November 2006

Five lessons every practice starter needs to know

by Dr. Peter Fernandez

The following simple lessons began as a love affair between a young man and his profession. A man who believed that success could be taught, and who developed a business system that put an end to the "starvation period" for new chiropractors entering practice.

Here are my five simple lessons, which every practice starter needs to know.

1. Promote yourself. Promote yourself so that you can attract as many new patients as you can manage, beginning with your first month in practice. Immediate success should be your goal. If you fill your office with new patients, you will succeed. The new practitioner averages eight new patients per month and 96 per year. My clients average 50 new patients per month and approximately 400 new patients their first year. Networking within one's community has proven especially effective in countries like Canada and Australia, where advertising by doctors continues to be restricted.

2. Do some research in your town. One of my duties while I was my mentor's associate was to help him set up satellite offices. We would review and study statistical information from the town's libraries, Chamber of Commerce, real estate companies, and many other available sources. We wanted to know everything we could about the people of the town. We considered dozens of statistical reports to determine the average household income, whether the majority of the population was "blue collar" or "white collar," the percentage over the age of 65, the number of families with children, and whether they young children or teenagers.

While demographic research is relatively easy, psychographics is completely different and a more sophisticated area of study. It's the analysis of patterns, lifestyles, attitudes, feelings and personality traits. Psychographics can predict customer behavior and tendencies down to the smallest detail. With the aid of today's computers, using psychographics, we can predict who will most likely be in an automobile accident, the type of car they drive and the credit cards they carry. Amazing isn't it?

3. No place like home. Once you've chosen the town you'll be practicing in, you'll need to decide where within that town you'll set up your practice. Selecting the right location can mean up to 100 additional new patients per year, every year of the doctor's professional life in that location. Pick the right location for your practice and that can spell success. Choose a bad location, and well, you probably guessed what that spells.

4. Keep it simple. Opening a practice is one of the most stressful professional experiences doctors will ever face. They have to find a hot state and town, a place to live, a hot location for their practice, obtain financing, hire a staff, set up office procedures, order equipment, and the list goes on and on. And all of this is happening at once! In order to reduce stress, DCs need checklists, countdowns and timelines for each practice starting function. They don't need to spend valuable time thinking about what to do next. In fact, the more doctors adhere to checklists, countdowns and timelines, the faster they open their practice ‑‑ and the more successful they become.

5. Hire a mentor. Anyone who is serious about becoming a success needs to contract with a mentor. A mentor is like an architect who designs the plans on which a house is to be built. Mentors have knowledge and experience and provide the encouragement that will take practice starters where they want to go, much faster and more organized than doctors could manage on their own. When you use the power, knowledge and assistance of a mentor, starting a practice is much easier and a lot more profitable. You're then free to place your entire focus on and improve upon what you do best ‑‑ care for patients. This combination of doctor and mentor dramatically increases self‑confidence and earning potential because it's a "get it done and done right" team effort.

Along with valuable information gleaned from my own extensive research and experience, I learned these five simple lessons from my mentor. What makes this all the more valuable is that it works! It simply and effectively works.

(Dr. Peter G. Fernandez, a 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. His practice with five staff chiropractors and 12 satellite offices was one of the largest all‑referral, high‑income chiropractic clinics on the US. A practice consultant for the last 25 years, he has consulted with approximately 5,000 DCs and in the opening of more than 3,000 new practices. Visit Dr. Fernandez online at www.DrFernnadez .com and be sure to sign up for his FREE newsletter. He can be reached by calling Fernandez Consulting, 800‑882‑4476 or via e‑mail: DrPete@DrFernandez.com.)