Getting patients to stick with the plan by avoiding “Friction”

Are you getting in the way of your patients actually sticking with the plan you've recommended? One of the ways I see many practitioners who are ethical, patient centered, good chiropractors out there subconsciously sabotaging their patients is by having a lot of friction between what you want them to do and them actually doing it. And I'm going to share three ways you can reduce that friction to help patients stick with the initial plan and the initial schedule you've recommended. Because if you don't do these, you you're gonna find patients are less likely to follow your advice. They won't come in when you recommend, they'll drop out early, they won't get results and you'll end up frustrated for it. So there's three simple ways to do that. One of the ways I see a lot of people add friction to patients is they let them book appointments online. Now, I'm a big fan of online booking and we definitely provide that. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but when somebody's first coming in for care, the first couple of visitors, if they're asking you, when should I come back next? And you're giving them an answer, oh, next week, don't recommend that. Oh, yeah, just book it online. They should be booking it whilst they're there with you. It's much easier for them because for them to have to go home, remember to book online, pull up your website, remember what that is, maybe they have to look for it again, fill in all their details, get their calendar out. That's a lot of friction. That's harder work for them and it's much easier for them to go, I'll deal with that later and then forget. And then they don't come in when they should or they don't come back at all. It's very easy for patients to put stuff on the back burner. So if they need to make an appointment, encourage them to do it when they're in the practice. If they need to go home and check if they'd rather book online, of course do that, but don't recommend it to them when they're happy to book it there. The least friction. The easiest way for them to book on the time you want them to is when they're already in the practice. So absolutely provide online booking, but don't go recommending it, don't suggest to patients, oh, it's fine, you can book online. You're actually making it harder for them to do the things they want to do. So that's the first one, the Second one related to this is don't make them rebook at every single visit. Every time that they have to go out to reception and book another appointment, they're having to decide, a, do I want to come back? They have to reconsider the entire commitment and B, they're having to think, okay, when am I going to be free? Well, let's get the calendar, let's have a look and see. Doing that every single time they come to see you means there is always a little extra chance at every visit. Oh, I can't do it there. I've booked a social thing or I'm not so sure about this. They're having to do a lot more thinking every time. Far, far better that when you know what the initial few visits are going to be. The initial schedule, they book them all once at the start. That is the same amount of friction as them having to do it every other time multiplied by six. So it's far, far easier for them to do it once. And as well as that, because they're booking further ahead, they will prioritize their life around their appointments. Whatever you've got booked in the diary, it's much more effort to reschedule that and put something else in. Patients often won't do that if they've already got another event in there, if they're meeting a friend for coffee. But they will be perfectly happy to tell that friend, I can't do Tuesday afternoon because I'm going to see my chiropractor. So make sure their care is booked in advance, that they're doing that once rather than having to think about it every single time they come back in. Get out. Okay. Oh, what am I going to do? Oh, I'll have to move that around. That's way too much friction. Makes it harder for them to do the thing they actually want to do, which is come and see you, get the care, get the results and get better. And on a similar note to that, when you're recommending an initial schedule, this sounds silly, but don't ask them to remember the schedule between them walking out your room and then walking up to reception. Like in my room, that is a six foot walk. As they're walking out, I can recommend them. Okay, so we'll see you. You know, this many visits over this many weeks, you can put those in with the front desk. It's amazing the number of people go, yep, okay, got it. Walk out. You know, Sophie goes, when do you want to book in? And they're going, oh, when did he say like it's crazy, but they're so overwhelmed. Don't ask them to remember that. The best way would be to accompany them to the front desk and then you can tell the front desk team in front of the patient what they need to. But they've already said yes, you've already discussed it with the patient, but you let the front desk know if you can't do that, if you're, if you're too nervous to do that maybe at the start or it's. Logistically, it's difficult because your practice layout, then at least message the front desk. Like send them a message on the computer or just write it down on a scrap of paper and give it to the patients. They give this to someone, Sophie shall put that, like some way of them remembering it. It's far easier for them. It reduces that friction because they're taking in so many things, you'd be amazed what they can forget in a six foot walk. So those would be the three ways to help them stick with the schedule. Don't recommend and encourage them to book online. Let them do it if they want, but ideally have them book in the practice. Have them book the initial schedule once, don't make them recommit and get the diary out every single time they come to see you. And don't ask them to remember the schedule. You know, make sure that bit is taken care of so they can just come out and Sophie knows when she's going to book them in and can discuss that with them. So that way you're going to find it's much easier for patients to stick with the plan. Now, if you're not sure how to do that, if you're maybe unsure how to phrase that, if that maybe feels uncomfortable to you, I understand. I've helped many, many chiropractors with similar things learn how to do this ethically in the a way that feels comfortable, that puts the patient first, that you don't feel like you're pushing people to do anything or you're trying to convince them, you're trying to justify or persuade any of that rubbish. And like I mentioned last week, I'm going to be running a Black Friday offer on the Happy Patient project. This is my flagship course. It's over 15 hours of content. I've been working on this stuff for years and years. It's got everything that I teach chiropractors how to communicate with your patients to get better results, more referrals and reviews, and generally just be less frustrated and much more fulfilled in practice. So what I'm going to be doing is offering five places and this is limited to the first five people. This will go live at 9am UK time on Friday the 25th. On Black Friday there is a £200 discount which is a bigger discount than I've ever offered. It will never be this cheap again. But there's only five places after this. I will be closing this at midnight on Cyber Monday, which is Monday the 28th. The offer goes away and I'm then taking the course off the market. So you won't be able to enroll at all in the course afterwards. I will be re releasing it early next year but I'm taking some of the content out to create a different course so this is absolutely the best time to enroll in the project. You will get all that content in one before some of it gets taken into another course. You'll get it at a massive 200 pound discount but like I say, you'll have to act quick. There's only five places. I'm looking for people who are keen to jump on this and get going now. And with a 200 pound discount, if that sounds like it's for you, then keep an eye out for your on your inbox 9am on Friday morning. The link will go out, the cart will go live and you'll be able to enroll. If that's not for you, absolutely fine. By all means keep enjoying these free emails and I look forward to seeing you soon for another video. Take care guys.