How does your community see YOU?

Warm hellos to everyone!
There are many doctors I speak with who have little idea, or even no clue whatsoever, that their community actually sits in judgment of them – they are totally oblivious of that fact!

Many simply cannot see that their success in practice rests on the opinion their community has of them! YES! Their image!

I mentioned this point in earlier posts. Whenever you are with a patient, you are in fact on stage: You are doing the performance of your life. And if your performance sucks, no one is coming back for a repeat performance. No one. This is one of the reasons why I feel Facebook, although a wonderful institution, can also be devastating to a practice. Ok, Ok…I can hear all the commotion already. Here is why: You do not want your community to see you or any of your goofy, questionable activities and people you may associate with. I know this a departure from what many management consultants teach, but I am adamant. I feel the fastest way to kill your practice is for you to place your personal activities on FB so that your patients and future patients are able to clearly see and decide that you’re an idiot.

Think of this for a moment: We are such an insecure society. We depend on how many LIKES we get on FB!
These serve as a source of gratification. Really?
I feel your deeds and the numbers of kids you’ve saved should give you the biggest thrill – NOT the number of likes you get on Facebook!
C’mon! Let’s get real!

All right, back to your image:
You see, your patients notice everything. They do see the carpet stains, the peeling and faded 30 year old wallpaper, the cobwebs by the ceiling spun by your pet spider, the dim-burning, flickering, 40 year old fluorescents, the coming-of age antique furniture, the coming of age antique staff (careful here), the antiquated procedures you use, the has-been marketing and “reactivation” system taught by someone that has not been in practice in this century, the duct-taped adjusting tables you were going to have recovered last decade, your elevator tie, your elevator music, your elevator shoes, the mismatched shag carpet remnants, your faded and barely decipherable clinic forms, your second-rate attitude and your out-of touch CA.….I could go on!

Ok, I know I am being brash but this is the truth. And if you are not doing well in practice, I need to tell you that there is a reason. There is a reason new patients are not calling you. There is a reason patients are dropping out of care. There is a reason they don’t keep their appointments, don’t refer, forget to pay you, don’t bring their kids to see you, etc.  And there is a reason your practice is stalled – sometimes for years!

There is a reason for all of that..…And in almost every instance, the reason is that your community sees you as either:

1.  Average,
2.  Below average, or
3.  Mediocre

Tough call.

With that thought in mind, let me ask you this:
Would you, as a patient/parent, ever take your children to a doctor who you consider to be just average? Or below average? Or even mediocre? No? WOW!
There is a shock!
If that’s the case, then why are you surprised when people do not break down your doors to get in and see you?  You see…..…Here is the problem:

                YOU DON’T SEE WHAT YOUR COMMUNITY SEES

The issue is that you see yourself as amazing and your office as magnificent – your castle. And here is where the plot thickens – it’s not important what YOU think. NO! It’s important what THEY think and how they perceive you, your office, your purpose, your mission and your vision.
Understand this and we’re getting somewhere!

You need to make certain your community has the utmost respect for you and thinks incredibly highly of you. They need to see your name out in the community all the time – and not in some cheap flyer offering a 50% reduction in your fees for this week only, or some blue plate special offering a chance to win a plasma TV, or, for the poor schlep who refers 2 people to you – a free chicken dinner, or that amazing Patient Appreciation Day where you have a chance to win that free grill (wow, what an offer! Can’t wait to get there and line up along with all the other welfare cases out for a freebie) that makes you and your staff gag, or that slicko newspaper ad with your picture – you know the one, the one that makes you look like you just sold your first used car – the one that has you wearing a white t-shirt under your golf shirt with some of your chest hairs carefully combed and brushed and parted.
That one!
Or…some other entertaining ploy designed to capture that evasive and elusive new patient.
No.

Your community needs to see you as absolutely incredible AS A DOCTOR!
What an incredible concept! The very best! Period! They need to view you as a Wellness expert, a leader in family health, and…. an expert in the care of their children. (and if you don’t know how to do this, I’ll teach you.)

Listen……this is so incredibly simple: People will only see you if they consider you to be absolutely amazing. Incredible! And talk about you all the time!
I’ve talked to you about this issue countless times and many doctors still don’t get it.
In order to “make it” and succeed wildly, the people in your community need to see you as the best doctor they have ever seen.
Ever.
Period.
Nothing else counts. No amount of wishing, dreaming, hoping, marketing your brains out, spending countless dollars on ads that go nowhere, slick marketing campaigns, building better mousetraps, etc. – none of these will give you the practice of your dreams.
The only thing that counts is the image your community has of you. AND….it makes no difference that you are an associate in an office.

Ok….I have to apologize for my dripping sarcasm a little (only a little), but we are doing ourselves a disservice by buying into all those glitzy, old, out of date marketing schemes to get new patients. Marketing is not it.  Having people actually WANT to see you, THAT is the name of the game. And that is what I teach.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people in your community wanted to see you all by themselves?  Wouldn’t it?
How would that make you feel?
I can tell you – you would be beaming! You see, that is the whole idea!
Practice is not meant to be a survival game.
Like you, people in your community want to see a doctor who is the very best. And that is what you need to become.
Let me help you. Complete the Practice Health Mini Check Up on my website and I’ll take it from there. We’ll have a great chat on the phone and I’ll give you some wonderful practice suggestions – a great
place to start!
My warmest wishes,
Dr. Kristina: Chiropractic Coach

                                                           ____

Ok….I know you are reading my words and thinking that it is time to change what you’ve been doing.
You are sick and tired of all the sales gimmicks you were taught, and you are thinking that there must be more to Chiropractic than continuously doing Patient Appreciation Days, asinine pressure, fear and “persuasion” tactics often done in the name of Christ, endless screenings, “Lunches with the Doc,” Dinner workshops, and the rest of the plethora of desperate ploys that are commonly taught by so many chiropractic “mavens” and  “coaching” seminars. All of these create an aura of you being needy and desperate, but cleverly disguised and sold to you under the umbrella of being “on purpose.” Right.

If you are tired of being where you are, please feel very welcome to call me or complete the Practice Health Mini-Check Up on my website. It is a practice diagnostic. We’ll have a wonderful chat and you’ll find out if the PEP Program is right for you.
Simple.
Why are you still reading this?
Get going!