E-mail Message This Week .. Back To Basics

I was reminded this week that practice success is derived by keeping to basics. Fundamental concepts to manage and grow your office is often a combination of common sense and acquired skills. Patient and practice management taught in college and during weekend seminars outline sound fundamental concepts but often are too overwhelming rather than practical and at times throws common sense to the side.

So, many of us learn more after graduation honing our skills with experience patient by patient. How we learn, where we learn and what skills we apply will dictate our future success. By the way, take this common sense test.

The quote above from Michael Jordan states it clearly, it's not the quantity of knowledge, it's the quality. A dedicated mentor or a gym trainer looks to fundamentals and tweaks the basics until their folks get the basic fundamentals down or as written above repetitive mistakes become permanent.

Keeping to these principals find your professional and personal life easier to manage and savor. By contrast, those finding the fundamentals stale and boring are ever searching for the holy grail of success and worse yet life fulfillment and joy.

So What Are The Basics?

Depending on the nature of your practice basic patient management is chiropractic knowledge via patient education, patient compliance through continued follow through and financial prowess with extended services. 

Do you find time to educate new patients either knee to knee table talk, new patient classes, digital content or visual aids such as x-rays, spine charts etc. so they leave within the first few visits with few questions but a wealth of information that can be shared with their family and friends allowing your practice to grow with referrals and helps with patient compliance.

Would you rather go to the movies than create and implement weekly or twice a month New Patient Workshops. Give this some basic thought, if a patient brings in a family member or friends, you just added new patients. If you don't have a presentation, I have a Powerpoint presentation for $60, just reply to me at: joel3639@aol.com for information how to download it.

Looking for even more exposure, find a local venue to have more attend, possibly a Dinner with Doc within a local restaurant, this concept will add even more success. If you need information reply back to me as well. 

Follow through is a phone call to the new patient the same day as their first adjustment. Sending homework via e-mail of specific Youtube stretches and watch them do them before they leave the office and follow through after a few visits if they are doing them correctly. They will share these with family and friends again adding to referrals. Use your website as a go to area for patient information especially therapies, stretches, nutritional advice and previous e-newsletters or blogs these also will be shared with family and friend especially if you remind them

I can go on and on about basic concepts tried and true. If you know successful colleagues don't be shy to ask them for advice this also is basic sharing and caring advice. If time does not allow you to implement these ideas, it will be cost effective to hire an extra staff member dedicated to patient compliance, patient education and public relations. It will pay for itself in no time

Yes, the end product of success is not just financial and material rewards, but the ability to coast through life with happiness, shared personal achievements and partnership with those you hold dear. There is nothing more fulfilling than that.

I often relate chiropractors to salmon swimming upstream. Collectively, we seem to squander our achievements while drowning in the septic tank of insurance relations, patient and staff management stress, low professional and personal self-esteem and more. Seminars are full of hungry doctors looking for the latest and best forms, flyers and new patient acquisition promotions while methodically meandering through their self inflicted maze of new patients.

Like salmon, some make it to the top only to be eaten upon arrival. Other flounder amongst the stream and almost make it to the top only to fall back after a few attempts. These individuals have skipped the basic steps towards their ultimate prize and as in the fate of the salmon never reach their ultimate potential.

If you attended a recent practice building seminar or remember your notes from a recent CE continuing educational seminar there probably were no earth shattering ideas to fill your office with new patients. No new technical approaches for patient compliance. No new concepts of case management with complicated financial programs and souped up therapies to entice the patient into compliance.

Instead there was a deliberate message that our best practice and personal assurance was getting past the fluff and puff and consider the fundamentals, the inner voice within, the yearning to get to the top and the destiny that we are meant to achieve success and fulfillment.

This is the old and proud school of chiropractic weaned on patient compliance because they understood the message of chiropractic, pleased with results and readily refer others. The old school that didn’t have you look over your shoulder for acceptable insurance parameters and evidence based criteria. No, this was the school that was dictated by the knowledge that the body was meant to be well and can achieve wellness best without neurological interference.

Old time philosophy is like a fine wine that gets sweeter and better with age. Add fantastic therapies, sweeten results with various healing concepts including nutrition and rehabilitation, pride yourself as an expert with your techniques, provide your staff with knowledge and service but never forget this ..  fundamentals is the common denominator of a successful doctor and business professional. Keeping it simple and purpose driven wins all the time. All so basic