Are you being held hostage by the hype of social media?
Properly used, it can be a powerful tool. However, if you don’t know how to use it, you’re flushing money down the toilet!
Dr. Marc needed to reschedule our coaching call. Why? The owner of a family wellness Chiropractic office in a rural town in Ohio needed to attend a 3-hour webinar hosted by a company whose social media program he had bought for significant coin. The product wasn’t working out and Dr. Marc hoped to get some tips to make it easier to use.
Did I mention I was supposed to discuss with him about how Chiropractic offices can get the most out of their advertising/social media budget without spending a lot of money for little gain? Imagine spending doctor time trying to find out how to use something that you bought to attract more new patients. He was not a happy camper.
When we finally connected, I asked Dr. Marc how he came to purchase something that didn’t do what he needed. He sheepishly explained, “This was before I joined TNR and I was looking for a way to flood new patients into my office. They made it sound so easy, just click this internet button and new patients will beat a path to my door,” he admitted. “I thought this was going to make practice easier, not harder. It’s so overwhelming, who can keep up with it? And yet, I’m putting in hours that aren’t producing results. I feel like I’m now putting more focus on social media trends and less time caring for patients. I feel like I’ve been taken hostage!”
It’s a familiar story: You buy something you absolutely have to have, according to the people who are selling it, but it turns out that it helps them far more than it helps you. It’s called the Bright Shiny Object Syndrome and it’s been a destructive force in Chiropractic for a long time. This is true for many personal and business spending decisions; you pay for this and they give you that, including social media advertising.
May we suggest a simple permanent solution to the next Bright Shiny Object?
There’s only 3 ways to improve your practice:
1) More new patients
2) Raise your fees
3) Keep your people longer
Traditionally most seminar leaders gravitate toward the easiest one, which happens to be (surprise, surprise) new patients and “creative” insurance billing…but is it really? Chasing after all the newest, best ways to get new patients is not only overwhelming, it’s expensive and energy draining.
Take a lesson from companies that do more business than most DCs
According to a recent survey by LinkedIn and marketing research firm TNS, 81 percent of businesses with between $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue use social media in hopes of boosting sales. Yet only 61 percent of those same businesses see a payoff.
For those of you old enough to remember the dreadful, low quality Yellow Page ad, you’re grimacing right now. It’s no different with advertising of any medium, online or offline. Social media is a tool, a vehicle (constantly changing) that if properly used can produce new patients. Principles (unchanging and fundamental) are more about how you relate and care for patients. The real question is: what are you going to do with them when they walk through your door?
Instead of chasing the next Bright Shiny Object…learn the fundamentals about attracting new patients and keeping them in any market, online, offline, with or without insurance
Regardless of how you attract your next new patient–word of mouth, advertising, social media, screening, etc.–they eventually will walk through your door. What you do inside your office will determine how long they stay and their referral activity. Without a system in place of keeping them and encouraging them to refer, you will have the endless pressure of being on the new patient merry-go-round.
On Sat. February 21st in Atlanta we will be revealing a new way to practice Chiropractic without becoming a salesman for those DCs who are sick and tired of being held hostage by the next new patient attractor
It will focus on giving doctors independence and freedom from the never ending, expensive quest for the latest gimmick to solve their practice woes. Why not learn a system that works anywhere, anytime, with or without insurance? Most DCs are working harder than they need to. If you aren’t using this system, chances are you’re working harder than you need to.
