Chiropractic Coaching Tips | 5 Ways to Improve Your New Patient Consultation!

Hey everyone, welcome back to Dr. Vince Presents. Today's episode, number 16, is 5 Ways to Improve Your New Patient Consultation. So, and I'm your host, Dr. Vince, of course. And really quick, if you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe, hit the subscription button, because then you get notified when these new episodes come up, which is cool. We're all busy, it's kind of nice to get a little And then also, for some free gifts for you chiropractors, go to www.leoneconsulting.co. I have some free training there, what I call the DC Micro MBA. 3 lessons, 3 video lessons, kind of easy to sit back and watch. Mindset, marketing, and systems— what I consider the 3 pillars of a successful chiropractic practice. So go ahead and put your name in and email there. You'll get those You'll get started right away. But without further ado, let's go ahead and jump into this. 5 ways to improve your new patient consultation. This is great because this creates patients for life, improves your conversion, all that good stuff. So, number 1, let's be on time. Let's be on time. Let's be different, man. Who doesn't enjoy, like, a very efficient, doctor's visit, and it's not very often. Like, my dentist, man, I sit down for 2 minutes, boom, I'm taken right back. It's awesome. Now, on new patient type of visits, you know, some people kind of expect or carve out like a part of their day, but let's be different. Let's make— first of all, it comes with making a commitment that you are going to do this. You are going to see patients on time, right? And so I like a 10-minute window. 10 minutes. In other words, if you're over 10 minutes, then that's a foul. You get a penalty for that. And so, this is having a schedule that sets you up for success. So, for our office, we like to have patients on the bottom of the hour. So, we see active patients from 9:00 to 9:30, 10:00 to 10:30, 11:00 to 11:30, you get the idea. And then new patients, 9:30 to 10:00, 10:30 to 11:00, 11:30 to 12:00. And so, what that does is, first of all, everyone's on the same page, right? Mm-hmm. Putting new patients randomly. And 2, you know, I have a clock in my head, right? So I know that I'm treating patients from 9 to 9:30. And then plus, when the new patients come in, because they're going to come in about 10, 15 minutes early prior to their 9:30 appointment, they're going to see a busy office, right? So we want that schedule set up for success. And then what I would recommend is if they have to wait longer than 10 minutes to see you, they get a free gift, right? So it could be a free massage, A free or reduced fee for the initial evaluation. It could be a free bottle of Biofreeze, whatever. But look, who does this? Nobody. Nobody does this. Nobody gives away a free gift if you are running late, right? And it's just kind of a cool thing to do. It's not going to crush you, you know? So I highly recommend that because it's going to be painful for you if you do have to give it, so you're going to work to do that. And so, and then if it is, if you are past 10 minutes, and we'll get into how that is timed in a second, Yeah. Is, you know, what a surprise, what a nice surprise, like, oh man, I had to wait 12 minutes, but oh, I get this nice little gift, cool. So it's just another way to, you know, just kind of improve the patient experience. Okay, so let's go, that's number 1, be on time, be on time. It's just respectful, right? Everyone's busy. Number 2, prep the patient. I like to think of it as giving the patient a soft landing. And so what I think of outside the door, it's like a hurricane. It's like just a windstorm out there. It's just, it's hell. It's hell, I tell you. So out there, it's a nightmare. When they come into your office, when they've crossed that threshold, ooh, and it's like, you know, the music's playing and it's calm and patients are getting care and people are laughing and having fun. So you want to create a soft landing, right? Now the person that made that appointment needs to greet the patient, right? I have what we call a new patient concierge. They set up all the new patients and then they greet them when they come in. Oh, hey, Mrs. Jones, I'm Haley. You know, we spoke on the phone, we set up the appointment, blah, blah, blah. Hey, go ahead and have a seat right here. Would you like some coffee, tea, or water? You know, just if you have that, right? And frankly, you should. But, and if you don't, go get it. It's cheap. So offer coffee, tea, or water, maybe a little snack, who knows, you know, maybe a baked cookie. Let them know the restroom is right over there if you need to use it, and we have free Wi-Fi, and this is the login, blah blah blah, whatever it is. So just kind of let them know the lay of the land, okay? And then give them the very simple paperwork, right? You already have the clipboard with their name on it already filled out, ready. All this is ready to go, right? And then bring them into the consultation room. So then get them out of the hubbub. They saw the hubbub, now get them out of the hubbub. Get them into the calm consultation room, right? Consultation exam room. And then, so they'll be in there filling out their paperwork. Once they go in there and sit down, that's your 10-minute mark, and she's going to set a timer, right? She's— so you're not doing this, right? Delegate. This is your assistant that's going to be timing it. And she can even give you a little Right? Something like what you get. So that's prepping the patient, right? And so then they're in a nice calm room filling out their simple paperwork, and then you show in 10 minutes later. As long as you walk in, no free gift. Now we're not telling them, like your CA is not saying, okay, well if the doctor's not in there in 10 minutes, you know, that's a penalty. Penalty on that. We got a flag. No, no, they're not telling you. It's a pleasant surprise if it happens, right? So, okay, that's number 2, prep the patient. Number 3, and by the way, if you see me looking over here, look, I don't have all this stuff memorized, guys. I have a life too. I am also a doctor. So, no, I have all my notes up there and I jot it down, and so I, because I don't want you to miss something. I don't want to not deliver something because I've thought about this. It's amazing. Okay, number 3. Develop rapport. So now you are in the room. And frankly, when I come in, I am not like, hello, Mrs. Jones, I am Dr. Leone. No, I said, hey, Mrs. Jones, I'm Vince Leone. I just introduce by my first name. And then I would recommend saying how, you know, let them know how they should