There are a few statements we often hear customers say in the office.
They go something like this..
- “You finally got it doc”
- “You didn’t get that one last time”
- “Did you get it?”
Did you catch the underlying theme?
The ‘theme’ is that the patient is targeting the adjustment and the outcome of the adjustment at someone other than him or herself.
It is being projected onto the skill set of the doctor rather than the condition of the customer’s spine.
When trying to build a practice and especially a chiropractic wellness care practice where people are coming for routine checkups, you must be skilled and focused on keeping a customer’s care focused on them and their spine, not you and your abilities.
And by care we mean the condition of their spine. We mean how well they adjust. We mean how they respond to the adjustment. It must all stay centered around their spine.
Have you ever had a new customer come in and say “I went to doctor so and so but he/she never could get it to adjust.” They are projecting the outcome onto the doctor as the issue, rather than the fact that their spine is really jacked up and stuck or out of alignment and needs a lot of help to get it back on track.
See the disconnect?
So, perhaps you are asking yourself… what’s the big deal?
The big deal is perspective. If you don’t change their understanding (and thus perspective) about their spine having an issue that is their problem, not yours, then they will continue thinking that it is YOU, not them.
This will impact your relationship with the customer and their understanding in the importance of being patient with their spine while also understanding that the issue is THEIR SPINE.
So the next time a customer says, YOU got it doc! Don’t start patting yourself on the back and respond with “yes, I did it. Of course I did it! I am awesome!!”
Instead use it as an opportunity to gently remind him or her that you didn’t do anything different, but rather it was just the power of repetition of the adjustments that finally restored some motion into the stuck joint. And then go further to say listen we have it moving a little so stay on your care plan and let’s keep the momentum in the right direction so it doesn’t just get subluxated again (or, “out of alignment and stuck again”). I’ll see you back here on Wednesday and we will do it again and try to build on the little bit of progress your spine made today.
In other words, teach them to take ownership of their spine and explain to them, regardless of the scenario, that with some spines it takes longer than with others to get the stuck joints to move like they should and stay that way “…so be patient with you spine Mr. Smith and stay on course with the visit frequency we talked about, and before you know it we will have you on a maintenance schedule and then we won’t need to see you as often.”
I think it was John Demartini (if it wasn’t don’t send me emails) that said “Take no credit, take no blame, focus on your chief aim.” Really that isn’t a great quote IMO but it is accurate in that you need to do just that. Focus on the ‘aim’ of the care which is the health of their spine and nervous system, not how YOU could or could not get their spine to move.
