From: http://www.chirosuccess.com/newsletter/newsletter.html

12-9-01

"Use The New Year To Get More Patients"

   Well, it's almost the new year again.  Almost hard to believe 
how fast time flies!

    But the new year is good news, especially if you're like most 
chiropractors, or for that matter any business owner that 
doesn't cater to the holidays.  So while December might have 
been slower than you would have liked, the new year brings 
with it opportunities that will more than make up for the holiday 
lag.

    I'm sure it's no surprise to you that most people tend to make 
New Year's resolutions.  And most resolutions deal with 
bettering oneself, especially fitness and health wise.

    So the new year is the time when your prospective patients 
take their health most seriously.  They've just made a resolution 
to themselves to live a better lifestyle and take care of their 
health, and they are actively seeking ways of accomplishing 
this.

    Of course, most people break their new year resolutions 
within a few weeks to a few months, but for the meantime they 
truly care about their health and want to better themselves.  
That doesn't mean that they don't care about their health all 
the time, but traditionally people are reactive to their health, 
and only want to take care of their health when they have a 
problem - they are almost exclusively symptom based.  But 
during this brief period of time, more people are interested in 
wellness, and not just getting rid of their pain.

    And this is your best opportunity to market your practice as 
much as possible, as you can acquire many patients during the 
first two months of the year if you take advantage of this 
opportunity and work hard to acquire these patients.

    There are many effective ways of generating new patients 
during this key couple of months.  Here are just a few 
suggestions...

1) Reactivate inactive patients - There is no patient easier to 
acquire than one which has come to you in the past.  So pull 
out the database of all your inactive patients, and send them a 
letter offering them a free exam or another special offer.  For 
maximum results, follow up the letter with a phone call a week 
later and you'll generate 200% - 500% more reactivations!

2) Hold a patient appreciation day - This is an excellent way to 
show appreciation for your current patients, by offering them a 
free adjustment, while reactivating inactive patients (send them 
a letter inviting them to the special day).  At the same time, 
mention to all your patients to bring their friends and family 
members for a free exam, and you'll get new patients from that 
event as well.

3) Advertise - You'll notice that during January and February, 
your advertisements, specifically newspaper ads, will produce 
better results than most other months.  Of course having 
effective advertisements is still the key to your success, but like-
for-like, you'll still notice that in just about all cases your 
advertising will produce better results during these two months 
when compared to other months.

4) Direct mail - Just like advertisements tend to do better during 
the first couple of months of the year, so does direct mail.  So 
you can take advantage of the opportunity and send out a 
direct mail offer to those prospective patients who live close by 
your office.  One word of caution though, sending a direct mail 
letter to someone who doesn't know you tends to be more 
financially risky than running a newspaper advertisement.  So 
you want to make sure that you use effective letters, and test a 
small quantity, such as 1,000 or 2,000 letters first before 
sending out more.

5) Spinal screenings - I don't mention spinal screenings often, 
simply because they're one of the most commonly used and 
known strategies.  In fact, while I learned most of the other 
strategies I discuss and share in other industries, I learned 
about screenings from the chiropractic industry.  I will tell you 
this though, if you normally do spinal screenings, you want to 
make sure you do as many as possible during January and 
February, since they will be very effective.

6) Give health lectures - Contact organizations and large 
companies and offer to give a talk to their members or 
employees about a specific health topic (something that would 
appeal to them and which you can tie in to chiropractic).  For 
example, if you're giving a talk to a company where many of 
their employees type, you can give a talk about the proper way 
to type in order to avoid carpal tunnel, then towards the end 
you can mention how chiropractors deal with carpal tunnel 
through chiropractic care.  You can then pass around a form 
where people fill in their name, address, and e-mail address.  In 
exchange, you can promise to send them a newsletter about 
the topic you spoke on.  And in addition to sending them the 
newsletter, you can also send them a direct mail letter thanking 
them for being an audience member, and offering them a 
complimentary or reduced fee exam.

    Well, these are just a few ideas you can quickly use to 
produce new patients in the beginning of the new year, and 
start out the new year on the right foot.

    Just remember that these are just ideas.  There are a lot 
more strategies that you can use, and not all the strategies I 
mentioned above may be appropriate for you.  The key though 
is to select a few strategies that you feel comfortable with and 
act upon them.  You'll be thrilled with the results, and will be 
excited for the rest of the year!  

-------
 
Has this issue of the Chiropractic Marketing Success 
Newsletter been useful?

Forward it to your fellow Chiropractors.  And 
remember, this newsletter is sent weekly and 
absolutely FREE of charge!
 
Would you like to subscribe to this newsletter?  
Just go to 
http://www.chirosuccess.com/newsletter/newsletter.html