The ChiroChannel Blog

Referrals are probably the most valuable and true type of client/patient you could want. A “qualified” referral is someone who is already interested in your business or service and has come to you under the advice from one of your satisfied, existing client/patient.

Getting a qualified referral takes a little practice and some planning. We would all be thrilled if they just filtered into the office, but most of us are looking for referrals that will continue to use our services and become long-lasting clients/patients. That takes a little more focus. We need to make sure that we tell our current patients what we are looking for.

Here are some ways that will help take the anxiousness out of asking for referrals!

 

 

 

 

1. Reach Out to the Right People (Referral Rock)

a. Longtime patients you have a personal connection with.

b. Patients you share common interests with.

c. Patients who use many of your services.

d. Patients who are pleased with the care they have been given.

2. The “Ask” Should Feel Natural   (Referral Rock)

a. There is always a correct time for everything. Asking for a referral shouldn’t be forced or the first thing you talk about.

b. Ask Patient for a referral when they are feeling happy about their therapy time.

c. Providing a specialized service or therapy? Ask Your Patient if they know of anyone who could benefit from this as well.

3. Set Goals for Yourself (Thrive Hive)

a. Set a certain number of referrals you would like to attain monthly.

b. Create a plan on how you will ask for your referrals.

i. By mouth

ii. Social Media

iii. Email Marketing

iv. Direct Mail

c. Follow up on Referrals.

d. Thank the person who gave the referral. Make it worth their while by offering incentives.

4. Offer Exceptional Service

a. Go the extra mile. Stay open an extra 15 minutes for a deserving patient.

b. Send a personal thank you note.

c. Provide honest recommendations for additional services.

d. Give your patients a voice. Ask for their feedback on how you can improve your services.

e. Show your appreciation for their referrals.

5. Educate Your Patients on Your Business/Services

a. Use Your ChiroChannel to advertise a new service or therapy.

b. Create a slide on the ChiroChannel about your Referral Program.

c. Thank your patients for their referrals using pre-made slides from our Community Library on your ChiroChannel Dashboard.

d. Make your contact  and website information easily accessible.

6. Create a Patient Incentive Plan.  (Entrepreneur.com)

a. Offer a gift card for a referral.

b. Offer a free product or discount at your clinic

c. Offer a discount through social media for a qualified referral.

d. Create a referral program – the more referrals the greater the discount.

7. Network, Network, Network (Thrive Hive)

a. Get connected and join like groups on LinkedIn.

b. Join a Networking group like After 5, BNI or the Rotary.

c. Volunteer for community events.

d.  Be Active and personal on Facebook and Other social Media.

8. Most Important, Reciprocate!  (Thrive Hive)

a. Give back to community. Sponsor an event or athletic team.

b. Provide Free Lunch and Learns.

c. Provide a Family day with Freebies.

d. Make referrals to other businesses.

As with any business intention, there has to be a Plan, a Goal and a Followup.  The same goes for your Referral Program. Make this as fun and as engaging as you can.  Your patients and your business partners are the core of your growth. Help them to recognize the value in your business and clinic!

 Pssst!

At The ChiroChannel, we love referrals too!  We’re pleased to give big discounts for those that pass our name on to others!

“Staying Present or Mindful is to be awake and aware. Aware of thoughts and emotions moment by moment, aware of what’s happening around us and how we’re reacting to it. Aware of our bodies. And aware of how our behavior influences our outcomes. It’s the opposite of the way most people live — lost in thought, unconscious of their surroundings, mindlessly repeating destructive patterns without attention to what they’re doing. ” (Chiropractic Economics)

Being mindful in your business has its benefits. It can reduce anxiety, increase productivity, and can contribute to a greater sense of presence. Teaching your patients to be “present or mindful” during their adjustments is also very beneficial. Let’s examine these situations a little more closely!

YOUR BUSINESS (Cornerstone Dynamics)

1. Increase Productivity – Taking some time before we start the day to focus on the events for the day keeps us more targeted for the tasks at hand. When we are not being mindful, we find that when we try to accomplish one task, our mind has already floated off to the other tasks. This makes us feel overwhelmed and unable to complete our tasks. How often has your brain just jumped from thought to thought? Mindfulness takes over and pulls us back to the present moment and allows us to stay on task.

2. Reduces Anxiety – Stress and anxiety are brought on by thinking of negative future scenarios. Stressing about situations that haven’t happened yet is pointless, but mindfulness pulls us back to the present and reminds us that these things haven’t happened and may never happen. How many sleepless nights have you had worried about bills not getting paid, or poor sales figures, when you could be focused on the warm, comfortable bed you are in right now? Mindfulness can help us reduce those nights of insomnia.

