Dear Doctor:
If you provide regular chiropractic care for yourself and your family, you must do it for a reason – probably to deal with conditions, or to invest in a wellness lifestyle, or both. Imagine if you could convey that belief structure to all of your patients – what would happen then?
Your patients would then remain in an active care program, the frequency of which would be decided by genuine need, not unlike the way you do it in your own household. Some people could probably go weeks or more between adjustments, occasionally much more. Some people may always need weekly checkups or more. But if it was driven by their desire to avoid illness and/or promote wellness, it would be their choice to do so, as it is yours. You have chosen, to whatever extent, to adopt the identity of a well person, and do the things that well people do. Inviting your patients to do the same would cause them to become lifetime chiropractic patients, which does not mean getting adjusted three times a week forever. It means knowing where chiropractic fits into their lifestyle, and making good decisions around spine and nerve system health.
If a significant percentage of your past patients had developed this kind of understanding, your volume would be higher, and your demand for new patients would be less. You could concentrate on attracting new patients to help them, not because you need them. You could lead your patients from a position of authority and power, and influence them more deeply with your congruency. Your vibration would be abundant and prosperous. Sounds great, I know – so, how can you get there?
You get there by finding ways to increase your patients’ awareness of how chiropractic can impact and enhance their lifestyle. Since most people don’t have a file in their minds marked “chiropractic,” you’ll have to look for files that are already in there, to show them how chiropractic can help.
For example, if the person is a golfer, it works better to talk about how chiropractic helps golfers improve their balance and coordination, instead of a detailed description of the subluxation complex. With a senior citizen, discuss flexibility and mobility, or improving digestion, or other factors that affect quality of life now, not in the distant future. Matching up the many advantages of chiropractic care with the prospect’s model of the world is a missing link in most patient education. Don’t just offer information, deliver it in a way the individual relates to and can apply. If you get them to connect, you’ll have plenty of time to teach them everything you think is important. Get them dialed in first.
Instead of spewing canned wisdom and dogma at your patients, try instead to ask questions and listen to their responses. It will give you a frame of reference to educate them more profoundly, and create for them the opportunity to stick around long enough to enjoy the miraculous healing benefits chiropractic is famous for. And it will make your practice a joy to go to every day -- you’ll reap magnificent rewards, material, emotional, and spiritual. All it takes is a willingness to translate your message into your patient’s language, so it becomes part of them, the way it’s become part of you.
Dennis Perman DC, for The Masters Circle PS Our second quarter seminar series is about to begin – “Power Tools for a Mega Practice” is filled with practical, powerful, profitable techniques for practice growth and management. Two of our guest speakers are Dr. Tedd Koren, patient education researcher extraordinaire, and Life West President Dr. Gerry Clum, presenting the cutting edge of X-ray technology -- for information or to register, please call 1-800-451-4514 or visit our website at themasterscircle.com.
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