STRATEGY MARKETING PATIENT COMMUNICATION Give them what they want, sell them what they need C BY RICHARD AVERY hiropractic patient communication has been a serious problem over the years and it has caused a lot of issues in not only driving more people to chiropractic offices, but also getting the population as a whole to accept and understand our profession. Think about it: chiropractic has been in existence for the last 122 years and an average of only seven per cent of the population sees a chiropractor. This means 93 per cent of them either refuse chiropractic as an option or know little to nothing about it. How is that even possible after 122 years? How can it be that we have such a powerfully effective non-surgical treatment with research to back it up, yet nearly everyone in our community chooses health-care options other than chiropractic? Although this is a very complex issue and one that has several factors that contribute to it, one of the leading factors is our use of ineffective and antiquated patient communication techniques. The fact of the matter is, our message simply doesn’t resonate with the population as a whole. If it did, we’d continue to see a rise in the statis-tics of people going to a chiropractor. Sadly, we continue to be stuck in the bear trap of seven per cent. If we don’t change the way we tell our story, we’ll never resonate with the people we want to serve and we will continue to only see seven per cent of the population for another 122 years. So, I’m going to reveal to you how I was able to develop a highly successful chain of clinics and what I teach my chiropractic coaching clients that allow them to quickly develop thriving clinics. I teach them a technique that is pred-icated on, “Give them what they want; sell them on what they need.” As we all know, people function on the model of, “I have pain. Remove my pain.” This is not new to us. We all know this to be true and agree that this isn’t the right approach to dealing with one’s health. As such, chiropractors attempt to teach the population to think differently. We teach them the chiropractic paradigm of health. That is to say, in order to stay healthy, fight disease and recover from injury, the body needs to function at its opti-mal level. Anything less will place people in a vulnerable state. “We don’t fix anything. We remove subluxations, which in turn removes nerve interference so your body will TIME FOR CHANGE DR. RICHARD AVERY is the host of the Crush’n It Chiropractic Podcast and is known as the chiropractic niche coach. He specializes in getting his clients to stand out from the crowd and creating highly profitable niche chiropractic clinics. You can reach him through his website www.ChiropracticNicheCoach.com 26 Canadian Chiropractor February 2018 function at its optimal health. When your body functions at its optimal health, it will then repair your condi-tion and symptoms will go away.” Problem is, this is not what the pop-ulation wants to hear and if you don’t give them what they want, they won’t buy into what you’re selling. However, if you modify your message you’ll reach your end goal as a doctor and create raving fans of chiropractic. Let me put this into perspective. Think about an individual wanting to go to the gym with the sole intention of looking good. However, when she goes to a gym to sign up for a membership, the trainer explains this isn’t what his gym is about. So he tries to sell her on the health aspects of working out even though all she wants is to lose weight, look good on the beach, and fit into her old jeans. Yet despite her wants, he con-tinues with his beliefs and insists on why his approach is the better approach. So what does she do? She leaves that gym for another where they’ll listen to her and give her what she wants. Why? Because their message aligns with her wants. We all know that when we go to the gym and eat healthy, we’ll look better, feel better and become healthier. Re-gardless of how the trainer articulates his message (i.e. sales pitch), the end result will be the same. However, one communication approach will convert, while the other won’t. For the second personal trainer, he www.canadianchiropractor.ca
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