When it comes to growing your practice, it’s difficult to know what to do and how to keep your schedule full of appointments.
It’s good to have some direction to help you implement your goals – heal more people, grow your practice and make a decent living for yourself!
Here are 3 Qi-Infusing Strategies For Your Practice.
Qi Infusing Strategy #1 – Grow your list
Does this situation sound familiar? You get a new patient, they come in a for a few treatments, and then, they disappear? It’s almost as if your patient vanishes and decides to no longer seek active care with you.
It could be for a number of reasons, and many of them could be out of your control. But one easy, and extremely cost-effective way is to keep in regular contact with your patients using email marketing.
Connecting with your patients via email is an easy way to stay in touch and educate them in various ways.
There's so much you can email about to stay in touch.
- Changes in and around your clinic
- New practitioners you are working with
- Recent research articles
- News updates
- Seasonal updates
- Seasonal foods
- Seasonal acupressure points
If you have not already, begin to compile an email list from every patient and prospective patients and begin sending them an email at least once per month.
- Collect email addresses – Ask new clients as part of your paperwork, have a check off box on your new patient forms that tells them you are going to be sending them health updates every month. In addition, ask your current clients for their email addresses.
- Find a service you like – There are many email service providers. A few that I prefer are Mailchimp and Constant Contact. They are both intuitive and (can be) easy to use depending upon your technical abilities.
- Write your emails – You’ll be surprised as to how quickly you can whip out a few emails. I’m confident if you put aside three hours a month, you could write four to six emails. If you have no time or desire to write, there are many service providers out there to write emails for you.
- Join AcuDownloads. Each month you have access to newsletters, a blog posts, research updates, and much more! All the content you need is done for you! Simply, copy and paste the content into the emails you plan to send to your patients.
Don’t forget to add some form of call-to-action to every email. For example, you could offer a free 15-minute stress reduction treatment, or a discounted visit. The idea is to get your email recipients to respond to your call-to-action and schedule an appointment with you.
Qi Infusing Strategy #2 – Reactivate Inactive Patients
There is no easier patient to acquire than the one that has used your services in the past. Why?
Because you have already:
- Invested time in getting to know them,
- Spent time and money getting them into your clinic,
- Explained (and proven) what it is you do and how you can help them
Most patients don’t stop seeing you because they don’t like your treatments. The real reason they tend to fall out-of-care is because life gets busy for them, and they have just simply forgot to keep up with their treatment.
Don’t let these kind of patients slip through your fingers!
Try one of these patient reactivation ideas below and see your practice grow.
- Open up your files and find patients that have not been in to the clinic within last 6 months.
- Send a letter/email asking them to come in for an exam so you can make sure they are still in good health and can ensure they will stay that way, especially as the seasons change.
- Hold a class that teaches your patients about the organs related to the season and how to stay healthy as the new season arrives.
- Host an event in your clinic and invite them to an open house or patient appreciation event
- Write an article for your local paper and send a copy of it your inactive patient base
For maximum results, follow up your letter with a phone call a week later. You’ll generate more reactivations and your practice will become busier!
Qi Infusing Strategy #3 – Hosting A Patient Appreciation Day
It’s nice to give back and show appreciation for your patients from time to time.
One way of celebrating your patients is by hosting a Patient Appreciation Day.
This is a special event designed to be fun and memorable for your patients.
Patient Appreciation Day’s serve four purposes:
- They attract new patients
- They reactivate inactive patients
- They generate interest and excitement about acupuncture
- They are a lot of fun!
Even if you are just starting your practice, a Patient Appreciation Day generates enthusiasm, promotes generosity, encourages community and helps plant the seeds for growing a successful practice well into the future. All this happens simply by asking your existing patients to invite friends and family to meet and greet you.
A Patient Appreciation Day is also a fantastic networking tool. It’s a great way to connect with other health care providers in your community. Invite doctors, massage therapists, naturopaths, chiropractors, herbalists and yoga instructors located in your area.
By expanding your community with other practitioners at your Patient Appreciation Day, you can double your fun, double your exposure, cut your costs and generate referral streams.
- Tell your patients, all of them. This includes your inactive patients that have fallen out-of-care. Give them a call and personally invite them.
- Send them a postcard, letter or flyer announcing the event.
- Post flyers all around the office.
- Stock take-home postcards at your front desk available for patients to grab.
- Give your patients a copy of your Patient Appreciation Day flyer, and ask them if they would be interested in posting it at work, or giving it to a friend.
- Incorporate an Acupuncture Happy Hour. Use two or three points to calm and relax their mind and body.
- You can support a local artist and wrap your Patient Appreciation Day in with an art opening.
- You can solicit raffle items from local small businesses or other health practitioners (i.e. a massage therapist).
If you’d like more information about conducting a successful Patient Appreciation Day check out our ebook here. “How to create and promote an effective Patient Appreciation Day.”
Talk soon,
Jeffrey Grossman, EAMP
“To fill your schedule regularly be sure to have multiple strategies you can implement easily to reach your goal”
