There are generally two types of marketing:  high cost, low confrontation, low return and low cost, high confrontation, and high return.  What I mean by “confrontation” is the degree to which you leave your “comfort zone;” i.e., sitting on your chair, surfing the net, waiting for something to happen.

An example of the first kind of marketing is placing a display ad in the main section of your city’s newspaper.  The ad rep will convince you to run it daily or weekly for about six months, and it will cost you an arm and a leg.  Your ad will compete with huge ads placed by bigger businesses like Macy’s.   Typically, this type of advertising does not pay for itself.  This is low confrontation (you get to stay in your comfort zone), expensive, and low return.

Can you think of an example of the second kind?  I think you can.  It’s what a lot of us fear, and that is meeting people; strangers really, and talking to them about chiropractic.  When they didn’t even ask you to.  Yikes.  But guess what– all it costs is your time.  And if your schedule has big holes in it that you really need filled, believe me, you have the time.  How many people can you meet in two hours if you were really focused?  A lot.

So, here’s the technique:  Go door to door in your neighborhood and take a survey.  Choose neighborhoods that are within 2-3 miles of your office.  Ask people if you can borrow three minutes of their time to take a survey.  First tell them you are a chiropractor and your office is down the road from them, and are working on putting together your community outreach program.  Ask them what medium they use when choosing services:  TV, radio, newspaper, street signage, referral from friend, or internet search.  Then, ask them which health issues are a concern to them or members in the household:  back pain, neck pain, headaches, extremity pain, weight loss.  Then, thank the person for her time, and before you leave for the next house, say “because you took the time to take this survey, I want to leave you with a coupon for a Free initial visit at my office.  It will be good until (then write the expiration date on the coupon in front of her).”   Make sure your coupon looks nice and professional.  If you really want to be aggressive, and you made rapport with the person, ask her if she has any health questions for you.  If she starts talking about pain, let her talk and then tell her she should make an appointment.  Then, either make the appointment on the spot or tell her you will call her to set it up after you check your schedule.

That’s it!  The biggest thing keeping people from visiting a new chiropractor is the unknown.  But with this technique, you get to make a face to face impression.  They are now familiar with you.  Familiarity is a good thing.  That’s why major corporations spend millions on branding.  So, when the time comes when these people you meet experience neck or back pain, guess who will come to mind first?  You!

It’s a numbers game, so you’ll need to do this at least a couple times a week, 2-3 hours each time.  Do it for a couple of months.  There is no faster way to increase your patient visits.