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Should You Pack Heat? And Other Questions
By Robert Hart, Hart Consulting
As you might imagine, as a coach/
consultant to chiropractors I have
been asked a good number of interesting
questions over the years. Most
are excellent inquiries that pertain to
practice success, or personal growth.
Others are out of the ordinary questions
that make for some fascinating
discussion. I share a small variety of
both with you here. Hopefully, you
won’t have too much trouble figuring
out which is which.
Should I pack heat?
This was asked in response to a
threat that was made by the husband
of one of the staff members. When
the question was posed, it took a moment
for me to determine if she was
being serious--she was--and another
minute to answer that in my opinion
a better option might to be to leave
the gun at home and be extra vigilant
when that employee entered and
left the business. It was hard for me
to imagine a positive outcome with
a gun strapped to her hip, although
she assured me that she knew how
to use it.
How should I dress?
This is a good question and the answer
generally depends on where
the practice is located. In some states
and more rural settings it is perfectly
acceptable to wear khakis and a polo
shirt – ideally with the practice logo
embroidered on it. In a more metropolitan
area a male doctor might
be underdressed if he didn’t wear a
white shirt and tie. There are even
some chiropractic physicians who
still wear a clinic jacket, although I’m
not a fan of this, to me it seems a bit
dated. I have some clients who wear
scrubs, and that is fine in most settings.
I don’t typically recommend
tee shirts, jeans and tennis shoes; although
to be fair, one of my clients
has created a successful practice
while dressed in that manner. You are
correct if you have figured out that
what you wear is somewhat less important
than how you well you treat
and communicate with your patients.
How can I attract
more new patients?
This is a common question and obviously
impossible to answer in a paragraph,
when a whole book could be
written on the subject. In brief, you
want to work from the inside out,
meaning, it’s easier to generate referrals
from patients who know and
love you, than it is to attract new
patients who have never heard of
you. Networking always works if
you know how to do it and if you
have the patience to stick with it. By
networking I mean finding referral
sources in the community like a local
auto body shop, personal injury attorneys,
or medical doctors. Finding
groups of new referral sources is effective.
These might include firefighters,
teachers, employees at a local
company, members of a local church,
etc. Finally, the Internet. Google ad
words, a Web site, search engine optimization,
living social, groupon—
these can be very effective, but be
careful as there are large numbers of
promises made and not kept when
it comes to those who would like to
help you with your Internet marketing.
It is also worth noting that some
chiropractors who think they need
more new patients do not. They actually
need to do a better job with
the new patients they are already
getting.
Should I sleep with
my front desk assistant?
The doctor who asked me this question
did it in an indirect way. He first
mentioned that he and his front desk
person were going out for drinks that
evening and when I asked him why,
he indicated that there was a little
spark there, some mutual attraction.
My advice to him was to not be an
idiot, to “keep his zipper up” and to
go home to his family. He had a loving
wife at home with two great kids
and a smoothly functioning practice.
I guess his plan was to totally mess up
his home life, and then, because that
wasn’t enough, totally mess up his
practice. If he was naïve enough to
believe that the other staff wouldn’t
immediately notice that their business
relationship had changed into
a romantic relationship, then he was
naïve enough to believe that having a
sexual relationship with a staff member
was a good idea.
How important is good signage?
Interesting enough, signage is not
that important. Most patients locate
your practice through a referral. Very
few patients will come to see you because
they drove by your sign. When
you are deciding where to locate a
practice, convenience to your patient
base should be your primary concern.
Make sure that you are accessible.
You don’t want to be on a divided
road that is hard to access during
rush hour for instance. Make sure
that you have ample, well-lit parking.
If you are in an upstairs suite, make
sure you have an elevator available.
Should I get a divorce?
I guess it’s good that my minor at Arizona
State University was in psychology,
because I do tend to get a fair
number of questions that deal with
the 6” between the ears, including
marriage and relationship questions.
Should you get a divorce? My advice
is absolutely not, unless you have exhausted
all possible avenues to make
your marriage work. Sometimes
divorce is the only realistic option,
but it is typically so devastating that
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it should always be the last resort.
My best advice regarding marriage is
that if you want to improve your relationship
with your spouse, improve
yourself.
Should I get out of chiropractic?
The answer to that question depends
on why it was asked. If it was
asked because a doctor thinks that
things have changed so much that
chiropractors can no longer be successful,
than the answer is no, don’t
get out of chiropractic, because you
are wrong. You can be successful
in today’s economic and insurance
climate. You may, however, have to
change your tactics and work harder.
That’s where a good coach can help.
If, on the other hand, that question
is asked because the doctor doesn’t
really believe in chiropractic and
doesn’t know if they are helping their
patients, then the answer is yes, perhaps
you should change professions.
In order to be successful in this industry
you have to be both confident
and competent. If you do not have
both of these traits, you must either
gain them, or get out.
Can you help me?
Maybe, but the answer to that question
depends more on you than it does
on me. I can help doctors who want to
grow, who are willing to work and to
make changes. If you are that doctor,
then yes, I can probably help you.
Robert Hart is the founder and owner
of Hart Consulting. Through seminars,
Webinars, in-office training and personal
coaching he has been assisting
Doctors of Chiropractic achieve both
their practice and personal goals for
over 20 years. Mr. Hart can be contacted
at 480-892-4621, rob@hart-consulting.com
or www.hart-consulting.com
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