“Is that all you’re going to do today?”

Bit of a confession wake on this one. Early in my career, I really hated treating solicitors. Now, if any of you have loved ones who are solicitors or friends or family, I apologize. It's not personal to them. The reason I say that is I noticed this pattern with my patients who are solicitors. That initial consultation, we take quite a bit of time, we go through history and exam and all that sort of thing, that was fine, but then when they came back for a regular treatment, it's a fair bit shorter and I would treat them and I go, okay, that's all done today. And honestly, like a good 30, 40% of them when they were solicitors would go, is that all you're going to do today? Is that it? And I'm instantly put on the back foot and I'm going, first of all, oh, yeah, but don't worry. When I was a little bit insecure and then as I got a bit more mature, I was like, yeah, it is. That's actually all that you need. And I could address it in any different way, but the point is they would express this and go, wait, is that it? Is that all you're gonna do? And I noticed it seemed to be solicitors who did this more than anybody. It wasn't only them, but maybe it's because they're used to charging per minute or whatever it is, I don't know. But I got to the point where I would see somebody's name and I would see their occupation, the form they would put solicitor, and I would go, ah. Like, I would sigh internally and I would go into it and go into that second visit a little bit more defensive, which probably didn't help the situation at all. But I'll confess, I used to really not like treating them. And if you've been a chiropractor for a little while, you've probably heard this before, like, oh, is that all you're gonna do? Is that it today? You know, because our treatments tend to be shorter than once they may have had through physios or other professionals as well. So it's a common thing. And I got quite good at responding to that, you know, But I would still see some of them, they'd be like, oh, I don't know about this, and didn't really matter what I say, some of them just weren't going to come back. If you can relate to that, I want to share with you a difference and a change I made when I really, really learned how to get ahead of this and stop this ever happening. Now, to do that. We need to understand why people get dissatisfied. This is why complaints occur. It's also why misunderstandings occur. Any patient who's ever not been happy for any reason, whether they've left a bad review or just not told you and never come back, it's because of this. They had a certain expectation that was not met by reality. They thought this was going to happen. They're going along thinking they're going to be up here and suddenly something happens and bang, I'm not where I thought I was. It's a bit like if you're walking along and you miss the edge of the pavement and you don't realize, or you miss the last step on the stairs, it's quite a small step, but if you don't see it coming, it's a real jolt. That's what was happening to these patients. They were expecting that visit to take a fair bit longer than it did. So their expectations up here all the time, and at the end of it, you turn out, no, that's not actually going to happen. And this would happen. For example, if you went to a fancy restaurant and you were served some tasteless, horrible food and the waiter was rude and you felt a bit sick afterwards, you were expecting a good level of service. You didn't get it. That place is going to get one star review. You may have a word with the manager. You're probably going to tell people never to go there again. At the very least, you're going to feel dissatisfied. That's what was happening with these patients. So what do we do about it? Well, it's very hard, once that happens to take the shock away. It's very, very hard to get rid of that reaction. When you're defensive and you're on the back foot, they're already getting annoyed. It's so hard to calm people down. It's possible in certain situations, but not always. So what we need to do instead is we need to realize this might occur and get ahead of it. So if they think something's going to happen, if we can let them know, by the way, you're up here, there's going to be a step there so you can calmly step down. It's a bit like seeing the pavements coming or seeing that last step in the stairs. You'll step down and it won't be a shock. Or even better yet, we can build a ramp and let them know that's what's going to be happening so that their expectations meet the actual reality. That way they won't get a Shot. How do I do this with these patients? Well, what I started doing when I realized this is coming up more often, and it didn't matter what I say, once it happened, it wouldn't get better. And me just being quietly resentful and passive aggressive is internally, when I saw someone as a solicitor, was just making me feel bad. So I realized I need to get ahead of this. This is how complaints occur. We need to adjust their expectation before it happens. So what I now do with all my patients at the first visit is I let them know next time things are going to be different, and I let them know what to expect and how long the visit's going to be. So that's step one. Doing that will help. However, some patients may see that as a little disappointment still. They're like, oh, I'm gonna step down. Okay, I'd rather not step down. But I guess if that's the way it's gonna go, at the very least, if they don't want it, they get a chance to say, no, thank you before they feel like you've taken their money and given them something they didn't want or given them less than they deserve. That's what we want to avoid. But even better, what you want to do is you want to take that and you want to make it good news. Tell them this is a good thing and that it's a benefit to them. For example, if you tell somebody they might feel sore after treatment, you may well say, don't worry, that's a good sign. It shows your body's changing, so you're doing stuff like this already. But we want to try and do it with anything we can. And in terms of treatment duration, if you've ever had that feedback, here's the way I found. It may not be perfect, but it works really, really well. In our practice and many other chiropractors I've coached as well, it's pretty much eliminated. This complaint is that you let them know next time the treatment won't be as long. We won't need to go through as much so we can get you in, get you treated, let you get on with your day. We won't keep you any longer than necessary. The treatment's nice and brief, and you can get back to enjoying your life. So I'm not saying very much there, but I'm setting the expectation that it's going to be this, and that's a good thing. So I flipped it from, you think it's here, it's actually going to be here. You're going to step down to. You think it's here, that you're going to be here and you're going to step up. They still need to know. We don't want them walking and tripping over the step there. But we've let them know what's going to happen and we've made it good news. So if you ever have that feedback from patients, that's the way I found works really, really well. You can have that. You can take it. If there's any other regular feedback that you get from patients, any regular critical feedback, if there's complaints occurring regularly or misunderstandings, that means it's your job to let them know what to expect in advance and if you can make it good news. One last tip, by the way. You may think, oh, we don't get many. Ask your front desk. I say that because your front desk will be fielding most of those and they may not be telling you, not because they're trying to hide stuff from you, but they probably agree with you. They will probably think that these are unreasonable and they will think, a my chiropractor is busy. I don't need to waste their time with these unreasonable patients. Or they'll think, oh, I don't want to upset them. That's going to bring them down. They're having a good day. I don't want to tell them somebody was unhappy. They're a bit unreasonable anyway. I just won't tell them. Lovely thing to do. I totally appreciate what they're trying to do there, but it's not helpful because it denies you the opportunity to fix it. So ask your front desk. Let them know. I really do want to know. Because even if it's an unrealistic expectation, even if it's something that I don't think we should be doing, if we're getting it more than once, then it's my job as their clinician to. To manage that expectation in advance. The plus side is the front desk won't get those complaints anymore. So have a think about that. Let me know as well. I want to hear from you. Are there any common misconceptions patients have about your practice? Is there any recurring things that you get? You don't have to post it publicly. You can message me privately and if you're struggling to think, how can I make that good news? Shoot me a message. We'll have a chat, see if we can work out a way of doing that. But I hope that's been helpful for you. Remember, set the expectation in advance. Let them know what's coming and try to make it good news. You follow those two steps, you're going to put yourself way further away from any potential complaints. And you're going to have happier patients and a more successful, fulfilling practice. So give that a try. Shoot me a message if you need anything. Otherwise, I'll see you soon. Take care.