Repositioning Patients From the Curb
by William D. Esteb
One of the objectives of any office committed to the rehabilitative and preventive aspects of chiropractic is to help change a patient's view of chiropractic. The objective is to enlarge their limited-short-term-relief-only outlook about chiropractic to include a long-term-rehabilitative-wellness perspective. When doctors and staff are successful in educating patients and effectively communicating this view, it shows up statistically with patient visit averages in the 50s, 60s, and beyond. You can see retention figures like these when patients understand a larger context for chiropractic care (wellness), and are more likely to continue with care long after their original symptoms are gone. Changing the perception of a product or service and creating or expanding the market for it by changing its perception is called "repositioning."
This repositioning process, creating a new market for an old service by changing the way it is perceived, works well in the controllable environment of an office. But what about the rest of your community? Those who drive by your office everyday? Indifferent. Skeptical. Confused. Start changing the public's attitudes about chiropractic with your clinic sign.
Chiropractic as a commodity
Even if your business doesn't have a formal name, you likely use the word chiropractic or chiropractor as an identifier on your sign, helping people find a source of chiropractic care. As the general public sees your clinic sign and the word chiropractic, they automatically attribute everything they already know about chiropractic to you. All the old attitudes, misconceptions, and baggage from the past are bestowed upon the office behind the sign. "Look Marge, one of them chiropractors has an office over there."
This same misunderstanding is often faced in the corporate world. Companies conducting business in competitive fields or who seek differentiation of their products or services that are usually perceived as commodities use a positioning statement to clarify their market niche in the minds of current and prospective customers.
A positioning statement consists of about four to ten words and accompanies the company name on signage, stationery, business cards, or any other company communication. This short statement is used to amplify, define, or position the company, the product, or service for the intended consumer. Apple Computer modifies their name with "The most personal computer." BMW refers to their automobiles as "The ultimate driving machine." United Airlines urges us to "Fly the friendly skies." The list is endless. These statements play a practical role in defining the corporate mission to the public, helping prospective customers distinguish between competing brands, or describing the corporate scope of work. They position the business in the context of how prospective customers view them.
Perhaps you should have a positioning statement.
There are many types of positioning statements. They can explain, claim, offer a benefit, give a directive, or differentiate your practice from competitors. Chiropractic doctors wishing to appeal to the wellness market often create a positioning statement that explains their preventive services or differentiates their approach from other types of doctors. Those with specialized practices such as pediatrics, use their positioning statements to identify their target market: "Helping children reach their fullest potential." They vary from office to office and reflect the doctor's individual purpose and outlook.
Not a slogan!
While it's short and sometimes "catchy," don't confuse a positioning statement with a slogan. A positioning statement is much more strategic. It must be believable while recognizing the mind-set of the target audience. It must help create a shift in perception. It may introduce some aspect not usually associated with chiropractic. Don't use the valuable space on your sign or business card to merely restate the obvious or reinforce what is already attributed to chiropractic.
Before Apple Computer created their positioning statement, they had to evaluate the marketing environment. They kept bumping into something very big. And blue. Rather than attempt a spitting contest with a huge IBM, Apple chose to capitalize on Big Blue's widely-held perception of being a cold and insensitive company. (Remember the famous "1984" Super Bowl commercial in which they characterized IBM as Big Brother?) Apple's positioning statement, "The most personal computer," capitalized on these consumer perceptions.
What about chiropractic?
Attract more ideal patients
Shouldn't doctors of chiropractic use every known communication tool to enhance the perception of the profession? A positioning statement placed on your clinic sign and literature is an inexpensive, yet visible way to start the process--even before meeting the prospective patient. Moreover, the process of creating a positioning statement can help clarify and give focus to your mission in chiropractic.
Short descriptive statements have been used for years but often reflect a limited vision for chiropractic, restate the obvious, or are simply unbelievable to a skeptical public. Here's how some offices modify their names: "Pain relief clinic." (When the pain is gone discontinue care.) "Total health care." (Unbelievable or unrealistic claim for most people unfamiliar with chiropractic.) "We make it affordable to be healthy." (Chiropractic is cheap.) Even, "Free spinal examination," or "Most insurance accepted."
Many of these "positions" constrict the size of a practice by unnecessarily narrowing the context of chiropractic, image, and utilization.
What's your position?
Write a positioning statement. Determine what type of services you want to provide and conceptualize your ideal patient. Sometimes this may be different from the kinds of services you're now delivering to your average patient. Some very exciting things happen by going through this clarification process.
A good example is the doctor I worked with who was interested in providing care for white and gold-collar workers: lawyers, businessmen and women, entrepreneurs. These baby boomer patients have flexible work schedules, sizable incomes, and are more often predisposed to wellness and preventive care. You'll find these people playing racquet ball at the YMCA at 10:30 a.m. or following some kind of personal workout program. With this patient profile in mind, every aspect of the office was designed with the purpose of being especially attractive to this target market. Office location, interior design, staffing, practice hours, procedures, even reception room reading material were consciously selected.
As expected, this practice continues to grow because these kinds of patients feel especially comfortable and welcome in the office. The crowning touch is the positioning statement, tastefully added to the clinic's sign. A statement seen by the entire community, and upon every visit by each patient: Advanced Spinal Fitness.
Certainly this represents a refreshing twist and a significant departure from the just-crack-my-back chiropractic of the past!
Yet, positioning statements are very personal and require thoughtful consideration. The process of developing one can be just as valuable as what you do with it when you've got it. One size does not fit all. Without one, an outsider might think every chiropractic doctor is the same, offering identical services, using similar techniques, and sharing the same personal objectives. Do you believe chiropractic is a commodity?
A positioning statement signals potential patients, reveals specialties of care, and offers clues about the kinds of patients you treat, health attitudes, and other aspects about your practice. It can serve to attract the types of patients you especially enjoy serving. And if strategically considered, sensitive to the opportunity of projecting a wellness orientation, it can start changing public perceptions about chiropractic.
Changing public opinion about chiropractic will not happen overnight. Nor are you likely to experience a flood of new patients the day you place your positioning statement on your sign or reprint your stationery. But then ideas and attitudes with real staying power are seldom the recipients of instant bandwagon-me-tooism.
With growing interest from the scientific community and a huge baby boomer market interested in preventive and wellness care, clarifying the role of chiropractic on your clinic sign could pay more dividends today than ever before. It could be a good sign of a healthy future for patients--and the profession.
Buy the book
A Patient's Point of View
Originally published in 1992
240 Pages
US $19.95
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