August 2006

Competing against other DCs ‑‑ a common practice killer

by Dr. Peter Fernandez

You can't go to any DC gathering today without hearing chiropractors complaining about there being too many chiropractors. These DC whiners believe we should slow down the graduating number of doctors and make licensing tougher, in order to thin out the "competition." The problem is, this will not reduce the competition but only make it stronger. Why? Because MDs, hospitals, pain management clinics and managed care plans are the ones in competition for your chiropractic services, not other DCs. Far from being your competitors, other DCs are your partners in promoting chiropractic.

The more good DCs there are, the more trust, respect and knowledge the public will have of chiropractic, resulting in more people choosing chiropractic care. The truth is, if we doubled the number of successful DCs, there would be such a demand for chiropractic care, the insurance companies would have to improve their chiropractic coverage in order to satisfy their customers.

Concerned about other DCs' ads?

Every good DC has an ever‑growing number of patients who are "sold" on him or her. These patients have developed trust and pride in their doctor's professional skills and personable service. They are his or her "referral organization." When other DCs in your area advertise extensively, or have very positive public relations, instead of hurting you, they actually help you. No matter which DC initiates it, the more frequent and positive your referral organization's exposure is to chiropractic, the more chiropractic is brought to the forefront in patients' minds, stimulating them to refer to their great doctor ... you.

As an example, when I started my practice in St. Petersburg, I only had two weeks to conduct a direct mail promotion before it would no longer be allowed. I took full advantage of this and mailed off several promotions within that two‑week period. The results were a great success for my practice. About 20 years later, I ran into a DC who practiced a few blocks away from me and the subject of my two‑week mailing campaign came up. He was the ethics chair of our local society and told me that the society had received many complaints from the other DCs in the area about my mail promotion. I asked him why he didn't say something to me back then. He said, "Pete, so many new patients came into my clinic carrying your promotion piece that I should have paid you for the advertising."

Here's one version of a common comment: "There were only five other chiropractors in this town when I began my practice, and now there are 18. That's why my practice is down."

If you think your declining practice is because of other DCs moving into your area, you're more than just wrong ... you're killing your own practice! There's only one reason why a previously successful practice falters or fails and that is the doctor has turned his or her focus in the wrong direction.

In this particular case, instead of the doctor doing what he or she always did to develop happy, healthy and referring patients, he or she has focused thoughts on the other DCs who are "stealing" his or her patients. Actually, the more successful each chiropractor is in your town, the more successful all of the DCs in your town will be.

It's important to keep in mind that no matter what you've heard or might suppose, while you can lose a patient, no one can steal one from you.

Imagine if I, a well‑seasoned pro who's built highly successful practices for myself and about 5,000 other DCs, moved into your town and opened next door to your office. Even if I stood outside handing $20 bills to every patient who would switch from you to me, 99% of your patients would NOT switch and the other one percent you were going to lose anyway (no one can please everyone). That's because if you are the doctor you should be, your patients will like, trust, and stay with you.

I had the pleasure of practicing with a friend of mine when I first came to St. Petersburg. His name is Burton Aaron Pierce, Jr. ‑‑ a great chiropractor! We shared the hallway, consultation room, reception room and x‑ray room. Other than that, we had our own suites. Most of his patients came in because of migraine headaches and internal problems (those were the types of health problems he preferred to care for so those were the patients he attracted). I hated taking care of those types of health problems so I didn't attract any of them to me. I attracted back pain, whiplash, leg pain, etc.

Dr. Pierce and I had two of the most successful practices in town and they were only about four feet away from each other. Both of us had all‑referral practices, which resulted in us attracting only those types of patients we preferred to care for. We simply attracted what was right for us, just as you do. When you think about patients with certain health problems, how successful you've been in caring for them and how much you enjoy taking care of those particular health problems, all of this positive thinking works as a magnet to attract more of that particular type of patient to you.

Dr. Pierce and I referred patients to each other. The competition we felt was not against each other, but against whatever health problems our patients were suffering from. Our focus was on taking care of patients and reaching as many of their friends and family members who could also benefit from our care.

Believe it ‑‑ and achieve it

Whatever you think will be, will be. So, if you're concerned that DCs moving into your area will cause your practice to suffer, it will. However, if you believe that DCs moving into your area will help boost the public's awareness of the many great benefits in receiving chiropractic care, thereby helping you to attract more new patients, then it will. Positive or negative, whatever your mind believes, that's what you'll attract to yourself.

Never underestimate the power of your mind. Harness it and steer it in the direction you want to go. Think positive and expect the best. This will help you conquer the inevitable challenges on the road to greater success, and empower you to achieve whatever you want to achieve.

(Dr. Peter Fernandez, a 1961 Logan College graduate, is past president of the Florida chiropractic Association, and past chairman of the chiropractic Knights of the Roundtable, an organization of the world's most successful chiropractors. He has been a practice consultant for the last 25 years and in this capacity has consulted with approximately 5,000 DCs and in the opening of more than 3,000 new practices. Dr. Fernandez can be reached at Fernandez Consulting, 800‑882‑4476 or by e‑mail: DrPete@DrFernandez.com. Or, visit www.DrFernandez.com or www.MBAchiropractic.com)