The other day I was talking with a doctor that has been practicing in one form or another for many years.

As he gets ready to salesmantransition into another practice sharing arrangement he voiced to me his concerns over how he doesn’t want to ‘sell’ chiropractic. “After all,” he said, “BJ Palmer and the other Greats throughout the years never had to sell chiropractic; people just came to them because they were great at what they did…”

Well, that got me thinking. From the perspective of being a ‘salesman,’ are the chiropractors who externally market their practice, use scripted ROF systems and internally promote themselves really any different than the Greats that we all aspire to be?

The common dream of every chiropractor is to be so loved and revered that people have to wait weeks just for the chance to come in and see them. For some that seems to come easy while for others it is an uphill battle to say the least. What then is the real difference between the two types of doctors from a ‘sales’ perspective?
To consider my question I think it is fair to assume most consumers respond in very predictable ways. This has been documented in many books but one of my favorites is Robert Cialdini’s Influence, the Power of Persuasion. In this book the author discusses how, in one way or another, most people respond to a combination of these influential factors:

 

– Consistency

– Reciprocation

– Social proof

– Liking

– Authority

– Scarcity

 

Consider now these as the two ends of the Chiropractic Persona:

Without going into great detail about each consumer driven motivating factor above, let’s assume the author is correct or at least partly correct in his assumptions. That being the case, what does the ‘Salesman’ on the right employ in both his advertising/marketing and clinic/ROF procedures? If he is astute in the art of promoting himself he most certainly tries to employ consistency.
An example of this would be the regular promotion of your practice and consistent explanation of the importance of regular visits as a requirement to get well. However, even more important, and often overlooked, is the consistency of the pleasurable and efficient experience your patients have in your practice each and every visit. Think ‘consistently over-delivering’ to ensure you have it right.

He or she would also employ the rule of reciprocity, i.e., offering a free consult and exam or sharing your knowledge as a public service by speaking at events.
This chiropractor would also employ the truth of offering social proof. Examples would be promoting patient testimonials in office, in marketing materials and online, fostering a great image that patients will promote because they are proud to be your patients and, another often overlooked one, cluster booking patients to reinforce to other patients in the office that they made a great decision by coming to your practice where all the ‘action’ is.
Obviously the principle of liking would ideally be commonplace. Examples of what would create a patient’s ‘liking’ of you in a professional setting would be having excellent bedside manner, listening to patients concerns and a providing a smooth and pleasurable experience in your practice.

Authority is obviously important which could present itself in this situation by the proper use of the term “doctor,” displaying additional certifications, professional publications and associations, increased social status through proper self-promotion and so on.
And last but not least they would properly use the benefits of applying scarcity in the management of their practice. In marketing this could be done with a “limited time only” restriction or “offer good until date .” In the clinic this can be accomplished with a busy schedule that is known to be difficult to get on or with a doctor that only offers limited hours.
Now, out of persuasive factors listed above, what do the “Greats” employ to get to their enviable status? Well, first of all they may not have the need to employ all 6 of the aforementioned tactics. Even one factor, when strong enough, can prove more than sufficient to motivate the consumer to propel a practice to ‘rock star’ status.

Second, it is highly doubtful that for the Greats, employing all of these tactics is a conscious and thought out process. In fact, in most cases I venture to say that the employment of these tactics was due to either a basic understanding of human nature or just plain old good luck. However, the point in discussing this is to realize that knowing these tactics and consciously employing them can be the catalyst that takes us from that salesman position to the great position.
The Salesman is really not that different than the Great. Instead, the only difference is in the degree to which one or the other capitalizes on the various influential principles of appealing to consumer triggers.

Obviously they had to start somewhere just like you may be doing now. However, they may have a more natural tendency to use those factors listed above everyday and to a greater degree than you innately will. That’s OK…you just have to put a little more focused effort into ensuring they are a part of your daily practice and life.
Out of necessity, most of us will start out toward the right side of the above graphic, but with conscious effort, to include the influential factors discussed in this article as part of our marketing and patient interaction ‘norm,’ we can move further and further to the left. It is my assertion that to become a Great you are best served to employ all these tactics discussed, with the end goal of evolving overtime to be able to focus on those which have proven to best serve the Greats.

However, no one gets to start on the left overnight. Few if any of the Greats did; they dealt with their hurdles and barriers of their time just like you are to build your chiropractic business. That is an important fact to keep in mind.
So, the next time a doctor talks negatively about being a salesman I am going to correct him to a term that I feel is much more appropriate: “Sales-Minded.” All good chiropractic business men and women, even the Greats that we have been referring to, at some level, conscious or subconscious, were and are “Sales-Minded” in that they in some way learned to employ one or more of the powerful tactics that eventually influence the vast majority of consumer decisions.

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