290 - If I Bought Your Business What’s The First Thing I’d Change

Spend the money you're going to lose. You're losing money. Like, as soon as you recognize that you, you're going to tap into a very powerful force called loss aversion. If you want to become more bold, more confident, and take action faster, tap into your loss aversion.

Hello and welcome to the Remarkable CEO Podcast, a show dedicated to chiropractors who want to transform their job into a business so that they can have a remarkable practice as part of a remarkable life, not instead of one. With your hosts, Dr. Pete Camiolo and Dr. Steven Fransen.

Welcome to another episode of the remarkable CEO podcast, Chiropractics Number One Business Podcast. I am Dr. Pete Cameolo.

And I'm Dr. Steven Fransen.

And it is an awesome day to be together. Dr. Stephen Always love our time in the studio. Like we always say right before we begin, we, we love to pray. And one of the things I always think about is this is amazing that we're actually in two completely separate parts of the country and we're able to do this, and it's awesome. And I just love the fact that you and I get to meet and hook up every week to talk through stuff and share what's on our mind and heart. And, and you guys are just getting this, the, the cookies that just come out of the oven, you know, it's like they're hot and, you know, get them while they're hot before they're gone. You know, like, that's how we feel about this. We love that we get to spend time with you each week. Thank you for tuning in. If, if you've been a, a long time listener, you know, we're so happy to just, just spend time with you each week. Thank you for including us in your journey. We're honored. We hope that we could journey with you. That's our goal. That's our intention. If you're new to the, to listening to this podcast. Hey, welcome aboard. We, we are very, you know, we're very committed to this, this assignment. And you know, this is year five for us going into year six of this podcast. And so it's just an honor for us to be able to journey with you and Dr. Stephen. I'm excited today because today's episode, you and I, we break, we're breaking out our checkbooks or we're considering to break out our checkbooks, and we'll, we'll see if it's worth stroking a check or not. But today it's a, Today's, it's all about making that decision. We're going to buying decision kind of businesses we're going to buy. And so, Dr. Stephen, just grateful that for you. Grateful to be together. Great for everybody. We get to journey with. Yeah.

It's so much fun, Dr. Pete, being in this conversation around, like, we've been preparing people with programs like the remarkable Exit program and now the remarkable Acquisition program, which are, you know, two sides of the same table, right? So somebody's selling a practice, somebody's building a practice. And, you know, I have a lot of energy around this, right? So because so many of our clients as their businesses are maturing, they're thinking about one of those two options, right? So it's like somebody's thinking about selling their practice, and some people are thinking about buying practices. It's a really exciting time, right? So. And I want to make sure that nobody writes this off right now and just says, oh, this conversation is not for me. It's absolutely for you. And here's why. Because the conversation we're going to have today, we will expose you and your practice, and it'll help you prioritize what things need to be done in my practice right now, today. Right? So, and here's the question that we're asking. If we were to buy your practice today, what's the first thing we'd change?

It's a really convicting question, right? So it's like picture Dr. Pete and I rolling in, striking a check, and we buy your practice, we bought your practice, brought your business today. What's the first thing we'd change, right? So if you're a regular listener, if you are, awesome. Thank you, guys. That's awesome. That's awesome. You're probably immediately breaking a sweat and being like, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Can you imagine those guys pulling the sheets back and just being like, okay, Rolling up our sleeves. It's like we're coming through like building inspectors, right? Just being like, okay, here we go. We're going to, like, pull your staff and put them into each one into a private room with a flashlight in their face and ask them questions about the business and their role. And what do you do here and what would you change here? I mean, can you imagine that, like, the. The amount you'd. You'd be so much exposure when they're. Right, so. And that's true for all of our businesses. We're not coming from a holier than thou perspective, right? So literally, you do that to my business right now, and I tell you right now, I would be quick to tell you what would what needs to change? Right? So. And if you're paying attention, as a CEO, as a entrepreneur, you should be able to come quick with those answers, right? So if not, this is for you.

Right?

So the second part of the question, the second question is, why haven't you done it already? Like, what are you waiting for? Let's change it, let's do it. Right. So, Dr. Pete, I think we've got a great framework. We're going to talk about the five domains of the practice. We love the accountability grid because it's always such a grounding tool.

Right?

