Hi Doctor!

You’re sure to get new patients before you’ve even completed this three-week
makeover. However, once you’ve gone through this simple step-by-step program,
you’ll have the headspace and resources to turn on the “new patient faucet”
whenever you wish.

Excerpted from my New Patients Metaphysics and New Patientology seminars and
the New Patient Mojo podcasts, here, in condensed form, are the action items that
can transform your practice into a thriving business.

The temptation will be to rush ahead and implement the easiest or least emotionally
challenging suggestions immediately. Naturally, you’re free to do so; however, that
would be like delivering 21 adjustments to a patient in a day or two instead of
spreading them out over several weeks or months. The result (and the likelihood of
lasting change) is apt to fall short.

At the bottom of each page are some action steps to help you apply these 21
principles. For the next three weeks, consider journaling. It’s something that
attendees of The Conversation find helpful. Explore your feelings, challenges and
barriers to implementation. And, if you’ve used some of these strategies in the past,
what would it take to make them a new habit? If you encounter emotional barriers,
what are they and why? Spend the next three weeks problem solving and declaring,
“I can!”

Thanks for the opportunity to serve beside you.

Warmest regards,

William D. Esteb
Patient Media, Inc.
Day 1 – Get Your Heart Right

Why do you want more new patients?

Before you can expect to receive the blessings of more new patients, it’s critical that
your motives are pure. Overlook this issue and the suggestions that follow will
disappoint. In fact, this aspect of the new patient equation is often the reason why
the more traditional means of getting new patients are effective for some
chiropractors and not for others.

It all starts with your motives for wanting more new patients. Less attractive
motives include:

“I need to pay my bills.”

“I want to be busier.”
“My statistics are slipping.”
“I have unused capacity.”
“My buddy is more successful.”
“I have a lifestyle to maintain.”

These motives share one thing in common. They express the desire for more new
patients for your own self-serving reasons. In other words, wanting more new
patients for your benefit, not theirs.

This selfish attitude produces an odor that permeates spinal screens and lectures
and is easily detected on the postcards and newsletters used in reactivation
overtures.

More attractive motives:

“I want to be of service to others.”

“I want to alleviate unnecessary suffering.”
“I must share the truth about the nature of real health.”
“I want to help children reach their fullest potential.”
“I want others to know there’s an alternative to drugs and surgery.”
“I desire to be an instrument of hope for others.”
“I want others to know they have the power to self-heal.”

Start here.

Day 1 Action Step: If you’re guilty of the self-serving motives mentioned above,
repent. Take time today to journal about your motives and become present to more
honorable intentions. Use your journal to apologize for your selfishness of the past
and vow to show up as a humble servant and a messenger of hope.
Day 2 – Improve Your New Patient Self Talk

How do you talk to yourself about your new patient situation?

It matters.

Virtually all success literature reminds us that what we constantly focus on grows
and what we consistently think about is more likely to manifest. (This is one reason
why worry is so destructive.)

From now on, become more mindful about how you talk to yourself about new
patients. If your internal mantra is “I need more new patients” or one of its variants,
you’re likely being rewarded with a need for more new patients!

Oops!

Without exploring the metaphysics and implications of constantly reinforcing this

unhelpful conversation in your mind, today would be a good day to begin a more
promising form of self-talk.

Here are some ideas to get you going:

“We’re welcoming more and more new patients.”

“We have the desire and ability to help more people.”
“More and more people are seeking our practice.”
“People want what we offer.”
“Our practice is filling up with people we can help.”
“Send us people we can help and keep away those we cannot.”

And my favorite: “Who else can we serve?”

Get your heart right and get your self-talk right and you become more attractive—
not just to new patients, but to everyone.

Day 2 Action Step: Select one of the suggestions above or craft your own new
patient mantra. Print 10 copies of your statement, cut them out and place them in
places you will see them throughout the day, such as your sock drawer, inside of
your medicine cabinet, the dashboard of your car, etc. Each time you see one, say the
statement out loud or to yourself.
Day 3 – Love Instead of Merely Caring

One of the greatest challenge of all professional caregivers is to set appropriate

boundaries. Simply put, most chiropractors in underperforming practices care too
much about what patients do or don’t do.

