August 2005

The best kept secret to getting new patients

by Dr. David Singer

We need new patients to survive in practice. Yet, this very need can hinder our practice growth ‑‑ or it can add stress to our lives and burn us out.

For me, the question in practice is this: "How can I attract an abundance of new patients and succeed at the highest level without being needy, stressing myself out, or compromising my integrity?"

In my first couple of years in practice, I suffered from melt down, not burnout. I definitely needed new patients to survive, and somehow managed to get them. But all too often, at the end of the day the stress and anxiety of having to do so left me exasperated and wondering if I'd chosen the right profession. I felt more like a salesman than a doctor.

That all changed when I discovered the most powerful way of all to get new patients. I learned that the deepest truth any of us can manifest in our life is our purpose to help others, and that it's only after we lose touch with our purpose that we begin to feel stressed and needy and burnt out in practice. I learned the power of getting new patients, not out of need, but out of purpose. It was the difference between success and failure for me.

Within nine months of reinventing myself and becoming purpose‑driven in practice, I was averaging almost 100 new patients a month, without feeling like a salesman, without being stressed out and without compromise. I had discovered that my purpose was my power.

Closing the gap

There's a gap between our inner purpose and the manifestation of that purpose in terms of success in practice. We all think to ourselves, "Of course I want to help people. I am purpose driven." But, having such thoughts result in a prospering practice is a different matter. The gap between what we think and what we achieve in practice is bridged by the techniques we use to achieve our goals. In other words, the tools we use to expand our practice.

There are purpose‑driven techniques and survival‑driven techniques. At the core of a purpose‑driven technique we find an uncompromising desire to serve others. A survival‑ driven technique has at its core a fear that if you don't treat enough people you won't survive.

I didn't start really succeeding in practice until I used purpose‑driven techniques.

To explain further, a purpose‑driven technique is a technique to get new patients (for example), which gets its power from your honesty and your integrity. It's based on your uncompromising desire to serve and help others.

As I look at our profession, I find that many practice consultants are teaching ways to expand a practice. Companies are promoting how to get "50 new patients in 10 minutes." I see advertisements that claim you can flood your office with new patients through TV advertising ‑‑ just sit in your office and wait for the new patients to flood in. I'm the last person to criticize anyone who can help a chiropractor get new patients. However, getting new patients is only part of the formula for success. Once you get them you have to retain them.

You have to collect payment from them. You have to get referrals from them. You have to make them understand chiropractic so they want to tell their friends and family about you, and continue to use you as their doctor for life. What I'm saying is this: If you want to succeed in practice at the highest level and stay in love with being in practice over the long haul, you need to build a purpose‑driven practice. Getting new patients isn't enough. It's a matter of how you get new patients and what you do with them once you get them. You don't just want new patients. You want quality new patients who arrive in your office, not because you need to survive, but because you need to serve them. What I'm really talking about is how you view what you do. Are you a doctor who's making a living, or are you a doctor on a mission?

Almost all the techniques I teach for getting new patients educate the new patient from the moment of first contact. This is because my purpose isn't just to get a new patient, but to increase the quality of people's lives by teaching them how chiropractic works. I'm on a mission to educate the world about chiropractic. The techniques I use to accomplish this are rooted in a deep purpose to help others.

Since achieving success in my own practice, I've taught more than 15,000 health professionals how to achieve their practice dreams using purpose‑driven techniques. Such techniques have nothing to do with money, nothing to do with survival, or even success. Yet, when you use purpose‑driven techniques, money and material success follow as a natural result. It's pure magic.

So where do you start? It's simple. Decide that everything you do in practice is an act of giving, not receiving. Even when patients give you money think of it as an act of them receiving the opportunity for you to heal them with natural care. Insist that people allow themselves to receive your help for their own good. If you believe in what you do, you can't be stopped. It's the best‑kept secret in our profession. Try it. It works.

(Dr. David Singer is president of Prescott Singer Group, a new company formed by the merger of two successful chiropractic practice management firms, David Singer Enterprises and The Prescott Group. Prescott Singer Group is still offering a series of seminars around the country to teach chiropractors how to expand their practices, and a broad array of products. To receive "The Purpose Fax Newsletter," Dr. Singer's free fax info letter containing practice‑building tips and health research, call 800‑326‑1797, ext. 227. Leave your name, address, phone number and fax number and you will be sent a form that authorizes Prescott Singer Group to fax you a copy approximately every six weeks. Note: you must have a dedicated fax line, as this fax newsletter is sent automatically via computer.You may access the website at the usual address: www.davidsingerenterprises.com.)