Revamp Your Chiro Business: Escape The Time-For-Money Trap
If there's one thing that's guaranteed to keep your practice small, it’s the time-for-money trap. And I want to make sure that you get this and fix this in your practice because it will change everything.
It’s this concept that you must spend more time to earn more money. You've got to cut that out. You've got to realize that your value is the outcomes you deliver for your patients.
So read on or watch the video below if you want a step-by-step of how to scale your practice in less time.
Why is it so easy to fall into this trap where we think that our time is what we're being paid for and that the value means we have to spend more time?
One of my favorite members in our Data-Driven Practice community that I got to work with was Doc Henry. He had huge ambitions to open up multiple locations, and he was well on his way.
He was trying to move from being the primary treating doctor in his practice to bringing on some associates, but he didn't have the infrastructure to scale. So, I showed him a framework I'd been working on called "The 7-To-8-Figure Provider Journey."
Step 1. The 7-To-8-Figure Provider Journey
“The 7-To-8-Figure Provider Journey” is a step-by-step process of what to focus on in each phase of your practice journey:
Promoter Phase - If your practice’s earnings are below $25K, we call you a Promoter or someone in the ‘promoter phase.’ You're somebody who needs to figure out how to promote themselves and attract enough new patients to begin picking up momentum.
Operator Phase - The Operator is focused on reproducible systems in a practice that produces predictable results. This is typically a practice between $30K - $50K.
Leader Phase - The Leader is preparing to hire another doctor in the practice. This is the time to make sure we put in our office manager, who is not full-time yet but somebody who is really helping to drive the growth of the practice.
High Performer Phase - These practices are over the $83K mark and moving into the 6-figure months. The High Performer is focused on building a team of A-players and ensuring they can handle the volume of the practice as it continues to attract more new patients.
Expander Phase - The Expander has reproducible systems ready to scale or open multiple locations.
Evolution Boss Phase - You become the Evolution Boss when you have multiple income streams and businesses focused on your legacy.
So, what phase are you on your journey? Now, let me share with you the tasks that you should consider focusing on based on this roadmap and where you’re at right now.
Action Steps Based On Your Phase
If your monthly earnings are below $30K, focus on creating a solid offer. It should be something irresistible that patients immediately resonate with and want to incorporate into their lives. This offer should be a magnet for attracting a wave of new patients.
It’s something valuable that patients want to have. It’s something that begins to solve their problems and introduces them to your community, where you can start educating them on the transformation that your practice delivers.
If you’re sub $50K, focus on your conversion. This is taking patients attracted to that offer and converting more of them into your care. Now, for some of you, depending on your lever, if you're getting a low number and high conversion, then you need to be focusing on your offer.
But if you're getting a high volume of leads but low conversion, we've got to work on your conversion process. This includes your sales strategy and your exam and case acceptance process.
Help patients overcome any obstacles that are keeping them from accepting your care, and make sure they understand that your approach is the best path for them. This is key to breaking through those $50K months.
The next one is if you're sub $75K, you've got to begin buying your time back. You're probably so busy you don’t have time to work on the practice because you're always working in the practice. At this phase, you’re ready to build your leadership team.
Doc Henry was in a place where he was adding additional team members, but he didn't have the proper systems to support a team. So, we went back to the Operator phase, fixed some pieces, and then launched the Leader phase, and that's where he began to take off.
Now, if you're sub six figures, but you're close, you’re ready to bring in another Leader. You need an office manager.
For many of you, you're the visionary. You see where the practice is going. You know where you want to get the practice to. But we need an Operator who can pair with you to help you attract, hire, and build the team.
They’ll take the principles from The Data Driven Practice and implement them, skyrocketing you over the 6-figure mark.
Now, if you’re monthly earnings are below $150K, and you're ready to break through that barrier, it's time to turn the spotlight on yourself. Where do you spend your time? It should NOT be focused on patient care.
You should be pouring your energy into your leadership team. They, in turn, will pour their energy into building a team of A-players. You should be figuring out what your next hire will be and what prime mover to focus on so we can break through that next system or process that's holding us back.
These are the steps that, if you focus on each level, you will see your practice unlocked. I'm happy to say that Doc Henry, after breaking down those dominoes, has ascended the entire ladder to Expander and has now opened up his fourth location. He is crushing it, and that is the power of this framework.