So you'd be able to say, okay, so, wow, there's a lot going on. Yes. And it's all captured in this one infographic. Right? So it's the accountability grid. And the accountability gives the five domains across the top, the three subdomains underneath. So there's 15 primary functions of the business. Just look at that and ask yourself, man, if Dr. Pete and Dr. Steven came in and bought my business today, what's the first thing they would change in marketing, in attraction, in lead generation, what's the first thing they would change in conversion, in sales, in my sales process, in the patient's sales experience? Day one, day two, day three, what's the first thing they change in the delivery process? Right. Retention, what's the first thing that they would change? And how about team?

There's a tender spot, isn't there? Yeah, we're gonna just dig right in there. There's a tender spot right there. Team, what's the first thing that they would change on my team? Is there a deficiency on my team? Is there, Are we, are we short on manpower? Is our revenue per employee ratio off? Or is my team overwhelmed? Am I not, not even paying attention to that? Or I know it and I'm ignoring it. Am I tolerating B players? Maybe there's a, not a deficiency, but a toxicity on the team. Like somebody needs to go, right? So what's the first change they would make?

Right?

And then finally the financials. The economics of the practice in the business, like looking at your financials and your financial plans, maybe your pricing, or maybe it's the way you're collecting money, or maybe it's the way you're managing your money. Dr. Pete, such a rich conversation. If we were to buy your business today, we. What's the first thing we'd change?

You know, and I, I want to double click on a few things here because, because it's easy for people to miss this, especially if you're just listening. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna repeat a few things and lean into a few things as well. Number one, the question isn't what. What would we change? It's what's the first thing? Okay, this is a prioritization question. I just want to make sure you didn't miss that. It's easy to miss things like that. It was what's the first thing? Because you might make a list of things you might say, actually, I have a whole list for you, doc. Don't even have to. You know, I'm already prepared. I'm prepared for this unexpected site visit. You know, you airdropped in, which actually would be a cool thing for us to do a tour nationwide and just airdrop into practices, do a quick, unexpected SWOT analysis through the lens of the accountability grid, and leave you with a letter in your. In your mailbox.

It'd be terrifying.

Leave town. You know, that. That'd be awesome. We. Maybe that's a future thing. So. But what's the first thing? Okay, it's not the only thing. What's the first thing? What is that? What is that question asking? It's saying, what's the most important thing? Right? It's a. It's a question of priority. If we were to come in, we would say, you know, you would say, oh, we've got. With our. Let's go with our team. Like, we've got a bunch of things where we need to change. You know, we have one ca. Kind of covering both check in and check out and, you know, but there's a reason for it. And you would have the stories and all the things to say, but guess what? We would come in with no emotion, no story. No story. We come in and we're like, all right, right away. This is what we got to do Monday. Let's do it. And we would immediately do it. Okay, so what is the first thing? So that was a. I just wanted to make sure I circled that kind of concept for everybody. Because I don't want you to leave today's call listening to this podcast, whatever, however you consume it on YouTube or whatever. I don't want you to leave this and be like, oh, another cool thing, and, like, moving on with my day. No, no, no. Here's the thing. I want you to. Because you asked Dr. Stephen two questions. It's. Why haven't you done it already? I'm gonna ask the third one. What's your next move? Right, like, okay, so what's the first thing we. We would change why have you not done it already? But here's the third question. What's your next move? So what are you going to do? What are you going to do about it? So, and that's why I want to make this simple. What's one thing? The first thing is also, what's one thing? I'm not. We're not asking you to do five things, 10 things. Because our goal in 2025 is. We're. We're asking this question. We're saying, what would happen in 2025 when your practice doubles? Right? This is. This is a part of our new Wineskin framework, right? We're talking about when your practice doubles, what breaks? So we're saying, when we. If we bought your business today, we were coming in and we were ready to buy, we were willing to do that. What's the first thing we would change? So what's the one thing coming out of what we're about to go through? Pick one thing. That's all I'm going to encourage you do is to discipline and organize your mind and say, okay, this is the one thing. This is the highest priority. Because we would actually pick one thing. We would look at the five domains and all the 15 primary functions, and we'd still say, pick one. What's the one, the most important thing? What would that be? And I want to just frame it that way, and then that's your next move. That's the next thing that you're going to do. I'm just trying to help you here to take some of this, what we're sharing and be like, make it practical, make it immediately implementable and immediately driving better outcomes. I just want to see better outcomes for you. That's what we're attached to. That's right. We're simply attached to one thing, your better outcomes. So I don't want you to just listen to our podcast and be like, that was cool. I love listening to it. No, no. What's the better outcome that can happen because of this episode, this specific one about this, where you would wrestle with the fact that maybe we're a little bit embarrassed about if you came in, we might not.

