Attracting High-Quality Patients: The Power of Pre-Education

Welcome to the Practice Builders Podcast hosted by Dr. Vince Leone and Dr. Kyle Pankinen, your source for building cash services. Let's dive in. Okay, welcome everybody to the Practice Builders Podcast. My name is Dr. Vince Leone.

And I'm Dr. Kyle Pankinen, and welcome to our next episode. We're so excited about today's episode. Dr. Vince, what are we going to talk about today?

Well, every doctor wants what? High-quality patients. So today we're going to talk about how to create high-quality patients through our pre-education process. So, um, and we kind of broken it up a little bit, but like first disclaimer, like everyone, uh, doctors, like they, it's like they lean on the agencies to create these high-quality— there's Agencies can't create high-quality patients, right? They can create leads and they can talk to them on the phone and try to pre-qualify them. But the only thing in, in our experience that creates a high-quality patient, right, someone that is pre-educated, pre-motivated to work with you. So what we do is create an educational process to teach them about Who we are, what we do, how it's different, and how it's going to serve them. 'Cause ultimately, Dr. Kyle, everyone is tuned in to this radio station and it's called WIIFM. You know what that stands for? No.

What's in it for me?

What's in it for me? Everyone is really just focused on themselves. And so, if you can put high-quality information in their hands, whether it's via video, audio, written, we're gonna go through all this on this episode today. But if you can get that information in their hands, that's gonna teach them about, you know, the condition that they have and how you're different and better and gonna, you know, solve their problem. In other words, we wanna get them from, their current state to their desired state. So that's what they're looking for. They're looking for transformation. They are currently in pain. They want to get to a desired state of no pain. And if they believe that you are that vehicle to change, then they'll move forward with you, right? And so, but part of that process is beginning to educate them about, hey, everything we just talked about. What's wrong with their body, who you are, what you're doing differently, how you're solving this non-surgically and drug-free, um, so that they can get to that desired state.

100%. I think the biggest thing we're, we're really— the overarching theme we're looking at is education-based marketing, so that when patients come in, they, they have researched you a little bit. They know that you have the potential solution To their condition, and and it's your your marketing, your ads, whatever you're running is not just offering some kind of a deal. It's it's it's a no. You're offering them something of value by educating, and then when that patient comes in, they're not only somewhat pre-educated, but they they see you as oh this is potentially an expert. This is the potential solution. To my problem. And so they already have a little bit of confidence in you before they even come in the door. And that's really what you're trying to establish with these patients is confidence in you that you have that solution that they've been looking for for a long time. Because a lot— by the time somebody searches on the internet, they're usually pretty desperate for help. And there's a lot of noise out there and there's a lot of clutter and there's a lot of deals. But if you can find— if you can be that person who is distinguished and really offering something of value to them, you're going to go very high up on their list of wanting to come in to see you. So, let's go into some of the things, Dr. Vince, that, you know, practically speaking, we can do to make this process work for docs.

Yeah, and you're absolutely right. It is all about confidence, right? Their confidence in you, your confidence that you can solve their problem, and that is conveyed in the report of findings. Um, everyone's got to have, you know, trust in you that you can, you know, solve their problem, and understanding of, you know, what the treatment protocol is going to actually do. Uh, you know, a confused mind will say no. Uh, so let's start. We like to break this up into pre-visit, uh, day 1, and then post-day 1, right? So just think of these 3 because we're— and we're basing this on a day, you know, 2-day patient process, right? So, you know, day 1, consult, exam, imaging. Day 2, report of findings. So, uh, pre-visit. So pre-day 1, when they schedule— and by the way, another topic, training staff on the phone. We got to cover that at some point, but, but not today. We got enough to cover today. So pre-day 1, when they schedule. All right, Mrs. Jones, got you down for Tuesday at 10 o'clock. Now, uh, Dr. Pankinen has created a custom webinar specifically for patients just like you. I'm going to send you a link to this, and it's 15 minutes long, and it will change your life. Haha. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. It will do this for sure: it's going to explain to you what exactly is going on with your body. If it sounds like— I mean, what you're telling me, it sounds like some, you know, Something that we can help. Kind of sounds like a disc issue. And this again, knee neuropathy, whatever the niche is, it's going to explain what's this condition, what causes it, what the signs and symptoms are, what the typical treatments are. And it then will then go into what we do that's different and yet so effective. And so if you can just watch this before you come in, I promise you your whole evaluation process is going to be so much smoother. Yeah. Can you do that for me? Right, and then you get a commitment from the patient. Say yes, I can watch that. Awesome. I'm going to send it to you. Are you in front of your computer or your phone? Obviously they have the phone, right? And so I'm going to email this link to you. All you do, you know, get a webinar. We can talk about the webinar a little bit in more detail, but regardless, put it on your YouTube, put it on your website, whatever. I'm going to send this link to you. Make sure they get the link. Did you get the link? Yes. Awesome. Can you click on that? Make sure the window pops up. Yes. Okay. That's pre-day 1, the webinar.

