September 2004

Putting it all together

by Dr. CJ Mertz

Letters, e‑mails and phone calls have been pouring into Team WLP's headquarters with testimonials from chiropractors across the country who've finally made it into the 300+ club!

DCs faithfully reading and applying the recommendations in this column every month discover their practices are experiencing break away growth. While the temptation may be to dabble and do a little bit of what this one says, and a little bit of what that one says, the 300+ "club" isn't made up of dabblers. We're all just ordinary chiropractors committed to achieving extraordinary results.

The price of admission is putting it all together, and that requires faith, consistency, intensity and patience.

In my coaching sessions, I see chiropractors making two fundamental kinds of errors. First, they tend to focus too much on their weaknesses rather than learn how to strategically harness their strengths. Second, they follow the "all or none" rule of changing too many areas of the practice at once or changing nothing at all.

Putting it all together requires the maturity of listening to fewer people, committing to a season of change, and harnessing your strengths toward achieving targeted results. What sounds simple has proven to be quite difficult for the average chiropractor to accomplish.

Not all chiropractors were created equal. Upon evaluation, five of our most recent clients who've reached 300 adjustments per week, did so five different ways. All of them are using the WLP strategy, but their strengths are what make them unique.

The first DC is naturally talented at attracting 40 new patients per month. The second is gifted with a 90% conversion skill set to corrective care. Chiropractor number three has been innately equipped with public speaking ability. His workshops produce 30 new patient leads and his current patients get emotionally connected to lifetime care after listening to him speak.

The fourth DC has an amazing gift to hire and train a championship team. Her practice creates a "WOW" experience every time their patients get adjusted. Their procedural execution is second to none. The fifth chiropractor was born with a golden pisaform. The miracles produced in his practice are so well known. People travel from across the state to get adjusted by him.

The point is, if these doctors weren't coached to work diligently on their weaknesses, they would never have achieved a 300+ level of success! Every chiropractor (and CA) has been given special talents around which strengths can emerge. Putting it all together begins with finding that talent, then developing the strengths that define one's uniqueness.

It's not that you can't improve a weakness, but hard work on it rarely leads to excellence. The key is to reach acceptable levels of performance with your weaknesses, and swing for the fences when it comes to using your strengths.

Tiger Woods dominates the golf world, yet he's ranked relatively low in par saves from the sand. Tiger will probably never be number one in the world in sand saves. Fortunately, his other talents don't require that level of bunker skill to achieve greatness. A chiropractor who knows his or her weaknesses will hire people who are naturally talented to provide those strengths. Meanwhile, the DC's own core strengths, with lots of hard work, continue to reach world‑class status.

I hold my clients to very high standards. They know how hard we're going to train together and I'm always looking for, or working on natural born strengths. Once they've been identified, we can begin building the knowledge and skill foundation necessary to black belt those strengths.

All the knowledge and skill training in the world on a weakness will only produce an acceptable performance. So, the changes you should be making in your practice either take advantage of your own strength or some other team member's strength. Learn to build from strength to strength and you will see your practice explode!

Most chiropractors I talk with hold the dream of building a thriving (300+) profitable, lifetime family wellness practice. However, only two thirds of them have identified their unique gifts and talent, and less than 20% have turned those talents into world‑class strengths. Even though chiropractic is painted as the fastest‑growing drugless health profession, it shouldn't be a surprise why so few DCs even enter the 300+ club.

Then, chiropractors get confused by mixed signals, thinking they need religion or scientology, or expensive diagnostic equipment, or a diplomate...and the list goes on. In truth, the only thing DCs who've built 300+ practices have in common is they identified their talents (sometimes by luck, the rest by training), trusted in them and honed them into powerful tools for healing.

Chances are, your practice needs serious revamping in order to for you to showcase your talents and serve more people. Embrace it. The greatest investment you'll ever make for your practice is an investment in yourself. You've chosen the greatest profession in the world. Now, challenge yourself to find your best!

(Dr. CJ Mertz is president of the International Chiropractors Association, executive director of ChiroUSA, and founder and head coach of the prestigious Waiting List Practice [WLP] chiropractic training organization. For information on WLP services and products, call Jennifer Brown at 877‑TEAM‑WLP.)

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