This is the all too common hidden limitation that causes these practices to
temporarily increase their patient volume with some focused self effort, only to find
it unsustainable, returning to the “set point” dictated by the chiropractor’s
emotional reserves.

Consider the differences between caring and loving:

Caring Loving
Emotional Spiritual
Finite Infinite
Expect reciprocity No strings attached
Manage patients Lead patients
Control Inspire

Not only does this explain the source of most professional burnout (caring too
much), it provides the key to growing your practice. To help more people, you must
be willing to trust the choices that patients make and honor their free will. Abandon
the micro-managing that drains your emotional reserves and keeps your practice
comfortably small.

Care. But don’t care too much. Love.

Day 3 Action Step: Take the 10-question online quiz and become more mindful of
situations in which you feel the need to control patients. Notice tendencies to make
yourself too available or needlessly indispensible. Observe yourself reacting to
situations in which you are inappropriately invested in the decisions made by
patients. Train yourself to reject blame or responsibility for their health habits.
Acknowledge their sovereignty and freedom to prioritize their health as they see fit.
Day 4 – Replace Judgment With Curiosity

Consider this continuum, which affects your new patient attractability:

Curiosity --------------------- Indifference -------------------- Judgment

If you want to shut down, make small, constrain and reduce the possibilities of a
relationship, show up judgmental. Or indifferent. If you want to improve your new
patient attractability, you’ll want to abandon this unhelpful defense mechanism as
best you can.

You’re not judgmental? Really?

Have you ever looked out the window to see what type of car the new patient is
driving? Have you ever received a new patient’s intake form and made judgments
about their last name, the neighborhood they live in, their penmanship, where they
work or what type of insurance they have? Need I go on? These, and countless other
petty judgments, tend to isolate us and limit a budding relationship before it can
even begin.

Instead, showing up curious opens up possibilities and communicates an openness

and interest that patients find highly attractive.

The challenge of showing up curious, when you’re not, reduces curiosity into a
“technique” that can degenerate into something even worse that judgment:
manipulation.

If you’re going to show up authentically curious, you’ll want to show up empty so

you can receive their answers. When you’re full of yourself, your technique, your
procedures, your philosophy, your financial obligations or something else, patients
can tell, making the relationship about you rather than them—a real new patient
killer.

Day 4 Action Step: Develop the habit of asking more questions. Not just at the
consultation, but in all your interactions with current and prospective new patients.
Become more curious about their beliefs and how they acquired them. When you
find yourself about to make an assertion or declare a statement, ask a question
instead. Seek to understand: to stand under. In other words, be more supportive by
showing up more curious and less judgmental.
Day 5 – Plan Your First Focus Group

Before looking outside the four walls of your practice for more new patients, it’s
helpful to uncover the shortcomings of your current procedures and policies. There
are some people who are intimately aware of these deficiencies and, if given the
right circumstances, would be happy to share them with you.

That’s the idea behind holding a couple of patient focus groups. When done
properly, patient focus groups can supply valuable insights into practice areas that
could use a little improvement. And if not, getting affirmation from patients that
you’re hitting the marks can be helpful too.

Simply put, a patient focus group usually consists of about 5-7 patients who meet
over lunch at a restaurant to discuss what they like and dislike about your practice.
The doctor or veteran chiropractic assistant can lead the first one. By creating a safe
place for patients to answer honestly, you can ask open-ended questions to obtain
patient perceptions about their experiences in your practice.

You might be sure to ask, “If it were your practice, what you do to attract more new
patients?”

Learn more about whom to invite, what questions to ask and how to get patients to
answer your questions honestly on the Patient Media website.

