March 2005

The new patient attracting image

by Peter G. Fernandez, DC

Part 4:  Beyond the reception room ... The good and the bad

Each time a potential new patient walks through your front door, visualize the grandest celebration of fireworks and confetti for yourself. Congratulations doctor, you have just accomplished the most difficult step in getting a new patient. The time, energy and money that you have invested in professional advertising, effective telephone procedures, favorable location and an attractive looking office is producing exactly what you want ‑‑ the opportunity to take care of more people. But don't crack open the champagne yet. What lies beyond your reception room will determine whether that person who just walked through your door for the first time actually becomes a new patient.

Try to visualize what people new to your office see and feel upon walking into your reception room. What kind of ambiance does your reception room have? If you're using the image creating reception room guidelines provided in Part 3 of this column series, first time visitors will be pleasantly surprised when they open the door and immediately feel more confident in their decision to visit your office.

The next thing potential new patients notice is how many people are waiting in your reception room. If the room looks crowded, they conclude the doctor doesn't care about punctuality, doesn't honor a reserved appointment time, and has no respect for his or her patients' time. The doctor's new patient attracting image is killed by the potential new patient's vision of his or her time being wasted by having to wait at every visit.

Don't scare off potential new patients by using your reception room as a selling platform. Don't place literature racks or signs that try to "sell" chiropractic (i.e. "Develop the Once‑a‑Month Chiropractic Habit") in the reception room. A new patient uneducated to the tremendous health benefits available through chiropractic, can only see this type of information as a forewarning of a bigger sales pitch to come ‑‑ a new patient attracting image killer.    

The next thing potential new patients experience is the visual impression they have of your front desk CA (the impression your CA makes on potential new patients, directly impacts the image they have of you). How is your CA dressed? Is she wearing a uniform that helps build your new patient attracting image, i.e. staff‑coordinated color polo with your practice name and logo embroidered on the front where a chest pocket would normally be located, and also embroidered on the left sleeve? Her name should appear just below your office name and logo, embroidered either directly onto the polo or engraved on a removable name badge. Coordinating dress pants (no jeans) or business length skirts, and shined, duty type shoes (no sandals or athletic shoes) complete the desired image creating uniform. Of course, strict attention is always given to hair style, neatness and cleanliness.

Having passed the visual test, does your CA make potential new patients feel welcome by immediately greeting them as they walk in? No one likes to be ignored and no one feels welcomed by a CA who opens a little window and says "fill this out," then quickly shuts the window. Your CA should be in full view of the reception room. When someone walks in, she immediately looks up and even if she's on the phone, smiles and makes some welcoming gesture, maybe a wave to acknowledge the person came in the door. Then, as soon as she can get off the phone, the CA says, "You must be Mr. Jones ... I'm Sally Smith, welcome to our office."

(NOTE: Sometimes as doctors get busier, they expect their front desk CA to run back and help with exams, develop x‑rays and answer their intercom as well as attempt to run the front desk. If you're that busy, hire another CA! Otherwise, you're losing ... not saving! Always have a pleasant, friendly, enthusiastic CA at the front desk at all times.)

The CA's attitude will build or kill a doctor's new patient attracting image. The CA should have a positive, warm and energetic attitude, regardless of how busy she is or what problems she may be dealing with at the time. While a vibrant and positive attitude is an image builder, a negative or indifferent attitude is an image killer.

The next thing that speaks strongly to potential new patients is whether or not you have a professionally run office. The manner in which your CA handles paperwork, how neat her files are and how organized her workspace is, all reflect directly on your efficiency and competence. Are potential new patients going to trust their health to someone whose office is so disorderly that mistakes seem inevitable? Absolutely not. Sloppy, disorganized front desk procedures ruin the doctor's image ... and the patient's longevity.

Emit competence and efficiency by having everything in its place, and using procedures that flow smoothly and comfortably for the patient, as there is a considerable amount of paperwork for the potential new patient to complete. It's also important that this paperwork be professionally designed and printed (not photocopied), organized and ready for new patients when they walk through the door. The CA should never make a potential new patient feel uncomfortable for not completing a form. If there are any gaps in the paperwork, the CA or doctor will fill them in upon reviewing the information with the individual. The CA then takes the completed forms and warmly assures the patient that the doctor will be with him or her shortly.

Use a professional interior decorator to help you select the appropriate furniture, fixtures and color schemes that combine to create the atmosphere that says this is the office of a successful and professional chiropractor who cares for his or her patients and makes them well.

Well‑designed and strategically placed wall signs and art, are highly effective in boosting your new patient attracting image. All should be professionally printed, framed and mounted on your walls ‑‑ no exceptions. All signs should bear positive chiropractic messages without negative remarks or insinuations about MDs or any other profession. Wall signs are your silent educators and image creators ... good or bad. The more people know about chiropractic, the better your new patient attracting image is. The reverse is also true. The more negativity you project, the less your new patient attracting image becomes. (NOTE: Anti‑medical charts will please some but offend most.)

Next, while walking down the hallway from the reception room to your consultation room, potential new patients will pass a literature rack filled with pamphlets describing those conditions you prefer to treat. All of the pamphlets should be in new condition (dog‑eared or used looking pamphlets having been discarded), professionally printed and neatly filed in the rack. This attention to neatness, or lack thereof, tells potential new patients what kind of care they can expect from the doctor.

In keeping with the importance of passing the potential new patient's "sight test," your furniture, equipment, fixtures, flooring, wall coverings, etc., are kept in top notch condition ‑‑ cleaned, dusted, repainted, reupholstered, replenished and replaced before wear, tear or age is evident. You have appointed one of your CAs to make sure this impeccable condition is maintained. Her responsibility is to review specific areas and/or items at certain intervals, using daily, weekly and monthly checklists, to quickly take care of the every day maintenance and keep you informed of any larger maintenance issues before they have a chance to negatively impact your new patient attracting image.

(IMPORTANT: Make sure your checklists include inspecting those places that only patients being treated will see, i.e. what patients can see when they are face down on the adjusting table ‑‑ dust, makeup smudges, etc.)

The potential patient now enters your consultation room.

The final determinant in getting potential new patients to become new patients is you, the doctor, and the decor of your consultation room. Everything that got the potential new patient into your consultation room could have been perfect and he or she may have already decided to become a patient, but here in the consulting room it could all be quickly and inadvertently undone. Your advertising, telephone procedures, facility, and staff bring potential new patients to the finish line, but it's up to YOU to get them to cross it and become new patients.

(Dr. Peter G. Fernandez, is a 1961 Logan graduate. His practice with five staff chiropractors and 12 satellite offices, was one of the country's largest all‑referral, high income chiropractic clinics. As a practice consultant for the past 24 years, Dr. Fernandez has taught practice building techniques to nearly 15,000 DCs, and consulted in the opening of approximately 3,000 practices. He can be reached at Fernandez Consulting, 10733 57th Avenue North, Seminole, FL, 33772, by calling 800‑882‑4476, or via e‑mail: DrPete@DrFernandez.com. Visit him on the web at www.DrFernandez.com).