From: Dr. Margolies New on the webpage: http://www.mindspring.com/~chirosmart under class handouts look for Smart Start .. this is a two page handout I provide my class as a review of the quarter廣 lessons. If you need to kick start an existing practice or plan on venturing out on your own with a brand new one .. it幢l assist you in some fundamental ideas to get going with a bang. Remember .. if you have a question .. need a form or idea .. contact me via e-mail. If I don廠 have the answer, I幢l try to help you find it. For the many that have taken advantage of this .. you know I usually answer the same day. Also on the webpage under cyberconsulting look for a response to a DC ready to sell his practice because he is heavily in debt and can廠 seem to get his practice going. Sharing my reply to him may help some of you. Always look under cyberconsulting for some of the better questions and my best shot at an answer. Thanks to the Ohio Chiropractic Association for sharing with their members my e-mail address and for those that decided to get on board. They have an active e-mail program alerting their members with updated chiropractic information. Also .. thanks to the Bridgeport College of Chiropractic .. this fine school廣 newspaper editor wishes to edit and publish material from these e-mails and will publish my e-mail address so the students will have a head start. I encourage you all to tell your friends, state association廣 and alumni schools about these e-mails. It is one of very few free shares within our competitive industry. Today廣 topic: Do you have a System? What separates the winners from the not so fortunate is a system. A successful gambler wins with a system. A dynamic teacher has a system to get their message across to the students. The best writers may stare at their keyboard but between deep thought and print there is a logical system. A bunch of random notes develops into a mathematical system of sounds called music. Watch an engineer at work .. a computer system analyst .. a financial consultant .. a successful businessman/woman .. a great D.C. .. they all have systems. Firm (within reason) ideas that formulate into a direction towards a stated goal. How about you .. can you tell me at this very moment your office system? Which areas of the practice .. practices .. and which areas have their act together and makes your practice an art form? Consider this .. if you have any doubts about any aspect of your practice .. from first phone call to the report of findings .. from discussing a value (fees) of your office visit to financial options .. diagnostic procedures .. what the CA is telling your patient廣 .. to the role of each and every staff member .. you are either out of synch with your system or have none. There is no better indicator of success than watching an artist at work .. they all have a system .. the best of the best do it naturally but believe me they worked with and at it before they got it right. Our profession has a number of fine practice consultants. Every issue of our national chiropractic journals and snail mail flyers offer weekly programs to boost your office visits .. generate the magical new patient .. assist in aligning yourself with an medic or attorney .. make you more money .. help create your dream vacation .. etc. Great .. they have their act together and now they are sharing their system with you for a fee. Warning .. keep your money in your pocket unless you intend on accepting their share and doing what is offered .. their system may not be your system but in the mix and try you will develop your own. Whether you pay thousands to have a system given to you through dynamic training, scripts, and forms or .. you take the time to create an office manual .. find time to train or re-train a staff member .. find time to methodically analyze each area of your practice from patient management to community relations thereby creating your own system .. you must have a system to survive in this highly competitive business. Caution: As I just mentioned to my class .. if you have a natural talent and your practice works great on its own .. don廠 befuddle the works with more .. natural systems usually work the best .. unfortunately for most of us .. we can always use the help. Systems in chiropractic start with training. Every staff member should be knowledgeable of their area of responsibility. If you call your front desk CA on the phone and disguise your voice can she be able to answer every question with a semblance of certainty .. would you be happy with her answers .. could she have stretched even more with added knowledge? The back office staff member should be cross trained in many areas of the practice. Can they generate a referral .. give a dynamic one on one patient orientation .. answer questions with certainty .. sense when a patient is slipping between the office system廣 cracks? Are you secure with the flow of your consultation .. are you able to confront rejection and change that persons point of view and create a loving and caring new patient willing to cooperate with you in their wellness as well as their extended family and friends? Does your examination have a system whereby you not only determine their need for care .. protocol of care .. but also educate them and begin the important process of patient management? Does your report follow a script .. whether by design or naturally .. which changes their fears into a desire to be well and maintain this wellness having them leave your office with the urge to tell others? Does day to day follow through have some system so the new patient doesn廠 become stale .. just a number .. a lost soul .. a flicker of the hot flame that left your office after the first few visits? Are there patient surveys .. extended topical workshops .. added services .. office excitement? Does your office have a system of patient retention .. does the front desk and back office CA廣 have a pulse on office statistics .. recalling and reactivation .. can they generate monthly office promotions (nothing more than holiday themes) .. is there an active referral program .. are they team players or side line cheerleaders? Do you have an active community outreach program .. a method to the madness called new patients? Are you systematic in regular community projects .. meeting and greeting .. screenings .. health fairs .. workshops .. mailings or whatever .. just doing something? Yes .. whether you know it or not .. you either have a naturally dynamic successful system or not .. but nonetheless .. what drives your office (with either a Volkswagen Bug or a Ferrari) is a system. If after reading this you take paper to pen and break down every aspect of your office (by the way also your school clinic practice) .. pause a moment and determine if there is a logical system .. can one be easily be created or do you need assistance in creating one. Take the time to analyze your office and like Norton廣 Utility for our computers .. have a utility program within your practice (that age old efficiency expert) that can find and correct any bugs within the system leaving you a clear path to fulfill your purpose and goals. Need help ..just ask. Note: If you are in Atlanta Thursday March 19 and can muster the strength to be at Life University Annex C room 127 from 7-9 AM, I will have a special class for my present and past students. This will be a sharing class. I will show my ergonomic and general workshop slides as well as go over my practice system .. step by step. If you come to this special class .. bring some questions and ideas .. lets share. If you are a student and have any doubts about your success or still have immense fears about leaving the womb called school .. let廣 spend as much time as necessary to bolster your courage and fill any gaps you may have. Please feel free to come .. I can stay as long as 12 to assist anyone needing some help. Also .. a few weeks back I asked if anyone wished to join a cyberconsulting program. This will be a multiweek correspondence course between me and you via computer. There will be aggressive marketing and public relations projects and homework for you and your staff. The program will concern all aspects of internal practice management and external public relations. I expect the first lesson to begin sometime in April. If interested in more details, as well as the fees (modest to be sure), please e-mail your interest and I幢l get back to you that day. Dr. M