On the seemingly endless quest for new patients and new sources of referrals, Doctors of Chiropractic often forget to show existing patients how much they appreciate them. Although usually an honest mistake, it is also a very serious one. Although I say this frequently it bears repeating, one of the best sources of new patients are the happy and satisfied patients already present in your practice. Take these easy steps to ensure you have happy patients who look forward to visiting your office. Focusing on creating happy and healthy patients may be the best chiropractic marketing you've ever done!
There is an old saying in chiropractic: "Take care of your patients and they will take care of you". It is very true that satisfied patients will happily pay for services rendered. Even more importantly, they will be more likely to refer new patients to your practice. They will send new patients that you can help lead down a path to health and wellness. The monetary gains are just icing on the cake! When an existing patient refers a new patient it is an opportunity to begin educating, adjusting, and improving the health of that patient. Focusing on improving the health of patients and creating satisfied patients is imperative. This ensures the best interests of the patient are always the driving force of care. When this satisfied patient gets the opportunity, they too will refer a new patient. Practices that create happy and satisfied patients simultaneously build an internal and self driven new chiropractic patient referral source on autopilot! This is a winning scenario for everyone involved. Patients get healthy and doctors get the opportunity to improve quality of life while making a living. Now that you see the value in creating satisfied patients, let's discuss five easy ways to establish the highest level of patient satisfaction in your practice.
- Make the patient comfortable.
- Listen.
- Maintain reasonable office procedures and policies.
- Go the extra mile.
Show patients how much you appreciate them.
Let's take a look at each step individually.
1. Make the Patient Comfortable
Every single step in your new and existing patient procedures should be designed with patient comfort and convenience in mind. You've heard this tip before, but when was the last time you've actually critically analyzed patient procedures in your practice? Although there are times when the needs of the practice will override the comfort of the patient, these should be the rare exceptions and not the rule.
New patients should be treated like the valuable practice members they are. The minute the patient walks in the door they should be greeted by a warm front office staff. Offer the new patient a beverage or other healthy refreshment while completing the new patient paperwork. Much of their basic contact information should already have been pre-filled on the paperwork for them.
Examination procedures should minimize the need for the patient to change positions frequently. Try to organize all standing, seated, supine, and prone examination procedures together. Exam rooms should be located either in, or immediately adjacent to, x-ray rooms.
Consider something as seemingly insignificant as patient gowning. Do your patients have a private and comfortable area to disrobe? Do patients have a safe area to put their clothes and possessions? Make sure to have a variety of sizes of patient gowns available. It's also a good idea to explain to the patient how to put the gown on correctly! I even allow those shy and embarrassed patients to put two gowns on, one with the opening in back, the other in front if they feel more comfortable.
Good communication with your patients is another way to make new patients comfortable. Explain what is going to happen. New patients like to know what is going to happen next, so keep them informed of what to expect and provide them with general estimates of how long it will take.
Don't forget the comfort of established patients either! It probably does more damage than good to your practice if you pamper new patients while ignoring established ones. Offer established patients a beverage or other healthy snack. Go out of your way to make sure they are just as comfortable as someone visiting your practice for the first time.
Although I could give you many other tips, consider going straight to the source; ask your patients. One of the best ways to make sure your patients are comfortable is to ask them. You'd be amazed how much constructive feedback you can receive just by asking your patients what you can do to create a more comfortable practice. One easy way to do this is to create patient satisfaction surveys or even suggestion boxes in the waiting room or checkout area. Regardless of how you ask, make sure you act on the good suggestions. The first step to happy patients is to make them comfortable.
2. Listen
This one is pretty self explanatory, but it is often forgotten in the daily hustle and bustle. When a patient talks you should listen! One of the most common patient complaints is that patients feel their healthcare provider doesn't listen to them. Take an extra minute or two with your patients and listen.
Don't just pretend to listen, make an effort to be an active listener. Repeat things back to a patient to let them know you were listening and understanding them. For example, say something like, "Mr. Jones what I hear you telling me is when you bend to your left like this it causes increased pain, and pain shooting down your left leg. Do I have that correct?"
Take this a step further and listen when a patient mentions something not directly related to their treatment. Although writing down everything isn't possible, try making a note of what is going on with the lives of your patients outside of your practice. This really helps in going the extra mile, which we will talk about in tip number 4. Patients truly appreciate when you listen to them and see them as a real person and not just another chart number.
Take the time to close your mouth and open your ears. You always have to keep efficiency in mind, but not at the expense of patient rapport. Balancing listening and efficiency with a talkative patient can be a difficult challenge, but it is just one of the wonderful challenges that must be met to be a successful Doctor of Chiropractic!
