Unique New Patient Ideas
Keith Maule - Kats Management
www.katsmanagement.com 
800-843-9162


Why not have chiropractic volunteers?  Hospitals get thousands of 
hours of work donated to them every week and all they do is provide 
their volunteers with a lab coat and nametag.  Have them do a lot of 
your PR work that never gets done because there is no one to do it.  
Have them make the calls and send out the letters to schedule 
speeches and screenings.  Have them do the stuffing and sorting of 
newsletters.  They can help you with news releases and even 
reactivation calls.

Here's another idea that your chiropractic volunteers could really 
help with.  Utilize the Internet and email for improving your 
exposure and education.  Currently you probably send your patients 
birthday cards.  But that is all you do because it is expensive.  Why 
not utilize email for sending all kinds of cards.  If you have ever 
gotten an email cards before you know that they are fun to get and 
very entertaining and the good news is they do not cost a dime.  This 
means that you can send not only birthday cards but also anniversary 
cards Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July and any others you 
would like to send.  For those patients needing a reminder call that 
have appointments that are out farther than two weeks out could 
also be sent a reminder email.  Your patient would receive a short 
email which simply says, this is to remind you that you have 
appointments at family chiropractic on Friday at 4:30 PM we will 
see you then.  You can also let your patients know about a!
ny special events coming up such as a patient appreciation day.  Your 
chiropractic volunteers could be doing this for you and it would not 
even cost you a dime.  You may even want to send your patients your 
newsletter via the email.  Make sure you ask for their email address 
on your health history form.  It is often said, "out of sight, out of 
mind, out of mind, out of business."  This will help you keep a 
constant exposure with your patients.  That helps with Reactivations 
and referrals.  The reason why you get so few referrals after the 
first two months of their care is because they stop thinking about 
you.  This will help to keep you and your services on their mind.

While we are talking about the use of modern technology to help us 
with new patient acquisition, let me make another suggestion. Get a 
digital camera if you don't have one already and take pictures of your 
patients after they report feeling good and having great success 
with chiropractic.  It is particularly good to take pictures of kids 
laying down on your table with their head up, a smile on their face, 
and giving the thumbs up sign with the doctor behind them doing the 
same thing.  There are several good uses for this.  You can have a 
bulletin board filled with kids¹ pictures.  You may forget that the 
public does not naturally associate children with chiropractic.  A 
bulletin board full of kids¹ pictures will help parents and 
grandparents make the connection.  You can also use your patient¹s 
pictures to send them an email after they have had good results with 
chiropractic.  It can have their picture on it with a simple message 
like ³thanks for being one of our star patien!
ts².  You can also use these pictures to create a star patients video.  
For years chiropractors have used star patients testimonial booklets 
to have in the reception area.  Now, with the simple purchase of 
software like PowerPoint you can use an old computer and monitor 
to put in the reception area and run this program that will contain 
your patient¹s pictures and their testimony of results.  We have 
found that the greatest value to this star patient program is not 
necessarily the people who see the video in the reception area but it 
is really the people who are in the program and see themselves on 
TV.  The patients who are a star on your TV will more than likely 
follow through with care and refer others to see you.  To be HIPAA 
compliant, all you need to do is have their signed permission to use 
their picture for your expressed purposes.  I realize that these ideas 
are not the conventional methods of new patient acquisition, but 
they are effective in utilizing the new techn!
ology that is available to you today and can move you to the next 
level!