Features and Benefits

by William D. Esteb

"I wish I had more new patients." "It's hard to get patients to attend my spinal care class." "I don't think my yellow-page ad works as well as it should." "I feel like no one's reading our clinic newsletter." "It's hard to get patients to continue care after their insurance coverage ends." "How do I get patients to refer?"

Have I missed any?

We get so immersed in our specialized areas of interest that we forget how to communicate in a language the outside world understands. We forget the simple, compelling, often selfish and motivating reason(s) for which we originally got involved in chiropractic. Or worse, we don't try to communicate, assuming that by virtue of their proximity to us or the obvious "rightness" of our beliefs, our language is self-explanatory.

Feeling cocky?

Ask your best patients to describe what you do. Pay particular attention to the language they use. If you're brave enough to ask, you're likely to hear the verbal equivalent of a child's first attempts on a violin. And you wonder why only a few patients seem to refer others! At least when I get my prescription filled or my dentist fills a cavity, I can easily tell others what happened.

Amazingly, a lot of doctors don't explain even the most basic doctor/patient encounter, so patients can't be articulate when there is an opportunity to tell others about chiropractic. And it's not just explaining chiropractic-it's being able to defend their decision for consulting you!

Yellow-page ads trumpet the 13 warning signs and merely confirm why the prospective patient consulted the chiropractic section in the yellow pages in the first place. If you were looking in the yellow pages for a car mechanic and all you saw was ad after ad with the same list of problems the mechanic fixed, you'd still have very little information on which to decide which to base your buying decision.

The lack of patient rapport, inarticulate patients, and inept yellow page advertising overlook today's currency: information. Information is power. And the more information you can convey to current and prospective patients, the more "powerful" you and your patients become.

Making a fast get-away

In a highly relevant book for health care providers, Service America! authors, Karl Albrecht and Ron Zemke describe the growing service sector of our economy. They observe that in many companies there is an environment of fear. The hierarchal General Motors pyramid of the 1950s has been foisted upon unknowing doctors by consultants who think Industrial Age manufacturing models are efficient means to run service organizations of a dozen or fewer employees. This has created two obstacles to practice growth. The first is evidenced by a continuous stream of "I'll have to check with the doctor" by a paralyzed staff. The second is the most destructive. It's the "I'm-just-the-CA" game. Here the staff has mentally checked out. They've taken on the mentality of an impotent factory worker. They're the ones who back their car into their parking space, ready for a quick get-away when they're unchained and "punch out" at the end of the day.

People commit their energies to the extent that it gets them what they want. Period. For employees, it's not always just money-a paycheck or a bonus. It may be psychological, wanting a sense of completeness or praise. It may be a feeling of teamwork, shared experience, or working in the pursuit of a bigger idea. Until you find out what rewards motivate your staff, staff management is just a stressful and manipulative technique to get them to do things. Same with your patients.

Another way of saying that people commit their energies to the extent that it gets them what they want is that people buy benefits, not features. We write checks, borrow money, or consult a chiropractic doctor because of how it will benefit us. This seems obvious, yet it's often forgotten when communicating with patients. Reread the first paragraph of this chapter. How many of these problems are caused by patient benefits not being clearly explained?

Intangible benefits

The benefits people buy are not always tangible. A Mercedes automobile isn't marketed for its tangible benefits of getting you from point A to point B. The brochure focuses on the intangible benefits. The color of the car is merely a feature. The fact that the car says so much about us is a benefit. The fact that it has leather seats is merely a feature. The way I feel about myself when I smell the leather is a benefit. Some of the most powerful, motivating, and overlooked benefits are intangible.

What are the features and tangible and intangible benefits of the chiropractic care you and your staff provide in your office?

Patients seek out your office because they want some form of relief they've heard chiropractic can offer. Initially, this relief is the primary benefit (source of motivation) a patient experiences. Whether they pay cash, write a check to cover the deductible, or simply show up, they are exchanging their money and time to receive the benefit (as they perceive it) of chiropractic care.

Then they're invited to a spinal care class. As if they should know what a spinal care class is and how it can benefit them! Until you make that vital translation from the spinal care class (feature) to what it would mean to your patients by helping them get well sooner (benefit) or helping them to prevent a relapse (benefit) or save money (benefit), you're wasting your time.

Of course, you could make the class mandatory, discontinuing patients' care unless they attend. This, along with scare tactics and other forms of manipulative patient control methods, is tempting because it may be effective in the short run, yet it sabotages long-term relationships.

Consider the way patients are presented with the opportunity to see patient education videos in the office. The tapes are merely one of the many features of your office. They are no more valuable to a patient than an adjusting table or some other piece of furniture until patients understand the benefits of seeing them. If the staff doesn't perceive the benefits of being armed with the information presented in your patient education videos, they are unable to present the videos with enthusiasm and passion. Consistent, effective implementation is based on identifying the benefits of the program-for both staff and patients.

A feature is merely a characteristic of a product or service. It's big, it comes in 12 colors, it's a technique called Gonstead, it's the fact you have a spinal care class, accept credit cards, or have your office open on Saturdays. They're just features. They have little value unless someone sees how a particular feature can provide a benefit.

Become a translator

A benefit translates a particular feature into human terms. Convenience, prevention, saves money, speeds recovery, reduces pain, prevents the problem from returning, saves time, makes you feel important, etc. Benefits are the red buttons that motivate patients, inspire staff members, and build practices.

Like motivation, the benefits of a patient's chiropractic experience may be intangible. What are the benefits of watching a patient education video? What are the benefits of attending a spinal care class? Or a progressive examination? Or reading your clinic brochure? Or showing up on time? Or paying? Help patients see that they benefit by doing what you want them to do. That's the only form of "control" you ever really have over anyone. Any other form of control is merely a myth.

Without translating clinic policies and daily routines (features) into motivating benefits, the routines needlessly insulate and alienate patients. "Mrs. Jones, I'm reserving Wednesday at 3:15 especially for you so the doctor can devote his total attention to you and your case." "Jerry, I'd like you to review this literature. It will explain how problems just like yours respond to chiropractic care and how you can speed your own recovery." Translate the features of your practice into benefits for the patient. The benefits of getting a 10% discount for paying cash are obvious for most patients. But the benefits of spending an hour in a spinal care class instead of being home with their family may not.

Make a list

At the next staff meeting, brainstorm the features of your practice. Tangible and intangible. There are lots of them. Then put yourself in your patients' shoes and translate the features into patient benefits.

First, why your office and not someone else's? (Benefits of convenience, accessibility, fees, personality, rapport, confidence, etc.) Why continue chiropractic care beyond symptomatic relief? (Benefits of keeping the problem from returning, continued good health, feeling a sense of progress, etc.) Why find out more about chiropractic through patient education opportunities? (Benefits of being a more articulate spokesperson for chiropractic, participating in health-related decisions, being able to defend the choice you've made to consult a chiropractor, being perceived as someone who knows something, etc.) Why refer others to the office? (Benefits of helping others, being appreciated by the doctor, etc.)

Until you discover the benefits that motivate those around you, life is just an unexplainable series of random events. And taking control of the practice is an unattainable, burnout-producing pipe dream.

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

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