It’s interesting to observe that many chiropractors will look high and low to find ways to boost their chiropractic business while neglecting one of the most powerful practice building weapons and patient care advocates right under their nose.
For many patients in your practice, she is called “mom.” It’s widely known that women are the family health care decision-makers and studies show that approximately 80% of family health care choices are made by “Dr. Mom.” According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report, a huge percentage of care decisions are made by women not only for their children (which is done by mom 85% of the time), they shuttle children to appointments (in 84% of the cases), and ensure everyone gets the recommended care they need – including themselves and their spouses (in 79 of the scenarios%).
In addition to being the informal research team and hands-on care advocates, women. are also changing the way health care is utilized – including in your chiropractic offices.
With Mother’s Day coming just around the corner, here are some facts you should consider to help mom’s, to help your patients and to better strengthen your relationships (and your practice) with your greatest referral source: Dr. Mom.
- Get Social: Back in 2011, the Pew Internet Project found that nearly 70% of women use social networking sites where they influence the health care decisions of the women in their online communities and those of their families (and it’s likely this number has increased). How influential are women in social media? Ohio-based Summa Health Care group has over 30 locations and hundreds of providers on its staff to serving thousands of its patient members. When Summa surveyed its Facebook page, blog, and Twitter feed demographics, it found users to be 96% women!
- Recommending Providers:How are women influencing their online communities? For starters, 84% of them are looking at online review sites, with 77% of them using online reviews as their first step in researching a new doctor according to Software Advice.
- Chiropractic & Complimentary Medicine Friendly:Fortunately, as chiropractors, women are most likely to use our services, making chiropractic the number one choice under the Complementary and Alternative Medicine banner. But these decisions may also go well with other services you offer such as massage, acupuncture, nutrition and weight loss as several studies point out that the most likely patients for these therapies are women, most specifically, middle-aged women.
How To Maximize Opportunities
In my observations, too few chiropractic offices focus on how they can help women, how they can empower, educate or enrich the lives of Dr. Mom and, simultaneously help their practice. Here are a few thoughts:
Mother’s Day Massage Gift Certificates
Massage is generally an easy recommendation for most patients to consider. But combine massage and simple opportunity to celebrate Mother’s Day and you have a proven winner! Each May, a Mother’s Day massage promotion should be a part of your practice marketing calendar. Put up some signs, ask patients what they are doing for their mom or their wife and then when you get those clueless stares, boom! Solve their problem with a massage gift certificate.
[Don’t even have massage in your chiropractic office? You are missing the boat! And if you do have massage, but aren’t profiting as much as you think you should, it’s likely you have structured your program or are promoting it incorrectly. Consider picking up a copy of our Build a $300,000 Massage Practice in Your Chiropractic Office program, which is an A-Z guide on running a successful and profitable massage program in the chiropractic setting. To help to celebrate and honor Mothers (whether you are one or not), you can get the Massage program at a special discounted price…until Mother’s Day!]
Assisting Mom Get HER Care
In the interest of putting everyone else first, mom’s often neglect their own healthcare. It amazes me how many chiropractic opportunities are missed when we forget this fact. One simple solution and strategy: acknowledge the problem head on!
Next time Dr. Mom refer you a patient – regardless of whether it’s their child, their spouse or their begrudging friend they bring in – take a few seconds to thank Mom and ask her how SHE is doing! Here are three direct questions that even the most selfless mom’s find hard to ignore:
- Thanks for bringing Bob in to have me look at his low back. You made an expert call there. Do you suffer from back pain that gives you the kind of experience to make such a good diagnosis?
- It’s great that you brought your son/daughter to get checked. I’m sure we’ll be able to help him/her. Now, what about you? Should we be making an appointment to check your spine as well?
- Thank you so much for your referral. You’ve sent in many patients over the years and I appreciate your confidence. One patient I have noticed that hasn’t been here is YOU! Sometimes, Moms are so busy taking care of everyone else that they push their problems to the back seat. Is there something that we should be looking at in relation to your health care?
Educating and Empowering Mom on Wellness & Prevention
Mom’s are not only the most likely ones to bring in their family when they have problems, they are also the most likely to try and prevent them. It’s highly likely you’ve got both the resources and the strategies to address wellness in your clinic. But are you using them effectively? Here are some ideas to help educate and empower Dr. Mom:
- Food For Thought – do you have resources, videos and/or workshops available to teach healthy eating or nutrition? One of my coaching clients has a well-attended cooking class (where 94% of the attendees are moms) where he teaches about proper nutrition and cooking strategies. The class is short, fun, hands-on and a massive success – only half his attendees are current patients, the other half are invited by their friends. But the best part, of those non-patients who attend, 60% become patients themselves or refer in a friend or family member!
- Simple Supplementation – many chiropractors offer supplements, but many have them sit on the shelf gathering dust. When I challenged one of my coaching clients to “use it or lose it,” she created a simple one page laminated guide to recommended supplements. We put it in the waiting room and all patient adjusting rooms and sales went up nearly 20%. When she added automated shipping, sales jumped another 40% because she advertised its convenience and simplicity for Dr. Mom!
- Educational Events – I’ve also seen great success with educational events geared towards working women and/or mom. Give them a night out, a morning out, a working lunch or whatever you choose and/or give them an opportunity to get away a focus on health. You will be pleasantly surprised at the attendance. Then, record your event and make it into a webinar or a DVD, playing the highlights or key strategies over and again for mom’s who couldn’t make the live event.
Next Steps
The list could literally go on for how you get focus on better serving the moms and women in your practice. So, here’s my challenge to you:
Do not ignore this powerful presence in your practice. In fact, give yourself a deadline. Do something to honor, empower, educate moms and do it by Mothers Day – your practice and your patients will be better for it!
