Let me explain.
Dr. Andrew Arnold (Chiropractor) talks about momentum in your wellness practice.
Momentum: Defined as ‘the impetus gained by a moving object’.
Here I’m referring your patients, and they’re wellness care trajectory.
So first, let’s go back and review what we are trying to achieve with our patients.
Your patients come to you because they want to resolve a health problem. You have a product which may help. You then set about to enroll or subscribe to your patient to your product. This involves verbal, visual, kinaesthetic and energetic cues which collectively become parts of your presentation. Generally, this all takes place during the first 1-2 visits at which time you will set about to establish a plan.
Does this sound familiar?
Now, the reality is not all patients want all your product, e.g. they may want some or all your initial care, but not a corrective, or active education process whilst others are interested in tools to help them self-care but do not wish to continue on in a wellness care plan.
So your primary job as an allied health care professional is not only make an awesome impact (and by the way you’ve only got 8-12 seconds at the first consultation) but also determine what part of your product the patient wants irrespective of what you think they need (Patients have decided this before they even see you). Nail this and you build momentum. If you don’t then in most cases you will literally be pushing S@#t up the hill, and that’s a recipe for burn out.
So once we have established the patient wants some of our product and is at least interested in other parts of our product, we can now build momentum.
Momentum is energy, pure and simple. In general, people place their health at a low level of priority and it is our job to elevate that.
Momentum is about connecting with our patients, meeting them where they are at. Understanding their motivators and then leading them to a wellness paradigm. It’s about a journey, about the relationship, about unconditional love and support. It’s about information generosity, being that solid vote of confidence and reassurance. It’s about consistency and stability, reminding them regularly they are in the right place, you’re all over it! It’s about acknowledging what else is going in their life, remembering the finer details, empathy. It’s about keeping in touch, sms’s, emails, phone calls. It’s about showing them products to support their care and help them lead a patient-centered model. It’s about using your colleagues as resources…refer, engage reception… It’s about absolute clarity about your purpose, intention, treatment plan, process…
If you can enroll your patients beyond the first 8-12 seconds and maybe into the ‘follow up’ visit, you have a good opportunity to build on this, and next few visits during your initial care are critical.
What happens is your Grade A patients start to show up, the ones you want in the clinic, the ones who want YOU and your product! And then these patients refer to others who just like them. Momentum!
So you can see how this builds inertia, energy, flow…and those patients who are not choosing all our product does not!
Momentum is ultimately about the team. The practice collectively builds far more momentum than any individual. Use to your advantage and stay engaged!
Keep on keeping on
About the Author:
Dr. (Chiro) Andrew Arnold is a Chiropractor and Naturopath, and ACTP accredited Business Coach at Million Dollar Wellness.
Andrew believes for health practices to thrive, their owners need to, what he refers to as ‘step up into their power’. Leadership is about leading. Sounds simple right? So why are so many practice owners struggling to make a living, eventually burning out and giving up?
Andrew has successfully built 2 multi-disciplinary health practices to nearing a million pa. He has mentored many leading practice owners helping them reach this target and beyond.