June 2005

Preparing for the 300 plus dream team

by Dr. CJ Mertz

By now, you must know that less than 20% of all DCs who ever practice will see more than 300 patient adjustments per week. With so much clinical evidence and proven practice strategy, how is it possible the average practitioner will adjust fewer than 100 patients per week?

The answer is found in preparation.

From a completely mental perspective, since most chiropractors have never seen anyone else adjust 300 or more patients in one week, their ability to visualize themselves doing the same is difficult. As a result, many of them have fallen into the trap of "hearsay" that someone seeing 300 patients per week must be doing something wrong. This is a belief that comes from a faculty member at nearly every chiropractic college, then becomes a self‑fulfilling prophecy once students graduate and begin to practice.

There are multiple layers of false associations that have to be recognized and broken if you're going to make your dreams come true.

Just a few of the many questions left unanswered and unsolved in most practices, but that comprise the beginning of the necessary preparation to take your practice from where it is to where you ultimately want to go:

***  What's the right adjustment time?

***  What's the correct scheduling strategy?

***  What's the most effective reporting process for successful patient conversion?

***  How do you educate patients for high retention and still keep up with all the adjusting?

***  How do you hire and train a team who is capable of high volume, quality service?

***  What fee system is most affordable for patients while still most profitable for the practice?

***  How long should it take to see a new patient?

***  How do you create a marketing program that will constantly attract new patients month after month?

***  What's the right layout design?

***  What software should you be using?

***  What equipment do you need and what should you steer away from?

***  What are the right days and hours to work?

While I'm a single handicap golfer, my coach told me, if I really wanted to become a scratch golfer I'd have to stop reading all those golf magazines and watching the golf channel. He said I must listen to fewer people and get much more intense about training in specific parts of my game. He was right! It's exactly the kind of preparation intensity I see chiropractors decide on when they finally arrive on the path to 300 plus per week. My coach has me keeping track of some unusual stats and practicing some unusual drills. This, too, is in common with more than 4,000 teams I've helped to build large practices. You must be willing to listen, to learn, to make real changes, to get awkward for a while, to grow, and to turn your dreams into reality.

Most doctors, once they achieve the 300 plus level, describe having more passionate energy than ever before. It's actually mentally, physically and emotionally draining to be practicing below your potential. A chiropractor can see 150 patients per week and still have many bad habits. Part of the joy in achieving higher volume is that you have to face those bad habits and decide to develop a new set of empowering habits, both personally and professionally. It's hard to do it alone. But, with the right help and the mental discipline to take a step‑by‑step approach, the chains of mediocrity drop away as you take your practice to the next level.

Practices grow by the hour, not by the month or week. Your philosophy must get sharpened to the degree that you're able to stay focused and do the right things, which always lead to growth. I've determined that you must be doing right things at least two thirds of the time in order to grow. The average DC will average "right things right" just 50% of the time. That gap is the difference between building a large, successful practice and feeling stuck at your current level. If you don't yet know how to attract, convert and care for whole families, it's unlikely you'll ever see high volume. You have to strengthen your philosophy as part of the preparation for greater service.

Building volume isn't something you try to do, it's something you become. It's something you find within yourself that most often comes out through the process of intense training and preparation. I wish it were easier, but it isn't. If you think you have what it takes to see 300 plus adjustments per week, and have the compassion to serve suffering men, women and children back to wellness, then it's your obligation to do something to make it happen. Preparation is the key. You must have a specific plan of training for the development to serve the many. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

(Dr. CJ Mertz is executive director of ChiroUSA, and founder and head coach of the prestigious Waiting List Practice [WLP] chiropractic training organization. See the WLP 300 patient per week opportunity on the back page of this issue. For information on WLP coaching services, call Tony Shinn at 877‑TEAM‑WLP.)