Retention Based Practice™ with Dr. Jamie Richards

It's a common trend among health care providers to allow December to become the weakest month of the year.

Less profitable and more stressful...essentially mailing it in and already looking ahead to "better days" come January.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Not only does December not have to become your weakest month, there's a chance you could turn it into your best month of the entire year!

At The Life By Design Centre, HQ for Life By Design Inc., that's exactly what we've done in the past and expect to do again this year....

...even during tough times...like a global pandemic!

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors, I take you on a walk through The Life By Design Centre and explain how we're making December our best month.

What I Covered

• Getting your head on straight is always step one, it's no different in this case. Are you giving up already or committed to making December great?
• The buyer's psychology is ripe for sales in December. Your patients are going to buy from someone, why shouldn't it be you?
• How do you balance leveraging the desire to buy in December while still taking time for a break?
• It is the giving season! Capitalize on the power of reciprocity to make your offers more enticing to your best customers.
• What can you do to enhance the buying environment in your practice?
• A full walk through of The Life By Design Centre to see exactly how we've done it repeatedly with success.

When you understand the nature and intent of this question, you're faced quickly with a reality you're excited about or one that twists a knife deep in your belly.

Ultimately, it will also depend on the goals and purpose of your practice but in most cases, when having a job vs. a business...one is usually far better than the other.

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we ask the question...find out where the answers lead us!

What We Covered

• What are the primary differences between a job and a business?
• Clients always assume my life is perfect! Which do I have... a job or a business?
• The two "MUST HAVE" skills to grow an ultra successful business (that chiropractors also happen to be resistant to).
• Why under-spending on your digital ads strategy is a HUGE mistake and could be holding back a tidal wave of growth.
• Do you know your numbers? How much is the true cost of acquiring a client and what would you spend to find them?
• How to "force" yourself into driving your marketing message to more people in your community.

Every chiropractor wishes for a constant stream of new people knocking at their door.

I'd even say the entire practice psyche revolves around seeking out the next new patient in the vast majority of clinics we consult with.

No doubt, new patients are the lifeblood of your practice but they don't just "show up". That's the problem!

Docs want something magical to happen and then get frustrated and disillusioned when it doesn't.

As in all businesses there is a buyer's journey. A path, a series of steps potential buyers follow before they end of even considering consulting with you.

That's why LEAD GENERATION is one of the biggest missing links in the chiropractic profession.

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we talk about "The Lead Magnet."

What We Covered

• What is a lead magnet?
• Why should you consider using a lead magnet?
• How to start figuring out what your market would find interesting, useful and actually exchange their information to acquire.
• The big mistake NOT to make when building your lead magnet.
• What to do with your lead magnet once it's created.

One of the biggest fears business owners, entrepreneurs and chiropractors alike have about email marketing is how often to "hit send."

It's common to be worried about spamming your people, your leads and your community... it's because you care, right?

Or, maybe it's because you're scared of looking bad, annoying a potential prospect or having someone opt out of your list never to be heard of again.

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we're sharing our experiences with email marketing, both good and bad.

The goal is to help you learn some from our mistakes and victories in order to make yourself a better marketer and help more people!

What We Cover

• The stories about when we were YELLED at via email, what it means and what we did about it.
• How often we email our lists and why.
• The lessons we've learned from sending thousands of emails over the past 2 years and what we would do differently if we were just starting.
• Why email marketing will continue to outperform all other types of marketing (aside from face to face) in regards to direct sales.
• If you're not emailing your list or don't even have a list, what should you do?

We've been staunch proponents of building and cultivating a lexicon for years.

All great brands have their own language...

The tall, grande and venti from Starbucks being an obvious example.

There are times in the development of your lexicon that certain words become prominent in pop culture and within the media, we'd be remiss not to use them to our advantage.

Extraordinary communication is helping people to understand and consume what we're teaching and have it result in the actions we'd love for them to take.

Actions in our case, that will without question, lead to a happier and healthier life.

Over the past 4 months in practice I've noticed an increasingly obvious awareness and response to a certain word I've used for years. Only now, with it's emergence in the cultural lexicon, patients are taking it to mean something even more important than ever before.

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors, I explain how this came to be and how to use the principle to for building a powerful lexicon of your own.

What I Covered

• The one word I had been using for years that just took a massive leap in meaning and value to my patients.
• How being aware of pop culture and the media, without falling prey to its vices, can help you shape your brand in order to reach more of your market.
• Why building your own lexicon is important as a difference maker in your practice.

Will you survive or thrive in a crisis?

This is an important question for any person, let alone a business person to ask themselves.

