Rhino Univeristy EP12: The Secret to a Loyal Patient Base
Hi Rhinos!
I want to talk about a very simple and effective tool/strategy - it’s really just about caring and showing people you care. Anyone can do it, but few do because it takes actual emotional labor, it’s emotional work to care; sometimes it hurts but showing that pain and compassion creates an incredible relationship with people. It’s a game changer. Not everyone that comes into your office will stay with you long enough to get well, but you can show you care with every single person.
When I first opened my practice I had a patient come in, he was a landscaper and he just wasn’t getting better. Months went by and I’m trying everything it just wasn’t happening for him, he wasn’t getting better, things weren’t looking right and I couldn’t figure it out at the time. I remember that I called him one day to check on him and just to see how he was doing, the whole call only took a few minutes. The next day he comes in to the office and tells me that he’s been to a lot of chiropractors recently and things obviously aren’t going very well but I’m the first one that he felt like really cares about him. Fast forward 9 years, he and his family still come in; they’ve referred a ton of family and friends to us simply because we spend the extra time and emotional work in truly caring about them.
Do it because it’s the right way to do things and long term you’ll win massive if you’re willing to put in that kind of emotional labor & work. This doesn’t take any skill or talent, it doesn’t matter what type of practice you have or what area you’re in, everyone can do this, but very few do because it takes work. Most people will tell you, “forget about them, go do another screening, go try and sell another prepay” and that’s fine, screenings and prepays are great but taking the time and putting in the work to care for each and every person is how you’ll really set yourself for a loyal patient base.
One of the greatest ways to show you care is Follow-up, seriously, just follow-up with people! Technology has made this SO EASY. Send a text, send an email, call them – Don’t turn it into a sales pitch, it’s about showing you honestly CARE. Birthday, holidays are easy ones but don’t limit it to those. If they’re going in for an MRI, follow-up; if they’re going in for surgery, follow-up; if they had a family member that passed, send a card; if they send you a referral, say thank you! It’s that little extra work. You have to have an office manager that is extremely organized to help to consistently execute on this. Taking the time to put in the emotional work is the hard part but that’s also what will separate you from every other chiropractor in the community.
You have to ACTUALLY care about each and every person that walks through your door. This is how you create loyalty, you become THEIR Doctor and indispensable. They’re not going to go anywhere else because they know you care about them. You’ve built a relationship with them.
You of course have to be competent, you have to be able to do all the other stuff too, but this is the extra work that separates you from the rest and speaks to every single person, no matter their situation. There’s no ROI or numeric metric that will show you the value of this, caring goes beyond that. Because you can’t track it, so few do it and no one talks about it, but I promise you, truly caring about people by following up with little things, like a card, call, text makes all the difference in the world. You’ll build a loyal, loyal patient base that will refer to you, react to you, and trust you because they know you CARE.
Keep Charging!
Dr. FJ
