True Chiropractic Practice Growth
December 8th, 2009 // 11:44 am @ Dr. Todd Osborne // No Comments
In my opinion chiropractors should all be so busy delivering the wonderful gift of removing subluxations that they would not have time to read a blog! However, my opinion and today’s reality are certainly two different things as I am sure you will agree.
While I could get on my soapbox about why this is the reality, I will save that for another blog, another day.
To date I have learned dozens of ways to attract new patients that need chiropractic care, both through internal and external marketing procedures, today, I want to spend some time just skimming the surface of one of the biggest practice builders–MAINTENANCE.
I do not want to get caught up in semantics, call it wellness, rehabilitation, ongoing care, whatever you wish. For the sake of this blog, we will call it maintenance care.
While I certainly agree, new patients are essential to practice growth; it seems that some chiropractors have fallen into the trap from years of running what I call a “replacement practice” instead of a “maintenance practice”.
In other words, it becomes necessary to replenish new patients for old, whether this happens during the initial phases of care, after their symptoms improve, or if they do not continue on maintenance care even though they do follow through on our recommendations.
Let me tell you one thing I know for sure. Large, solid practices are not built on new patients; they are built on maintenance patients. In these practices, new patients are an addition to the practice, not a replacement.
When a new patient entered my office, my mindset was not I have a 30 day patient, or a 90 day patient, or even a year patient, my mindset was I have a lifetime chiropractic patient. With this paradigm of thinking, it completely changed the way I approached and educated the patient. I did not want to try to “sell” the patient on staying for a few visits or even a few months, I wanted the patient to understand that they needed and deserved to get the lifetime quality chiropractic care.
Getting new patients is always going to be a factor for the chiropractor trying to succeed and grow their practice, but by concentrating on maintenance, chiropractors will see improved patient retention, improved long-term results, improved profitability, and less pressure to constantly produce a large number of new patients.
Category : Blog &Featured Works &Practice Building
