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Hi folks, Jeffrey Grossman here again, to bring you a, another live broadcast from the AAC. Thank you for this opportunity yet again, to share some practice and marketing insights with you. For those of you that don’t know me. My name is Jeffrey Grossman and I’m the founder and owner of Acupuncture MediaWorks, Accu downloads, and Accu perfect websites.
And we’ve been helping acupuncturist grow their practice, attract more patients and keep patients in care. 2002. So we’ve been in the business of helping practitioners build their business for quite a while now. I am here to share with you some ideas on how you can grow your practice, how you can stay on top of mind awareness with your patients and how you can also become more successful at what it is that you do.
In the business and marketing end of building your practice. Because when we were in acupuncture school, we weren’t really given all the tools that we need to build a successful and sustainable business. We didn’t know what to say and when to say certain things and how to give a report of findings.
And how to use social media and why social media is important and you know how to get people back in care when they fall out of care. We’ve developed a lot of programs for that. And also through the AAC, we’ve been talking about different various types. Throughout the year on the different avenues at which how you can do all those things, which are attract, retain, and reactivate your patients.
People out there are looking for you. They want your help. They need your help, but they probably don’t even know that you exist. They are looking to feel healthy. They’re looking to feel balanced. They’re looking to feel less stressed. They’re looking to feel that their immune system is robust and strong and you might.
Have the skill and the technology to make that all happen for them, but they might not know you’re there. They might know that there might be an acupuncturist in town, but they know nothing about you. There’s nothing essentially that has built. No and trust factor, right? There’s a journey that you need to walk your patients down and through.
Every single time they come on board and that’s called the patient’s journey. And we’re not going to dive deep into that today. But the beginning part of that is getting people to know you, right? Getting them to really understand who you are and what it is that you do. And that you’re actually there for them.
Get them to like you get them to understand. At how you can actually help them with their particular problems and then get them to trust you, which then gets them into your clinic and onto your treatment tables. And then from there, it’s keeping them in care, keeping yourself in top of mind, awareness with them and having them follow through with their treatment plans.
So I want to help you change that. I want to help. People understand that you do exist and I want to help you get more people on their table. And that’s what these talks are all about. To help you be seen to help you be heard and to ultimately help you bring people into your practice. So you could make more money and help more people.
And if at the end of today’s talk, or anytime you see this talk, you are looking for more help or you need some guidance or you just need to. Bit of inspiration. Please feel free to reach out to me. You can reach out to me by putting a comment below the video, or you can reach me at Jeffrey, J E F R E Y at acupunctureMediaworks.com.
Okay. So today I want to talk about seven techniques. To quantify your practice in slow times, I’m going to talk about some in-house marketing ideas. I’m going to talk about some events that you can create in your practice that have transformed my practice. When I, when it was going downhill, totally turned it around for me.
And also how to tap into getting more word of mouth referrals. Before I go on, I want to ask you this simple question. It’s rhetorical, because I’m not able to answer your questions at the moment, but what business are you actually. Okay. So some of you might be like I’m in the business of helping people get I’m an acupuncturist.
I put needles in people. I help them alleviate these problems and so on. But plain and simple, you are in the business of marketing acupuncture care. And you must actively find and attract the right people. And have your marketing consistently turning and moving and having multiple marketing poles in the water.
So you could bring those people in your practice because you could be the greatest acupuncturist in the world. You have the most amazing needling technique in the world, but if you don’t have patients coming in on a regular basis, then. How are you going to be able to use your techniques and your protocols?
So the important thing to really understand is that you are in the business of letting people know that acupuncture is awesome. And the business of marketing your practice, right? You are not only an amazing healer, but you’re also an entrepreneur and a business person. Okay. You’ve got to wear all those hats in order to make this happen.
Marketing takes time, and that’s another important I want to get across to you. Even though you do an event or you put an ad out or you do social media marketing that it’s not going to reap the benefits immediately. Okay. That you’ve got up plant the seeds and you’ve gotta be in it for the long haul.
Okay. So if you do host a class or if you do an online training, just be aware that if there isn’t. Conversion that happens immediately or within a day or two, that it doesn’t mean that what you did was wrong or what you did was bad or what you didn’t work. It’s just that you’ve got to plant the seeds over time.
And the more that you are planting seeds, the more that you are cultivating awareness about you, your practice and how you can help you. Okay. And as an acupuncturist, so you, you owe it to your patients to be a great marketer, right? Because if you can’t keep your practice open, your patients are going to be forced to seek help elsewhere, and probably even go to a non acupuncturist.
So maybe try someone who does dry needling or some other technique that might not be acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine overall. So in that respect, If you are an acupuncturist, which I assume you are, if you’re watching this, you owe it to your patients to be a great marketer, so you can stay in business so that you can be there for your patients when they need you.
Okay. So a couple of things I just want to get across before we jump into the seven techniques to tone your practice in slow time, the first. They don’t want to talk with you about is to one of, one of the great tools that I’ve used in my practice is to put on a patient appreciation day. So for those of you that aren’t sure what a patient appreciation day, it’s an event that you can hold at your clinic.
