In todays video I want share with you why you need to stop looking for new patients and show you what you should be looking for instead.
Intro Bumper ( Use the short Adio media Logo stinger)
New patients are the life blood a healthy, profitable and sustainable practice. The practitioner that can master the game of new patient attraction is a long way towards developing a sustainable, predictable and profitable practice. But, let me let you in on a secret.The way we’ve marketed before is floored.
I can’t help but be amused by the irony that exists here… many of us complain about our patients always wanting a quick fix yet that’s exactly the same approach that most of us take with our marketing.
Every week I’m getting messages from chiropractors, osteopaths and naturopaths wanting to know what they can do to get some more “newies” fast!
Let me explain why things haven’t worked in the past, but instead of trying to attract new patients to your practice let’s pretend instead that you’re trying to find husband or a wife, this will make sense in a moment.
The way most of us have marketed in the past is the equivalent of walking into a bar and ask every person we come across to marry us.
Now, I’m no expert on dating but I’m guessing that most of the time this isn’t going to be a successful strategy and if someone did actually agree, then they’re probably not be the kind of person you’re wanting to marry in the first place
You see, when we move too quickly in our relationships we end up looking needy (at best) or more often like a jerk!
Successful marketing, like successful dating is built on a series of small steps.
Let’s go back to the marriage example we spoke of before.
So rather than walking into the bar looking for a wife we’re walking in looking for someone to build a relationship with, connect with, perhaps buy them a drink and see if they shares the same values that we do. If all goes well, you might leave that night with a phone number.
In marketing terms we refer to this person as a prospect.
Step number 2 might be a follow up with our prospect with a date, in many cases it makes sense to keep it simple and not over do the commitment (remember we don’t want to look needy or creepy) so perhaps a coffee and or maybe lunch is a good place to start.
Step 3 (and onwards), as the relationship progresses we strategically move the prospect towards becoming a customer (i.e wife) with dinners, weekends away, meeting the family and I think you get where I’m going with this.
When we stand at the local shopping centre doing a screening or when we place an advertisement in the newspaper or on Facebook that simply says - 1st Appointment 50% off, that’s the equivalent of asking for marriage on the first date!
Sure, you might even get some response, but more often that not have you noticed that these patients tend to be the tyre kickers that end up costing you time, money and energy.
Luckily for us there is another way!
The equivalent of buying a drink for our prospective patients is sending them first to your helpful content. It could be a blog, a special report, video or even a an ebook. The internet allows us to easily do this in a manner that’s never been available before.
When someone shows interest, we can follow up with more helpful content until it’s appropriate to be eventually inviting them into your practice.
When you do this right, you’ll become known, you’ll be liked and you’ll build massive amounts of trust, authority and expertise.
This is the foundation for your new patient attraction plan.
Now unlike looking for a wife, it’s totally cool and highly desirable for your practice to be having multiple conversations with multiple leads all at once.
With a little bit of planning and automation you can be strategically crafting a journey for these leads that ends up with them calling your practice to make an appointment.
The great news is, when you’re known, liked and trusted, patients like this will travel further for your services, price becomes less of an issue and retention will go through the roof….sound good?
Rather than putting an advertisement on Facebook telling them about your 50% off first visit special you could add value by directing them to a blog post or a video (much like this one), you could write a special report, send them to an ebook or put together a video series that solves one of the burning problems that your customers currently suffer from.
We think video is a great tool for creating these relationships and guiding someone from prospect to customer.
If you haven’t already downloaded our Video Influence ebook then be sure to look for the link below. Inside you’ll learn the exact strategies to create magnetic videos that attract high quality new patients, boost referrals and sky rocket retention.
If you liked what your heard then be sure to subscribe to our channel, like our Facebook page and be sure to ask any questions down below and we’d love it you’d help us share this message.
Until next time, thanks for all you do, keep saving lives and see you soon