Day 5 Action Steps: Listen to the New Patient Mojo Podcast Episode 14 at
www.patientmedia.com/blog/mojo/index.html and read the written procedures at
http://www.patientmedia.com/focusgroups.html. Set a date a month out to hold
your first patient focus group luncheon and reserve a table at a nearby restaurant.
Prepare a list of 20 open-ended questions to ask, but do not share them with your
invited guests in advance so their answers are more likely to be spontaneous.
Day 6 – Give Patients What They Want

Chiropractors with a wellness bent are often guilty of making patients feel small if
their health goal is no more ambitious than to feel better. (Which is actually the goal
of the majority of patients.) Needless to say, this can be a severe handicap when it
comes to growing a practice. Not only does it reduce referrals, it practically
eliminates reactivations when patients experience their inevitable relapse months
or years later.

A thriving practice enjoys abundant referrals and a significant number of

reactivations.

It boils down to this. Deliver what patients want (pain relief) and earn the right to
suggest what they need (healthier lifestyle).

Most patients have been steeped in the medical model of symptom treating long
before meeting you. And they’ve all heard the adage that “once you go to a
chiropractor you have to go for the rest of your life.” So lighten up. Talking about
lifetime maintenance care and bringing their children in to be checked needs to be
handled after you’re valid for whatever admitting complaint brought them into your
practice. Do this too soon and it’s like talking about kids and marriage on a first date.

Slow down.

Acknowledge that most of the coveted once-a-monthers who “get” chiropractic, did
so after a series of episodes with chiropractic over many years or longer. Rush this,
and the subsequent reactivations needlessly occur in some other chiropractic
practice down the street.

Day 6 Action Step: Instead of imagining each patient relationship lasting for a
number of visits or the resolution of their presenting health complaint, visualize a
lifetime or eternal relationship, punctuated by periods of dormancy. Recognize
there is nothing you can say or do to short circuit this process other than to trust
that it will unfold at its own pace.
Day 7 – Alert Patients You’re Accepting New Patients

Most patients probably look around and see a bustling practice with other patients
coming and going and figure you’re not actively seeking more new patients. In fact,
if patients have to wait from time to time, this belief is even more likely. These
patients don’t see you waiting around at 10:30 a.m. or killing time at 2:30 p.m.

This assumption may be reducing new patient referrals.

Today would be a good day to let all your active patients know that you’re still in the
growth stage of your practice. Here are a couple of ways of phrasing it:

“Just so you know, we’re still in the growth phase

of our practice, so if you know someone you think
we could help, I hope you’ll feel confident sending
them our way.”

Or another approach:

“Comments from delighted patients are important

to the growth of our practice. If we’re able to help
you, would you be willing to tell others about our
practice?”

You might also want to uncover how “full” patients perceive your practice at the
time they usually get adjusted. Ask this: “I’m taking a poll today. I’m asking all our
patients how full they think our practice is. For example, if it were 50% full, it would
mean that we have the capacity of seeing twice as many people as we do now. And if
you see it as 90% full, there’s not much more room to grow. So I’m curious, how full
do you think our practice is?”

By the way, if you hear numbers like 85% full or higher, you can probably kiss
referrals goodbye. Telling others about your practice just means more waiting for
them. Your practice is their little secret!

Day 7 Action Steps: Develop a script to alert patients that you’re actively growing
your practice. Consider ways of posting this alert on your sign in sheet, bulletin
board, statement stuffer or other means. Find out how “full” current patients
perceive your practice is.
Day 8 – Rehearse the Referral Dialogue

It’s amazing how many patients, during the course of an office visit will say
something like, “I really appreciate what you’re doing for me and I just want you to
know that I tell everybody about you.”

Problem is, referrals never seem to manifest from these patients!

Instead of getting drunk from the warm glow of admiration, next time a patient
makes such an observation, be sure to thank them. Then ask a follow up question
along this line, “I’m curious, just exactly what do you tell your friends we do here?”

Hold on to something sturdy. Ready yourself for an explanation of chiropractic that

would probably chase away all but the bravest soul.

Use the occasion to feed them a more persuasive explanation.

“Not bad. You know, when I’m in a situation of describing what we do here, I usually
say something like...” And then supply them with a more considered explanation.