3. Better Patient Interactions – When you are in your adjusting rooms with your patients, are you “staying present” with your patient? Are you giving the best care you can give your patient or is your mind drifting off to other things you have to get done during the day. Your patient will certainly have a positive interaction with you if you are paying attention to your patient during their adjustment appointment.

How to Be Present in Your Business!
It boils down to adopting the philosophy of being present and taking a disciplined approach to stay with it. As you encounter various business situations take the following steps to be present:
Step 1. Stop, assess how present you are?
Step 2. Re-acknowledge your commitment to being present.
Step 3. Focus completely on your breathing for a few moments. Allow yourself to become centered, focused on the now and grounded.
Step 4. Engage in business activity.

YOUR PATIENTS

Do you have patients that come late to appointments, who don’t follow home care instructions, who have no self awareness of their bodily positions or posture? Teaching your patients to be more mindful will help your practice and also their treatments.

When Patients tense up or don’t focus on the adjustment they aren’t receiving the full value of the treatment. Mindful patients can relax and focus through their treatments, thereby gaining all its benefits.

You can help teach your patients how to meditate. It really can be as little as 10 minutes per day. Using these steps anytime you or your patients feel anxious or stressed can help you to regain control and be more calm.

TEACH MINDFULNESS TO YOUR PATIENTS (Chiropractic Economics)

 

 

 

 

 

• Sit comfortably and upright with your back straight, arms comfortably in your lap.
• Keep your eyes and your mouth closed.
• Take a few “cleansing breaths,” forgetting your cares.
• Commit to using this time for self-inquiry, not thought.
• Focus on your breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils.
• Don’t try to change anything you notice. Accept it as it is.
• Maintain perfect awareness and perfect equanimity throughout this process.
• Begin to become aware of the sensations over your body. Move your attention up and down your body, noticing whatever arises.
• If you become bored, distracted, frustrated or overwhelmed, realize that these, too, are just sensations. Observe them as you do all others.

How Can the ChiroChannel Help to Teach Mindfulness?

1. Create slides that support relaxation techniques.
2. Create a slide that directs your patients to relax for the next 20 seconds and focus on breathing (Use our new page timer to show the countdown!)
3. Create a slide that directs your patients to ask you more information about meditation and mindfulness.

When I go to my Chiropractor for my adjustments, I am much more mindful. I relax and focus on how my body feels before, during and after treatments. I feel more refreshed when I leave and actually my mind feels rested and rejuvenated.

MINDFULNESS CAN LEAD TO A HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER YOU!

It has been several months now that our world has been affected and infected by Covid-19. Not only has this been a grave health issue but a mental one as well. Many of us have seen businesses go out of business, people losing jobs, loss of life, loss of sense of family and friends due to social distancing and quarantine, and so much more.

Not to mention the lack of understanding of the virus, the time it takes to find a vaccine, or the time it takes to test the populous, all leads to worry. Every time you turn on the TV or look at your smart phone you are getting Covid updates. It is hard to get away from this.

This has led to a very stressful, even depressing, situation for many. Some people handle these situations better than others, but we put together some helpful tips you can offer to your patients to help get them through this difficult time.

 

 

 

 

 

1. Get the Facts and Stick to It – CDC Mental Health and Coping During a Pandemic – There are so many opinions and nonscientific information out there. There are also predictions or infiltration models, not actual numbers. Keep yourself educated so that you can pass that onto your patients. Stop all the rumors from causing more stress.

2. Offer Ways to Reduce Stress – CDC Mental Health and Coping During a Pandemic

• Take Deep Breaths, Meditate, Stretch,
• Exercise, and get plenty of sleep
• Eat Healthy and limit alcohol and drugs
• Limit your viewing of the TV, social media, reading news stories of the pandemic
• Do Activities that you enjoy
• Get involved in volunteering
• Connect with your family and friends and those that lift you up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Tell Patients the Steps You are Taking to Stop the Virus in Your Clinic

• Post signs in the office to ensure your safety process is clear. There should be a sign on your door stating if patients have a fever, or any related symptoms to COVID, they may not enter.
• Everyone must wear a mask – staff and patients.
• Place distance markers on the floor for a safe waiting line.
• Have hand sanitizer readily available
• Remove magazines. They are number one germ spreaders
• Washing your hands in between patients
• Sanitizing adjusting tables and therapy rooms
  Scheduling appointments and no walk ins
• Design a waiver that patients must sign to acknowledge there are unavoidable health risks

4. Keep Your Website Up to Date With Current Information – CalChiro

• Keep current with your office hours
• How your office is handling its service during this time
• Keep contact information current and available

