3 Strategies to Decrease No-Shows & Increase Lead Quality

Hey everyone, Dr. Vince here from Specialized Practice. And in this quick training, I want to go over the 3 strategies to decrease no-shows and increase patient quality. And obviously, you know, this is super important, especially when you're doing any type of online advertising or any type of advertising, right? Because you want to stretch those dollars as far as possible, but you also want to optimize your time. Right? You don't want to waste time with people that don't understand what you do, don't respect your time, and frankly just are not a good fit for your clinic. So let's go ahead and dive in. Strategy number 1, your welcome package for new patients. And Robert Cialdini wrote a book called Influence. It is like a seminal book on ethical persuasion and influence. And he talks about— I think it's actually the number 1 Principle is reciprocity, right? And he told the story of, oh, was it something like the monks or something, and they were handing out little flowers in an airport and it would increase their donation rate by some ridiculous amount. In other words, if you lead with value, people feel the need to reciprocate. So we're going to use that to some degree, that principle. So in our new patient package, So this is going to be for all new patients that call to schedule an appointment, right? And in this package, I would make it— I would do a digital and a physical version, right? Make 25 of them so that they're all you have to do, and they're all stamped and everything. All you have to do is write the patient's name and address on there and just pop it in the mail, like right when you get off the phone. But it's going to include a few things, right, about the doctor. In the clinic. Now, this isn't, by the way, well, in high school I went to see a chiropractor, changed my life. No. This is about— because we're dealing with niches here, right? We're talking about decompression, neuropathy, knee pain, plantar fasciitis. We are trying to position ourselves as an expert, and so we're not talking about what happened way back then. We're talking about this is our practice now. This is what we invest in. This is what we're an expert in. This is why we chose this niche. Those types of things so that they get a sense of, oh wow, this this this doctor actually has made a a point of his or her career to specialize in this particular niche. Everyone wants to go to a specialist for a very tough condition. So that's the about the doctor clinic and just you know three four paragraphs very simple on letterhead etc. Steps to get started. Okay, what happens on day one? Like literally boom boom boom boom boom, right? So that patients are very clear. Okay, this is what's going to happen when I go to see this doctor I've never met before in my life. Okay, gives them a sense of comfort. Referral cards. Start the referral process early. Okay, hey, you know, and this could be just simple business cards. Three, you know, put three or four in there, and all you know it can just say, hey. If you know someone that's suffering from chronic neck or back pain, send them to this website. And then you could have a link to either your website or your funnel, etc. Directions to the office. Don't make people hunt in your city to how to find your office. Oh wait, the Starbucks is on the corner and da da da da. Make it very clear. Your report or your webinar. Now ideally it's the webinar. But what you want is to get something in their hands or in front of them to educate them about their condition, the signs and symptoms, the typical causes, the typical treatments, why those treatments don't work, and then what we do and why it's so incredible and effective. Okay, so that's your report or your webinar. Now, most people would prefer to watch a video. So that's why we use webinars. If you'd like more information about that, you can shoot me an email at support@drvinceleone.com. Next, now I recommend doing, you know, drop it in the mail and email it. And then when your staff member's on the phone with the patient, say, hey, okay, Mrs. Jones, I'm gonna drop this in the mail right now. You know, say it's Monday, got you down for Wednesday, or, you know, whatever. Say it's Tuesday. Thursday. You have a couple days. Um, again, drop it in the mail even if it's the next day, right? Sometimes mail gets delivered quickly, right? So, um, I'm going to drop this in the mail right now. Uh, we got scheduled for Thursday at 2:00. Um, I'm also going to email this to you. Everything we have, we have in a digital package. It's a compressed folder. Don't worry, we've checked it for bugs and all that good stuff. But are you in front of your computer right now? No. Do you have email on your phone? Yes. Okay, and your email is, you know, joesmith@yahoo? Yes. I'm sending it right now. Ding! Did you receive it? I sure did. Okay, awesome. Okay, so you wanna make sure that they get it one way or another. Bonus, pain relief pack. Again, this goes back to reciprocity. For probably $10 for each new patient, You can have an ice pack, a pain-relieving gel, maybe a list of exercises, you know, get creative with it, but you could just do those 3 things and that would be fine. But something, right? Something to help them relieve the pain. Everyone wants results ASAP, even if it's a little bit, right? So give a little pain relief pack, make it look nice, put it in a little gift bag. Again, $10 and this is done. Right? We used to have them lined up at the top of our, over the cabinets. So have a pain relief pack for when patients come into the— now this is, you can talk to them about it. Hey, and when you come in for your first appointment, we're gonna get your pain relief pack. This helps to kind of, it's not gonna fix anything, but it is gonna help moderate the pain your first day with us. Right? So you can talk about that. Again, more reciprocity. You're leading with value. Strategy number two: required reading or viewing. So you need to take the lead in this relationship. So and we always you know we talk about an alpha and a beta. Now those don't need to be negative terms. A doctor should be the alpha in the relationship if the patient is dictating I want this or this. No, they'll never sign up and they'll be a pain in the butt if they do. The doctor needs to be the leader in the relationship. So. In your steps to get started, right, that document that's in the new patient package, you must clearly tell them how things work in your clinic. What time do they need to be there? What do they need to have prepared? Do they have to have the paperwork already done? Okay, all these little things, but the main thing, the main, main, main thing has to be they have to watch the webinar or read the report. Again, ideally it's the webinar. But regardless, they