The “outer shell” of the E-myth pertains to an entrepreneurial spirit and skill set. Again, this is largely ignored in Chiropractic schools, as it is in most professional schools. In fact, it can be rejected as contrary to the primary calling of whichever profession attracted you in the first place. In an open and rapidly changing environment, that is absurd to the point of endangering our young graduates. Yet, attitudes die hard.
In the olden days (I’m talking about the 1960’s) it was considered unprofessional conduct for a medical doctor to have a business card or to post a sign larger than the size of a letter envelope! We were subjected to television ads depicting cigarette smoking and drinking of alcoholic beverages, but we never saw advertisements for prescription medications. During the WWII era, cigarette ads were essentially testimonials from MD’s extolling the healthful virtues of cigarette smoke and heartily endorsing one brand or the other.
Things have undergone a massive shift since those times, clearly. The marketing of healthcare services and of pharmaceutical products is an enormous section of our economy and is present in nearly every media form. Big Pharma companies alone routinely spend over a billion dollars annually in just advertising and marketing, with some exceeding the $2.5B mark.
Chiropractors cannot come close to competing on this scale, so we have to go about it through another pathway. The most solid way to do this is through building relationships and reputations. This takes time and effort, but will give you the most solid referral base and the most loyal customer base as well.
Understanding your market
Most Chiropractic practices are local, meaning the overwhelming majority (<90%) in most practices either reside or work in the practice zip code. Some older practices are regional, meaning they cover several surrounding zips, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Start with your own zip code. You can obtain generic, basic information for free about your own zip code at websites such as zipskinny.com. You can also purchase hyper-detailed mailing lists including names, addresses, income, years of education, etc. at a surprisingly cheap price. This should not be necessary, but it’s available.
Who is the largest employer? Top five? Who serves on the local school board? Who is on the town council or government? Who is the police chief, the fire chief if that applies? Where are other medical professionals located? This type of information used to be available only through tedious legwork, but now it’s available online and at very low cost.
There is a significant action step here: you must get out of your office and meet influential local people via any means at your disposal. This can be in nearly any forum, but just knowing about them will not do much for you.
Understanding your unique offer
How can you explain what you do to someone who is not familiar with it in a few short sentences? Can you fit it into a 140 character-sized tweet? Can you boil it down to one word? The broader and more inclusive you make this message, the harder it is to differentiate yourself from everyone else, not just your colleagues. As an example, the word “wellness” has so many applications from smoking cessation to weight management to cancer screenings, to nutritional support and pathways, that it cannot be the word that applies to your unique chiropractic offer.
Positioning and communicating
The essence of marketing can be boiled down to three simple questions. You must have clear, concise and compelling answers to these thematic questions.
- • What are you offering me?
- • Why should I buy it from you?
- • Why should I buy it from you now?
Your positioning is related to your answers to these questions. The ideal end point is that you are offering a unique set of products and services to your local population. If unique is not possible, ten we go for highest quality. This is actually hard work to develop and is something that does not come naturally to most.
Your communication is like a set of concentric circles. It starts within your own head with the above exercise. Once you have your messaging and unique offer clear, you communicate it to your support staff and any other providers in your office. Next circle is your existing patient base. Last circle is the outside community, both to prospective patients and to referral partners.
Creating local relationships and reputation
This is a large topic, and worthy of a separate blog post. It sounds like a relatively simple proposition to visit with other local providers, explain what you do, ask what they do and agree to refer patients who need the help of the other doctor. Not so fast! The main barrier I see with most chiropractors is that they are introverts by nature and do not want to be pushy or “selling”. The best framework to keep in mind is that you develop referral relationships for the ultimate benefit of the patient, not for any self-serving reason. Also remember that many times, your PCP counterparts are introverts as well!