Notice referrals improve as patients use more compelling language. Modify your
patient education overtures based on what you learn.

Day 8 Action Step: How do you want patients to describe your practice? Create and
practice a short explanation so when the occasion presents itself, you can suggest it
to patients. More ways to stimulate referrals can be found in the one-hour seminar
on CD entitled Abundant Referrals.
Day 9 – Hand Out Brochures

If your brochure rack is a dust collector or merely a neglected wall decoration, it’s
time to put it to work. It contains new patient “seeds” that current patients can
share with people you don’t know. If you wait for patients to help themselves at
your brochure rack, you’re overlooking a huge source of new patient referrals.

Sure, some of your brochures will be discarded in the back seat, thrown away or
somehow “wasted.” But it’s a numbers game. The more brochures you put into the
hands of patients, the more new patients you’ll get.

“We’re focusing on helping people (reach for a headache brochure) with headaches
this week. Do you know anyone (hand headache brochure to the patient) who gets
headaches? Maybe this will encourage them to seek a natural solution. And if they
don’t live around here, we’ll consult our referral directory and make sure they get to
a good chiropractor.”

See? Not self-serving. No need to take names. No pressure.

Realize that most patients, after experiencing great results in your office, deeply
want others in their lives to experience the same thing. Yet, most patients, even
those who enjoy extraordinary results, find it difficult to broach the subject, much
less win over a skeptic. Equipping them with a brochure can actually solve a big
problem for them.

Keep track of the brochures you’ve given patients by making a notation on their
travel cards or in their patient files. Commit to giving out three brochures a day.

Day 9 Action Step: Devote your next staff meeting to rehearsing the act of
approaching the brochure rack, speaking, reaching for a particular brochure and
handing it to a patient. Role-play.
Day 10 – Reward Referrals

Another marketing adage comes to mind: What gets rewarded gets done. In other
words, if you want more referrals (the best type of new patient), then reward,
acknowledge and praise patients who vouch for you by referring their friends and
family.

If providing some type of tangible thank you makes you squeamish, or you’re
precluded from doing so by the regulations in your jurisdiction, then at the very
least be sure to make a big deal out of saying, “Thank you!”

Here are some ideas that other practices are using to thank patients for doing the
right thing and spreading the word about chiropractic:

Movie passes
Car wash gift certificates
Flowers
Balloon bouquets
Sporting event tickets
Massages
Books
Dinners

When possible send these thank yous to the patient’s workplace. “Who sent you the
balloons?” It creates a way for delighted patients to talk you up.

Day 10 Action Step: Brainstorm with your staff and develop a plan to thank
patients for their first, second, third and subsequent referrals. Set up accounts at the
florist, car wash, etc. so your support team can more readily implement the plan.
Keep your plan secret so it is a thoughtful gesture, not an earned inducement.
Day 11 – Be a Source of Referrals

Practices that get a lot of referrals, give a lot of referrals.

That’s because they understand the Law of Reciprocity. When you gift another
business or practitioner with a referral, they “owe you” and feel an obligation to
return the favor because they are indebted to you.

Start by becoming familiar with the businesses of your active and inactive patients.
Do your best to refer patients to the businesses of your own patient base first. Then,
look for opportunities to extend your referral overtures to other professionals, such
as nutritionists, vocational counselors, naturopaths, physical therapists, massage
therapists, etc.

Day 11 Action Steps: Work with your staff to develop an inventory of the small
businesses represented by your active and inactive patients. Create a list of
professional practitioners in your community to whom you would feel comfortable
referring should the need arise. Post your list on a page on your practice website.
When making referrals to your list, use the back of your business card to supply the
necessary contact information. “Be sure to let them know that Dr. YourName
suggested that you give them a call.”
Day 12 – Send More Thank You Notes

Another metaphysical principle that directly affects the number of new patients you
receive is having gratitude for your current circumstances. If you happen to be
struggling, it’s tempting to avoid being thankful for your situation. Big mistake.

