Why Spinal Screenings Can Still Be Effective

While, by survey, I have found many doctors of Chiropractic to have gotten away from spinal screenings for many reasons, I am finding them a more effective than ever for practice expansion. This is evidenced by the fact that my most in-demand product, steadily for the last 2 years, has been chiropractic screenings. Overall, I still find that this one-on-one interaction with prospective new patients to be the utmost in marketing even rivaling patient referrals. So, for whatever reason you may have gotten away from doing them, just know they are still a valid, more-effective-than-ever method of getting new patients. They are my number one source of increased office visit figures and statistics in Chiropractic practices; and, there are 3 HUGE, co-dependant reasons why they can fail.

Reasons I have heard from doctors, though many, boil down to just a handful of simple ones. Aside from an "all-referral" word-of-mouth-based practice (still a very valid method indeed) which need not rely on screenings, there are 5 basic explanations:

1. Sick of doing them or don't want to
2. Not effective at doing them
3. Not comfortable doing them
4. Not enough time to do them
5. Lack of venues to do them

I list these here for a couple of reasons. First, for you to see which category you feel describes your situation most. Doing so can give you a reality on how to use what I am saying to your advantage. Secondly, I wish to show them irrelevant in terms of why you may have found screenings to be a source of expansion failure in your practice. For, here is a way of explaining them which I know ALL chiropractors will understand. THEY ARE SYMPTOMS.

Symptoms? But, of what? Herein lie the three "HUGE", co-dependant reasons indicated above. They are, Purpose, Consistency and Venue, and are THE ONLY things I have found standing in the way of starting the expansion of your practice.

Well, you've been hearing about purpose since chiropractic school. But go back a little earlier. Do you remember what sent you there in the first place? Whatever your reason, it's clear you had one and, let's face it, it most likely wasn't money! Surely Dentistry or Plastic surgery could have provided you a gold mine. Do you also remember how on purpose you were when you first got out? Take a moment to reflect. Regardless, with practice trials and tribulations, patients leaving, the media bashing you as well as the insurance companies cutting you off at every turn, how do you keep up the purpose. Mind you, I am not lecturing you on your lack of purpose or even accusing you of not having one. I merely bring this up because it is the key element on which a successful screening program is based is purpose. The purpose to help as many people through chiropractic care is the drive needed to make screenings successful and is what I credit as making me so successful at doing screenings and closing new patient prospects. It is an absolute MUST!

Once you have purpose, you must have consistency. Clients who hire me sporadically to do random screenings get some great results on the short term however, I know I am not creating any long-term effects on their practice unless we do them on a regular basis. My goal is to get all of my clients setting up a consistent schedule of, minimum, once per month. A good consistent number screenings, scheduled at regular intervals, trumps ANY single event no matter how many you can schedule at a time. I should also mention that, in starting out doing them, venue doesn't even matter. Just get at least one scheduled per month to start, book out the next few months and then keep booking for the months beyond that. You can always add a second or a third per month later. Once you get this consistency, the visit numbers will start to rise. THEN, you can worry about the venues.

Obviously, some venues are better than others when it comes to screenings. I have done every venue imaginable from Starbucks to gyms, corporations to book stores, super marksts, mall shows, street fairs - I even did them at IHOP and Dunkin' Donuts. You can almost point to any public venue and I've been there. What I can tell you is you are right in thinking there are good and bad venues. Once you get a consistent schedule going, you can start to evaluate each venue as to traffic, and quality (not necessarily quantity) of people. Once done, you can give closer attention to this for maybe 4-6 months away and get better places booked. As they may take longer, this gives you plenty of time to secure them on your schedule without leaving you with no events booked. As you close each one, you're one step closer to having 12 TOP NOTCH venues.

Mind you, I'm not saying this is law or gospel. This is only a blog and we all have our say on today's Internet. This is just me sharing with you what I have found successful in my daily work with screenings. Doctors and their practices are the 'patients' that I see in my 'practice' and, just as you spend the majority of your week working diligently toward your patients' rehabilitation, so do I spend time doing and observing screenings, prospects and venues, making changes and improvements as I go. Bottom line: Screenings, when USED PROPERLY considering the 3 key elements above can be immensely successful....and so can you. Cheers!

Frank Sardella
Chiropractic Screening Experts
for more information on Chiropractic Spinal Screenings
go to: www.chiropracticscreeningexperts.com
(845)787-3349