Boomer Business

by William D. Esteb

This is difficult to write because I'm a member of the baby boom generation. And like every generation, we have our own idealism, our own foibles, and our own hope for a better future--for ourselves and the world. We are a generation ready, willing, and available for the chiropractic message.

What are you doing to appeal to the unique perspective of this generation?

Born between 1946 and 1964, the baby boom generation is the single largest market segment in the United States. And while we share somewhat similar values and perspectives, there is diversity too. Within this diversity that transcends the work ethic, appearance, and our outlook on life and living is an attitude about health care that should bring joy to every doctor of chiropractic.

Look at the trends reflecting this segment of the population. Hospital occupancy rates are down (in Colorado, they recently averaged only 54% and slipping). Hospitals have to advertise their services and compete by providing seminars and educational opportunities--everything from stress management to "natural" childbirth. Aerobic videotape programs are selling better than many blockbuster Hollywood movies. Diet and specialty cookbooks are on the New York Times bestseller list. Alcohol and tobacco consumption are on the decline. High-priced jogging shoes are being designed by aerospace engineers and purchased by ever-discriminating and informed connoisseurs. There's a decrease in the demand for beef and an increase for poultry, fish, and pasta. There's been a shift in our society.

Times are changing and the baby boom generation, wielding its considerable financial power, has taken a leadership position in making these changes increasingly mainstream.

More and more want prevention

This generation, with its health consciousness, is forcing changes upon virtually every aspect of the health care delivery system. Second and third opinions are more the rule than the exception. House calls? In the December 1, 1986 issue of Business Week, a survey among medical doctors shows a significant increase in the number of doctors reviving the custom of making house calls! Moreover, these same M.D.s "expect new patients to shop around for someone whose attitude on health care matches their own." And while many may have a difficult time matching their sickness care approach to health, there's a glut of medical doctors--forcing the need to provide the services today's patient wants. And many want prevention.

Prevention/wellness is a common denominator in this shift in health attitudes. More and more people are making changes in their diets and sedentary lifestyles to embrace preventive measures. Many know their cholesterol count, percent of body fat, and resting heart rate!

How does a "bad back" doctor fit into this new awareness and preventive mind-set? Obviously, without a mind shift on the part of the doctor, this huge market is unaware of one of chiropractic's strong suits: prevention.

The prevention message, when communicated effectively, results in higher retention figures and a lowering of your patient's average age. As patients learn of the preventive aspects of chiropractic, specifically the role chiropractic plays in interrupting (or reversing) the process of Subluxation Degeneration, the demographics change from the 40 to 50 year old with chronic back pain, to the 33-year-old baby boomer bringing in his family. I've seen this shift happen in many offices. None of these doctors have any desire to return to the "pain relief only" good old days.
But concern about one's health is not the driving force among baby boomers. This preventive attitude is a refreshing shift, but I think it's based on a more fundamental aspect: quality.

Patients want quality

We hear it in phrases like, "quality of life," "quality circles," and "quality time." The baby boom generation is unusually sensitive to the subtle qualities that distinguish products and services. Magazines like Consumer's Reports pander to this interest. Movie reviewers have their own television shows. Until only recently, American-manufactured automobiles had been shunned by a marketplace casting its vote against planned obsolescence and superficial design changes that are either unsafe, expensive to fuel, or both. Today's discriminating buyer wants quality. At any price.

Voting with their feet

Quality issues are no less a factor within service industries, especially an intangible service like chiropractic. An intangible service is one whose qualities cannot be accurately judged until the moment of consumption. This is not unlike the position the new chiropractic patient finds himself in when beginning care. In Theodore Levitt's insightful book The Marketing Imagination, this quality issue, faced by all service organizations, is put into perspective. He suggests that it is crucial that symbols and allusions to the quality likely to be experienced precede the actual delivery of the intangible service. For a doctor of chiropractic that puts a new importance on the quality of business cards. Telephone manners. Office location. Office signage. The reception room. The type and condition of the reception room reading materials. The very smallest of details. (Even the brand name of the VCR you use to play your patient education videos!) And because you and the staff have become accustomed to these symbols, living with them day in and day out, you take them for granted. It makes it difficult for you to see the ragged edges and the less-than-optimal message they may be communicating. These symbols represent the quality of the therapeutics you'll be delivering to a new patient. Symbols that could stand in the way of compliance ("I don't believe you"), or trust ("If you're so good, why is the reception room so shabby?"), and referrals ("I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone I came here."). You'll seldom hear a patient actually say these things. But their actions speak louder than words. They simply vote with their feet.

Using a mirror

There's more to the baby boom generation than preventive health care attitudes and a "white glove" approach to quality. It's their educational background, too. Prompted by parents who wanted their children to "have it better than we did," the baby boom generation is the most educated ever. This educational achievement (25% have college degrees) has reduced the automatic credibility previously afforded doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. No longer is the "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy as effective as it once was. No longer are "doctor's orders" followed automatically and unquestioningly. Today, doctors who experience reduced patient compliance, but who are still smoking, are 20 pounds overweight, or look like the bearded philosophers of a previous century, might discover the diagnostic value of a mirror.
Your staff is probably composed of members of the baby boom generation too. As you might expect, this generation has some pretty clear ideas about work. In 1983, the Public Agenda Foundation conducted a study to determine the top ten qualities people want in a job:

1. To work with people who treat them with respect.
2. Interesting work.
3. Recognition for doing a good job.
4. A chance to develop one's skills.
5. To work for people who listen if you have ideas about how to do things better.
6. A chance to think for themselves rather than just carry out instructions.
7. Seeing the results of their work.
8. Working for efficient managers.
9. A job that is not too easy.
10. Being well-informed about what is going on.

Notice that huge salaries, long vacations, and benefit packages didn't even make the top ten! Ironically, these ten preferences are the very same qualities needed by any business to prosper in the Information Age. Increasingly, baby boomers are looking for career opportunities that foster personal growth, are fun to do (because of constant growth), and reflect their own value systems. They are looking for opportunities to "invest their human capital" in organizations that reflect their values.

Certainly not every aspect of the baby boom generation is admirable. Yuppies are accused of lacking spiritual values beyond consumerism and instant gratification. Yet, the baby boom generation exerts a powerful force in the marketplace. And to practitioners eager to stop "selling" chiropractic to skeptics unwilling to stay under care long enough for real results, the baby boom generation, with its interest in prevention, represents a refreshing new market for chiropractic.

Buy the book
A Patient's Point of View
Originally published in 1992
240 Pages
US $19.95

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