Have you ever been at a large gathering, speaking with someone who is barely
paying attention and instead, is surveying the crowd behind you as if looking for
someone more interesting to talk with? That’s what’s going on here if you’re
unwilling to embrace the present and be thankful for it.

Your current practice situation is either the result of being hoodwinked into
becoming a chiropractor (victim), or the result of all the decisions and beliefs you
have and have had (responsible). Either way, until you accept what is, you will be
unable to make more resourceful choices in the future. (In other words, you can’t
leave a place if you’ve never admitted to having been.)

Begin expressing your gratitude by sending more thank you notes. Focus on the
patients who show up and want your service, not the ones who miss. Be thankful for
every patient you get to serve.

Remember, only those who can be trusted with little will be given the opportunity to
be entrusted with much.

Day 12 Action Steps: Secure a supply of thank you notes, Thank U Grams, Thanks a
Million checks or some other means to manifest your gratitude. Look for reasons to
show your appreciation, such as always being on time, never missing or referring
others. Become more mindful of opportunities to say “Thank you” more often each
day.
Day 13 – Make It Easier for Patients to Discontinue Care

In the short term, this may sound ridiculous. Even from a clinical perspective, it may
appear that making it easy to stop care borders on malpractice. All I’m suggesting is
that you not attempt to extract a single visit more from a patient than they truly
want. If you do, you’ll pay dearly for it in the form of fewer referrals and
reactivations. We’re playing the long game, remember?

The way you make it easier for patients to discontinue care is two-fold. First, you
talk about the disengagement process up front, usually at your consultation or
report. Second, you make sure that you don’t produce a shred of guilt or shame
should patients opt out of care early.

When you make it easy for patients to leave, you simultaneously make it easy for
them to return. So, discuss how the relationship is going to end, while you’re still
getting acquainted:

“Have you heard the one about, once-you-go-you-have-to-go-for-the-rest-of-

your-life? Sure. Well, I want you to know it’s not true. You don’t have to do
anything. We see ourselves as servants. You’re the boss. We’ll make our
optimum care recommendations, the same as we would for a loved one. But
it’ll be up to you to decide how far you want to take your care. It’s true that
we have some patients who, after starting care, stopping care, starting care
and stopping care, have decided to come in once or twice a month to avoid
their ‘roller-coaster’ relapses, but that’s a decision you’ll get to make later on.
Just one favor. Let us know when it’s your last visit so we can celebrate your
progress, close your file and give you the proper send off.”

If you make it difficult for patients to get the chiropractic care they want—the way
they want it, you practically ensure that you’ll never hear these words:

“Today is my last visit and I just want to thank you for the great care you’ve
given me. If I ever need care again, I’ll be sure to come back. And, if I ever
hear of anyone who needs a chiropractor, I’ll be sure to send them your way.”

This is how a healthy episode between a chiropractor and patient ends. With an
actual face-to-face goodbye.

Day 13 Action Step: Plan on testing this headspace and scripting idea with a patient
or two. As pressing as circumstances may be for you right now, play the long game.
Day 14 – Create an Inactive Contact Plan

With patients discontinuing care with their heads held high (and unafraid to bump
into you at the grocery store), you can legitimately be in touch with them since
they’re part of your extended practice family. After all, they still think of you as their
chiropractor, even though they aren’t under active care.

At the bare minimum, plan on touching base with inactives the two times each year
a patient is most likely to think about their health: on their birthday and at New
Year’s resolution time.

Plus, you might consider doing something seasonal, such as a back-to-school-

annual-checkup reminder.

It also makes sense to send a quarterly patient newsletter. These, and other points
of contact help keep your practice top of mind, increasing reactivations and
stimulating referrals. These cards and letters don’t need to contain a direct overture
to resume care. That’s obviously implied. Instead, they communicate more of a
“we’re-thinking-of-you-and-we-hope-you’re-doing-well” message and tone.

