January 2006

The four cycles of marketing success

by Dr. Mike Reid

After 13 years of practice and five years of coaching, I've discovered many pitfalls to marketing that can make or break a doctor's office with regard to new patient flow. Many of us have experienced the highs and lows of monthly new patient acquisition. This roller coaster ride has, in fact, affected many a doctor's growth, income, and, yes, even his or her personal moods.

There are four cycles of marketing success that, once you create awareness and master, will create a smooth exponential rate of growth and income in your practice.

The first is called the "alpha fit." It can be described as one of those months where lots of new patients, reactivations and income create a stable and balanced month in your practice. The challenge with this first cycle is that many of us often find ourselves in a state of complacency. We are on cruise control. The Alpha Fit is really an illusion because it's impossible to predict what can happen in our next month or two. However, there are steps I will outline that allow you to prevent the catastrophe that can ensue in the next two cycles.

Cycle number two is called "beta fit." This cycle is where challenges and uncertainty can sweep through your practice. All of us have experienced it before, that vortex of universal chaos that hits our practice out of nowhere. Some of our team members may leave, an associate might quit, and new patient flow is at an all‑time low. The challenge with this cycle is that a slippery downhill slope is inevitable as we gain momentum into the third cycle, known as the "gamma trap."

This cycle can be best described as being tied and gagged in a trunk of a car heading into a lake. Fear, hopelessness and desperation are often words to describe this third cycle. Most doctors somewhere in their lives may experience the gamma trap, whereby all hope is lost, as it seems their whole world is crashing around them. Although this might be a harsh metaphor, all of us have experienced revelations from this cycle to the fourth cycle, known as the "delta surge."

This last cycle is really a new alpha. Our marketing efforts have kicked into high gear, we've rebuilt our patient volume, found a new associate better then the last and even rebalanced our books. Someone once told me, behind every storm cloud is sunshine and this can best describe the delta surge. At a recent seminar I focused on these four cycles of marketing success to the chuckles of many of the doctors in my audience. All, if not many, had experienced different degrees and levels of these marketing successes; the up and down of practice growth, otherwise known as "master cycle."

Yet, there are two simple steps that each of us can take to ensure that we maintain an alpha fit level, to avoid future cycles into the gamma trap. At a recent mastermind with many of my top doctors, we outlined steps that those who have mastered practice are usually aware of, or at least practicing on a regular basis, to ensure stability and balance in practice and their lives.

What practice masters do for success

***  Anticipate in alpha before hitting beta to maintain delta surge. Many of these doctors have been through beta and gamma before. They've learned their lesson and can now anticipate the challenges that arise in beta. Similar to seeing the potholes ahead of them, these doctors can drive clear around these challenges and focus on the new alpha fit or revelations found at the fourth cycle known as delta surge.

***  They know their resets and make a menu. Resets can best be described as the rituals that create a foundation for growth. It's what we used to do years ago, that originally built our practices but somewhere and somehow we got complacent and let fall into neglect. Resets would include morning "hours of power" (exercise, meditation, nutrition), masterminding with other of like‑mindedness, weekly meetings with our team and public relations assistant, planning a minimum of three months in advance for their marketing efforts. And measuring and monitoring our growth.

For those of you who've never experienced anything past alpha fit, congratulations. But, for those of you who continually find yourselves in cycles two or three, I hope that the above lesson proved useful to your future endeavors to build a practice of your dreams.

(Dr. Mike Reid is an international lecturer, Canadian president of the World Chiropractic Alliance and the international director and head coach of Anthony Robbins' chiropractic coaching program called "Fortune." Merging his "Gorilla Chiropractic Coaching" with Robbins' personal empowerment technologies, Fortune is an elite and executive‑level program designed to create extraordinary practices and extraordinary lives. A member of the class of 1992 from CMCC, Dr. Reid maintains a private, cash‑based wellness practice in Ottawa, Ontario. For more information, contact him at 800‑781‑8127.)