Explode Your Practice in Just 10 Minutes a Day!
Nancy Singleton
Are you trying to grow your practice, but just can't seem to keep traffic flowing through your door? Many chiropractors struggle to fill all of their available appointment slots throughout the workweek. If you find yourself in this position, you have two primary options: you can market to new patients or reactivate old ones.Though many doctors will focus their energies on attracting new patients, it's actually far less expensive and far more profitable to spend your energies keeping current patients active. For clinics that are successful at retaining patients for life, returning patients account for the largest portion of their traffic and overall income.
So, if you have patients who aren't visiting your office anymore, it's time to reactivate them. One of my favorite ways to accomplish this is by calling 10 inactive patients every day. Though this only needs to take 10 minutes, it can make an enormous difference in your success. Here are three steps that you can use to get started:
IPull 10 inactive patient files off your shelves every evening.
When deciding which files to pull, focus on patients
ííSo/ if you hove patients who aren't visiting your office anymore, it's time to reactivate them. One of my favorite ways to accomplish this is by calling 10 inactive
patients every day.33
who you haven't seen in six to 12 months. Have employees take turns pulling these files in the evenings, or assign the task to one person. Regardless of how you go about it, it's just important that the files are waiting when you arrive the next morning.
2 Discuss each file in your morning staff meeting.
When you get your staff together first thing the next morning, divide the files and determine who will call each patient. You can even turn the venture into a friendly competition to see who can call the most patients or who can set the most appointments! This will help make the task something everyone looks forward to doing each day.
Call each patient whose file you've pulled.
When you call, you can cite a wide variety of reasons for reaching out. Here are some of my favorite examples:
"The doctor was thinking about you earlier today, so he asked me to give you a call to check in on your progress."
"Hello! We're updating our patient database, and we just want to make sure we have your correct address."
"We're hosting a special seminar this Friday, and we'd like to extend an invitation to you."
"This week, we're offering a free sample of our nutritional shake to everyone who comes in for an appointment."
Ultimately, your reason for calling doesn't matter—it's just important that you call! If you take the initiative to make these calls, I think you'll be surprised by how
it When you're mindful of your patients and their needs, you will subconsciously change your behavior toward them, and they'll notice the difference. 33
responsive these patients will be. Most of the people you call will appreciate that you took the time to reach out to them, that you remembered the details of their past visits, and that you're offering some type of incentive to keep them coming back.
For patients who don't schedule an appointment on the spot, your call will still go a long way toward keeping your clinic "front of mind." The next time they need chiropractic help, you'll be the first clinic they turn to. Though this might seem like a small benefit, these patients may become regulars in your clinic in the future, and this can make an enormous difference for your bottom line! For patients who don't answer the phone at all, simply leave a friendly voice mail and then follow up via e-mail the next day.
Another way to think about patient retention is in terms of the "law of attraction." Though it might seem a little crazy, this principle states that if you focus on something, it'll make its way into your life. In my experience, when I had pulled patient files, I would sometimes find that some of my 10 patients would call me before I'd even reached out to them. Because I'd taken the time to look over their files, I was already prepared to talk to them about coming back in.
My experience over the past 25 years has shown that it makes a big difference when you start to think about your patients and check in to see how they're doing. When you're mindful of your patients and their needs, you will subconsciously change your behavior toward them, and they'll notice the difference. They'll start to see that you really care abouttheir well-being, and this will make them more likely to come back to your clinic again and again.
Ultimately, retaining your patients for life will increase traffic to yourclinicand keepthe business thriving for years to come. If you implement a patient-retention strategy into your daily routine, you'll change hundreds (if not thousands) of lives for the better, and you'll have the pleasure of seeing your clinic flourish. What could be better than that?
Nancy Singleton is a 1989 graduate of the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic Assistants. She consulted and helped doctors grow their practices for more than 20 years. She and her husband' Dr. Todd Singleton, teach chiropractors how to implement multiple cash systems into their existing practices. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.PatientsWantWeightLoss.com
