May 2005

Practice growth results

by Dr. CJ Mertz

Practices in the first quarter of this year are "exploding" all over the planet. There's no surprise as to why or how they're growing, but it's amazing to see how fast they're doing it. Chiropractors everywhere are hungry to undergo positive changes and they're ecstatic about their ROC (return on change).

For the most part, DCs are hard working and willing to do "whatever it takes." Unfortunately, that's often a little bit of everything, and hard to reproduce, rather than a lot of something specific, which can be repeated over and over again. This is the difference between those who are growing and those who aren't. Complexity is often misconstrued for thoroughness, but in reality it almost always leads to inconsistency. It's time to do some spring‑cleaning, starting between your ears, then from your front door back.

As it turns out, simplicity is the hardest thing for a chiropractor to achieve. I believe the root of this problem begins with an insufficient understanding of chiropractic's core principles, and therefore a limited belief in our own philosophy. The chiropractic teams that are exploding in practice are communicating a simple message with strength and conviction; a message that never loses its meaning or value and never gets watered down. You must possess this meaning and value before you can effectively and consistently express it to others. Every chiropractic team I've ever begun training, desires to have this level of communication ability.

When I see new patients going up, patient volume escalating, and profit growing across the board, it means simplicity is dramatically increasing in multiple areas of the practice. Simplicity follows an increase in your value of service, which is always preceded by a significant increase in your faith, confidence and belief in the core principles of chiropractic. Until this happens, a strong sense of resistance will be in its place, continuing to force you toward an ever‑growing state of complexity.

At the end of last year, several chiropractors I work with decided to take a pilgrimage to Dr. Shane Hand's practice in Amarillo, Texas. They couldn't believe that a practice could grow that much and that fast (from 300/wk to more than 1000/wk in one year). After they returned, we spoke together and each DC had the same reaction. The doctor's team had them all spellbound with its "by the book simplicity," which they expressed with great love and passion.

As a result, each has individually decided to remove their resistance, and begin the process of re‑establishing principle, order and passion in their practices. To date, each chiropractor has added more than 100 adjustments per week of growth to their practice, and is learning to trust the power of simplicity.

Recently, a British survey revealed that 80% of their practitioners are performing fewer than 80 adjustments per week. This, to me, is a tragedy of global proportion, and is an issue we must come together and correct for the sake of humanity. Every chiropractor can and should be trained to ethically and effectively serve at least 100 patients per day. The excitement this creates and the contribution it makes to one's community is legendary. There's a huge difference between easy and simple. If simple was easy, everyone would be doing it! Simplicity involves doing right things right, and there's nothing easy about that. Yet, it's possible, and you can and must do it, if you want to experience growth in your practice.

10 steps

***  Don't adjust on the first visit.

***  Don't describe their problem and their solution on the same visit.

***  Have the spouse present when you make your recommendation.

***  Let patients pay ahead for their care, whenever they can.

***  Everyone attends your workshop (at least once).

***  Check all family members at your own expense.

***  Never perform patient consultations during patient adjustment hours.

***  Always have at least five methods of promotions happening, both internally and externally for your practice.

***  Never miss weekly team training.

***  Always serve your purpose, and always be pursuing a goal.

These are 10 simple steps (out of 31) that lead to performing right things right. They were easy to write down, but in the beginning none are easy to do. They are however, what virtually every exploding practice in chiropractic today has in common.

Change is always uncomfortable, which is why I encourage you to focus on ROC for both you and your patients. You may not have experienced any real growth for the past couple of years in your practice, but it can happen within weeks when you decide to let down the resistance and begin the very predictable process to growth and success in practice.

And you don't need to go it alone. Complexity is an ugly thing, which creates stress and confusion, eventually stealing your passion in practice. Don't let that happen. Call me and I'll send you a free CD that may be just the thing you need to get you moving in the right direction.

(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. See the WLP 300 patient per week opportunity on the back page of this issue. For information on coaching services and products, call 877‑TEAM‑WLP.)