Part 2
So here is a continued list of even more sources of new patients in your community.
COMMUNITY SERVICE.
Nothing brings
you to the attention of the people faster-or more favorably-than community
service. Ask yourself how your enterprise can be a "good neighbor" to
your community. If you're running a lawn care and gardening service, perhaps
you can offer one season's services at no charge to a needy charitable
organization or nursing home in your area. Hundreds of people will hear about
your work in the process. Volunteer for various community causes. If
appropriate, you can step in during community emergency, offering products and
services to help an organization or individuals in need.
COUPONING.
Americans are
very coupon-conscious. Test the market: at what level will coupons increase the
volume of various product or service lines? When you get some tentative
answers, start distributing coupons that offer a discount on your services.
Distribute them to area newspapers, on store counters, in door-to-door- mail
packets (which can often be quite inexpensive), at the public library, at
laundromats, at any location where people congregate. Groupon, BuyWithMe and Living Social are some
of the newer online coupon sites that offer great deals to hundreds of
thousands of people in their email lists at absolutely NO COST TO YOU! Offering a unique product is key to get featured
with these services. We offer a copy of
their X-rays on CD for free. You could
offer massage, yoga or acupuncture sessions to sweeten the deal. Simply go to their respective websites to
sign up and get the process going. Do it
NOW! Taking action is the key to success.
Don’t suffer from analysis paralysis.
BADGES AND NOVELTIES.
You can easily
and inexpensively produce badges, bumper stickers, book covers, and other
novelty items for distribution in your area. You can imprint your business name
and the first names of the customers on many of these products at little cost
and distribute them for free. Or you can tie your novelty program into a
contest: once a month, you can offer a prize to any individual whose car
happens to carry one of your bumper stickers or badges with peel-off coupons,
redeemable at your place of business. I
know this sounds cheesy, but that is what gets people’s attention! I hate to be the one to tell you but you are
going to have to be a salesman to a certain extent if you want patients to know
who you are.
CELEBRITY VISITS.
With a bit of
persistence, you may be able to arrange to have a local media celebrity, public
official, or entertainment personally-even a fictitious cartoon character or
clown-visit your service. The celebrity can sign autographs, read stories to
children, perform cooking demonstrations, or perform any one of a hundred other
traffic-building activities. One
chiropractor got patients by renting an elephant and offering elephant rides at
a local festival. He went on to become
the most successful chiropractor in that community.
CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS.
You'll probably
want to celebrate major public holidays with special sales. But celebrate some
of the offbeat holidays as well. Almost every business has a few little-known
holidays. Ever hear of National Pickle Day, for instance? Or Cat Lovers Month?
Once you find the "right" holiday, you can sponsor a special sale or
special product arrange special media coverage of a holiday event. You can even make up some holidays like Joke
Day or anatomy day. Melissa And Doug Human Anatomy Double-Sided Floor Puzzle is a fun way to involve patients in education about how their bodies are put together.
GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.
Can you open
sales information booths at community fairs and festivals? This promotional
technique can work for gift retailers, craftspeople, and personal service
firms. If you have the people and the time, can you handle regional fairs or
even trade shows? This is one of the
areas that I specialize in at our office.
Look for an extensive explanation of how to do this in a future entry.
MAILING LISTS.
Once you begin
establishing a committed clientele, gather their names and emails on a mailing list. Save the names from your screenings
and telephone inquiries. Eventually, you'll be able to send educational follow
up materials to the folks on your list and you'll be able to promise your
products by email. There are numerous companies
that will do all this for a fee. I’ll cover the benefits of that in another
entry.
SCAVENGER HUNTS.
If you want
people to buy NOW, offer them an unbeatable deal. If they bring an old
product-a small appliance, a book, whatever-to you, you'll give them a
worthwhile discount on a comparable new item. Or stage a general purpose
scavenger hunt. Customers who bring in three canned goods for your community's
food bank will receive a discount on products purchased that day.
PARTIES.
Everyone loves a
party. Why not celebrate the anniversary of your business or some special
holiday by offering healthy snacks and beverages? If you're running a service
business, perhaps you can offer an open house or obtain a small banquet room in
your community. Besides refreshments, be sure the place is brightly decorated.
GREETING CARDS.
Do you send out
greeting cards to major customers or clients? Holidays, birthdays, and
anniversaries make nice greeting card occasions. Greeting cards create enormous
goodwill and keep your name in front of people.
CashPractice, is a great company that offers an email drip campaign that
acts as an auto responder to send out Birthday emails automatically to patients
as well as educational materials on the dangers of subluxation and what new
patients can expect during their care in a series of automatically generated
emails. I highly recommend them. Click the blue link above and enter the referral code JDDC50 to get $50 off your signup fee! We have been working with them for years and
their service has helped us to reach 800+ patient visits a week.
SEMINARS.
In this
information hungry age, people love to receive advice, especially about their
personal needs and hobbies. If you sell health foods or run fitness classes,
perhaps you can offer "wellness" seminars during lunchtime to your
area's business community. If you're an interior decorator, perhaps you can
offer one-hour decorating workshops to any group of ten people who will gather
in someone's home. If you're running a printing business, perhaps you can offer
tours and layout seminars at your plant.
Chiropractors are often told to do health talks in their offices but many don't. Not only are these crucial for your patients to get a better understanding of what it is that you are doing but it also helps you get experience speaking in front of a group.
The list above are excellent projectors that I have tried in the past. Their prices range from $400-$1400 so it just depends on what you are looking to spend. There are many online courses as well to help you learn how to perfect your powerpoint presentations. Our office is a little different than some in that we cover a wide range of topics from AIDS to Mens Health to Vegetable Juicing but we ALWAYS bring every presentation back to the vital importance of having a nervous system free of subluxations.
If you're not
pleased with your promotional efforts today or if you simply must increase your
exposure among customers and prospects-it's probably time to increase your
publicity efforts.
By all means,
advertise in the media if you can or must. But don't neglect your greatest
promotional asset-your mind. Ponder the products, services, and events you can
offer the community and devise a creative promotional strategy around them.
You'll have to invest a bit of time and energy in the project, but the payoff
will be worth it. You'll save hundreds-or even thousands-of advertising dollars
and, better yet, you'll travel a well-worn shortcut to profit.
The secret is to
Take Action! Don’t just stay in a
fearful state. Look the reality of your
situation in the eye and Take Steps to correct it. You will learn that Simple Chiro Marketing is simple...but not easy. It’s your business, handle it!
