To Medical School,
Then You’ll Be A Real Doctor.”

This lack of effective marketing tools forced me to look outside the profession for answers. My practice depended on it. I had no time to “hope” something worked. I needed a solution fast!

At the “eleventh hour” of my practice (and just barely in time to save it) I discovered effective marketing strategies and put them into place for my practice. And I began to see results almost immediately. This all lead up to my writing of the Ultimate Chiropractic Ads.

Right now, decide that you will not give up. Work smart, then work hard until you reach your goal. Then set a higher goal and do it again.

Check out this video of a girl who did not know how to give up.