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Share Your Information Through Social Media – CalChiro

• Facebook is a great way to get information out to your patients and other viewers. Posting at least 2 times per week with updated information will keep your patients informed quickly and easily.
• Instagram is another great way to show videos and pictures about ways to protect yourself and what your office is offering to keep your patients safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Encourage Live Chat, Phone Calls or Emails  – CALCHIRO- KEEP PATIENTS CALM DURING A PANDEMIC

• You can use Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp and more to personally reach out to patients via the internet.
• Send out ENewsletters! You can do this using MailChimp, Constant Contact or other forms of providers.
• Schedule times to talk to patients via the phone. You may have some patients that don’t have the internet, and you may have to reach out the old-fashioned way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Use the ChiroChannel to Educate and Inform Patients

• Create slides that show how to practice social distancing, how to wear a mask effectively and properly sanitize.
• Create your own videos on the important role Chiropractic has on keeping your immune system strong during a pandemic.
• Create slides showing what your practice is doing to keep your patients safe.

These are scary times for everyone. With all of the media exposure out there and at times getting mixed messages, you have the opportunity to reassure your patients they are safe and well cared for.

STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE

 

We all have some extra time on our hands lately, and I don’t know about you, but the extended daylight hours and the more frequent days with temps above 40 gets me motivated to start spring cleaning my house. I love the smell of fresh air, fresh linens, and clean bright rooms. However, I also get that way with my business. I get the itch to clean my office, do some filing, go through emails, etc. I clean off my desk, get rid of old bills, and yes, even dust it. An uncluttered desk, helps to unclutter my mind.

But why stop there? There are other parts of your business that you should look at to do some spring cleaning. Why you ask? For the same reasons as your home. Some places in your business haven’t been looked at in years and need a good “cleaning” as well.

• Your Website Presence
• Your Social Media Presence
• Your Internal Staff
• Your Clinic Supplement Area
• Your Clinic Internal Area – Create Blank space to draw attention to other important areas of your clinic…like your ChiroChannel.
• Your Business Plan

Just pick a few things that might make the biggest difference in your business. And remember, if you don’t get it all done for spring, keep going. It’s never too late to improve your company.

1. Spruce up your Website – Forbes.com

• • Update the Cosmetic Look to your website. Inviting colors, pictures and the right font will entice the viewer to go through your website.
  • Clean up content. Make your content easier to read. Make the font size large enough to read comfortably, use more bullet points.
  • Get rid of old information that doesn’t apply and add new content that is more relevant.
  • Create Call to actions to pull your viewer into the important areas of your website.
  • Make your shopping cart and your query forms easy to fill out and complete.
  • Update the Keywords in your website. You might have to do a little research with this one, to see what keywords viewers are using for information on your website.

2. Update or Start Up your Social Media – Forbes.com

• • Add a Facebook page for your business. This starts an interaction with your customers and viewers. It drives business to your website and eventually turns followers into customers. It also acts as a passive referral system.
  • Include an Instagram account. Showing a personal side with the professional side creates a comfortableness with the viewers and customers.
  • A LinkedIn Account is really a must for any business. This allows you to connect and network with other businesses in your field. It is always beneficial to know what your competition is doing.

3. Spring Clean Your Internal Areas – Entrepreneur.com

• • Start with your waiting room. Keep it neat and uncluttered. Create blank spaces to draw attention to important areas of your clinic; like your Supplement Area and your ChiroChannel.
  • Pay attention to your Supplement area. Are you rotating stock, dusting and promoting certain products? Don’t forget you can Cross Promote your Products on your ChiroChannel.
  • Therapy and Treatment rooms. Keep them Cleaned, uncluttered and sanitized.
  • Last but not least, ensure the bathrooms are sanitized and thoroughly cleaned daily.

 

 

4. Freshen up Your ChiroChannel Display – The ChiroChannel.com

• Get rid of old slides
• Build new folders and organize your slides
• Do Qs and As about your business on your slides.
• Post new videos. Make your own and add them to the channel.
• Magazines are germ carriers. Dispose of them. Draw more attention to your display.
• Ask us for ways to keep your display fresh.

 

5. Internal Staff – Mindbodyonline.com

• Uniforms are cleaned and unwrinkled
• Personal hygiene is kept up.
• A Smile and welcoming disposition is not to be overlooked.
• Perhaps a reshuffle of staff to meet staffing needs is necessary.

6. Spring Clean Your Business Plan – Zimmer Communications

• Times Change and so will your business plan.
• Are your goals still the same or have they changed?
• Have your means changed to attain those goals?

We hope these tips set you up for continued success this year. When things run efficiently, it means more time for you to focus on growing your business.