We would.

We'd ask you to wait at the door because we have to clean up our mess because we weren't ready for guests to come for dinner tonight. Like, you know, it's like, it's okay. It's okay. Like, we're cool. We can handle the mess on the floor. Like, we're good. We're just coming in to say what's the one thing.

What's up Remarkables? Hey, let's face it. 95% of our problems are people problems. You can't find a players, can't keep a players. Don't know how to leverage your team, create expectations and agreements, or hold people accountable in order to optimize your team. Doc, what would happen to your practice if you were finally able to get the right people in the right seats, doing the right work the right way? For most chiropractors, it would change everything. You'd increase your capacity to see more people. You'd make a bigger impact and a bigger income. You'd be able to delegate and scale your business. Or maybe you need to get your associate relationship dialed in. That would mean you get your time freedom back. You could get a handle on your school schedule, maybe even become a CEO. If this is what you want your 2025 to sound like, make sure that you join us for the remarkable team building immersion in Brisbane, Australia, February 28 and March 1, 2025. I can't wait to be back in Australia, Doc, bring your team with you. Get everybody on the same page. They'll be back in your office on Monday with more clarity, more accountability and more purpose than ever. Energize and mobilize your team and see your practice grow. What are your goals for 2025? Is it a seven figure foundation, a seven figure revenue, seven figure profit, or maybe even a seven figure exit? Whatever season you're in, you'll need a seven figure team. Click the link in the show notes below and register.

So, Dr. Pete, as promised, I'm going to take my thumb. I get this brutal thumb. My patients were always just terrified of my thumb because, you know, part of our analysis was static palpation. And you've been in the chair when I've taken my thumb and said, this one right here, the bottom one or the top one, right? And you just take that thumb and you just go right in. Oh, L5 is that. Or how about the L4? Oh, no, it's L5. So it's this one. L5, not this one, right. S1.

Right.

So no, it's not that. It's that one right there. Yeah, that's the one Gonson used to say, like, press it once to find it. Press it once to let the body know you know where it is and press it again to let the patient know you know where it is. All right, so I'm going to press in here, right? So because you said something about, you know, like, for example, let's make it practical. Looking at the front desk, we have one person, one really busy, quote unquote Swiss army knife, who's running back and forth between check in and check out. You might not call it that, but that's what they're doing, right? So there's two sets of responsibilities at the front desk. There's check in responsibilities, it's checkout responsibilities, right? So I love the expression, spend the money you're gonna lose, okay? Because I know the stories everybody's telling. Like you just said it. Yeah, you're gonna have your story and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The reason that you're only ever. No, that's a story, okay? And most of these stories boil down to, I don't want to spend the money or I can't spend the money or I can't afford it, blah, blah. I'm like, listen to this expression, spend the money. You're going to lose. You're losing money. As soon as you recognize that you. You're going to tap into a very powerful force called loss aversion. If you want to become more bold, more confident, and take action faster, tap into your loss aversion. Because here's the truth. Let's say, for example, you have a $5,000 lifetime value, okay, of a patient conversion, lifetime value of a patient. Anybody that converts to care and says, I'm going to become your patient, their lifetime value. You've extrapolated this out. It's $5,000. All right? So let's say you set a goal that you're going to have 20 new patient conversions every month, and you're only converting 15 new patients per month. So you're 5 conversion shy at a $5,000 lifetime value. 5 times 5 is $25,000 per month.

