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Same Message, Modern Methods
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Our family goes to an awesome church near where we live on the south side of Atlanta. There are many reasons why we love the church: they have an incredible worship experience every week, the senior pastor is a great communicator, the church does all kinds of creative and impactful outreach to the community and best of all, everything the church does revolves around the Bible, its principles, and tenets, all of which have never changed since the people, God inspired and chosen by Him, wrote every word.
Now I have to admit, I’m guilty, just like so many chiropractors I know are also, that I wear “chiropractic lenses”, so much of what I see, read and hear about I start to relate back to a chiropractic viewpoint of the world. When I see a movie, read a book, examine a business operation, I evaluate it through the principles of chiropractic and the ADIO mindset!
Like I said, I love my church. One of the things I see when I look at how my church and so many like it are growing and thriving in today’s culture is that they are delivering a biblically sound message with boldness, clarity, simplicity, and creativity, and they making a huge impact in the community, all the while staying relevant to a wide cross-section of the population. The best part is that my church hasn’t changed its doctrine or message – it’s still 100 percent grounded in biblical principles – but it has created very relevant and modern methods of delivering its message to the community with great success.
So now I want to challenge you to take off your chiropractic lenses and try to see chiropractic and our practices from the public’s viewpoint. Like the church I described, are we as chiropractors delivering our message with boldness, clarity, simplicity, and creativity? Are we utilizing technology, being relevant in today’s culture, all the while staying true to the principles and tenets of chiropractic?
I’m going to start off by assuming we have the same message, meaning that the objective of your practice is to educate people in your community on the principles of chiropractic, that life flows from above-down and inside-out, that you detect and correct vertebral subluxation, and that everything you do in your practice and your community revolves around and is grounded in chiropractic.
So while our message stays the same, what modern methods do we need to be relevant, to create clarity for our practice members, to help them get the big idea in today’s chiropractic practices and health culture?
Let’s start off by evaluating the surroundings or atmosphere of your practice. Have you walked into your practice and sat down in your reception area recently and evaluated it from a practice member’s perspective? What about the bathrooms? Maybe you need some fresh colors on the walls, updated lighting, new TVs? Are you still playing VHS tapes? Do you have a fake ficus tree in the corner? A sliding glass window to separate the chiropractic assistant from the practice members?
If you answered even a close yes to any of those items, I would recommend investing in an interior designer to give your practice a makeover. Stay authentic to who you are in your practice and your personality, but make the investment to have your practice be relevant and up to date.
How is the efficiency of your practice from the practice member’s standpoint? People are used to many services they purchase being very quick and efficient, and we can’t ignore the increased time constraints people are under. Our church has an iPad counting down the seconds of the message, so the pastor stays on target and respects our church members’ time.
In your practice, do people have to wait for long time periods when they come for an adjustment? Do you have a software system that can track the time from when someone enters your practice until you adjust him/her and make the SOAP note? Every chiropractor I talk to wants to adjust lots of children in their offices, but I can’t personally imagine going somewhere once a week, every week where I would have to wait 30-plus minutes with my kids. Train yourself and your team to serve with excellence and efficiency, and provide unexpected superb service!
For new practice members, give an office tour, where you or one of your team members show them around the office, educate them on infants and children getting adjusted, show them the evaluation rooms, where and how the adjustments take place, give them a current chiropractic testimonial from one of your practice members and build their trust as you show them your practice through our “chiropractic lenses.”
Make sure you are using some type of technology in your practice that helps you evaluate the nervous system, as it will give you increased knowledge and confidence when caring for your practice members, but also a very relevant tool to educate them on the importance of chiropractic and boost their trust in you.
Another method that is not used by most chiropractors in the group, Doctor’s Report, where you invite all your new practice members together to teach them the wonders of chiropractic. Incorporate some technology in the teaching, with images or video to stimulate the visual learning of people present. The Doctor’s Report creates a great synergy in the practice and helps give clarity and certainty to your practice members of why they need chiropractic care for themselves and their families. Remember, “If people knew what we knew, they would do what we do.”
People love the creative outreach projects at our church! Have you considered doing fun and creative outreach projects for your practice members and your community to help everyone understand how much we care and get a better understanding of chiropractic? Try hosting a community dinner with the doctor, joining forces with local charities to collect items or sponsor events, or throwing a party to celebrate your practice members and their families trusting you with their health. Be creative, have fun, and win people over to chiropractic by building relationships based on trust.
One of the most important methods is to have your team clearly understand chiropractic and what their roles are in the office. Gone are the days of the lady who just answers the phones. Your team members need to be a well-oiled and smooth-running machine of educating, re-educating, and re-confirming the understanding and importance of chiropractic to your practice members and your community!
Dr. Jeremy Hess, with his wife Amanda, own Discover Chiropractic in Stockbridge, GA. Dr. Hess is a 2000 graduate of Life University and is the co-author of the “Designed by God” book series.
*Originally published in Sherman Magazine, Fall 2014, p25
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