Sitting On a Gold Mine
by William D. Esteb
My office in Colorado Springs is at the foot of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains. About the time D. D. Palmer helped improve the inborn healing ability of Harvey Lilliard in Davenport, Iowa, the street in front our office building was a busy railroad. Several times a day, steam locomotives would haul heavy loads of gold ore down the pass from Cripple Creek from the west. Over the two decades in which the mines were active, trainload after trainload of ore was brought to Colorado Springs for processing. The result? Tons of gold that have long since left our area to be turned into jewelry, minted into coins, used for dental fillings, made into electrical contacts for microchips, or stored in huge vaults around the world. In its refined form it has assumed a life of its own. Kind of like the inactive patients whom you’ve processed over years.
By the looks of the sizable collection of inactive patient files in most chiropractic offices, you might think that chiropractors are merely new patient processors! Upon closer study, you’d find that considerable more time and talent is spent on getting patients than on keeping patients. In fact, most chiropractors would be hard pressed to identify a single staff member, a single office procedure, a single office policy, or a single piece of equipment that is used for the exclusive purpose of keeping patients. Virtually everything is designed around getting and processing new patients.
The unpleasant result of years of gold ore processing in Colorado Springs is a small mountain of tailings. This sand and gravel has created a mound measuring about 10 city blocks square by, in some places, more than 500 feet high. It’s not our prettiest tourist attraction, but it is proof of the industriousness of a previous generation. Much like your trophy case of inactive patient files.
Your inactive patient files are your legacy and proof of being such an excellent new patient processor. The neatly labeled files. Color coded. Looks impressive. I bet it’s much more attractive than our eroding mountain of tailings.
Because of the crude methods originally employed almost a century ago to separate the gold from its ore, many believe that there may be as much or even more gold still remaining in the tailings left behind. This has resulted in several companies expressing interest in reprocessing this miniature Pikes Peak, only to be stopped by today’s environmental impact studies, zoning laws, and the like. That’s probably just as well. But the EPA and the local zoning board shouldn’t stop you from reprocessing your clinical tailings-your inactive patient files. You’re literally sitting on a gold mine!
Think of it. Of all the people on this entire planet most likely to come to your office, would be the people who have already been in your office. They know where your office is. They know chiropractic works. They know it isn’t voodoo. They know you’re a great doctor. And they just return to deal with their inevitable relapse-if you seemed even modestly interested in them after the equivalent of a “one-night-stand” several years ago when they came in waving their insurance identification cards. You didn’t call the next day like you promised you would.
Perhaps the conquest of one more needy spine is more exciting. Maybe the prospect of collecting still more brightly colored file folders is more appealing. Maybe cash paying patients are too demanding or have already heard your good jokes. Could it be that the entire office is so geared up to processing new patients, that doing so has been bred into your procedures and policy manual? Or, could it be that you’re not comfortable looking some of your old patients in the eye after the way their insurance ore was processed?
Like the gold that remains in the huge pile of dirt down our street, your inactive patient files are ready to be reprocessed with new and improved technology. Today you have more experience, more wisdom, and, well, with so few new patients, a humbled spirit. Like the veins of gold that finally became exhausted in Cripple Creek, the insurance era ended. It was a great ride, but now you have all these file folders. You barely remember the faces. In fact, some you can’t. It was the gold rush of chiropractic. If you began your practice before those rollicking days of yore, find an old timer to spin you a few yarns. If you’re one of those old timers whose pulse quickens just thinking about the good old days, it’s time to pull out your pick and shovel and get to work!
Have you neglected your inactive patients? Was the last thing they received from your office an invoice for the outstanding balance their insurance company wouldn’t pay? Do you regularly sue patients because of your ineptly administered financial policy? If so, then the notion of restoring wholeness with your inactive patient base might be too scary, too painful, or both. All the more reason to begin the healing process right now.
An apology might be a great place to start. If your drop in income has not humbled you enough, this suggestion probably sounds abhorrent-proof that it would be the perfect remedy for the hundreds of ailing, dormant patient relationships from your past. Imagine sending your inactive patients a letter like this:
Dear (Inactive Patient Name Here):
I have an apology to make and a two-part offer I’d like you to consider.
First the apology. The other day I encountered a patient in the grocery store that we used to see, about the same time we were helping you. After some small talk, I mustered the courage to ask why she had discontinued her chiropractic care. Her answer hit me like a ton of bricks. I could tell that while I had helped her spine, I hadn’t explained the value and benefit of preventive chiropractic care! I’m afraid I may have failed in my duty to you as well. If so, please accept my apology.
As a way to clear my conscience I’d like to make you this offer. As a way to update your files, I’m offering a complimentary chiropractic checkup, consisting of a brief examination to measure the current health of your spine and nervous system. In less than 10 minutes we’ll be able to objectively compare your current health status with our original findings.
The second part of my free offer is to review of our latest patient education materials while you’re in our office. We’ve upgraded our information center and can show you a variety of ways to improve your health today, and into the future.
I always considered it a privilege to help you while you were under active care in our office. If I neglected to explain the value of preventive care or forgot to mention how chiropractic can help children or didn’t show you how to avoid a needless relapse, I’d like another chance.
Give us a call to schedule your appointment. Friends?
Warmest regards,
Too much? You decide. It’s short. It’s to the point. It’s humble. But more importantly, it breaks the ice. If they thought you didn’t like them or that they let you down by not opting for lifetime care, a letter like this can begin the healing process. Substitute the offers or expand the nature of your offer if you want. But apologize!
Don’t use your last postage stamp hoping this letter will open a reactivation floodgate. Send the letter to every inactive patient and expect a low rate of return. Then, when someone does respond, you’ll be delighted. The purpose of the letter isn’t to single-handedly produce hordes of dewy-eyed appreciative ex-patients who have been waiting for an apology! The purpose is to give you and your staff the permission to begin actively courting your inactive patients like you should have been doing all these years you were seducing virgin new patients.
Romancing your inactive patients doesn’t require free adjustments or drawings to win a new car. Basically your objective is to merely stay in touch. Simply put your name in front of them on at least a monthly basis. This can take the form of newsletters, postcards, a letter introducing a new staff member, a letter announcing your summer hours, a post-graduate seminar you’re attending, a new piece of equipment you’re using, an executive summary of some new research, or similar information. The key is to be brief and frequent. A wordy, quarterly newsletter? Not enough. Repetition is the key. Be as creative with this as you have in getting new patients, and you’ll see a dramatic up-tick in your reactivation statistics. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.
By spending just a fraction of the time and energy you lavish upon processing new patients, to keep inactive patients engaged and feeling welcome in your office, you can reverse the flow of files that stay in your trophy case. Or you can continue prospecting, searching for the “mother lode” of new patients who don’t know a thing about chiropractic except what they’ve heard in the media!
Buy the book
Looking Up
Originally published in 1998
240 Pages
US $24.95
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