Now, I don't know what you're paying your CAS, but I'm sure you can reconcile the $25,000 per month, per month money that you're losing at the front desk. Franson, what are you talking about? Well, let's say check in CA is they're. They're. They're in charge of your flow. So they're in charge of making sure that everything flows. Which is, of course, means that everyone has to be scheduled, right? Which means that if they're missing, they're rescheduled. Rescheduled, Right. So. And that they're flowing so that they're not backed up and jacked up, so that they don't stop, start skipping appointments because they can't trust your scheduling. So now you're losing visits and if you have a $55 collection visit average, just start doing the math on how much money you're losing just from compliance, just from retention. So now you're losing more money at the front desk. I was just talking about new patients, because if a person's not reminded to bring somebody with them to the Better Results Faster workshop, who is a new patient referral lead, and you notice you wanted 10amonth coming in leads, but you're only getting five a month. There's your five. That's new patient check. NCAA. All right, let's just flip over to the other side, because while they're busy over at the checkout, ca. Well, while they're at checkout, you're missed all that at check in. Well, what if they're doing great at check in? Well, what's going on behind them at checkout? Because at checkout, that's where we are scheduling people for the Better Results Faster workshop. That's where we're getting people rescheduled to make up their missed appointment or the missed progress exam. That's where we're scheduling their spouse to come in for their examination or to bring that guest to the workshop or to collect the monies that are already owed, for example. Right? So, guys, do you see how this math becomes incredibly practical immediately? Like, immediately. Dr. Pete, the idea is spend your money. Spend the money you're going to lose. Right here, just in this example, you get a $25,000 a month problem. Solve that problem.

So if we come in 20, 25, Doc, we're, we're, you know, this question. We've asked this question maybe before. If you've listened to this podcast and, you know, this is a great question for you to ask yourself. I'll relate it to something that I did all the time and still do this. But I remember in practice doing this. Some, some of my earliest coaches and mentors, I always. So we would, we would do our. We did a group orientation class report of findings. Group report of findings. And I remember that the way that I would make sure that I was executing well was I would have. I'd write the name of, you know, that my couple of my coaches, whatever, and I'd put it on a chair in the report room. And I would have my staff have an empty chair. But I would say, like, there's a reason why that empty chair is there. It's not because somebody didn't show. I was envisioning, like my coach, my mentor is in the class today. He's in tonight's class. And I'm speaking and he's, he's sitting in that seat right now. And so if he was there and I knew he was coming in to observe and he was there to, you know, he's going to give me feedback, he was going to really pour into me. He's gonna, and he wanted to see how things were going. I, I use that as a way to help my help hold myself accountable. Right. And you might say, well, did you ever just record it and send it to him? Oh yeah, I'd done that too. But I'm saying I would mentally put that person. It's very similar to this situation where it's like, all right, well, let's say France and I were going to stop by once a quarter, right. And we were, we were just going to check in and say, hey, we're looking at this. What's the first thing we would change if we were, we were going to buy it. You and your team, every quarter throughout this whole year, you could have this as a leading question that just frames out how we approach our, our assessment. Right. Using our peer process as you go through that. That's a good question to frame it with. Just as an example. It's what would they say? Not, not what do we say or what do you say? What would they say? It almost takes it out and gives you like a third party perspective. That outsider looking in. You want to have that look. That was one of the benefits that I always found as becoming the CEO was I was just slightly removed from the day to day operation. Gave me such another perspective. I was way better coach and guide for my team because I was just slightly removed from the day to day operation. I came in more objectively and that was so powerful for everybody. So this is what we want to do, is want to give you that perspective. Says an outsider looking in a third party, unemotionally attached, but just objectively again, dedicated to better outcomes. What would that be? And I just want you to set your year up and the rest of your career up for greater and better success. Because this is a question that you'll want to continue to ask at all times and then look at it through the lens of your attraction. Okay. Look at your conversion and then you can ask a more specific question. What's the first thing that we would change about your day?

1.

What's the first thing that we would change about your day? 2. What's the first thing we would change about your day? Three. You feel it. That's where it starts to go. Layers and layers and layers and layers of depth. And we can go so many layers deep on this, and that's the way we want us. You know, this is a CEO podcast, Dr. Stephen. This is about working on the business, right? We talk about in the business, on the business, above the business. You're above the business right now, listening. Then you're about to go work on your business as a result of listening to this podcast. That's the two activities of a CEO. Listen to a podcast and then work on your business. Like, that's the. That's what you're doing right now. You're above it and then going to be on it, and then you're going to go in it and it's going to change. That's what we want to see happen for you.

Dr. P, you and I have shared the experience of being coaches while we are in practice.

Yeah.

And having all these doctors show up because they want to shadow you and they want to watch.

Yep.

They want to watch. Right. So they're going to bring their staff. They're going to stick their staff behind your front desk. They're going to have your staff, their staff and their team, and all of everybody's going to sit in and your team meetings, your team trainings. They're going to show up Wednesday so they can go to the better results faster. They want to hear the whole thing. They. They want the whole experience. Right? So you got associate doctors who are. Or interns, people that are interviewing because they want to come and work for you. Right. And of course, we'd always have our coaches sit in.

