Do you know the difference between chiropractors who are booked solid a month in advance versus chiropractors who are barely getting by after payroll, rent and expenses? The answer has nothing to do with the amount of specialized training, technology or the location they are working with. The real answer is that the doctors who are absolutely crushing it know something the rest don't.
The doctors who have patients lined up for weeks ahead of time understand that they are in the business of marketing their chiropractic practice. Not only that, they understand the power and importance of building and using multiple lead generation machines.
That's right: Your business isn't being a chiropractor, but rather marketing your practice and doing so by positioning yourself as the ultimate expert and authority figure in your city and community.
Quality leads that ultimately become patients are every chiropractor's dream. But what if you could architect a system that continuously delivers high-quality, ready-to-take-action prospects into your practice?
What if there were a way to build a "machine" that funnels individuals who are already presold on you, and are ready, able and willing to be seen and treated by you?
If that sounds like something you'd be interested in having, I have some really good news for you. You can have this "machine" and the truth is, the top 5 percent of the doctors out there who are absolutely crushing it build lead generation systems that completely eliminate the need for "manual marketing."
Manual Marketing
But before we get into the how-to of building these systems, let's talk about and define what manual marketing means. For some chiropractors, getting new patients means spending their entire Saturday doing spinal screenings and talking to people, hoping they can persuade them to schedule a time to see them. For others doctors, it means knocking on doors and cold calling by walking through the neighborhood and leaving business cards and brochures at the counters of local businesses.
The truth is, you can only get so far using these methods. That's not to say those strategies won't work or won't get patients into your practice; they can, but if you are looking to build a highly profitable practice that's packed with the highest quality patients who pay based on value and refer others, you're going to have to learn the secrets that the top doctors know.
Step 1. Be a Hero to Someone Specific
The first step to building your lead generation system is to figure out who will gain the greatest amount of value from working with you. Once you know who will be a perfect fit for what you are offering, you need to craft your message so it feels like you are talking directly to them.
I'm not saying that when someone comes to you for help, you shouldn't help them; I'm saying you need to focus your efforts on positioning yourself as expert in a specific niche. What this will do for you is completely distinguish you from every other doctor and make yourself the logical choice for patients in that niche.
They say a jack-of-all-trades is a master of none. Let me ask you something: If you were trying to get a meeting with some well- respected individual, do you think you could just walk into their office and see them? Of course not! Therefore, you must focus on what I call "power positioning" and distinguish yourself from every other doctor in your city.
Being a specialist for a specific group of individuals will allow you to build a highly profitable practice, as well as open other doors of opportunity for you.
Step 2. Have Fresh Bait
The second step in this process involves picking a lead generation magnet that you can use in order to get prospective patients to raise their hand and identify themselves to you. This magnet or "bait" is usually informational in nature, such as a free video, a report or white paper. If you really want to play at higher level, offer a free DVD or CD, or even a report (physical version) that would then require the prospect to give you their full information so you can follow up with them.
[pb]Now, most chiropractors simply will not do this. After all, it is too easy to go the digital route, i.e., social media. Here is my recommendation: Do not follow the masses. Be different; be unique and elevate yourself to a higher standard. Understand one thing: Experts do things differently.
Something to pay attention to is making sure that you use fresh bait. All too often, one doctor will look to see what the other doctors are doing, and pretty soon 10 chiropractors in the same city are giving away a free report that looks, smells and feels the same.
Take a look around and make sure you are doing something different. If you notice that your competitor down the road is giving away a free report, then create a free video instead. If they're giving away free videos, it's time to create a report and give it away for free.
Step 3. Use Direct-Response Marketing
My belief is that everything starts and ends with direct-response marketing. Direct response, as the name suggests, is a type of advertising that is designed to evoke an immediate response or action from your target audience.
For example, you may decide that you are giving away a free 45-minute massage. Your ad can say, "Stop your back pain today! Call 888-888-8888 and request a free 45-minute massage." The big reason that this is so powerful, is because unlike institutional advertising (image ads, Goodyear Blimps, branding, etc.), this gives you a way to measure and track your results. And as the saying goes, "If you can't measure it, you cant manage it."
But here's where this gets really exciting. Let's suppose that the average value of a patient is $1,000 (annually) and you spent $1,500 on the ad you ran. If 100 prospects called in to request your offer, your lead cost would be $15 per lead, right? Well, what if we knew that of those 100 prospects, five of them would become patients (earning you $5,000)? That would mean we could create a system that funnels five new patients to us as often as we wanted as long as we used our new, systematic approach.
Again, when you are crystal clear about whom you are looking to work with, you'll not only attract the right group of prospects, but you'll do something else that's just as important: repel the wrong ones. A common misconception is that if you focus on a niche (e.g., athletes, whiplash patients), somehow you'll miss out on all the other opportunities. That is simply not the case. The more you position yourself as a specialist for someone specific and not for everyone, the more you will attract those who truly know you can help them.
Step 4. Do Not Bring Your Prospects Home
In the last step of this blueprint, I need to cover something that is of extreme importance and unfortunately, something that gets overlooked quite often. There are times when a chiropractor will take the time and focus on crafting a powerful message. There are times when doctors will transform themselves into sought-out specialists, carving out their own piece of the market. Some even go the distance and begin to learn the power of direct-response advertising using benefit-driven headlines, bullet points and irresistible offers to capture the attention of their ideal prospect. But then, even after all that, if the last step is left undone, the results won't reach their potential.
The biggest mistake you can make after working so hard to build your lead generation machine is to send your new leads (traffic) to your main Web site. Here's where the problem comes in: Ninety-nine percent of the time, your site is not designed to capture leads. Therefore, when you spend money to run an ad, you want to make sure you capitalize on that opportunity.
Do not send your prospects to your main Web site expecting them to take action, (i.e., find your contact information, pick up the phone, call and schedule an appointment and then actually get there). Sounds good, but let's just say it doesn't usually work that way.
In order to make sure this "machine" runs smoothly, all steps to the blueprint must be executed. Your traffic must be sent to a Web page that is specifically designed to capture leads (landing page or squeeze page). It must also have a clear call to action, with specific instructions on how you want the prospect to respond to your offer. Remember, your goal is to build the ultimate system for leverage; a powerful machine that allows you to build your practice in a savvy, automated and predictable manner, while completely eliminating the need to rely on any manual marketing methods.
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
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