Day 14 Action Steps: Secure a supply of birthday cards and create a plan to get
them addressed and sent. Investigate the various patient newsletter resources.
Determine an annual budget for these overtures. Turn them into habits. Get ideas
for what to write at www.patientmedia.com/postcards/index.htm. Avoid the
temptation to touch base with inactives only when you need patients. (See Day 1.)
Day 15 – Apologize to Inactives

Maybe right about now you suspect that, in the past, you may have been a little too
clingy, dogmatic or judgmental with patients when they wanted to discontinue care.
Perhaps you cared about their health way more than they did. Maybe you tried too
hard to prevent them from discontinuing care. All is not lost.

Apologize.

I’m not suggesting that you call or even write patients that you saw five years ago
and confessing. But you’ll want to admit your transgression and ask for their
forgiveness via a surrogate, such as their case file. Retrieve a few. Close your office
door. Review their records. Visualize the patient. Whisper aloud:

“Hi Dorothy. Dr. Bob here. I’ve been thinking about the time you spent in our
office back in early 2006. I’ve become present to the fact that I may have
abused my authority. I may have made you feel guilty for discontinuing your
care. Or made you feel like you were letting me down by not valuing your
health as much as I value my own. In short, I probably made some mistakes
in the way I handled the interpersonal aspects of our relationship. Today, I’m
apologizing for my behavior and asking you to forgive me for how I acted. I’m
deeply sorry that I may have prevented our relationship from moving
forward. Please accept my profound regret and my promise to respect and
honor the individual health goals of everyone who enters our practice. If you
can forgive my old way of being, and if you or someone you love could benefit
from the care we offer, please give me another opportunity to prove myself
as your chiropractor.”

And mean it.

Sure, this will likely produce a few reactivations. But that’s not its purpose. Instead,
it’s about humbling yourself, assuming a clean heart, purer motives and a servant
attitude. This is about dying to your old way of being and showing up healthy
enough to no longer see patients as inferior or thinking that their free-will choices
are somehow a poor reflection on you.

Day 15 Action Steps: Select three to five inactive patient file folders and apologize.
Repeat the process until you “own” your apology. Remember, the forgiveness you
seek is for you, not them.
Day 16 – Reduce Front Desk Frictions

Many practices have the wrong person at the front desk.

You want someone with right-brain skills who is compassionate, understanding and
feels at home, and someone with left-brain skills to run the appointment book with
an iron fist, collect money and make accurate computer entries—all this while
reading your mind and anticipating your every move. A difficult combination to find
in a single person.

When it comes to getting new patients, the true gatekeeper to your practice is your
front desk CA. I’ve seen chiropractic assistants run a practice into the ground,
chasing away patients because they’re an interruption. And I’ve seen chiropractic
assistants keep a practice alive, despite the best efforts of the chiropractor to
wallow in self-pity, become distracted by shiny objects, lack discipline or have any
semblance of a personality.

Most chiropractors would like to help more people, but more people usually means
more work for the front desk staff. This tension is the root of all kinds of unhelpful
staff behaviors. The chiropractor has the pedal-to-the-metal, but the CA is gently,
almost imperceptibly tapping on the brakes. It can be something as simple as failing
to recognize opportunities to ask a delighted patient for a referral, to something far
more serious, such as discouraging a patient from beginning care because of
scheduling inflexibility. There are countless ways that your support team can
influence patient volume.

So find out.

Day 16 Action Steps: Hold a staff meeting and find out what patient volume your
support team thinks is possible. From their vantage point, what would have to be in
place to hit the number you think the practice is capable of producing? Is there any
aspect of the new patient process that is needless, difficult, burdensome or
inconvenient? Simplify or modify each procedure to make it faster, easier and as
pleasant as possible. Your objective is to uncover any constraints, frictions or
distasteful aspects of getting a new patient into your practice—and then eliminate
them.
Day 17 – Have a Robust Internet Presence

Amazingly, there are still some chiropractors that think this “www” thing is just a
passing fad. Or more likely, project their own use of the Internet onto prospective
patients, reaching the conclusion that since they wouldn’t use the Internet to find a
chiropractor, others wouldn’t either. Yet, worldwide there are over one million
searches each year that include the word “chiropractor,” as in: Yourtown +
chiropractor—a telltale sign that someone is looking to begin chiropractic care.

