Everyone's a salesman

Sales has a bad rap for some reason – especially among chiropractors. Doctors balk at the idea that they’re selling something, but the truth is, everyone is selling something. Teaching a prospective patient about the importance of chiropractic and why they need it is a sale. Convincing a prospect that your clinic is the right clinic is a sale. Encouraging the patient to come back and maintain their care is a sale. So the best way to get good at it, is stop pretending it’s something it’s not and embrace it; become the best salesperson there is and the patients will be knocking your door down.

“The best salesmen identify a need, have a solution for that need, and understand how their product/service/idea helps someone in their need,” says Dr. Noel Lloyd, Five Star Management coach.

He encourages all his clients to have passion in their sales; it’s one of the most important hooks. If you care about what you’re selling, then the patient will to. If you’re cavalier about their care and chiropractic in general, can you expect anything better from the patient? Show them what you believe, and what’s important, and they’ll be on your side in no time.

You also need to be sympathetic. “You need a clear understanding of the prospect’s needs and how your product/service/idea helps the patient,” Dr. Lloyd said. This means, talk to them. Listen to them. Don’t try to sandbag them into coming to your office and just throw endless information at them. Find out why they’re interested in chiropractic, and then give them points that respond directly to their concerns. Nobody wants to be coerced.

It’s also important to get your message out to people in an effective way. A huge billboard may look nice, but it’s not going to do anything. Get out and talk to people, talk about your practice, and talk about chiropractic. People have questions and will want to ask them; be available for them and show them that chiropractic is their answer.

A good tip Dr. Lloyd offers people who are uncomfortable with the idea of sales is to substitute the words “persuasion” or “education” for sales; suddenly, it’s not so bad. Sales doesn’t have to be an underhanded, sneaky trade. In fact, it shouldn’t be thought of that way. People need your service, and you’re simply helping them get it. Once you do away with the sales stigma, you’ll be shocked at the amount of new patients coming in.

External marketing: putting your clinic out there

Nothing is harder than convincing someone who's never heard of you, never heard of your clinic, never heard of chiropractic for that matter, that they need your help. But by brushing up on your external marketing skills, going out and getting new patients won't be something to shy away from – it'll be something you look forward to.

"We have to take the chiropractic message out of the chiropractic office and bring it into the real world in order for it to do as much good as it should," said Dr. Noel Lloyd, Five Star Management coach.


External marketing is all about getting out of your comfort zone – which we all know is the best way to grow. You'll talk to people you've never met before, you'll be in situations you've never been in, and you'll sell yourself and your clinic as their solution. Teach prospective patients about the importance of seeing a chiropractor, and make them realize that chiropractor should be you.


Moreover, there are a variety of different ways to take on external marketing; it doesn't always mean screening for hours in a mall. Here are some great methods that Dr. Lloyd recommends:

1. Set up a Health and Wellness lecture for a nearby business. Every employer is concerned about the cost of health insurance for their employees, and every employer wants to see their employees be healthy, happy and productive – that's just good business. So, host a lecture for them and speak on proper nutrition and excercise, how to take care of yourself, and relieving stress. And don't forget to offer spinal screenings during the lecture – the new patients will ne flooding into your office in no time!


2. Invite people to a Dinner with the Doc event. This event will pull in some of your internal marketing skills. Post a newspaper ad, hang flyers, and tell your patients to tell their friends, to come have dinner on you at a particular restaurant. During the dinner, speak about the importance of chiropractic and invite a couple of current patients along to tell their stories. At the end of the dinner, offer them an incentive to come in to your office.


3. Develop marketing partners in your area. Find five to 20 nearby businesses who are marketing to the same demographic (but not competing), and offer to hand out their flyer/coupons if they do the same for you. Find a new marketing partner every month, and you'll reach a whole range of people might not have met otherwise.


4. Introduce yourself to other health care providers in the area – MDs, dentists, etc. Leave a few business cards at their clinic, and get familiar with the referrals coordinator at every clinic you visit. That way, when the MD needs to send their patient to a chiropractor, you'll be the first one on their mind.

No matter what you do, just make sure to do something. Remember that even though you don't know these people, you do know they need to be patients in your clinic. Help them understand this as well, and your appointment book will be full before you know it.

Internal marketing: the art of patient referrals

Marketing strategies come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the most important categories to get familiar with is internal marketing. You can talk your practice up night and day, but if someone hears the good news from a peer, they're going to feel better about coming to you for care.

Your current patients and their chiropractic stories are some of your most valuable marketing tools.

"Your patients have powerful stories to tell; patient education combined with persuasion and urgency will get those stories out," said Dr. Noel Lloyd, Five Star Management coach.

Your goal should be to make sure every patient is so pleased with their care, they can't wait to share it with their friends, families, coworkers, and everyone else they meet. Always put your patients number one, and encourage them to share their experiences. Some tips Dr. Lloyd offers on getting referrals from your current patients are:

1. Educate them on chiropractic. Make sure your patients attend the New Patient Orientation Class; teach them exactly what chiropractic will do for them, and make them understand why it’s important to their health, and why everyone needs to be under care. When patients understand that chiropractic can make their lives better, they’re going to want to let others know.


2. Talk to them about their care. Don’t be nervous to get to know them and their stories a little better; get excited with them about what chiropractic has done. Encourage them to write up a short review or testimony for the clinic and impress on them how important it is to share that story.


3. Interview them. If they’re hesitant to write a testimony, offer to quickly interview them about their chiropractic success. Write the story up and post it around your office, on your Brican system, on your Web site, anywhere people can see it. People like to talk about themselves, and when you let them know how important and special their story is, they’re going to want to share it with you.


