Tip # 16

So Zone 1 is clean and organized and your CA is answering the phone like a pro. Remember, the CA's job when on the phone is to schedule new patients when they call, to remind people of their health care goals when they call to move or cancel an appointment (a missed appointment can never be made up), to call patients who have missed their appointments and to schedule as needed (among her/his many other tasks).

Let's think like an entrepreneur today and run our practice like a business.

Tip # 16 - Think Like an Entrepreneur 2

Not only does the front desk CA need to be trained on how to answer the phones, but she also must be taught to think of the front desk as a business all unto itself.

When a patient comes to the office and has their initial consultation, x-rays and exam they then move onto the report of findings process and will eventually commit to some sort of schedule whether it be a corrective schedule or a symptomatic schedule. This will depend on many factors (mostly it will follow the doctors philosophy and ability to educate and sell them the package which is right for them, but let's suffice to say that they will be coming more than once).

I always, always, always tell people not to miss any appointments because they are designed in a certain way so as to receive the best results. I inform them that if they miss any appointments, they will not get or see the results we have outlined together to meet their goals. Together, we create a goal plan for the recovery of their good health. Since we are working as a team, their responsibility is to make ALL of their scheduled appointments and to perform the exercises or traction homework I have given them but their main responsibility is to just show up.

This is where the truth and your entrepreneurial or business spirit must come in. People will miss appointments if you have not stressed the benefits of what you do, strongly, loudly and with passion until they get it and even then things will come up where they have to miss or reschedule.

A missed appointment has more ramifications than you think. The patient loses momentum in the healing process which sets them backwards, it breaks the promises you made in the beginning to each other and makes the appointment breaking process become easy - in fact, some will break the first appointment and promise to come in next week but will not. If you do not have a follow up procedure in play, you will forget all about them and three months down the road you will think about them during lunch and wonder where they have been. Now they are no longer a new patent, they become a reactivation or they may now forget about why they came in the beginning and having never gotten the full benefit of your care they will say "oh. I tried it and it does not work." So now instead of turning someone on to chiropractic, you have create someone who thinks chiropractic does not work and that is a terrible thing.

Not only that but let's get back to the business end of things. When a new patient or current patient misses their appointment, simply put, the cash register does not ring. Remember, this is a business and the more the register rings, the better off everyone is. Every time the register rings, another patient has been helped and you are able to pay your bills or add to your savings account or buy a new property or open another office....... The patient is happy, you are happy, your family is happy and so is theirs. Yes, their family is happy every time they get adjusted. Think about is. When someone is in pain, it not only affects them but it also affects everyone around them.

So, think about your practice like a business and train your CA on how to politely and firmly remind patients that they must keep their scheduled appointments even if it means shuffling other appointments around or coming in later in the day -that same day, because an appointment missed can never be made up - their health and recovery schedule suffers and so do your daily receipts.

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Tip - # 16 - Think Like an Entrepreneur 2