Without a website you’re practically invisible to a growing number of prospective

new patients who threw out their yellow page directory years ago. Even a glowing
testimonial from a friend who is under care in your practice will be followed by
“Does he/she have a website?”

Once you have a website, you need to make sure it ranks highly with Google. Entire
books have been written on the subject, but a recent blog post will give you the high
points.

Don’t neglect Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media outlets! These put
the referral process on steroids and are a must for any professional practice
interested in new patients.

If you already have a website and it’s underperforming, I invite you to evaluate the
website service offered by our sister company, Perfect Patients.

Day 17 Action Steps: Get a website and get it ranked in the top three positions of
Google. Like doing your taxes or repairing your automobile, you’ll want to delegate
this to experienced professionals. Spend a Saturday afternoon with a 20-something
who can introduce you to Facebook and other social media. Sure, it’s a steep
learning curve, but you if you don’t keep up, you’ll definitely be left behind.
Day 18 – Conduct Lectures and Talks

By now you can see that promoting your practice will require that you risk time,
money, emotional comfort or all three. Perfecting your public speaking skills is just
such a risk. And like most things, the rewards are commensurate with the risk. Big
risk. Big payoff.

Learning to share your ideas publically pays huge dividends:

• Attracts highly-qualified patients who resonate with your philosophy

• Increases your confidence, power and ability to lead others
• Improves your ability to communicate on a one-to-one basis
• Gives you an advantage over other chiropractic practices

Public speaking is a learnable skill. All it requires is desire and practice. If the points
above don’t create the desire, you may not want to help more people badly enough.

Ask virtually any veteran chiropractor what they did to build their practice and,
without dropping a beat, they’ll say, “Weekly patient lectures.” The value and
effectiveness of patient spinal care classes isn’t even in question. Especially, when
you realize that as the lecturer, you get more out of the sessions than the attendees.
And besides, by refining your chiropractic message, you’re likely to get referrals as
your patients bring friends and family members along with them to your talks.

How do you get patients to attend? Remind them of the three benefits:

1. Get well faster

2. Avoid a relapse
3. Save money

As you feel more confident, start looking for venues to show up as a guest speaker,
such as service clubs, senior facilities and health-oriented conventions. When you
become more seasoned, consider hosting your own natural health seminars in your
community and charge admission.

Day 18 Action Steps: Find out if there’s a Toastmaster’s group that meets in your
area and join today. Practice giving a talk in this small, supportive atmosphere and
get some coaching. Order a copy of Jennifer Honor’s eBook about how to get into
schools and organizations. If you used to do lectures but stopped, get back in the
saddle!
Day 19 – Hand Out More Business Cards

They’re so small and inexpensive that they’re often overlooked as a new patient
generating tool. Most chiropractic business cards suffer from two major flaws: dated
design and not being handed out.

You can read some thought-provoking ideas about business card design and look at
almost 100 of the best designs at www.patientmedia.com/businesscardideas.html.

But even a beautifully designed business card is worthless if it stays in your wallet,
getting dog-eared and soiled. Business cards only help build your business when
you give them away.

Naturally, make sure every patient gets your card, along with an extra one for a
friend or family member “...whom you would trust us to help.” Naturally, you’d want
to make sure that new acquaintances and people you meet are given a card. And
that’s the real problem: you don’t meet enough new people!

If you’re serious about growing your practice, you must place yourself in
circumstances in which you can meet new people. If just the thought of introducing
yourself to strangers causes palpitations, facing down this unwarranted fear will
produce a profound breakthrough for your practice.

Remember, to a stranger... you’re the stranger! Become, as the Disney organization

describes it, “aggressively friendly.” Start by introducing yourself to as many
strangers as possible.