I find also patients, if you can get them to verbalize a commitment, yes, I will do that. If they actually say it, they're more likely to do it versus just don't ask them, can you do this? Ask, will you do this?

I love it.

That's— that phraseology has been shown. They find with people that say they make a reservation to a restaurant, if the person who's taking their reservation says, can you give us a call if you're going to cancel your reservation? Very few actually call. If they ask, will you call to cancel your reservation if you can't make it? The majority, if they say they will do something, They generally will. And this also lends into if they're willing then to listen to this video, you know that they are taking the process seriously. They're not just kicking the tire and looking for a deal and basically going to come in the office, in essence, somewhat waste your time because they're serious. And so this is a good way to weed out the pretenders, the tire kickers, and so forth, uh, before they even get in your office, so that you know that this is a higher quality lead or potential patient.

Yeah, and we've been doing this for years, right? So we've honed this webinar really, you know, down to a science. It needs to be— I, I like it under 18 minutes, you know, I like 15 minutes. Um, but it has to be really high-quality information that they can't just Google, right? Um, and so the goal is to explain— is, for instance, for spinal decompression, you would explain, hey, what is a disc issue? What causes it? What are the signs and symptoms? What are the typical treatments? You know, why has everything else failed, right? That's— so if you, if you start to teach them and they're going, oh my gosh, He's right. This, that, the other. I remember, you know, I'd watch my dad do these consultations and he would say, you see how your foot— that shoe is scuffed on the right side? They look down at their shoe. I bet you're dragging your foot and you just— you kind of stub your toe once in a while, don't you? Yeah. How the heck did you know that? It's like he was a detective. So if you start to tell people things that all of a sudden are resonating, in other words, This is why PT didn't work for me, right? This is why I went to a chiropractor and I still have this problem. And if you start telling them things that, you know, they're like, hey, this, this sounds like me, like you're describing their situation and then you're providing, hey, and then this is what we do that's different and better and advanced and this is how it works, right? So we, we explain all this in a very succinct video. We position obviously all all of our clients as part of a nationwide network. So there's legitimacy in the eyes of the patient, right? This doctor is not just this solo practitioner. He or she is part of a nationwide network. There's value to that. It's positioning. And so if you can get this, get, you know, your pro— your prospective patients to watch this, invest the— just that, even that investment of time, right? That investment of time, 15 minutes. They, on day 1, totally different patient, right? Because like Dr. Kyle said, I mean, the deal seekers and the people that are just in it for, you know, just testing things out, they're, they're probably going to self-select themselves out, right? Because in that webinar, we also talk about insurance and finances, right? And that insurance probably isn't going to pay. And if so, what like a rough per-visit cost is going to be. We don't say it's going to be $5,000 or whatever for the protocol because we don't know You know, what the patient— you know, what the doctor particularly charges or what they're going to recommend. But we do say, hey, it's going to be, you know, somewhere between $150 and $250 a visit, right? Because that kind of covers the spectrum of our clients and what they charge. And so the patient automatically is like, oh, well, A, this is not a get-fixed-quick thing. So again, the people that are not serious, they're out. B, this is coming out of my pocket, probably isn't going to get fixed with a few visits. So there's going to be an investment here, right? Right? People with no money, they're gone. So that's what you want. That's how you create high-quality patients, um, or at least start the process. So that's pre-day 1.

Couldn't agree more. All those things that you just said, I just say a hearty amen to that, and I have very little to add to it, Dr. Vince. I love it.

Um, okay, so let's talk about at day So let's— why don't you walk us through that, Dr. Kyle?

Well, day 1, when they come in, of course, that's going to be your consultation, your hopefully your world-class exam, which is one of the things that we really focus on at Specialized Practices. If you're going to call yourself an expert, if you're going to be an expert, you better have a consultation and an examination process that's That's better than the competition. Okay. And, uh, so that's, that's what we teach here is to be not only— you're going to want to be an excellent clinician.

Mm-hmm.

And part of that is being a good doctor and doing good examination. And, uh, because again, going back to the confidence thing, you do the webinar and you, you show them, oh yeah, this doctor looks good, knows what he's talking about, Giving me good information. Now they come in and you have a detailed consultation, history taken, and a world-class exam. Boom! Confidence level in you starts to go way up. And if you do the exam like as we teach it, you will get this feedback from patients quite often. I have never had a doctor do an examination on me like that ever before. And you can do these exams if you get good at it. 5, 10 minutes. You can do a world-class lumbar exam or cervical exam or knee exam or neuropathy exam in less than 10 minutes, no problem. And, uh, it's a— it's a— it gives the, the person the wow factor.

