Chiropractors – Why Your Retentions Suffer
Great retention seems to be that thing that is missing in both massively successful chiropractic practices, as well as growing start-ups.
The need to drive in new patients is what most concentrate on, in order to keep numbers neutral. Having slow growth can be exhausting and stressful, often times leading to burn-outs.
Who doesn’t want to have generations of patients coming in year after year? We all have this to a certain degree, but not where it shroud be. What if every patient became a lifetime patient, and referred their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers all the time?
3 Things That Lead to Lack of Retention:
Lack of Transparency
Specifically, lack of transparency about a lifetime of care from the very beginning. I find most chiropractors have this fear that prevents them from telling patients that chiropractic is a lifetime commitment…
I get it. I was in the same boat early on, and really just wanted to sell the care plan that was right in front of me. I was mistaken to think that I could “sell” or educate them on lifetime care later.
Will you stop getting adjusted? Then why should your patients?
Report of findings should include the big picture, as well as the more immediate game plan. And the big picture should be chiropractic care for life. For them, their spouses, their loved ones,… everyone.
Poor Re-Exam
Assuming you have communicated and educated them on chiropractic care as a lifestyle choice from Day 1, the re-exam is the place for you to answer any questions they might have about it.
Ideally, lifetime chiropractic care is a continuous table topic, and the re-exam is just a little extra time to reassure, confirm, or answer any questions about the importance of it.
Poor Communication
I mention this last, but it’s the most fundamental of the three. You have to evaluate your practice and see where in your systems and line of communication are you infusing education, passion, celebration, and recognition about lifetime care.
Do you have a Lifetime Patient Wall? Do you celebrate those who are the truest chiropractic advocates, and those who live the chiropractic lifestyle?
The education and transparency should be so clearly communicated to the patients, that if I walked into your practice and asked any one of your patients “how long should you be under chiropractic care?”, the answer would always be “For Life”.