Step 2. Shift Where You Perceive The Value In Your Practice
Now that you understand where your time should be spent and each step of the evolution process, I want you to shift where you perceive the value in your practice. In smaller practices, many of us tend to equate the value solely with ourselves.
Sure, we put in eight-plus years of schooling and honed our expertise to be the driving force behind the practice. But it's time to break free from that perspective. I want you to break your ego that you're the only person who can change patients' lives.
Trust me, I had to confront my own ego. I'm the son of Dr. Ron Frogley, a renowned healer who helped develop the Thompson Technique that helped grow Palmer College into the incredible learning beacon of light it's become.
When I came out of school, it was all about me delivering services to patients. I got on the high-volume treadmill. And to be honest with you, after several years, I started to seriously question what I was doing. I was exhausted. I wasn’t even having fun, and I really wanted practice to be fun. I really wanted life to be rewarding and enjoyable.
So I went on this journey to understand how to build a system where the value that my patients received wasn’t solely reliant on me as the doctor but from the system itself.
That meant I had to have a training system and take the time to build things that were reproducible for the doctors who were coming in to work for me. I wanted to train them to deliver the same outcomes that I was getting with our patients.
Next, I had to redefine our marketing approach so that the value of our practice was in the system patients would go through. And it changed everything. Now, value was being delivered to patients through any team member who approached their role with humility, coachability, and alignment with our purpose and passion.
It was about delivering a system that produced exceptional patient outcomes. This is the essence of what you're crafting as the brand leader.
In fact, as I began pulling away from patient care and building the brand and the system, I found tremendous joy in watching my team deliver these outcomes. It was incredibly fulfilling to see our patient testimonials be about the system and not about me.
I just had to get over myself. I had to get past my own ego. And crazy enough, I'm now finding more joy, and the system is what’s creating the results.
And I want that for you. I want to help you and make sure that you’re on the right path to having the support you need to build the brand that you've always dreamed of.
Step 3. Marketing Message
My third and final tip for escaping the time-for-money trap is in your marketing message. You've got to get so clear in your messaging that you know exactly who you're helping and what that patient's life looks like on a daily basis.
What are they struggling with? What pain are they dealing with other than the physical pain? What activities are they missing out on because of this? What joy has been sucked out of their life because their focus and attention are consumed by this new miserable state that they're in?
And you will communicate with them through different mediums — whether through Facebook Live or Facebook posts, Instagram stories, TikTok videos, or downloadable content. Through all these avenues, you will redirect their focus toward the outcomes driven by your system.
Think about this for a second — what does McDonald's sell? They don't sell the best, healthiest food on the planet, do they? Yet, they’re the largest food provider worldwide. There’s a lesson to be learned here.
They're not just selling food; they're selling a “Happy Meal”. Their first mascot was a clown because it's all about fun. In reality, what they're selling is happiness and joy.
We've got to take a page out of that incredible marketing playbook and recognize that this is what your system delivers for your patients — it's selling happiness again. It's selling quality of life again. It's selling outcomes that they've dreamed of having.
That's what I want your marketing message to be. I want you to catch them, hook them with their pain, and I want you to show what life looks like after they go through your system.
So, in your marketing, you are not selling yourself. This is not about you and what you can do. It’s about the system that you discovered. That way, when they come into your practice, it doesn't matter who delivers the system.
It's the outcome of the system that they're investing in. That's the value. It doesn't matter if they get the outcome in five visits, 12 visits, or 40 visits. You just have to deliver the outcome, and they will gladly pay for the outcomes.
When you make this shift in mindset, you become a valued member of The Data Driven Practice Community. We are passionate about patient experience, patient care, and getting the quality of life back in their lives.
If you want a little help with this, we've got a support system for you, and it's called the “Practice Profits Challenge.” We'll walk you through the process of leveraging your data and putting in the effort — it's a transition from the old way to an incredibly effective new approach that not only yields better patient results but also boosts profits.
It keeps you passionate about what you're building in your practice and gives you the power to reward your team at a greater capacity. So come join this challenge. It's free, and all you have to do is click here. Get ‘er done!
