Category — Chiropractic Assistants

How do you start your day?

The fact is, the way you start your day will determine, largely, how you end your day.

Start it right and you’ll end it right.

Start late, flustered, groggy, moody, cranky, and your day will be longer, harder, and less productive.

Time and time again, when we work with doctors and their teams on starting their day off correctly, we notice that the patients become happier, the appointment book fills up,  and the doctor feels more in control of her patients.  Just last month, as a matter of fact, one doctor implemented this procedure and hit her highest new patients – ever.

Another doctor gets to the office before his staff and associate doctors and reviews the day’s schedule.  Before the patients come in, he reviews each patient, as needed, and makes sure all patients are set up for the right procedures that day. In spite of the fact that he has several clinics, and a handful of associate partners, it is no wonder he still averages over 1200 visits per month. So can you.

You can start your day any dang way you want, the choice is yours. Actually, you have two choices as diagrammed below.

Some offices call this their morning “huddle”, or “case management” meeting. Whatever you call it, here are some successful procedures to start your day:

1.    Discipline. Make sure that it starts on time. Only have it 2-3 times per week to start with. Keep it simple, FAST, and fun. This will be the biggest hurdle. But, just schedule it and make it happen.

2.    Humor. A staff member should start off with a good joke. For example, the front desk has the first Monday, the doctor on Wednesday, the Accounts CA has to bring a joke for Friday, and so on. It goes on a rotational basis. If this is hard to do, then that is all the more reason to do bring a joke. If you are bad at jokes, again, all the more reason to bring a joke. :)  Need a joke? We have a few over here.

3.    Patients. Then, go over each patient that is coming in that day and decide, as needed, what extra should be done with him or her.  For example, does Patient A need a progress exam, need to be scheduled for the care class, another financial consultation, or be seen to schedule her family for no charge “check-ups?”  If your office is seeing over 800 patients that day, probably best to just check over some of the patients — no need to cover each one. Just see if any of the doctors or staff have any input on anyone.[We have seen an 800 visit day. Lots of fun!]

4.    Office. Then, review how the office is progressing towards its goals for the month.

5.    Goals/Visualization. Then, set realistic daily goals, and look at and even visualize not only achieving them, but achieving the weekly and monthly goals as well.

6.    Miscellaneous. No more than two quick minutes for a miscellaneous announcement, if needed.

7.    Motivation. Finally, the clinic director should end off with a patient success story, or something inspirational and motivational. A quote, a story, etc.  We have lots of quotes in the Marketing Manger System computer program. You can also take one Chiropractic Principle each day, discuss it with the staff, and work out ways to apply it that day.

The whole meeting should be done BEFORE patients are seen, and last no more than 15 minutes.  Use it in your group, and use it on your self, and watch your practice grow.

We just finished our Minneapolis seminar and WOW! Not trying to exaggerate here, but it was great.

Highlighting our the seminar was Dr. Peter Kevorkian who gave a rousing presentation. Dr. Peter’s animated talk interwove science, chiropractic history, and practical patient education procedures that both inspired and informed.

Like many of you, I have been to scores, if not hundreds of chiropractic talks (not counting listening to Dave go on and on about insurance companies on our long driving road trips). Dr. Peter was masterful at integrating philosophy and science with the practical nuts and bolts our clients could use to develop their practices. One of the best presentations I have heard.

And like a true leader, he practices what he preaches, seeing well over 3,000 visits per month with his wife, in three days per week. He actually is achieving all three goals and represents our 3 Goals Program well.

Phyllis Frase gave specific tips for staff team members and doctors in her presentation that was energetic and passionate. Dave Michel and I also gave talks that provided sound business and marketing advice.

One doctor almost complained to us that the day after the seminar his staff were so on fire and motivated he could hardly recognize them.

One of the most glowing reports stated that the seminar was a “Good balance of hard facts and philosophy.”

New seminars coming up in Chicago and possibly on the East coast. Stay tuned…

Photos here.

Here are some comments:

Good balance of hard facts and philosophy.

There were many ideas that we could apply in our office.
The information was incredibly useful. We need to recognize that we are in a business.

