New Patients 101

by William D. Esteb

A writer has to write. A singer has to sing. And a chiropractor has to adjust. These and other forms of self-expression become powerful, driving forces in our lives. Since I’ve been caught on airplanes without a laptop computer or even a pad and pen to write with, I know how it must feel to have the skills to adjust—but few patients. It’s not just the financial bind that a lack of patients produces, it’s much more. It affects your attitude, your mood, your self-confidence and, worse, it can produce a dark cloud that can chase away the few patients who buck the tide and show up in your under-utilized office!

If you find yourself in this downward spiral, here are some observations and advice I’ve given countless doctors facing a similar plight. Perhaps these will give you the courage to take the action needed to get back into the game.

First Do No Harm

Before you can grow your practice, you need to “stop the bleeding” from the few patients who do show up and then who flee at the first signs of relief without telling others. This handful of brave souls tethers you to your office while teasing you about your dream of helping more people. There aren’t enough of them to make the living you dreamed of and, what’s worse, they’re not referring others. So your practice pokes along at five patient visits a day or maybe 50 a week. Getting and staying “up” for so few patients requires massive effort. It seems as if you’ve hit an invisible wall.

Realize it’s not your location. It’s not your lack of a front desk receptionist. It’s not your handshake. It’s not your adjusting technique. And it’s not your lack of a Yellow Page listing.

It’s you.

This is good news! You can change you. It seems almost impossible to change the public. It’s difficult to change patients. Maybe even harder to change your spouse. And while changing yourself isn’t easy either, the odds are considerably better.

Stop Thinking About You

Virtually every doctor I’ve met who is struggling to launch his or her practice shares a couple of common traits. The most destructive denominator is a victim mentality that permeates their conversations. When they describe their situation, it’s all about them. “My practice is struggling.” “I’m having a hard time paying the bills.” “My spouse is losing confidence in me.” “I don’t know what to do.” “I feel powerless.” “I’m concerned.” “I’m questioning my career choice.” The internal dialogue they reveal is pathetic. Me. Me. Me.

They never ask, “Do you know any ways to serve more patients?” or “What are some methods to attract more people who can be helped with chiropractic care?” or “What are the processes that can be used to inform the public about alternatives to drugs or surgery?” Instead, every question, every comment is about their lack, their fear, their embarrassment or their pitiful situation.

Your practice isn’t about you. It’s about patients. You are a servant. Ever run into someone at the counter of a fast food restaurant with an “I’m-too-cool-to-be-here” attitude or an “I’m-not-having-fun-and-you-shouldn’t-either” posture? That’s you. You’re so focused on your little drama with your creditors, the success your classmates seem to be enjoying or your doubts about your clinical approach that there isn’t any room for patients! So patients respond accordingly. They don’t emotionally invest in a relationship with you. They don’t comply with your recommendations. They don’t get the results they deserve. And thankfully, they keep your practice a secret so others aren’t exposed to your pathetic version of chiropractic!

It may require an Oscar award-winning performance on your part, but stop thinking about you. Look for ways you can serve your patients. Act the part of a busy, successful chiropractor. In short, you must be healthier than your patients. That means healthier physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. As much as the alluring seminars and consultants would like you to believe otherwise, success is more about who you are than what you do. “Being” is the cause. “Doing” is the effect. Be the servant and you will have more opportunities to serve.

Lack Attracts Lack

Your “woe is me” attitude directs your attention and the little energy that you do have toward your “lack,” attracting more of it. Patients can sense this “neediness,” and most are repulsed by it. There’s a reason why busy practices with lots of patients have plenty of new ones: They don’t send signals of needing new patients! They expect new patients, but they don’t need them. They look forward to serving new patients, but they don’t give much thought about how new patients will find them. Their focus is on those who show up, not on those who don’t. There is a sense of confidence and abundance. Everybody goes there because everybody goes there.

If you have few patients, chances are they’re some pretty interesting specimens. They’re probably hanging around you because even though your attitude is in the toilet, you’re still more optimistic than they are! After a while, you might think that all patients are negative and irresponsible. But they aren’t. You’re just attracting patients like you.
I bet you keep in touch with other doctors who aren’t doing so well. Together, you can paint quite a picture of how bad business is and how you’re each a victim of out-of-touch college instructors, the economy, stingy HMOs or the other usual culprits. The reason you have found these playmates who enjoy making mud pies with you is because busy, successful chiropractors don’t want to have anything to do with you.

Find some new friends. Actually, as you begin to assume the attitude and outlook of a conscientious servant giving out of abundance and a higher purpose than making your car payment, new friends will find you. Your energy, optimism and purpose will attract others, including patients. The profile of your typical patient will slowly change. You’ll be on a roll. You’ll be having more fun. You’ll be making a difference.

An Act of Faith

To end a vicious downward spiral or to escape the frustrating treadmill you’re on, you need faith: belief in the unseen. This is where chiropractors who live in the analytical, double-blind-clinical-trials-published-in-peer-reviewed-journals have a hard time.

Those who are stuck often have faith, but it’s the shallow kind that comes from thinking that their grades, their diploma or their skills are the result of their own doing. This egocentric view of the world helps them believe that they are the masters of the universe. That they are in control. And that they can fashion a life and practice in their own image. In a way, they are. Their sad little practice is an example of their handiwork.

For some, this is where they stay until they are sufficiently humbled or broken by their stubbornness. Those who ultimately give up and leave the profession rarely see that their struggle was largely their own creation. Fortunately, they take their bitterness with them, and the chiropractic profession is better for it.

In the same way that chiropractic principles, when properly applied, have produced results for more than a century, there are centuries-old principles that govern relationships between masters and servants. Ignore or purposefully break these rules and there is a price to be paid. If you’re struggling to get your practice off the dime, you may already know how expensive breaking these rules can be.

Excerpted from
What a Patient Wants
Published in 2002
240 Pages
US $24.95

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