address you. You know, so I say, hey, I'm Vince Leone, please feel free to call me Vince or Dr. Vince. You know, my dad is Dr. Leone. So, So, look, that doesn't work for everybody. Some doctors like to be called by their doctor last name, and that's fine, you know, but just, I would just clarify if it's something different, okay? So if it's Dr. Leone, you go, hey, my name, hey, I'm Dr. Leone, so nice to meet you, and then just sit down. You know, nice firm handshake, look them in the eye, the basics, you know, we got, our parents taught us that early, right? No, no, no dead fish, none of this, like, have a firm handshake. Can you tell I'm a dad? I have 2 daughters. Okay, so, but don't dive right in. Introduce yourself, have a seat, smile, and then ask people things about their life. Now, this may be— you may be like, no shit, Dr. Vince, I know this. Trust me, not everybody does. So, we're just going to make sure everyone's on the same page. Okay. Go over the basics. Hey, so what type of work do you do? And do you live in the area or do you live whatever? We're in Tacoma, so do you live in Gig Harbor or Puyallup? Live in Tacoma here. Do you have a family? Kids? Just get the lay of the land. You're just trying to— and I always tell them, hey, look, I'm not trying to get too personal. I just like to get to know my patients. I hope this doesn't bother you. And they'll go, no, no. They're happy to have a— it's no more than 3 minutes. We're not trying to create a best friend here. We just want to get to know them a little bit. Okay. And then after that, sorry, after that, then you're ready to get started. Say, all right, let's go ahead and get started, or dive right in. Now, number 4. Don't be redundant, guys. Okay? Don't be— don't ask them all the same stuff that they just filled out on their paperwork. It's like, then what's the point? I mean, that's like the most annoying thing in the world. So, you have the information, the broad strokes, you know, for your OPQRST. Ask, but ask clarifying questions, you know? If they didn't give you a number— I like a number. You know, I want to know, 1 to 10, where are we at pain-wise? And so, if they didn't fill that in, just say, hey, You know, if you, you know, gun to your head, what— maybe you don't want to use that. I goof around with my patients a little bit. So, um, but, you know, if you need to get more specific, get more specific. Is it sharp? You know, like, if it, you know, is it— or is it dull? Um, but what I like is, oh, say it's sciatica. Um, so does it hurt when you sneeze? Oh my God, yes. Or, you know, when you get out of bed, like you're doing that sit-up motion, does that— Oh gosh, it's Terrible. Then, you know, I think, okay, maybe it is a disc issue. So maybe ask some clarifying questions that, you know, people have, and then ask some questions about their daily activities. So is this affecting your work, or is it affecting your ability to exercise? You know, is this affecting your home life, you know, with kids or whatever? And what you're trying to kind of do or figure out is what is most important important to them, right? Because we want to get them out of pain, right? What we really want to do is improve their quality of life because they're here and we want to get them here, right? And we want to be that bridge. We want to be viewed as that bridge. Because if you think of like patient testimonials, what would be more powerful? Dr. Vince got me— he fixed my back pain. Not that. Not very exciting, right? But if it said, you know what, when I came to see Dr. Vince, my back pain was so bad, and what I really wanted to do was run a half marathon. And you know what? Last month, I ran that half marathon. That's changing lives, right? That's improving quality of life. So that's why we're asking some of these clarifying questions and kind of digging a little bit, because we want to see, hey, what's most important to this patient? Is it their family? Is it their kids? Is it their spouse? Is it their hobby? Like, everybody's different, you know? Some people, they don't care about their spouse. It's true, actually, sadly. But anyways— Number 5, let's be present with the patient. Okay? This is their time. So number 5 is be present. present. They are paying you for this time, this half an hour or whatever it is, and that's what I shoot to be, you know, to be, you know, get, get it done in. So let's get knee to knee, let's get eye to eye, and let's have a conversation. Now, if, if it would help, get a little recorder, you know, for $20 from Staples, and And record the conversation and don't take any notes. Just sit there and acknowledge. You know, like we have patients that come in with neuropathy. They don't have any other options. They're at the end of the rope, okay? And, or with the disc problem. And, you know, look, if someone's telling you that, I can't have sex with my wife, and you're sitting there— Mm-hmm. Good Lord. Put the pen down. If you have to record it, record it. But acknowledge them. You don't even have to have any verbal cues. Just nod. Let them know that you heard them and that you're there for them. It's going to go a long, long, long time. So, don't worry about whether the bills are paid. Don't worry about whether the dog got fed. Don't worry about the patients that are starting to line up outside the door. This is their time. Okay? So, be present. This is your highest value action right now. This is your new patient. Yeah? This, this could be a patient for life. This could be someone you're seeing for the next 20 years that refers in their friends and family, right? So we got to start thinking about that. Not in a dollar number aspect. It's in a human aspect. Connecting with someone and helping them change their life. That's what we do. That's what we do when we do it right. Okay, what do you think? That's 5 ways to improve your New patient consultations. So, I hope that was helpful for you. Look, please, again, if you haven't already, please subscribe so that you'll get that notification when a new episode is put up. Go check it out, www.leoneconsulting.co, not .com. That URL was about $11,000 for some odd reason. Anyways, so leoneconsulting.co, go sign up. And put your name and email in there, and you'll get immediate access to the first video. It's on mindset, marketing, and systems. If you're not reaching your goals right now, that is a great start. Start investing in yourself, and just start with time. That's a free course. So, I'm Dr. Vince with Dr. Vince Presents. This was episode number 16, 5 Ways to Improve Your New Patient Consultation. I hope this was super helpful for you. I'll see you next week. Take care. Bye.