#1 Program and Office Infrastructure
MD Relationship Program
#62
From the Desk of:
#18 “Constancy is Critical”
In the business world, there are some important axioms that should be learned and remembered for the length of your career. Consistency in marketing is certainly at the top of the list, but the reality is, in chiropractic we tend to pay less attention to marketing when we are busy. Soon our numbers fall and we are in an all out blitz to get caught up! Once our attention starts to pay off, we get busier again and our marketing efforts again fall away. It is a negative loop that creates stress, inconsistent income and a feeling that “others need to be working harder.” Expecting others to work harder than you on your own business is a false path to walk on and leads to associates quitting, staff looking for other work and an overall decrease in patient satisfaction. I guess the best way to put it is a proper marketing plan that is consistent with current practice trends takes leadership. That leadership will create a practice in which new patients consistently schedule appointments for chiropractic care. No matter what your problems are, a patient schedule full of new patients week after week and month after month will solve most of your issues. Therefore, what do you need to do to make sure that your outreach is firing on all cylinders, patients are getting the care they need and the entire office is working in a fast-paced, inspired office with low stress?
In the first place, make sure that you have a plan that is established on a 30 day rotating basis. This has to be a realistic outline of what can be consistently accomplished over a 12 month period. You simply recreate the plan for the next month. Although this is the “plan,” you also have to be flexible enough to prioritize your efforts, so as not to create stress in the workplace. Staff and certainly patients can feel that and too often they judge your abilities based on your leadership “aura.” Have you ever talked to a salesman/woman that is stressed? What is your confidence level in that person? The “mad scientist” approach often ends badly…The 30 day plan has to account for the things that YOU, the doctor, must do and those that can be delegated to others.
The second thing to do is to make sure that your staff understands the “why” of what you are implementing. I have always felt the need to keep my staff informed on why I make decisions while including their interests. Their interests being career advancement, benefits, raises and security. My interests are the same. When we meet, I discuss what the next step is, why it is a good idea that we all do this (see the incentives above) and what I think the best approach may be. Now, I am not everywhere all the time, so their input is important, but I will always make the final decision. My staff members need to take ownership in the process, but they also know that they don’t see everything that I do. Being a good doctor does not make you a good manager. In fact, the manager side may be the hardest thing you have to learn!
Lastly, make sure that you revisit the same plan every 30 days. Each time you do it, you will get better at it. It becomes more customized to your office and the results go up because you have been learning from mistakes and missteps. That is what separates the successful doctors in the program from those that are adrift. This program works in all areas of the country. However, the difference is in the coaching ability of the DC. These simple concepts are critical to the time that you may want to make the transition from working “in” your practice to working “on” your practice. Leading a practice takes more work than working in the practice and delegation is NOT about creating indentured servants or worse yet, slaves. It is about your climbing to the next level so that you have the ability to handle bigger and more complex things. In the long run, you cannot delegate what you yourself have not perfected. Study it, learn it, do it, prefect it for your practice, then delegate it so that you may start the entire process over at the next level. Call or email me if you need help in setting this up for your practice. YOU must be doing this FIRST, not your staff.{jcomments on}
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