must watch this because it is going to educate them, one, about, you know, the condition, right? Hey, what is a herniated disc? How does it happen? What are the typical causes? What are the signs and symptoms? What's the difference between a sprain, strain, and a disc? You know, why are these other things not working? Why— I tried PT, I tried chiropractic, why should I go to another chiropractor? All of these things should be explained in your webinar. And then what they're doing is like Wow, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. I couldn't Google that. This guy must be an expert. They really know what they're talking about. That's what you want them to get. So now when they come into your office, they're pre-educated, pre-motivated, and predisposed to work with you, and they haven't even met you, right? So you create this asset once, right? This webinar. And again, you know, reports are fine, and we have reports and we use those. Some people like reports. Most people would rather just watch A video, right? It's a little more high-tech. Not really, but it kind of is for some people. But the point being, then you can put it on your website, you can put it on your YouTube channel, you can put it on your Facebook page, whatever. But the point being is if you can reach out and start educating people before they even come into your clinic, that's a win, okay? And by the way, you can also talk about whether it's covered by insurance and rough price points. So, and that's what we do, right? So when patients come in, you know, they are aware of these things. And again, just creates a higher quality patient. Remember, most patients are unaware of our unique services. They don't know what spinal decompression is. They certainly don't know the difference between that and traction. So it's like for them, well, if I do need something like this, why don't I just do traction? That's covered by my insurance. No, no, no, no, there's a difference, right? But they're unaware that there is a comprehensive, robust, non-surgical, drug-free approach to fix their disc or fix their knee or relieve their neuropathy symptoms, okay? They are unaware of this, so it's really our job to reach them and educate them if we want to be a leader, right? If we want to be that expert in our community. So it's really, really important that we embrace this, right? That we embrace this responsibility to reach out and educate people in our community because most patients just know about drugs and surgery, you know, and PT and chiro. But when it comes to these things, a lot of them have already tried— like for a disc, I've already tried chiropractic and PT and it didn't work, right? Now they're considering surgery. They're probably on drugs. Right. Do they know about, you know, Class IV laser and spinal decompression? Probably not. Maybe they've heard of it, but do they know the ins and outs of it? No, no way. So that's our job, right? Okay, moving on. Again, this creates more reciprocity, right? Because we're teaching them, we're giving them value in the form of information. Strategy number 3, no-show, no-call fee. Okay, 3rd strategy to decrease no-shows and increase patient quality: have a no-show, no-call fee. If you don't respect your time, who will? No one, right? So institute a $50 no-show, no-call fee. By the way, this is very common. If I don't go to my, like, my just my regular dentist appointment, I get dinged a $50 fee. So you know what? That makes me respect their time. If I know I can't make it, I'm calling them. I don't want to pay $50 just because I slipped and missed an appointment, right? So make it a 24-hour notice. Now you can be lenient, right? If they call, like, I don't know, say their appointment's at 3 and they call at 9. Oh my gosh, I just found out I have to pick up my kid, blah blah blah, I can't make my appointment. No problem. Get it. Thank you for calling. Let's get you rescheduled. Okay, so you can be lenient in this, but tell them it's a 24-hour notice. Okay, have this explained on the new patient call. Hey, so Mrs. Jones, everything's dialed in, got you set up for Thursday at 2. Your new patient package is in the mail, just emailed it to you as well. Last thing I want to cover is we do have a no-show, no-call fee. Okay, so our doctor is super busy, we're all busy, we're just trying to help people here, but We have to respect his time and the schedule. And so you have an appointment. We are carving out that time. We have like 30 minutes, 35 minutes, 40, an hour, whatever you have carved out. We have that booked out for you on the schedule. If you don't call and you don't show up, then there is a $50 fee with that. Is that clear? Yes. And then be quiet and let them respond. If they start to whine and complain, That's not a good sign. Oh, well, why would you do that? And da da da. What you want to hear, and what you probably will hear, is I understand. Yeah. So are you okay with that? Yeah, absolutely. No, if I'm going to miss my appointment or I can't make it, I'll definitely call you. Great. Thank you so much. The key here is we want to avoid a scarcity mindset. Oh my gosh! There's there's not enough patients out there, guys. The surgeons. There's a waiting list to get spine surgery in most hospitals, okay? So there's no scarcity. There's no lack of patients that need our treatment. The only lack is in confidence, right? So avoid the scarcity mindset. Don't worry about that. You know, value your time first, and then they will reciprocate. And it's like, hey, yeah, the flakes, they'll whine and complain. These are not your ideal patient, but who is? So it would probably be a good idea to take some time and write down who is our ideal patient, right? And I always like to just take an existing patient and be like, this— oh man, Bob Smith, he was awesome. He got great results. He signed up. He didn't have a problem with the money. Go to check. He's been a positive, you know, kind of energy in the office. Everyone likes him. He's referring. That's your ideal patient, right? Get a picture of Bob Smith. Write down the different things what you like about him, and and that's your ideal patient. And really, that's what everyone should be focused on in your clinic: your ideal patient. You'll attract more of them. Okay, so you got the information. Now it's up to you. Swipe and deploy. Go ahead and employ. Implement this information and you will start to see a decrease in the number of patients that no-show, increase in the quality, and you will be a happier doctor. So I'm Dr. Vince Leone. I hope this has been helpful. If it has, go check out our website, specializedpractice.com. Learn more about what we do. We help doctors add and grow high-ticket niches quickly, efficiently, and profitably. Take care, and we'll see you on the next training.