Day 19 Action Steps: Make a vow to hand out a certain number of business cards
each day. Perhaps start with two cards a day. You should be able to do that
comfortably for a month or longer, making it a habit. Then it will start getting
interesting. In the process you’ll probably embrace two important truths about
getting new patients: 1) people like to buy from people that they are familiar with,
and 2) the key to helping more people is to tell the chiropractic story to as many
people as possible.
Day 20 – Befriend Medical Doctors

Famous bank robber "Willie" Sutton (also known as “Slick Willie”) once was asked
why he robbed banks. “Because that’s where the money is,” he answered.

Want more new patients? Go to where the patients are. And there are a lot of them
hanging around the offices of medical doctors. Many would prefer a natural solution.
And medical doctors would like someone with whom they could entrust their
troublesome neuromuscular-skeletal patients. Sounds like a perfect match.

Many chiropractors imagine that medical doctors are anti-chiropractic, so the

notion of cozying up to a few sounds scary. The truth is, most medical doctors are
ambivalent, bordering on indifferent, about chiropractic. Since they don’t know any,
they’re more likely to accept the urban myths about chiropractors. You could change
that by becoming familiar. Trusted. And providing assurance.

Begin by introducing yourself with a letter. Maybe something like this:

Dear (Pediatrician)

There are occasions when I need to refer my patients to a specialist. I’m

sometimes at a loss when my patients ask for a recommendation. I’d like to
change that.

Do you have an opening for lunch in the next week or so?

I’d like to meet you, tour your office and explore your approach to patient
care. I’d like to discuss the types of cases you enjoy and how I can include you
as a resource for my patients.

May I call you or your staff to arrange a time and date?

Warmest regards,

Break the ice. Just approaching medical doctors in this professional manner may
produce some referrals by suggesting you’re not one of the weirdoes they’ve heard
about. Follow up with a phone call.

Day 20 Action Steps: Create a contact list of medical practitioners in your area by
consulting directories and websites. Plan to send five letters a week. Follow up. It’s a
numbers game. (Naturally, when you receive MD referrals, provide them with
updates on their patient’s progress!)
Day 21 – Create an Annual Marketing Plan

Far too many chiropractors promote their practices only when their numbers are
down. This creates a “roller-coaster” practice that is not only stressful, but
practically institutionalizes the inefficiencies of starting and stopping your
marketing overtures.

An annual marketing plan makes sure your practice is always doing something, in-
office events happen like clockwork and new patient flow becomes more consistent.
Marketing activities can be delegated to others, but you must first mastermind the
creation of the annual plan.

Your annual marketing calendar might include items such as:

• Dates when patient newsletters will be sent

• In-office promotions and events
• Holiday celebrations
• Seasonal activities
• Dates for patient focus group luncheons

Create a Standard Operating Procedure for each event that includes how to set up
and promote each activity. Include information such as where to get the helium for
balloons, when to send press releases, whom to contact at the Community Pantry,
etc. Next year, simply pull out your procedure and you’re ready to go. Each year
your marketing becomes easier and more effective.

Day 21 Action Steps: Brainstorm with your support team to develop at least one
office event or promotion for each month of the year. Water Awareness Month,
Founder’s Day Event, Back Pack Safety Month, etc. Draft the procedures. Delegate
responsibilities. Have fun as you create reasons to get in front of your inactive
patients.
Three Weeks to New Patient Freedom

You’ve probably heard many of these ideas before. Many can be done with little or
no cost. A far greater challenge is having the discipline to act and the willingness to
accept that instant gratification is unlikely. Like chiropractic adjustments, each
marketing procedure builds on the ones before, eventually creating unstoppable
momentum.

Getting new patients is lot like getting one’s health back. You can go for the quick fix,
merely treating the symptoms, or you can take the long view and build a business
that enjoys the true health of referrals and reactivations.

I would love to receive your comments, questions and suggestions. Will you take the
time to share your feedback so this eBook can be updated for future readers?

Thanks!

bill@patientmedia.com
www.patientmedia.com
215 Sutton Lane
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
(800) 486-2337

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www.twitter.com/billesteb