Right?

So. And we have done it ourselves, where we do clinicoscopies, where we airdrop into somebody's practice and do the full audit of their business. So this can be a terrifying experience. Right? So it's just like, literally, like, I can remember just being so nervous having somebody. Because coming in is like. Because the reality is, is we all walk with a limp. And, you know, I was just in my C12 group this week, which is a bunch of Christian business founders and CEOs. There's 50 of us in a room. As our annual meeting. We meet every month, but once a year, we get together, everybody. And this was one of the conversations that was, you know, this idea was stimulated from a conversation. Like, this is like. It was like, not would I be embarrassed if any of these badass business guys who are outside of chiropractic, but they know business. If they airdropped in and they took a look at my business now, the remarkable practice, and it's not a question of would I be embarrassed of anything. It was a better question. Exactly what would I be embarrassed by? Right? So what would be the thing or things that I'd be like, man, I hope they don't discover that. I hope they don't find out that, right? So it'd be embarrassing. What a great exercise. Because I'm like, yeah, I need to fix that. That's, that's the shit I gotta fix right there. So ask yourself right now, it's like we all, we all walk with a limp, right? Recognizing that, what would we would be there to serve you, right? If we were to airdrop in and say, okay, so we're going to buy this business and what's the first thing that we're going to fix, right? What's the first thing in marketing that's going to change? No stories, no excuses, no hold ups. What's the first thing we're going to change when it comes to your conversion process? What's the first thing we're going to change when it comes to your delivery and retention? What's the first thing about your team that we would change un, you know, unapologetically? We're going to change this, this and this, right? So. And when it comes to the collections, what's the first thing that we're going to change, right? When the economics, when it comes to how you do your care plan, maybe it's your pricing, you know, you're charging, you know, a collection Visit average of 35, where your collection visit average should be $55. This $20 of arbitrage in every single office visit, right? We might see 10% attrition. Maybe if we just push those prices up on Monday, right? Maybe. But do the math. Three years later, are you kidding me?

Right?

So a $55 collection visit average instead of 35. And of course we're talking about a cash driven practice, right? So at the end of the day, Dr. Pete, it's the question we have to ask ourselves. And the reason, like you said, why aren't we taking those next steps? Why haven't we done it yet? Stop telling yourself stories. Embrace the truth. Embrace loss aversion and spend the money you're going to lose. Hey, Doc, Steven Fransen here. If you're like me, you know that we're in the business of saving lives. And when business is good, everybody wins. That's the good news. But here's the bad news. Most chiropractors don't own a business at all. They own a job. It's a job they love, but it's a job and far too often it feels like that job owns them. Is this true for you? Do you own a business or a job? Have you built and do you run your practice on brute force? Does it rely fully on your time, your effort? A pound of your flesh? Are you responsible for all growth, for all new patient generation? How about new patient conversions?

Is it all up to you?

How about patient care and delivery? Are you a sole practitioner, an owner operator who owns the practice but is also the only one that is head down and bum up taking care of all the patients? Is revenue generation or collections all up to you? Let me ask you the most telling question Doc. What would happen if you took 90 days off? What breaks in my experience, most on purpose chiropractors do not lay awake at night worrying about their practice. They worry about their business. Let's slay that dragon. The Remarkable CEO program has helped hundreds of chiropractors characters just like you turn the job that they love into the business that they've always wanted. Are you ready to run and build your practice on leverage instead of brute force? Do you want to create the scalability and durability that will allow you to make a bigger impact and a bigger income? What would it mean to grow your practice, increase your productivity and your profitability? Do you want to get your time freedom back? Are you ready to turn your pirate ship into a battleship? This sounds like you. Then the remarkable CEO program is for you. Just last year, 53 of our remarkable clients received the Seven Figure Club Award, meaning they hit the million dollar mark for the first time or their next million dollar level, be it 2 million, 3 million, 10 million, up to 36 million and growing now. Doc, is it crazy to imagine that your practice could be next? Click the link below and learn how to apply for the next cohort of the Remarkable CEO Program. We look forward to working closely with you in creating the business that supports your remarkable life, not competes with it.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Remarkable CEO Podcast. Remember, what the world needs now is chiropractic. And what chiropractic needs now is more successful chiropractors. If you like this podcast, please subscribe, share with a friend and leave us a review. And if you'd like to connect with us personally, direct message us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. Now go and be Remarkable.