Two or three months, and it’s an opportunity to connect with your patients, an opportunity to celebrate you and your practice and your patients, the way to give things. And it’s a time to have fun and to step out from behind the treatment table. So you can be present with your patients and meet their family and remove yourself from the.
Doctor acupuncturist position to, Hey, I’m just an average person. Okay. And I’ve got a life, I’ve got a family. Here’s my daughter is my wife. Here’s our dog. And so on. So people can really relate to you. So you’ve gotta be relatable in that way. And patient appreciation days are one way to make that happen.
And it’s basically your hosts. A party at your clinic and you can connect up with other local restaurants and other businesses to support you during these events. One thing that I would consider doing in the year coming in as part of your marketing calendar is. Set up at least one or two patient appreciation days throughout the year.
So you can celebrate you your practice and your patients. And the next thing that I want to talk with you about the tech, the second technique is hosting an acupuncture happy hour event. Okay. And this is by far the number one thing that allowed me to. Transform the influx of patient of new patients coming in.
So I was able to bring in, I think, 17 new patients from one event alone by hosting an acupuncture happy hour event. So what is an acupuncture happy hour vet? It’s basically a patient attraction system that allows you to qualify new prospects. And get them into your clinic, literally to try acupuncture, right?
And you’re doing two points 0.0 of the ear and Shen men of the year, which as an acupuncturist, do you know that if you do those points for most patients, they are going through. Field transformed. And for those of you that are of my age range, remember Calgon take me away. That basically is somebody in a bath tub who is completely relaxed and on cloud nine.
So for those of you acupuncture when you host a happy hour event, the goal of that is to help reduce. And anxiety and who doesn’t need that these days. And one of the beautiful things about hosting a happy hour event is it overcomes some of the main objections that occur with it, with acupuncture, which do the needles hurt technically not because you’re just doing two points in the ear, super thin tiny needles, pretty painless.
When you do those points. Does it work, or acupuncture doesn’t work, that’s a big objection. And if people will leave there and they’re shifted and they’re relaxed and their anxiety has been reduced, it works. So to alleviate that placebo effect and what you know, and whether or not it’s going to help them.
And that’s a conversation that you will have with them afterwards. Okay. So the happy hour event, it’s nondiagnostic, you’re not making any diagnosis. It’s, you’re just actually just doing 0.0 shed. Man. What I do is I set aside times on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons where it’s like a walk-in clinic like community acupuncture style and people come in and they sit down, they fill out a form and that form is specific to.
Clinic information and their name, their phone number, their contact information. And it also asks you a couple of series of important questions. And these important are these questions of this form are important, which are, have you received occupants yes or no. Good for you to know whether or not they received it.
So you can ask them what, what their experience was, check off any of the following symptoms and signs that you had in the past year. Back pain, allergies, knee pain, stress, neck pain, fatigue. And how these problems have affected their lives, right? It affects their home life, their work life, their activities, their family, their sleep, et cetera, because this form that they fill out before they get into the treatment chair.
We’ll help you Tran transition from the that the acupuncture happy hour event to to, to a conversion process, which gets them to a first time paying patient coming in for a comprehensive evaluation. So this form that they fill out after. Receive their stress reduction treatment. You’ll sit down with them and you’ll be like, so Jeffrey, I noticed here that you checked off that you have allergies and you’ve got cold hands and feet and you’ve got headaches.
What are you doing to treat those? So you hear what they’re doing or what they’re not doing for that. And then you just communicate to them that. A special or you’ve got a comprehensive evaluation or whatever your offer is to get them from that low cost or free happy hour event into the first time paying patient.
If you’re interested in this form, I have no problem giving it to you guys. Sending you a PDF of it. It’s been great. You could send me an email at Jeffrey, J E F R E Y at acupuncture. Media works.com and say, give me the form and I’ll give you a league to access is not a problem. And this is the one thing I’ll also include a couple of links to some other videos that I’ve done about this particular topic.
Acupuncture happy hour technique is the second way to help tone of fire practice. The other thing is to get social. Okay. Number three is to get social. So you should be getting social on Facebook and Twitter and potentially Instagram, and really make those part of your everyday life. I know some of you are cringing and moaning and groaning right now about the idea of using social media in your practice.
In today’s day and age is something that we really need not necessarily to bring in new patients, but to build relationships with your audience, to make people feel more comfortable before they actually come and visit you. And it also allows you to showcase your authority in who you are. And it starts building that.
And trust factor, which is super important for you to to really bridge that gap from, people who just kicking tires and don’t even know you. And they’re just trying to try you out to people who really want to try your care and who really know what you have to offer them. And the fifth thing, the fourth thing that is really important to do the fourth technique to 25 year practice in slow times is to make sure that you stay in Toma.
Okay. And Toma is top of mind awareness. Okay. And it’s important because you’ve got to, once you spend the time and the energy to get a patient on board. Okay. So you’ve got to. Keep yourself in top of mind awareness with research or new updates about how you treat a particular condition or reports or things that you find that you want to share with your patients so that you would be less likely to fall.