Hmm.

And, uh, which then they are much more likely to say whatever you recommend for treatment, whether it's a A full decompression program, or maybe they're not quite a candidate for decompression, but they need another level of care, something different. Well, whatever you recommend to them, they're more likely than not going to say yes to. The only really the only obstacle that I see for people once they they come in, they go through that intake part, the pre-video, and then the consultation exam. The only thing that ever stands in the way of most people saying yes is finances. But the beauty of that video they watch is they've realized that, okay, it's going to be some money out of pocket. So if they're willing to come into the office, they already know they're already people that are willing to at least expend some money out of pocket. Yeah.

And one thing I'll add to that really quick. I'm sorry to interrupt. Go ahead. Is our pre-consult report of findings, and so with this video, it's it's a truncated version of the webinar. It's down to about five minutes, and it it really like for decompression patients, it's it's really trying to say, hey, you're going to be either this type of patient chiropractic or this type of patient decompression, right? Because Through the evaluation, the doctor's going to figure out, hey, what's wrong and what's the best treatment method. You know, if it's less severe of an issue, right, it's not a disc, then we'll go down the chiropractic road. If it's a— if it is a disc, that is a more serious issue. The good news is we can still help in this clinic. So again, and this is a quick video, 5 minutes, patients can watch. And, you know, it's going to answer a lot of questions so that your consult doesn't have to be so much note-taking. In other words, your consultation— and we should do a podcast on the consultation alone. I think that there would be, you know, that's enough. But the point being is in the consultation, you already know all your OPQRS. All that stuff's on the intake form, right?

Right.

So we don't need to rehash everything they just said. That's what gets patients frustrated. Here's what you should be talking about in the consultation. How's this affecting your life? What else have you tried that hasn't worked? How committed are you to moving forward? You know, um, what else have you looked at or considered? Like, to start to try to get an understanding of, you know, Where the patient is at mentally, because like Dr. Kyle said, like, by the time they get to us, they usually— they've tried a lot, right? And so there's some, you know, compassion and empathy that can be conveyed there about, you know, that they've been through this kind of cycle or treadmill of doctors, and they finally, you know, hopefully found someone that can actually help them. So, so that's pre-day 1, day 1, right? And then obviously you do a great consultation, you do a great exam, um, and then when they leave, why don't we talk about that informational packet that we give them, Dr. Kyle, after day 1?

Well, there's a few things that you probably want to send home if you're going to be doing niches. I highly encourage doctors to have their own report, so I have one here, Dr. Pankin's Guide to Chronic Neck and Back Pain. I send this home with every potential decompression patient. I have another guide, Dr. Pankin's Guide to Chronic Knee Pain, Dr. Pankin's Guide to Peripheral Neuropathy, Dr. Pankin's Guide to Plantar Fasciitis. And in there, you're going to, you're going to explain to them a little more about that condition.

It's basically like a written version of the webinar. Right.

Yeah.

You know, you're going— and you may be thinking, oh my gosh, well, aren't we kind of saying the same thing? Look, people forget what you told them 2 minutes ago, right? How, how often have patients signed up for care and then a weekend of care, they're like, what does this decompression do again? I've told you 5 times. Hey, people are busy, right? And they just forget, you know, this isn't their wheelhouse. You know, if they're an accountant, ask them about, you know, something about accounting. They'll, yes, be answered off the top of their head, but they don't know anything about decompression, you know. So this is, this is our wheelhouse. So that, yes, we, we obviously know all this stuff like the back of our hand. Sometimes I feel like we forget all the stuff that we know and that 99% of people don't know all this stuff, you know. So we are We are reiterating all the same information because we're trying to imprint and educate the patient so that they understand. So a written report that is, again, going through the condition and, uh, signs, symptoms, treatment, what it does, how it works, all that stuff, um, for them to take home. So sometimes the spouse isn't there at day 1, you know.

