UPFRONT | Columnist BUSINESS TALK Bank on it I New trend sees more financial institutions lending to DCs. BY ANTHONY LOMBARDI business man spotted his sportscar parked in the factory. “Ferdinand, who owns that car?” the man asked. “I built that car, it is mine sir,” Ferdi-nand proudly replied. The man wanted to purchase it. In fact, so many people wanted to buy his sportscar that he had to start taking orders. But to fund the projects, he demanded people pay full price in advance – and they did. Cashfl ow was no longer a problem, so Ferdinand actually wrote letters to the banks updating them on his success and thanking them for rejecting him. Over the years that followed, , cars were ordered for Ferdinand Por-sche’s sta to produce. graduating chiropractors face today. Using consumer and psychology re-search, I demonstrated the measurable benefits banks could receive if they invested in a new graduate looking to start their own practice. For instance, the latest consumer research shows that if service provid-ers such as banks, stores, restaurants, car dealerships and small businesses engage the consumer at significant life-altering stages of their life such as the birth of a child, marriage, retire-ment or graduation from school – those consumers will habitually use that service or product for their entire lives. For example, in the s, a team of researchers led by a UCLA professor named Alan Andreasen un-The chiropractor’s catch-dertook a study of peoples’ purchases, for example, soap, toothpaste, trash “Banks lend money to chiropractic bags and toilet paper. They learned students who have no money and no assets that most shoppers paid almost no so that they can graduate and practise. attention to how they bought these But when they graduate and try to start a products, that the purchases occurred practice, banks reject them because they habitually and without any complex have no money and no assets. ” decision-making. This meant it was hard for marketers, despite their dis-The banking experience of plays and coupons and prod-Ferdinand Porsche is a famil-uct promotions, to persuade The ide of iar one to anyone starting a shoppers to change. lending small business. But, after re-Interestingly, when some modest sums viewing the surveys I had customers were going through of money to presented to chiropractors a major life event, such as grduted and chiropractic students in graduating from college or the last six months, some helth profes-getting a new job, their shop-ideas came to me. I had a sionls cretes ping habits became fl exible in better understanding about excitement, ways that were predictable. what chiropractors were look-hope nd the The study found that when ing for, so I approached a few enthusism… someone marries, he or she is small to medium-sized fi nan-more likely to start buying a cial institutions in Canada and the new type of coffee. When a couple United States, and I described to them move into a new house, they’re more the obstacles chiropractors and newly apt to purchase a different kind of cereal. When they divorce, there’s an ANTHONY LOMBARDI, DC, is a private consultant to athletes in the NFL, CFL and NHL, and founder of the increased chance they’ll start buying Hamilton Back Clinic, a multidisciplinary clinic. He teaches his fundamental EXSTORE Assessment System di erent brands of beer and when they and practice building workshops to various health professionals. For more information, visit www.exstore.ca. start their first job after graduating n the late s, there was a Ger-man boy named Ferdinand who had a gift for fi xing things – so much so that when he was he became a mechanical engineer. Later on, he had an opportunity to further his education at a trade univer-sity but he did not have the money to pay for tuition. However, his talent did not go unnoticed and because he was guaranteed a job once he graduated, a German bank loaned him the money and he was able to complete school. As soon as he graduated, the German government hired him to design and build cars and his employers were very happy with his performance. Then, following the Second World War, Ferdinand’s thinking changed: he decided he wanted to build his own car. He would stay late at work after his shift was done to work on his project and soon he developed what he called a sportscar. He was very happy with what he had produced but he needed more money to produce more. So, Ferdinand went back to the bank that had lent him the money years before to pay for school. He approached the bank – in fact he approached three di erent banks. All of the banks rejected his proposal for a loan. They said: “Ferdinand you do not have any assets and you have put your-self into debt to build this sportscar. No one will buy this car.” Ferdinand replied, “Years ago when I was a student I had no assets and a debt but you still gave me a loan – what’s the di erence now?” Disappointed and frustrated, Ferdi-nand returned home with his sportscar and to his old job, until one day a 20 Canadian Chiropractor July/August 2013 www.canadianchiropractor.ca The tale of Ferdinand
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