The Capture, the Conversion the Close
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
Eric Kaplan
Perry Bard
Jason Kaplan
DC, FIAMA
If you want to treat disc injuries, educate yourself on the Cox studies, the Shealy studies, the Eyerman studies.
Coaches and consultants have dominated the chiropractic profession over the years. Many focus on the consultation, examination, and report of findings (ROF) and still ask how a coach helps chiropractors. Why do chiropractors need a coach?
Being successful in practice means recruiting new patients, having them agree to the treatment program, and making sure they pay. Sounds simple, but it’s not. Dr. Bard and I call this strategy the “three Cs” — capture, conversion, and close.
As coaches, we focus on making our clients better doctors rather than turning them into salespeople. In today’s world, nobody wants to “be sold” on something. The doctor’s role should be to educate the patient — be forthcoming and direct. The ROF should be an educational experience.
When we talk about the three Cs, we refer to “capturing” the subluxation patient, neuropathy patient, and disc patient for care and treatment. Converting any type of patient involves educating them about what you do and how you can help them. Are we working with a “basic” chiropractic patient or one who meets the criteria for additional treatment?
Chiropractors work with so many different levels and types of treatment. Are you a wellness office? Are you a weight loss office? Are you a neuropathy office? Are you a spinal decompression office? Are you all of the above? The patient needs to know who you are and what you do.
Once a patient has been “captured” and “converted” to pursue chiropractic treatment, we move on to “the close,” or the financial aspects of patient care and treatment, and how to make it affordable. The close and the capture work closely together; your marketing must be honest and direct so that the patient experiences no surprises during the close. So we need to delve further into the capture stage of working with the patient.
First, we should always ask why the patient came to the office. What were they looking for? Does the patient understand the role of a chiropractor? Can you to provide the treatment for the results they need? If the answer is yes, then “the close” should be very simple.
Let’s take a moment to talk a little about marketing to patients, which starts with how you are perceived as a doctor. Now notice, I didn’t say perceived as “a chiropractor,” but perceived as a “doctor.” Why do we say it that way? If you ask a cardiologist what kind of doctor he or she is, the reply is “a cardiologist,” a neurologist would say “neurologist,” etc. I am proud to have a DC at the end of my name, but I love having “Dr.” in front of my name. I am a doctor who practices chiropractic.
Many people come to your office after going to medical doctors, and they are learning about the benefits of chiropractic care and treatment. Medical doctors can be our allies. Actually, my son receives numerous referrals from medical professionals for disc care, an area of his expertise.
If you want to treat disc patients, we educate patients about the disc business and the treatment of a disc problem, which is a specialty. So, if you look at any of our Disc Centers of America’s doctors, you’ll notice that they are not branded simply as a chiropractor. They’re branded in marketing as doctors who work with disc injuries and focus on spinal discs.
This is when your website becomes important. Your website needs to be specific about what you do and how you do it, and it must provide the patient with a clear understanding of your emphasis on practice. There’s an old saying, “If you try to be everything to everybody, you’ll often end up being nothing to nobody.” Everything begins with the spine, which begins with the subluxation, and we specialize in spinal injuries.
I challenge you to look at the playing field of typical templated chiropractic websites. Many are kind of a “mishmash” of everything a chiropractor can do. You want your website to capture the patient by focusing on your specialties, e.g., disc care and treating degenerative disc disease (DDD). Also, you must ensure that all graphics are high-quality images consistent with your offered treatments.
We know proper marketing can introduce the community to chiropractic and treatment of disc, nerve, and muscle pathologies. Conversion is how you educate the patient about your ability to help them. Working with my son, Dr. Jason Kaplan, and his wife, Dr. Stephanie Kaplan, has been exciting as I’ve seen changes within the profession over the past 40 years. We work weekly with doctors in over 43 states, helping them with the capture, conversion, and close. It is the focus of the ChironEvent (www.thechiroevent.com).
Let’s wrap up with the essentials of capturing, converting, and closing patients.
Fundamental Concepts to Practice when Working with Patients
1.Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain about any past doctors they’ve seen or experiences they’ve had before visiting you.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation that they’ve come to your office.
3. Capture patients’ interest by educating them about your treatments.
4. Awaken the wellness within patients by removing the cause of their symptoms.
Six ways to Increase your Respect as a Doctor
1. Become genuinely interested in other people and their conditions.
2. Don’t be concerned if they are cash, personal injury, Medicare, etc. Concentrate on their symptoms and your diagnosis. Be a doctor first and a businessperson second.
3. It is imperative that you remember your patient’s name.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
6. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.
How to Become Known as a Doctor who is Interested in his/her Patients
1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person to say “yes” immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is theirs.
8. Try to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic to the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.
How to be a leader
1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Never criticize the person — only the act, statement, or action.
4. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
5. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
6. Let the other person save face.
7. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement.
8. Be a good example for those you lead.
9. Use encouragement.
10. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. Let the other person save face.
One of the books I read along the journey, was Earl Nightingale’s book “How Win Friends and Influence People” this book is a must read for any level of success. The close doctors, is a commitment to honesty, a commitment to sincerity, a commitment to the patient and not just their insurance company, their type of payment, but their condition.
Take Control
In reality doctors, you’re the president of your own personal-services corporation. You’re completely in charge of production, quality control, training and development, marketing, finance, and promotion. Thinking of yourself passively, as being employed and, therefore, subject to the dictates of someone else, can be fatal to your long-term success. On the other hand, seeing yourself as self-employed forces you to see that you also are self-responsible and self-determining, that everything that happens to you happens because of your conduct and your behavior. You’re in the driver’s seat. You’re behind the steering wheel of your practice and your life. It’s up to you to decide how to utilize your talents and abilities in such a way as to bring you the very highest return on investment of your time and energy. No one else is going to do it for you. You’re the boss. Others can help you, guide you, direct you, channel you, point you in the right direction and even give you opportunities, but in the final analysis, no one can make the critical decisions that will determine your future and your fortune. There has never been a better time for Chiropractic. Doctors, today with failed back surgery being of epidemic proportions. It is now our turn to sit in the driver seat of back and spine conditions.
During 34-plus years as business partners, Dr. Eric Kaplan and Dr. Perry Bard have developed Disc Centers of America, Concierge Coaches, and the first national certification program for non-surgical spinal decompression a 12 CEU credit event. Being held for the 10th anniversary on November 5,6. This event has been sold out for two years running.
Dr. Jason Kaplan is a Parker University graduate practicing in Wellington, Florida with his wife, Dr. Stephanie Kaplan. Jason also is an Instructor for Disc Centers of America and teaches techniques for the National Certification Program at Life University. To learn more, call 888-990-9660 visit thechiroevent.com or decompressioncertified.org.