4. Offer them incentives. Create a raffle or drawing for all the patients who bring in referrals; retting as many people in as possible will become a game for them. Host a patient appreciation day; show them how important they are to you with treats, raffles, and free services for all the friends they bring with them.


5. Pamper them. Host a Ladies Night of Indulgence and have all your women patients to the office for champagne, chocolates, jewelry, spa services, skin care advice, anything. The list can be endless.

Think about it; if you went somewhere and got really horrible customer service, wouldn’t you be sure to tell everyone you know? The same is true for really great customer service. Don’t fall into the “just average” category; no one is ever going to talk about you. Make your patients remember you, and make them want to bring their friends in to see you.

Marketing 101

Marketing may not be high on your list of priorities, but the dirty truth is, everyone needs to be doing it if they want to have a successful practice. And that means every D.C. Marketing assistants are a great asset, but real success starts with the doc.

"Every chiropractor needs to wear the marketing hat, and needs to take responsibility for marketing in the office," said Dr. Noel Lloyd, Five Star Management coach.

You are the best person to spread the chiropractic message, and the best person to convince people that they need to come into your office. You're also the best person to get your staff excited about the importance of marketing. As a leader, you need to be able to guide your staff and teach them the best way to bring in new patients.

"If you're not getting enough new patients, it's just because people don't know you're there, don't know what you do, and they don't know how great chiropractic is," Dr. Lloyd said.

Not everyone is going to be comfortable with throwing themselves right into marketing, but Dr. Lloyd encourages docs to at least do one thing; master one form of marketing, become an expert at it, and move on to the next. Some tips he offers to get comfortable are:

1. Have fun. In whatever you're doing, make sure that you're enjoying it. If not, tweak it until it's just right for you.


2. Market to give back. Make sure what you're focused on is helping the patient – not just counting how many come in the door. Provide them with the information they need and the opportunities to truly get healthy, and the experience will be far more rewarding.


3. Bring a buddy. Screening can be intimidating if you're standing there alone – for both you and the prospective patient. Bring your assistant along to help, especially if the two of you have a good rapport. When people see two comfortable, friendly, approachable people offering free screenings and chair massages, they'll be much more interested in coming over.


4. Don't screen all day. The screening may be booked for eight hours, but you don't need to be there the whole time. Choose a couple of hours in the middle of the day when traffic is high, so as not to burn yourself out.

Screenings are one of the best forms of marketing, and a good one to try out if you're still not a pro. Some other forms of marketing that Dr. Lloyd recommeds are health talks, and getting in contact with all the businesses in a five mile radius of your clinic. The most important thing to do is just to get out of your comfort zone and talk to people.

And if you're still having trouble getting the marketing quite right, talk to your coach – we're always here to help.

This one is no fun at all

I'm particularly blessed. Great family, good health and I love my work. In fact, helping other chiropractors help more people, have more fun and be more successful is my calling. That's what makes this entry no fun at all.

The vast majority of time, Five Star clients not only do well, but do their best ever years in practice while with us. Not this time.

A young man called me a while ago. He was in serious financial trouble and needed help. Virtually every aspect of his practice, other than his heart to help people, was in crisis. To make a long story short, he didn't make it. He'll close his practice, bankrupt out of his debt and is even thinking about doing something other than chiropractic for a while. Ouch.

I know many great DCs who struggled, even failed, in practice at the start and I know that he can turn things around and succeed, but he feels badly and so do I. It's not OK that it turned out like this.

So, why blog on this less than cheery subject? Because more potentially great docs fail than you might think and usually for the worst of, and very preventable. reasons.

IF you know someone who's stumbling, tell them to call me at (800) 224-4876.

But please, tell them not to wait too long. We've done near miraculous recoveries, but they can wait too long - like my young friend.

My favorite city in the world

Moving quickly down narrow rain soaked streets that are ablaze with Christmas lights, I have a smile on my face that can be seen a block away. "I can't believe it! I'm in London!" I say aloud. We're headed to a busy (everything is busy) Thai restuarant from a pub where we were joking with locals and other tourists from around the UK. The mood is happy and everyone is smiling.

We sit around the table and the conversation bubble from the enthusiasm of the season and the seminar George and I taught that day. New clients, long-time clients and a former client all crowded around the table, everyone eyeing the menu and ordering exotic dishes. The meal was excellent, but the fellowship was even better.

I can't even count the times I've been at a wonderful meal with great friends who love chiropractic the way I do and gratitude wells up in my heart for the men and women to do so much for their patients and The Profession.

How superman became superman

There are two major schools of thought when it comes to greatness and achievement. One says that great people do great things and the other says that you become great by doing great things. It's called the DO vs. BE debate. I think that both views are true, but I'm particularly fond of the one I can control, so I like what I call The DO View.

IF you feel a strong calling to heroic action and achievement and that spurs you on to practice success, super and good for you! That's your greatness bubbling up inside you. However, if you just have a dream of a wonderful practice, helping lots of people and want to succeed and, in spite of your fear and trembling, you press forward, acquire the skills, surround yourself with friends headed the same direction, and never give up until you succeed - that's you doing great work and becoming great.

I've read too many biographies of great men and women and many have had greatness thrust on them due to circumstances they had little control over.

However, at the end of the day it really doesn't matter where the greatness comes from, does it? Just choose the battle and great will find you.

I was speaking to a client who has struggled in practice for years who decided that he would press forward, acquire new patient skills, press on and never give up. He now has nine special events to produce new patients between now and the end of the year and will have his strongest November, December ever.

When we discussed all that he was doing, he quickly reminded me that he wasn't a new patient guru. But in doing great things ordinary men and women become great, David. Keep this up and we'll have to change your title.