February 2009

The secrets to thriving in a tough economy

by Dennis Nikitow, DC

The reality is the economy is not at its best, but the truth is your practice can still thrive. Statistics show that the number four ranked business that remains relatively immune to the economy is health care. However, in the minds of the public, health care means "necessary" medical care. In a tough economy, elective care suffers too. This includes vision, chiropractic and even dental care. People can live without Lasik, whiter smiles, or perfectly straight spines. However, necessary glasses, cavities, tooth infections, and severe back pain, headaches, or neck pain elevate elective care to necessary care.

The question is, how do you get people to elevate chiropractic as necessary for their health and wellness?

1. Promote what they don't want, and tell them what they need. People don't want pain. Notice I didn't say people want pain relief. That implies people need to be in pain first. The reality is people don't want pain. Pain is a perception. It's felt in the mind. Therefore, it could be past, present, or future. It could be emotional, physical or both. Pain could be felt about something before it happens, but that could happen, without proper prevention.

External promotions should include everything you know: spinal screenings, lectures, advertising, and referral networking programs. They should be geared towards what people think you do best and what more than 80% of the population has, i.e., back pain, neck pain and headaches. Do not promote health and wellness -- yet. In a down economy, people act on necessity. In their mind, the rest can wait.

There are enough people with pain, so promote this before anything else. First, get them into your clinic and then you can promote wellness. Internally, use gift cards, open houses and patient appreciation days. Table talk should focus on patient progress and its effects to them on health and wellness. Talk about research, philosophy of subluxation, other patients' improvements, and health conditions outside of back pain that have been helped. Promote consistency for optimum results, in the shortest amount of time, to save the most money. Get passionate about your mission and purpose, then ask for referrals with a help attitude.

2. Educate using communication that repositions and impacts the patient. This is what the Certainty system is all about. If you learn to do this, you'll get 80% of your patients to schedule their family for exams by the end of the first visit.

How you communicate chiropractic is essential to repositioning people's belief on why chiropractic is a necessary part of health and wellness and not just for back pain. Your message must impact them to keep their health at its highest potential by using chiropractic. They need to see it as a way to save money on their health care as opposed to an expense. They need to be as concerned about the possible consequences to their health by having subluxations, as if they smoked, had high blood pressure, diabetes or any other health condition that prompts people to take immediate action. They need to experience future pain in their mind if they don't incorporate chiropractic for their family's health, regardless of the economy. This is the key to thriving.

Three things you must communicate to illicit this response are the philosophy and principle of chiropractic, medical research to support it, and testimonials of patients for improvement of conditions outside of back pain. This communication must be specific, strategic, and calculated. If it's done correctly, patient value and certainty is elevated and their priority to use chiropractic is high on their list. Subluxations must be explained as causing dis-ease silently, similar to cancer or heart disease. It should be conveyed that it affects function of any part of the body. The research to support this should be shown to the patient in posters for immediate impact.

3. Deliver the results. You should have a technique to correct spinal alignment to its normal model. If you tell patients they're out of alignment, you must show them when they're back into alignment. If you claim to fix spines, fix them. If structure governs function, fix it, and prove to the patient you did. Show your results all around the clinic like a cosmetic surgeon or dentist does. It is important to have visual resources, like posters, to maximize the impact of your communication and repositioning.

4. Lastly, practice maintenance communication. Don't think that since you explained chiropractic once, and the patient started care, he or she will stay under care. Your goal is that patients put you on their health care team. The key is to keep communicating that subluxations don't cause symptoms, so you don't know when you are subluxated.

Next, reiterate the MPC principle. Without maintenance, problems develop silently, and lead to crisis, which is where symptoms occur. Communicate the importance of maintaining what took so long to correct. Keep communicating the principles and philosophy of chiropractic. Stress how subluxations affect health and how the body is always adapting to the stresses of life's environment. Reiterate the power of the adjustment and its affects to the immune system, to helping stress, and keeping the body at its best. Give patients tips on avoiding postural pitfalls and maintaining good ergonomics.

Communication and education are the keys to facilitating patients' use of chiropractic care regardless of the economic environment. If you do a good job, your patients will value chiropractic enough to prioritize its use for their entire family. It's not the economy, it's how well you communicate that makes the difference in how you thrive.

(To learn about the Certainty System, Certainty Practice Products and Dr. Dennis Nikitow's upcoming seminar schedule, call 800-544-3884. Outside the US, 303-721-6202.)