November 2003

Finish the year strong

by Dr. Eric Plasker

It's hard to believe that we are approaching the end of another year. You have a choice to make. You can either make the end of the year strong, filled with lifetime chiropractic families, or you can end the year with a fizzle. Here are some great strategies to help you finish the year with a very positive growth within your practice.

November and December are great times for special events. People are thinking about community, about family, and they are thinking about celebrating. Your office, as a part of your community, can become a central focus point for both families and individuals to share the holidays. You can run special events that will help you to create this kind of atmosphere.

November is Thanksgiving. This is a time when many chiropractors like to take part in a food drive where they can attract new patients. You can pick either one day or one week to donate your services to new patients in exchange for canned food to feed the hungry. By doing this, you can create incredible good will within your practice as well as receive a high degree of public relations flowing through your office. Your patients will be excited about being involved and they will refer their family and friends.

Last Year, The Family Practice had doctors from all over the world participating in this event. They raised anywhere from 250 to 1,500 pounds of food. One D.C., Dr. Randy Roman from Colorado, was published within his local newspaper on several different occasions and was able to gain more than 40 new patients from this activity. Without a doubt, that's refusing to end the year with a fizzle. That is ending the year strong!

You can create a lot of the resources to make an event like this happen on your own. I would recommend a flier for your patients, a letter telling them about the event, a press release to send out into your community, as well as a certificate inviting patients in for chiropractic care. You can also create public service announcements for radio and TV. You might be surprised when your local radio stations come knocking at your door.

You can do the same type of event in December. It's very common that chiropractors like to do a "Toys For Tots" campaign, where they choose a day to donate their services to new patients in exchange for a toy that will benefit an underprivileged or sick child. This is yet another great way to build good will within your community, as well as attract new patients. It is a wonderful way to energize your office and finish the year strong, versus finishing with a fizzle.

The same type of materials should be put together. You would want to hand out a flier, put together patient education pieces about the holiday, a reactivating letter for your patients, as well as public relation pieces to bring attention to your program. You could put this information together on your own or you have a local graphic artist or writer put it together for you. (As a part of their membership, The Family Practice D.C.s get these materials at no extra cost.)

These types of campaigns can help you to create an event‑driven practice that is consistently gaining exposure while bringing in new patients committed to lifetime care. When you package your vision in this manner, you will get off of the new patient rollercoaster ride that affects so many practices. This is experienced when a practice gets many new patients in one month but receives none in the following month. This creates a great deal of stress for both doctor and staff.

Being consistent with these types of campaigns throughout the year is not only important, but also necessary, in order to create stability within your practice. Isn't it exciting that you can bring so much good will to your community while establishing stability at the same time?

Don't finish the year with a fizzle. Implement these special events ‑‑ and finish the year strong!

(Nationally recognized speaker, educator, and author Dr. Eric Plasker is the founder of The Family Practice, a premier chiropractic coaching and training organization dedicated to making chiropractic the number one health care profession in the world. Through his customized coaching and success training programs, he is helping D.C.s to position their practices ‑‑ and realize unprecedented financial success ‑‑ and the profession to lead family health care around a mission of LCfE ("Lifetime Care for Everyone.") For information on The Family Practice Systems Library, a seminar schedule, coaching, training, or other product information, call The Family Practice (toll‑free) at 866/532‑3327, ext. 118. Or visit The Family Practice website at www.thefamilypractice.net.)