• A Recession
• A Health Crisis
• Staff Leaving
• Personal Crisis
• A Pandemic!

Insert crisis "here".

Regardless of the situation, certain principles are at play and will help to dictate your success.

Knowing these principles and developing their application in advance will place you in a far better position when the s*^t hits the fan.

With the current crisis, we spent time discussing how to best prepare, survive and even thrive during difficult times.

What We Covered

• Are you in or are you out? Straddling the fence will be among the worst things you could be doing.
• What are the opportunities you can take advantage of during a crisis?
• What level of concern would be helpful vs. how much will be paralyzing?
• In times of trouble, what is the decision making process that leads to a successful outcome?
• The game plan for another "shutdown" and how we will leverage the opportunity.

There's three categories of people and you can be grouped by "what people WOULD say about you if asked".

That's not to suggest we care completely about what others say about us, but for the sake of this example, it's worth exploring.

Story One

"Bill, he's OK. He's late a lot and leaves early. He misses deadlines and really doesn't seem to care, in fact, he thinks he's the best at everything and he doesn't need to do the work."

Story Two

"Bill, I like him. Good guy. Works hard. Does his job."

Story Three

"Bill? Geez, the guy's a machine. It's actually unbelievable what he gets done... I'm not even sure he's human. He's the first one here, the last to leave, never complains and his results are off the chart. That's my goal... to be like Bill. If I was, I know I'd be successful!"

Which story would you like told about you?

On today's episode I talk further about what it takes to be great!

What I Cover

• Reality exists, so make that your starting point. What markers should you be looking into as metrics for success?
• What you love should be the basis for your goals, dreams and vision. By choosing values that are not your own, you risk total failure and unhappiness.
• Planting your flag in the ground and staking claim to the life you so badly want, is the secret sauce to overcoming fatigue and anxiety.
• Building a detailed blueprint keeps you from getting too far off the path and distracted by the next shiny penny.
• This trait is a trademark for nearly all successful people. Find it in yourself and you'll find success in your future.

"I've been doing everything possible with social media marketing for years and it's not working for me."

"It's different in my market than it is yours."

"Not a single new person has come from my social media marketing!"

Are these statements you find yourself repeating?

If so, you're not alone.

Good marketing is similar to the advice you should be giving your patients...

Success = (Consistent Action + Time) to the power of Correct Principles.

This Life By Design Success Formula can be said another way; do the right stuff for a consistent and extended period of time.

I find it interesting that we expect our patients to "get it" and fully understand what's required to attain a result but when it comes to applying those same concepts to our businesses, it's a total blank out.

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors we tell you what to look for in your own social media marketing metrics and exactly how to start turning them around.

What We Cover

• How do you know when your social media marketing isn't working?
• What are the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) you need to be keeping a close eye on?
• How many times does someone need to see your brand for your marketing to be effective?
• How to turn your paid advertising campaigns into freebies over and over again.

What happens when a "troll" leaves negative remarks about your business or practice online?

You celebrate.

WTH?

The fact that someone cares enough about what you said or did to leave a negative comment is a tremendously positive sign for your brand.

All great brands have haters...people who are so opposed to what you're standing for, they just can't resist making their voice heard.

Assuming you're not saying anything hateful or ridiculous, having a portion of the marketplace against you, gives those who stand with you something to put their passions behind.

Don't confuse everyone loving your brand for not knowing or even caring about you.

On today's episode of Life By Design For Chiropractors, we tackle trolls and how you can actually use their comments to help grow your practice.

What we covered

• What exactly is a troll?
• Why are trolls a good thing?
• How being a vanilla brand is killing you in the marketplace.
• 3 ways to use comments from your trolls in your marketing.
• Why you need to reply to comments and negative reviews.

We fielded a question this past week inside our Life By Design For Chiropractors ELITE Doctors group and it prompted a deeper conversation on today's episode.

How do you handle an unhappy client? The answer is..."It depends!"

As per the usual response, it depends on the context.

How we would handle a customer service issue with a long time patient who has shown their loyalty to our business, invested thousands of dollars and referred many thousands more, is going to be very different than how we address a prospect calling in and not happy with a policy of ours.

What We Cover

• Do you have a customer service culture? Is it conscious and planned? Do you have customer service rules & guidelines?
• Kreso's story of a prospect that messaged 5 minutes after leaving Day One. He was unhappy, unsatisfied and wanted a refund. Find out how Kreso handled this case and why it ended in a positive way (which was NOT starting care).
• Is there an acceptable refund limit? When would we give it all back? When do we draw a line in the sand and say "no way!"?