3. Maintain Reasonable Office Procedures and Policies
No one likes a dictator. Although you must have office procedures and policies in effect to maintain order, you don't need to make them unreasonable. You can and should make exceptions to the rules when they are warranted.
Let's take one rule as an example. Let's discuss missed appointment fees. Missed appointments are indeed a wrench in the works of an efficient practice. Charging a missed appointment fee has become an acceptable method of deterring patients from missing appointments. I know a doctor in the Midwest who rules his practice with an iron fist. He's close to retirement and probably isn't as concerned with new patients as his younger colleagues. However, as long as I have known him he has pretty much had a zero tolerance approach to his office procedures. If a patient misses an appointment without 24 hour notice they are charged a $25.00 late fee, end of story.
Maintain order with rules and policies, but also use common sense and good judgment. For example, if single mother Mrs. Jones who works 2 jobs to get by forgets her appointment, you should cut her some slack. Be reasonable and your patients will do the same.
4. Go the Extra Mile
The main goal here is simple: give your patient more than they would get at the practice down the street. The numbers of ways you can achieve this goal are endless! Use your imagination and do what you can to go the extra mile for your patients.
Who doesn't love to get more than they've paid for? Who doesn't like to be treated like royalty? Is there anyone who doesn't like to be pampered? I don't think so. Make this an open discussion at your next staff meeting. Have your staff list ways to pamper patients and give them more than they pay for. Everyone should try to come up with a way to make every procedure more efficient and less work for the patient. Try and create ways where you can simply knock your patients' socks off with the quality of your service. Dream up creative, low cost ways to pamper your patients! Not only will you have fun, but you'll be amazed at how many missed opportunities exist to create happy patients. I love this topic so much I won't reveal any tips here. Look for tips on going the extra mile in a future article!
5. Show Patients how Much you Appreciate Them.
You may be thinking that going the extra mile everyday already expresses your appreciation of patients. You need to remember that going the extra mile is now part of your daily procedures! You now provide the best and your patients expect it. (Who said life at the top was going to be easy?) We need to go the extra two miles here and set aside specific events for declaring our appreciation for patients.
There are several easy ways to do this. One of the most common ways is by holding a special patient appreciation event. Pick a day, week, or whatever duration you choose for your patient appreciation event. I prefer to set aside a certain day about twice a year and call it "Patient Appreciation Day". (Original huh?) The name isn't important. What IS important is what happens during your patient appreciation event.
You can't simply take an ordinary day with scheduled visits and slap a "patient appreciation day" label on it. Passing out a coupon or a free prize here or there won't do. To make a patient appreciation event truly effective you need to make it special. You need to design contests and other interesting events. This has to be a memorable EVENT. Planning a patient appreciation event requires that you invest some time and money, but the results will be well worth it.
This is another topic we are going to cover in depth in a future article. Watch for our article about creating the perfect patient appreciation day. Until then, try one of the following 10 suggestions to help express your patient appreciation.
1. Send out birthday cards to patients.
2. Send patients postcards for the holidays.
3. Send a new patient a welcome letter along with a new patient "welcome kit".
4. Send a postcard for a patient's "anniversary" with your practice.
5. Did a patient mention their son just won the little league championship, or that their daughter made the school honor roll? Send that son or daughter a congratulatory card or letter, even if they aren't one of your patients!
6. Send valuable patients an appreciation letter with a small gift, coupon or gift card.
7. Thank existing patients for referrals.
8. Make up clever little patient appreciation cards, similar to business cards and hand them to selected patients.
9. Find small, unique, and affordable gifts to give patients for each major holiday or just because.
10. Create a "patient appreciation" bulletin or dry erase board.
My practice has a patient appreciation dry erase board in the reception area which we update weekly. At the top is the phrase "We appreciate our patients because:". We regularly update the board with a new reason. "We appreciate our patients because they are committed to optimum health", "We appreciate our patients because they are kind, caring, and punctual", "We appreciate our patients because they appreciate the power of chiropractic are", are just a few examples.
The preceding tips are just the tip of the iceberg. When it comes to creative ways to generate patient satisfaction in a chiropractic practice, the possibilities are seemingly endless. There are hundreds of low cost and unique ways to show patients you appreciate them. Come up with more of your own, or if you don't have the time simply watch our website. We offer exciting and affordable products along with free ideas and resources which will help automate patient appreciation and do 90% of the work for you! Whether you let us help or not, make sure you show your patients how much you appreciate their commitment to both your practice and their health. When you make patient satisfaction a top priority in your practice you may just discover it is the best chiropractic marketing you've ever done!
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