Looking Inward – Part 1 Practice strategies for a tough economy Scott Newman is a senior consul- tant, specializing in designing and implementing patient reactivation systems. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Shawn Veltman is a practice growth expert operating out of Hamilton, Ontario, and the founder of SV&A Chiropractic Consulting. He has helped practices in Canada,and the U.S.,develop systems to bring back patients, retain existing patients, and run their practices more effec- tively. For more information about SV&A Chiropractic, visit www. svachiro.com. to think about ways to try to “drum up new business”. However, this might, in fact, be the perfect time to examine existing systems, and determine ways to better leverage their potential for practice success. It’s going to be a lot harder, in tough economic times, to get new patients but, also, to get them to stay. So, perhaps it would be more worth your time to examine your existing patients and practices, and make these work better for you. In this two part series, we’ll discuss four important areas of your practice that you may want to re-examine. These are: investing time in new patient visits patient retention strategies patient reactivation programs effi cient use of strategies for best outcomes W • • • • INVEST THE TIME TO SECURE THE PATIENT Take a second and answer the following two questions: How much time does it take you to see a patient on their 50th treatment? How much time does it take you to see a patient on their first treatment? • • You didn’t have to think about it at all, did you? Of course you spend a lot more time with a patient during their fi rst few visits, than you do after they’ve had dozens of visits with you. Now, let me ask you three more follow-up questions: How much revenue do you generate spending an hour with a new patient? How much revenue do you generate spending an hour with existing patients? Who is more likely to come in for a future visit: the patient with 50 visits, or the patient who’s on their first visit? • • • Continued on page 26 10 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | MAY 2009 www.canadianchiropractor.ca henever the economic climate starts to look rough, the vast majority of prac- tice owners start to worry about what a decline in patient numbers will mean to them, their staff, their practice, and their family. Automatically, they start Shawn Veltman Scott Newman feature
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