I also liked the fact that you were punctual. This leaves a huge impression on your company.

Great seminar.

Learned many new ideas. Loved the focus on service — there were many example we can implement that were new and many great reminders. The information was absolutely useful.

Speakers were dynamic and to the point.

Information was entirely useful. I liked the 3 Goals Process and the 9 roles on it. It was a practical seminar – not too much info, not too little. Easily refreshed on some things and good reminders on what to implement.

Great speakers.

Information was very useful. Great job!.

Like the marketing ideas and positive energy.

Information was simple but useful kept short as not to lose focus. Great energy and from the heart .. can feel the passion.

Thank you for a great day of learning how to be better than yesterday. I have really enjoyed going to work so much more since we have joined PM&A these last few months. And, we have gotten busier – so fun!!

What a Seminar! Our second 3 Goals seminar which was held in Milwaukee was SO much fun that if we knew it was going to be like this, we would have been doing seminars years ago.

With over 60 people attending,with veteran doctors and staff, and rookies as well, the place was rockin’.

Just a note from all of us at PM&A: For those of you who attended - Thank You! We had a great time sharing our information and meeting you all.

Hope to see you again.

Some comments below and pictures here.

First, a kind letter from a veteran office manager of 4 offices:

Dear Ed, David and Phyllis,

Wow!! I was blown away by you guys yesterday, this was information that every chiropractor and chiropractic assistant needs! I have been a C.A. for 23 years, Office Manager for 17 years, and still viewed your seminar as a beneficial learning experience. I have several procedures and marketing ideas that I will be implementing. In my opinion, The 3 Goals Seminar should be a must for any new D.C., the content was invaluable! You guys truly made my experience for the day extraordinary, thank you!

Sincerely,

Cindy S.

Here are some more comments:

“Very energetic , lots of ideas, the CA information was wonderful.”

“The marketing info is going to be helpful.” “Information was clear.” “Lots of energy and like the experience of the presenters.” “Great for new doctors.” “Patient education info was great. Good info on systems and how to keep them in place.” “Great marketing ideas in and out of the office.”

“Financial planning and collections very helpful.” “Marketing strategies were good.” “Liked most how to systematize your office.” “Liked the different types of marketing meetings.” “Information was practical, well organized.” “Clear and numbered structure.”

“I thought it was a great seminar.” “VERY HELPFUL. Lots of information and ideas that can/should be implemented in our office and mission.” “Enjoyed the overall enthusiasm of all speak sand their excitement for wellness/chiropractic.”

“3 Goals System as overall guide for practice success strategy.” “Informative and interesting. I can leave here and work on many things in the office tomorrow.” “Awesome presentation!”

Many mall stores, such as the GAP, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, have as part of the office policy to create a party atmosphere in their stores. The idea is that potential shoppers passing through the mall will see happy faces in the stores with the music playing (sometimes extra loud) and feel like they want to join in the party.

The same concept applies to your office. It should always be friendly and inviting. And on occasion, it’s OK to go overboard.

Early this week, one of the chiropractic office’s I visited had a pleasant surprise. I made it through the ice, snow, and sub-freezing temperatures to the front door, took off my heavy coat, and walked into the reception area.

The staff were dressed in summer clothes. Marimba island music was playing. There were palm trees and a fishing net over the front desk. The staff were smiling and one of them asked me if I wanted a fruit smoothie, being told that they were not serving rum this morning.

The sign over the blender and freshly cut fruit said: “Welcome to Chiroville”, alluding to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. While enjoying my freshly made smoothie, I watched other patients come in from the cold and saw how pleased they were with the friendly change of pace of this special promotion.

The staff seemed to have as much fun with it as the patients. And, as did the doctor!

As a side note, the practice is having its best February ever for new patients.

The moral of the story? If every day was a party at your office, wouldn’t you want be there? Wouldn’t you want to invite all of your friends there too?

Wow- The marketing manager (with Margie!) is so easy to create a one year marketing plan. Just got finished working on one for my clients. What could have taken days and days took only 2 hours with the Marketing manager. Use the program, it’s a lot of fun and much easier than reinventing the marketing wheel.

– Phyllis