That's a big one. Is. So if you go— if you send a report like this home with them, they now can read more about their condition. But your protocol is detailed in there. It's laid out. And there's a whole page we have in there of frequently asked questions and answers, because patients and spouses, they all have the same question. How many visits is it going to be? How much is this going to cost? What are you going to do each visit? What are the odds it's going to help me? Things of that nature. So on this report, we answer all those questions in there up front so they can literally take it home to their spouse and, well, what'd the doctor say to you? You know, honey? Yeah, well, here, read this report. This is— thinks I got a disc condition. This explains what the process is going to be to help fix me or to help me. And what I find when you do that and send a home report with them, or the— they can— the spouse can read at home. On day 2, when they come back for a report of findings, I ask right away, did you read that report I sent home with you? Oh yes. Do you have any questions? Well, no, it kind of covered pretty much every question I had. In other words, you don't have to spend 5 and 10 and 15, 20 minutes, whatever, in the next visit answering the same questions that, that every patient always has anyways, verbally to them.

Mm-hmm.

when they can just simply read it for themselves. So it saves— I find it saves a lot of time on the report of findings, and you can just cut to the chase, basically. Are you ready to do this or not?

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, and, and answer a few other basic questions. But it, it really is helpful in that manner. The other thing that's helpful to send home with patients, you know, maybe a little packet or a binder or something, Is some type of a research study that on decompression or neuropathy or plantar that somehow validates what you're doing. Not all patients need to see a research study, but there are there's a certain select few that they show me the proof doc. You know, there are those people out there that want to see that. So I encourage doctors if whatever decompression table they're using, if there is a study that's been done on it. Send that home with the patient. So I use the Hill DT table, two of them. And so we have a study that's been done on that with that on patient with patients on that table that we can show them ninety-one percent success rate. You know, and it was over couple three hundred patients that were studied in that that particular study. So, and I tell them this is the table that we're going to use on you that was used in this particular study. And then finally, we like to send some type of a testimonial, a written— it's good to have a page maybe of maybe 3 or 4 or 5 written testimonials in that packet of, you know, patients that have had success with similar conditions to what they have had. So if you send them home with a report, a research study, a page of written testimonials, That's a lot of ammunition that they can take home, read themselves, and also their spouse. And I just find that the rate of them coming in the second visit, most of them, by the time they come in, they're ready to go.

Hmm. Yeah, I love that. So, 3 things, you know, and just, you know, get a nice little folder. So, you want your report in that folder, you want testimonials, and you want one research paper, even if they're not like a left-brain analytical like, that's gonna actually read the research. I think it's still helpful for someone that's right-brained that says, oh, well, I'm not gonna read this research paper, but it is nice to know that it's backed by science, right? So I think that those 3 things will give the patient comfort, gives the spouse, if they're not there, obviously we're gonna try to get them there, and that's another topic, uh, but if the spouse is not there, then they have material to review. Prior to the report of findings. And obviously, we're always going to try to get the spouse to the report. But so you have your pre-day 1, your day 1, and your post-day 1. So that's what you should focus on, uh, in terms of if you want to create high-quality patients and you want to, you know, um, have less people that are kind of quote-unquote deal seekers or tire kickers in your office. Take the reins, right? Right? If it is to be, it is up to me. Take the reins, create these assets. So, these— I want you to be thinking of this material as assets that will serve your practice for years. Obviously, if, you know, if you're a member of Specialized Practice, we have all these available for you. But if you're not, and, you know, you can create these on your own. So, it's not rocket science. You know, obviously, we've taken a lot of time, effort, and energy to make these great. Um, but they can be, you know, created on your own. But if you want to create high-quality patients, education is the key. Um, and, uh, those are your kind of 3 touch points of where you want to deliver that. Um, any, uh, closing thoughts on that, Dr. Kyle?

It's just a beautiful process that we've laid out. It's going to take— it's going to make life easier for your docs if you're wanting to get into cash-based services and cash-based niches. So you got to do a little legwork, but as Dr. Vince says, it's much easier to just sign on with somebody that's been there and done that and can kind of give you the keys to the kingdom, as you— if you will. But you definitely can do it on your own if you're that type of person who want to do that and put in the investment, the work. And You will, you know, as they say, you reap what you sow. If you sow some good work and effort in these areas, you're going to reap a lot of benefit and you're going to get a lot of high-quality patients, which is all— this is what we want. And makes a day in the office a lot easier when you got patients that are coming in that are seeking you for the right reasons.

100%. So we'll wrap it up on that. Hope this has been valuable, please like and subscribe, uh, share it with a colleague if you, uh, want to, you know, sow a little love in the world. And a quick couple announcements coming up: we got a virtual Shockwave and Laser Summit May 10th, so keep an eye on that. You can find more information at specializedpractice.com under the events tab. And then we have our live in-person Decompression Summit in September, September 26th, 28th in Dallas, Texas. It's our 3rd annual, looking forward to that. And that is also at the same place. You can find more information at specializedpractice.com under the events tab. So, for Dr. Pankinen, my name is Dr. Vince Leone. We'll see you on the next episode.