4 Simple Ways To Build Your Chiropractic Business

You’re considering opening up a new chiropractic practice, or you already own one and are looking to expand. But running a chiropractic business is unique in how it mingles medical and healthcare with entrepreneurship.

Your business might be great at serving patients, but you don’t have a strong marketing team to grow the business. Or maybe your marketing is so strong that your patients are outnumbering and outgrowing your business.

But there are a few simple business tips that can strengthen and develop your chiropractic business—regardless of your current resources.

What are some easy tools you can implement when building a chiropractic business in order to get your practice to another level?

1. Implement consistent team training.

Academia and research are critical in the chiropractic field. Your medical professionals need to be up to date on the latest trends, studies, and processes within the industry.

The best way to make sure your team is consistently updated in their practices is by implementing a systemized, mandatory set of training. Examples of training tools you can use include:

• Online training (eLearning courses)
• In-house speakers
• Conferences/seminars
• Chiropractic events
• Visiting other chiropractic offices

You want to make training and learning a part of your culture. Your team should be excited to gain new information that they can apply to their patients. Different businesses call for different culture change strategies, so consider what would work best for your employees as you move towards more L&D.

For example, if you have a friendly-competitive atmosphere, you might want to turn the training into a point system where the individual who gains the most points wins a prize. Or if you have a very team-oriented atmosphere, you might want to use training as a way for all employees to come together over lunch or coffee.  

The best way to make development a part of your culture is to build a meritocracy of learning. Make it clear that those who consistently grow their understanding of the business and field will have a clearer path for success. This has a three-pronged effect: 1) it encourages a culture of training; 2) it creates a career path for the cream of the crop; 3) it weeds out the employees that could be hurting your business.

An example chiropractic training platform be as simple as just setting a few concrete guidelines, like this:

• What we provide: Our practice will offer two speakers monthly (lunch will be provided), one chapter of an online course (completed on your own), and weekly “practice makes perfect” conversations (mandatory for all chiropractors and assistants). We also offer the opportunity to attend two chiropractic conferences per year.
• What we expect: Every med-employee will attend the “practice makes perfect” conversations weekly. Each employee will also participate in at least one training program monthly and attend one conference annually.
• What we envision: We envision that a consistent program of training will develop our chiropractic team’s skills, provide better service to patients, and bring in more revenue.

2. Organize corporate chiropractic events.

If you’re looking for new ways to get more patients in the door or land higher ticket clients, you should host events. Work with a nearby organization to set up a free workshop in their office. Start by presenting them with the common conditions associated with “desk posture,” and then give them a few exercises and tips that can help improve their back. You might even want to hand out sample products and “teaser” worksheets of the exercises you use.

Remember to start by showing your audience the severity of the problem. Why are their backs, hips, necks, and shoulders in so much pain? How is this causing long-term damage and disease? Then, show them the solution through chiropractic processes. Give them legitimate value that they can take home with them from the workshop.

Although you’re offering the workshop for free, you’re reaching a wide number of people who live and work nearby who will remember your brand and the value you gave them during this time. This drastically increases the likelihood that they’ll come to you for an appointment over other “back pain” options.

After you’ve proven yourself as a chiropractic workshop expert, you might even want to consider adding events as another revenue stream. You can start charging local businesses and corporations a fee for you to come and give their teams value. Chiropractic events can be a great way to get your name out there and show off your brand while growing your revenue.

3. Offer a website with online booking.

When a patient has a painful back, they want a quick and easy solution. They’ll start searching for local chiropractors on their phone through Yelp or Google. When they find your business, they’ll check out your website. In the first ten seconds, they’ll decide whether or not you’re the right solution for them.

That means you need an attractive website with strong online visibility. The way you market your business online will make or break your practice. Your content should be unique and branded. Write as though your business were talking directly to the audience. You can even include photos of your practice, chiropractors, and staff. Make it as personal and branded as possible.

Most importantly, your website should have online booking options. There are a number of software that you can plug into your website to allow online booking appointments. Booking online allows customers to quickly and easily have a “solution” to the pain they’re feeling in the moment. This increases the number of patients coming in the door, and it makes it easier for customers to stay in touch with your business. See Zapier’s review of the best appointment scheduling apps here.   

Make sure you also offer automatic reminders via text or email. This helps reduce no-shows, especially for first-timers. Making this process automated saves time and frees your office staff to interact with in-person clients.  

4. Systematize patient process from beginning to end.

From the moment a customer makes an appointment until they step out your door after the appointment, their experience should be consistent and systematized.

This starts with having a strong chiropractic philosophy. What does your business believe in? What kind of service do you want to provide to your clients?

Create a specific, detailed list of the patient process. An example could look like this:

1. After someone makes an online or phone booking, they are sent a follow-up email confirming their appointment.
2. The patient is sent a reminder email and text 24 hours before their appointment.  
3. When the patient arrives, they are greeted with a warm smile from reception. They will check in and be given their medical forms and welcome packet. Show them where we offer water or green juice.
4. The patient should wait no longer than their scheduled appointment time to get in a room.
5. The patient will be brought into a private room and will be directed to sit on the table and relax. Provide them with any blankets or pillows if they are cold.
6. The chiropractor must come in within 7 minutes.
7. After their appointment, the patient will be given a cup of water and a round-up sheet of their chiropractor’s notes. They should also be given a stapled packet of any exercises the chiropractor recommends for them. The water and packet should be ready by the time the patient comes back out to the reception desk.
8. Encourage them to make their next appointment and purchase in-house products, like MedZone.
9. The patient will receive a follow-up email 48 hours later thanking them and reminding them to do their exercises. If they’ve scheduled another appointment, it will also include their appointment date and time.

You can even make this more specific by going through each of the steps at reception, in the patient room, and in the follow-up email campaign. This might mean you need to find ways to streamline the processes so everything runs smoothly together, like creating exercise sheets or ensuring appointment times are spread enough that the professionals aren’t rushed.

The more explicit you are in building an operations process, the better you can train your staff by providing a consistent, branded experience in your office.

Conclusion

If you implement just these four techniques, you’ll see your chiropractic business explode.

Consistent team training builds a culture of growth and development, which creates a better working environment. This kind of environment reduces turnover, increases productivity, and enhances service for customers.

Corporate events are a great marketing tool or revenue stream while giving you access to an audience of desk workers in pain.

Online booking and automated follow-ups streamline the appointment process to increase the number of people coming in the door and reduce no-shows.

Finally, a systematized customer process builds an experience and brand for your practice.

How will you grow your chiropractic business this month?