What About Advertising?
by William D. Esteb
“What are some of the suggestions you have for practice advertising?” a doctor asked from the third row toward the conclusion of a recent speaking engagement.
I’d just spent the previous two hours describing the nature of effective patient education and had opened the time up to questions from the audience. While it wasn’t exactly on topic, I’d had this question asked of me before and I knew my answer was not going to be what he was hoping to hear. But I proceeded to answer it the same way I’d answered it for the last 15 years.
“Well,” I began, “after working in advertising agencies up and down the West Coast and creating my fair share of award-winning advertising, I’m not too keen on practice advertising for several reasons.”
I was surprised by his still hopeful expression. I continued.
“First, few chiropractors have deep enough pockets to fund enough advertising to cause their message to rise above the noise threshold in most advertising media. Consequently, their message, no matter how well-crafted or targeted, rarely gets through the clutter of the mainstream media. So, for starters, most chiropractors don’t have enough money to make their print advertising large enough or their broadcast advertising frequent enough to stand out or even be noticed, wasting valuable resources.”
I could tell he didn’t like my answer, so I continued.
“Second, even if you have enough money to get your message out, to get the phone to ring you have to reduce your message to offering some sort of pain relief, putting chiropractic even further into the narrow neuromuscular-skeletal pain box. Advertising the virtues of wellness care or the value of bringing children in for a chiropractic checkup is so far outside the beliefs of the general public, your message is perceived as either irrelevant, unbelievable or both.
“Third, and what I think is most important of all, is that advertising treats the symptoms of a lack of referrals. Why aren’t patients dragging their friends and family into your office to experience your version of chiropractic? Why aren’t patients staying under some form of ongoing care to maintain their health, which would serve to reduce your need for new patients? What is the cause? Why is there a need to artificially fuel the practice with new patients?”
I knew the way he shifted uncomfortably in his hotel ballroom chair wasn’t solely the fault of its poor ergonomic design! While he already seemed disappointed with my answer, I went in for the kill.
“Worse,” I said, “advertising tends to attract a poor quality of patient. Oh sure, they may have spines and maybe even an insurance policy that permits more than six visits. But would you go to a brain surgeon because of an offer for a “Free Brain Exam” or consult a dentist who advertised a $25 exam (regularly a $150 value) or some other offer to get you in the door? Probably not. Choosing a health care provider from a tiny newspaper ad in the leisure section of the weekend paper means you aren’t particularly discerning, or you lack friends from whom you could extract a referral. The bottom line is that advertising frequently attracts the wrong crowd. These “high maintenance” patients rarely want true health. They are the ones who often miss appointments and exhibit a general lack of respect for you and your practice and are frequently the ones you gripe about at the dinner table later in the day after meeting them.”
By now the doctor’s crossed arms and overall body language told me that not only had I disappointed him by not supplying some spiffy techniques he could use to produce new patients, but I had probably insulted his practice style and the foundation for his family’s income. Not bad for a three minute exhortation at the end of what had been a successful and well-received talk!
I didn’t have time that day to explore the many dynamics that serve to increase the likelihood of patient referrals or the techniques useful in improving patient retention. These two topics, referrals and retention, are the ones I find most fascinating. Why do patients you’ve practically worked a miracle for seem not to refer anyone? But a patient who you’ve helped with the equivalent of a hangnail confidently sends in an army of friends and family to your practice. Or why do you tell essentially the same story at your report of findings and explain the rationale for continued wellness/preventive/supportive care and some opt for it and a vast majority doesn’t? To me, these are much more interesting and potentially rewarding pursuits than developing some new advertising approach or discovering ways of tracking down car accident victims!
It’s the difference between having a practice or merely a promotion.
Countless chiropractors have proven to me that after six or seven years of delivering quality care, the practice can become self-sustaining. In less than 10 years they’ve collected a sizable base of families and individuals who show up once or twice a month. Referrals from these patients, plus the constant reactivations from patients previously seen, produce a stable practice that requires little more than a small in-column yellow page ad, a web site, a constant supply of business cards, an information-rich brochure rack and a personality that expresses a modicum of interest in the lives of patients who parade past all day long.
Contrast this with the countless number of practitioners who in their 15th or 20th year still have a voracious appetite for new patients. Review the pages of their appointment book just three or four weeks into the future and they’re met with empty columns and blinding white space. They have a promotion. They have either surrendered their practice to the whims of capricious third-parties or the largess of a covey of local personal injury attorneys, or they have relied on a style of practice that neglects the ongoing, supportive chiropractic care that they themselves receive!
There is nothing quite as tragic as an experienced chiropractor with great clinical skills who is in his second or third decade of practice yet still living hand to mouth, dependent on a constant flow of new patients and unable to take a vacation.
If you don’t have a healthy practice and want to transform your promotion into a practice, ask yourself some questions based on the same three components used in Dorland’s Medical Dictionary to determine human health, “…physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmities.”
Physical Well-Being
Where is your office located? Is there adequate parking? Is it easy to get into? Has it been updated recently? Is it a fun place to be in? Do you make frequent changes? Is it information-rich? Are you in good physical condition? What about the condition of your shoes, clothing, adjusting table, furniture and carpet? Do you have the tools and physical resources to get the job done and convey hope and confidence to your patients? Are you walking the talk? Are you a compelling example of good health and a chiropractic lifestyle?
Mental Well-Being
Do you have a positive attitude? Do you have a vision for your practice beyond mere survival? Do you know what gets you fired up and willing to go to the mats for? Are you naturally curious about your patients? Are you constantly looking for ways to serve? Do you set success goals and review them daily? Have you forgiven those who have injured you? Are you prepared to receive? Are your actions congruent with your beliefs? With what are you feeding your mind and your spirit?
Social Well-Being
Are you comfortable with yourself? Do you feel lonely when you are alone? Are you fun to be with? Have you developed your communication skills so you can effectively communicate with others? Are you good listener? How do you know? Do you have a high level of self-esteem, or do you seek approval from patients, parents, spouse, parents or some other third party? Do you frequently find yourself claiming to be a victim of forces outside your control? Do you enjoy meeting strangers?
At the helm of every healthy practice is a healthy chiropractor. And all types of health come from the inside-out. Treating the symptoms of an unhealthy practice with outside-in solutions is just as futile as treating headaches and back pain with muscle relaxers and pain pills. It’s convenient, but it ignores the underlying cause and the results rarely last.
Buy the book
What a Patient Wants
Originally published in 2002
240 Pages
US $24.95
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