January 2007

Working smarter, not harder

by Dr. Ron Oberstein

A fact of life is that chiropractors, like any other professionals, are also business people. We are in the business of helping others, changing lives, making the world a better and saner place while running our offices and creating a lifestyle suitable to our environment.

But, with the cost of living going up, rents and insurances rising each year, the cost of services for most chiropractors have not been raised to the level of inflation and the living index. This creates a lower rate of return on the services we provide, and a lower income at the end of the year.

Having said this, we can increase charges for services, which may deter people from receiving our care, or we may also look at creative ways to lower overhead without changing what we buy. All that's needed is a change in how we buy it! In this and the next installment of my new column, I aim to show you how to "buy right" ‑‑ and save lots of money doing it.

Taking into account the services we provide as DCs, it was appropriate that our professional education placed emphasis on the clinical, diagnostic and patient management elements. Our training makes us better at what we do on a day‑to‑day basis.

Yet, what about our business training? How do we run an effective, low overhead practice, which allows us to put more money in our pockets at the end of the day?

Two years ago, at a national conference with more than 2,000 chiropractors in attendance, I asked individual doctors if they would like to save up to 60% on products they currently purchase and use in office every day. Some said "yes," others looked at me like I was crazy, and the majority asked "What's the catch?" Most of these doctors couldn't believe they could save 20% on their purchases, let alone up to 60%.

It's time the chiropractic profession got in the business of saving money, and working smarter, not harder!

The concept of saving money has grown steadily over the past few years with the addition of the Internet, where cost‑conscious buyers can research prices side by side, and choose the company they want to have their business.

Internet buying also has many problems, such as warranties being excluded, purchases being made from non‑reputable sources, returned or refurbished products being sold as new, just to name a few. But the concept is there, and there's as much (if not more) positive to be said for Internet shopping as the negatives pointed to here.

Choices make up the bottom line in "Millennium Purchasing." And with manufacturers looking to move more products, they're finding more innovative ways to sell their goods. The upside is, we as consumers can take charge of the situation, and if done consciously, create a win‑win situation for both the seller and the buyer.

For the past 100 years, people have been coming together to incorporate their purchasing power for the sole purpose of lowering costs. The old concept, and one that is still around today, is the more you buy, the greater the discount you receive. This surely is not a bad way to purchase, but the downside is storage and excess products.

Hospitals and large corporations got into the buying game because they needed an abundance of supplies. They shopped around for the lowest prices because of their natural volume needs. As small business owners, where does that lead chiropractors in the buying world?

Traditionally, we've bought our products and services at retail prices, because we had no purchasing power. As the cost of prices went up for the sellers, it was passed on to us as well. Each individual office was generally just a small fish in the big pond of buying, and we got what we needed at the asking price.

This was before the harnessing of buying power within the chiropractic profession took place.

(Dr. Ron Oberstein has been lecturing and coaching DCs for 20 of his 25 years as a chiropractor. In 1994, he founded The Power Zone, a chiropractic company that teaches doctors and their team members how to unlock their hidden potential to become the best they can be. Dr. Oberstein founded Chiropractors Buying Group in 2004 to bring DCs the best quality, latest technology, lowest prices, and greater choices in products purchased for the chiropractic office. CBG, the only buying group in chiropractic, sets the standard for lowering costs for the chiropractor ‑‑ DCs can save up to 60% or more on products and services they use every day in their offices ‑‑ while providing the best products and services available in the profession. For more information go to www.cbgsave.com or call 800‑649‑0899)