Off of their vision, their peripheral. So that you, that they’ll be less likely to fall out of care. So the goal is to get a patient in and then treat them for a few times, but then don’t lose that. Don’t let them just drift away and become part of your patient inactive file because.
I’m sure many of you have more inactive patients and active patients, but one of the ways to stem that slow drip of inactive patients is to make sure you’re staying in top of mind awareness. You do this with newsletters, you do this research, you do this with industry news. Social media with just picking up the phone and connecting with your patients.
So there are many ways for you to stay in Toma with your patients. And it’s one of those important things to be doing every week so that you don’t have to go back out there and be like Sisyphus, where you’re pushing up the new patient, rock up the hill, you get some new patients and then they fall out of care and it falls down the hill and you push the new patient, rock up the hill and it falls out of Karen sell up.
You don’t want to keep repeating that. The definition of insanity. Okay. The fifth way technique to tonify your practice. And so times is to create a new patient referral program. Okay. So one of the things I encourage my my coaching clients to do is to actually have a. Have an in-house patient referral event.
And they’re like, what, like an event around that’s going to make me sound desperate, but it’s not true in my experience when I’ve hosted patient referral events in the clinic, patients were excited. We literally had a giant. Whiteboard with a thermometer drawn on there and the thermometer wasn’t, we’re like our goal is to get 30 new patients this week is we write it on top.
We have a thermometer drawn and then we have like hash marks for every new patient line that goes up to 30. And then every time a new patient comes. Color it in, we fill it in, we call her in it and and and everyone in the clinic gets excited. Even the patients cause they see the thermometer turning redder and redder in the sense more patients are coming in.
So the first thing to do when you do that is to really think about who your. Patient is right. Who is your ideal patient? And you probably can think of a few patients right now who are on your books or in your clinic, or maybe even on your treatment tables at this moment that are your ideal patient.
Okay. You want to communicate with them first? Do you want to tell, say something like, Hey Jeffrey, you wanna let you know that we are. We are opening up for new patients right now, and we are starting a we’re hosting a month long referral event. Our goal is to get 30 new patients this month.
And we’d like to know if you are able to help us. And they most likely be like, sure. Yeah, no problem. Do you need me to do? And then you would give them a gift certificate or a call to action card or something that would, that they would then hand out to their. Or family members or coworkers to come in to see you for whatever your whatever your call to action is to get them in happy hour event or low cost evaluation.
So on. So that’s important to make sure you recognize those who are most likely to refer to you. Okay. And the sixth thing to be doing in the clinic is the host of healthcare class. Okay. So hosting healthcare classes, these days could be done through zoom. And I know you could host classes on so many different types of topics you can tell.
Seasonal changes, right? How to stay healthy in the winter, how to support your kidneys, how to use these particular points for helping move key or help alleviate headaches and help alleviate pain. You could talk about Qigong or Tai Chi or breathing techniques or Oregon sounds or. Mantras or moodra or point location is right.
So there’s no lack of things that you could teach on and host a health care class. That can be done through zoom that could be done through. In-house live, but that positions you as an authority that keeps you in top of mind awareness that gives you the opportunity to share this messaging on social media, to get people, to talk about you, to bring in new people, to get more referrals to come in for this particular event or to share it through.
Okay. And the final thing is to make sure that you have a an a patient reactivation program, because inevitably patients are going to fall out of care. Inevitable that people will fall out of care for a number of reasons. They’ll just forget about you they’ll they’ll think that they’re better and that they don’t need your help anymore.
Maybe their hours changed, it, lot of times in my experience, I’ve assumed that they fallen out of care because it was my fault, oh, I did something wrong or I’m not getting the results, but it, after asking a lot of patients over the years Determined that it really wasn’t me.
It was just some circumstances. And there’s their lives that got them to have to, change their timing that I fell out of care because I wasn’t staying in top of mind awareness with them. So a patient reactivation program is very simple. Identify what your call to action is, what you’re going to use to get people into the clinic.
When you reach out to them and divide your clients into three categories, a, B, and C, the patients are the ones that you love. 100% right now, the patients that you can think of that you love love. And then the C patients are the ones that you’re like when you see them in your schedule, you’re like, oh man, okay, I can do this.
I can make this happen today. In the B patients are a common one between. Start with the eight patients who have fallen out of care and reach out to them with a phone call and then reach out to them with an email and then reach out to them with a letter and the phone call the email and the letter can be the same conversation in different formats sent out to them.
And basically, just follow up with. Simply, just checking in with them. And again, for those of you that are interested, I’ve got some patient reactivation letters that I’ve made available for you. If you want the survey and the the for acupuncture happy hour and the patient reactivation strips and.
Feel free to reach out to me. Jeffrey, J E F R E y@acupuncturemediaworks.com. I’ll be more than happy to send those over to you, but in any case, thank you so much for joining us here today. You guys are beautiful. You’re awesome. Have happy, safe, and healthy holidays. Next. We’re going to Tsao-Lin Moy, going to be here, sharing some insights and some wisdom as she always does.
So again, thank you AAC for inviting me back here. You guys changing the world. One person, one needle at a time. You are awesome. Stay beautiful. And I would talk with you guys soon.