What Patients Really Want

This information comes from a study of 10,000 patients to determine “What patients really want”. We find in our consulting experience, that in most cases, practitioners tend to be miss lead by what they think people want (i.e. new high tech gadgets) rather than what they actually want.

We believe this information will be informative as you begin to lay out your path in making sure your practice is one that is “consumeristicly” driven. At first glance these are going to come across almost to simple, but keep in mind this is what the Patients wants.

 

Before we go through the list, we need to preface it with a couple of things:

• There is absolutely no way to get better at giving patients what they don’t want.
• If your practice is not growing, you are not meeting the patients needs.
• You have to move your practice to the next level of productivity.
• Your systems are precisely designed to get the results you’re getting. Get past the mind set of doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.

 

This list is not in any specific order. They do not rank from most important to least. Now lets dive right in.

 

Top Ten Things Patients Want

1. It doesn’t hurt during or after. You can’t pay for the marketing that being pain free brings to your practice. Patients come to you with the perception that what you are going to do may hurt. A doctor who will take that first adjustment experience as an opportunity to knock down the patients fear will experience higher retention. Ask the patient if they have been adjusted by your technique before. Most will say no because they don’t know what your technique is. Explain to them what they are going to be experiencing, what your going to be doing, and what they can expect.
2. Be on time. The ripple effect of not being on time is that your patients will increase the cancellations and no shows. They feel like you are so busy that you won’t ever miss them. When the doctor gets behind, the front desk shuts down. You need to keep your boundaries tight. That means if you tell your staff to schedule patients in 5 minute time slots and you take 7 to 10 minutes with each patient, you’re going to throw your whole day off. Schedule patients in realistic time slots. Don’t set yourself up to get behind. If it takes you 7 minutes to adjust patients then schedule accordingly. Patients vote with their feet. They may not return and you will not get referrals if you are not on time.
3. The most thorough exam ever. You have to stand out from everyone else that does what you do. An exam is routine for you, but it is the first encounter for the patient and the only way they have of judging you. They need to be thinking “Wow! I’ve never had an exam like this.” Exams are a team effort. It should not take a lot of the doctors time. You need to be 100% emotionally involved. Listen to the patient. Let them tell you what is going on. Build a relationship that says, “I’m thorough, I’m good, I know what I’m doing.” It gives the patient confidence in you, and when it comes time to accept your recommendations they trust you.
4. Listens to and allows questions. Patients buy what they want, not what they need. Your goal is to get them to buy what they need.
5. Patients are happy with the results. Lets repeat that because it’s not that the doctor needs to be happy with the results. “The Patient Is Happy With The Results.” Tell them what they need and HAPPILY give them what they want. If you do this they will be back and they will refer.
6. Prompt emergency patient care. Emergency patients are the easiest ones to sell. You need to have the systems in play to handle any potential emergency cases you may encounter. You need to have the capacity to handle more when people call. Do not put these people off to the next day or until Monday. You must see patients who are hurting the SAME DAY. These people will refer you many many people.
7. Quality of the chiropractic care for the staff. Your staff is a walking billboard. They need to be under your care and technique. How can you expect your team, your staff, to be out there rooting for you if they have not experienced your work. They need to be able to speak on the fact that they haven’t had troubles with colds, flus, etc since they started working for you. When they experience the miracles of chiropractic they will talk about it and you.
8. Hours. You need to make sure you are working consumer hours. The clinic needs to be open when patients want to be there and can be there. If you’re unsure if your hours are the best for your patients have them take a 2 minute survey related to your office hours.
9. Location. The fact is, people buy what is familiar. You need to be doing multiple things that draw attention to you and your practice such as: signage, website, mailers, flyers, etc. We find that patients will call or google you before they come in. It’s rare that people pull up to an intersection, turn their head, look at your beautiful chiropractic office and say, “Pull in there. I need to get some.” They’re not going to just pull in like they would at a restaurant. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that just because you have a sign up and you’re in a nice building that people know you’re there. The goal is when a person is hunting for your services they are familiar with you and they know how to find you. Location is huge. Use it to your advantage.
10. Well explained treatment plans and multiple financial options. The key is WELL EXPLAINED treatment plans; not treatment plans. You need to be able to look at the patient and see if they understand so they can choose the best plan for them. On day one, there needs to be a brief money talk. After the Report of Findings (ROF), whether it’s on day one or day two, you need to make sure you have a financial consultation that is well rehearsed. Your staff needs to be well rehearsed with each patient type so they can have a clear cut financial consultation that would empower the patient in making a confident choice in care. If there isn’t a powerful financial consultation after the ROF, it will not matter how good your report and recommendations are. It will fall short. Remember if a patient gets cross ways with you financially they will never be a long time patient or a referral source.
11. (Bonus) Money. Consumers shop. A lot of offices get calls asking about their fees and these offices get upset feeling as if this is a bad thing. Instead, think of a shopper as a new patient just calling to get scheduled. Remember this, patients don’t want to spend a lot of money to find out if you’re the person they want help from. In other words, they don’t want to spend a boat load of money until they figure out if they like you, your office, and what you are saying. Keep the costs down so they can find out what is wrong and so they can meet you. You will make up for it on the back end.

 

To truly give patients what they want you have to do all 10 or 11 of these things perfectly. You’re only hurting yourself and your practice if you are only doing 9 out of these 10. Final thought to leave you with, “The enemy of the best is not the worst. The enemy of the best is just fine.”

 

Now go give your patients what they want!

 

Yours in Chiropractic,

Capacity Management