139: Always done it that way

Managing Your Practice The Way You Always Have Hey, chiropractors, are you managing your practice the way you've always done it? Hello, everybody. Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse podcast brought to you by Kats Consultants, helping doctors keep their pulse on success. I'm Dr. Michael Perusich, and I'm joined by Marisa Matea in the studio today. Marisa… always running the practice like we've done it. Always running the practice like we've done it. As if chiropractic business management never changes. Chiropractic has been around for over a hundred years. It's a good thing. We've never had to change the business model. Obviously I'm being cheeky here a little bit, of course we change, but how often, when we talk to doctors, we. How often do we see? Well, I've always done it this way. We hear this all the time. Yeah. Yeah. It's a staple comment. Let's call it that, you know, it's, it's always there. It's one of those things that we kind of forget, you know, that there are new advances and there are things that we need to keep up with. Yeah. Often. Yeah. You know, I, I learned this lesson a long time ago when I read, of course I started out before chiropractic, I started out in an industry that changed like every five minutes. I read a book that talked about how fast change happens and how quickly, if you're not paying attention, how quickly you get behind the eight ball. And sometimes you get so far behind the eight ball that you can never catch back up. So never making any changes, never paying attention, it can really be a detriment to your business. It can. And today's world will say, you know, we are so technology driven that it's amazing how fast things are changing and how much we have to stay on top of those things to keep our practice. relevant, you know, patients are looking for practices that are to snuff, we'll call it with technology and what they expect. Um, one major component that they all expect nowadays is looking for online scheduling. Um, and we have so many different great Software systems out there that have implemented that into their software for the sole reason of it's one of those changes that are coming about that patients are looking for that and what a benefit to your practice to have that, you know, not only do patients want that, but. It also helps on the other side of things with freeing up your staff at the front desk to be with and talking to the people that are actually in front of them. You know, it gives you so many opportunities to further that customer service experience because that's the other thing they want, right? They want that trust and they want that feeling that you give them. Yep. You know, and there are some great things out there in the software world today. You know, one of the big things that's come along as a result of EHR. And, and I'm going to call it the rest of the medical community is the patient portal. And now we're starting to see that we're just starting to see it show up in EHR systems in the chiropractic world. And that's going to be one of the next things that patients want. They're going to want the portal. Why are they going to want the portal? Because their medical doctor wants it, their dentist has it, you know, their eye doctor is going to have it and, and everybody's going to want to have that portal. So without the portal, you could be behind. The zone with this. Yeah, absolutely. It's just another one of those changes that we have to be ready for, you know, and, and be watching for, and we just got back from the Florida chiropractic convention, not too long ago, and my goodness, the amount of cool things out there, I'll say, for lack of better terms. Um, you know, it's amazing to me. I mean, there's just so many neat Thank you. Advances going on and we have to go back to you need to be evaluating your practice often. And if you're, if you're not, you're falling behind. It's 1 of the, it's like, you're, you've always got to be learning, right? You've always got to be moving forward and the same thing happens in practice is with the business side of it with the technology side, all of the training, all of those kind of things. There's always an advancement that we're implementing. Uh, you and I are. Are redoing classes all the time, just to make sure that we stay ahead of those trends and things with offices. So, right, right. And, and constantly, constantly reevaluating the way that you manage a practice. And there's not one single way. It depends on the type of practice you have today. Absolutely. You've really got to be staying on top of those kinds of things. You know, there's, there's a statistic here and I've got it up on my computer here because I want to get it right. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that roughly 50% of businesses fail within their first five years of operation. And through the first decade, through the first 10 years, that rate dips even more to 35% of companies, only 35% of companies are able to keep their doors open after you've been in practice for 10 years. Holy cow. Now, I can already tell you one of the major reasons why this happens. Not the only reason. There's multiple. I get that. So don't send me the hate mail. That's not the only reason doctors. But one of the major reasons behind that is you're not keeping up with the trends. You know, just for example, we just came through the pandemic here not too long ago. And what happened there? Well, consumer buying habits changed. Now was that the first time they changed in a bazillion years? No, they'd already changed a few times right before that. Right before the pandemic happened, but then the pandemic happened and boom, they changed again. And after the pandemic, they started to change again. And now we're in this weird economy right now. And so they're starting to change again. And if you're not picking up on those kinds of things, you can't service your patients at the level that they want to be served at. And if that happens, I'm sorry. I don't care how great your adjustment is. I don't care how great your outcomes are, but if you're not serving the patients at their level, at the level of service that they want to be serviced at, they will leave you after 10 years. That's probably a pretty good mark of, Hey, you've been in practice long enough. And if you haven't changed, poof, I'm out of here. And when we talk about change, we're not just talking about your business practices or, you know, those kinds of things. You've got to make sure you're maintaining and updating your practice. Location, meaning your physical practice. So the building, the, you know, signage, the, you know, you also have to pay attention to those things as well. I mean, that's what attracts them into you. Um, Somewhat, and once they get there, they don't want to see shag carpet on the on the walls. Right? I mean, they want to see that you're an update. That actually happened. I know it did. We do know an office that had that. So, uh, so, you know, it's important, though, to say. ahead of those things to make sure that patients are getting what they need from you. And we talk about sometimes the five senses, you know, when they come into your office and they need to, we need to touch on all of those. Right, right. And today's consumer is incredibly sensitive to those kind of things. So you've really got a key into those, but you know, you're going to learn it this way today and then, you know, pretty soon it won't be long. It'll change again. And if you're not paying attention, once again, you're behind the eight ball. So you're probably thinking, oh my gosh, how do I keep up with all this kind of stuff? Well, the good news is you don't keep up with it by yourself. You have to have a partner, whether it's a mentor or a coach or somebody, you've got to have somebody there With you. And in fact, this is probably a good time for us to take a quick message from our sponsor. We'll be right back. We're talking about not running your practice. Just always the way you have. We'll be right back. SPONSOR MESSAGE All right, everybody. We're back. And we're talking about chiropractors. Have you, are you running your practice the way you've always run it, or are you keeping up with the changes in the trends, in the business trends, the management styles, the consumer buying habits, the technology. There's so many things to keep up with, let alone the compliance and all that. So, Marissa, how do we keep up with all this stuff? Well, I mean, there's so many ways. Number one, you said it before, have a coach, have a mentor, have somebody that's there in the trenches with you that's paying attention to those things, you know? Um, Our consulting group, for just an example, you know, we consult with everybody from the single practitioner with no staff up to multidisciplinary, um, multi locations, you know, it doesn't matter anything in between, you know, and so knowing that we can actually step back and we can look at different practices and different trends that are happening in all practices and figure out what works best for people. And so that's kind of a nice, Avenue, so you've got to have somebody on your side. That's not necessarily in there with you. You know, uh, you also need to be going to Absolutely. You also need to be going to these big events. Um, I can't stress enough how important it is to get out And see big conventions like the FCA is a great example, you know, uh, just walking through their, uh, vendor section is absolutely worth your time. Um, just to see what's out there now, you know, and the different tools and things that you can have in your practice for your patients that fit with your niche or whatever, you know, you have, you. Got to do those things. So there's plenty of those as well as of course, uh, you know, watching your state and associations and things. Those are also very important to pay attention to. They give you lots of information about, um, local laws and those kinds of things that you've got to be following. So that that's really important as well. Yeah. And there's, there's really at least three you should go to every year. You should go to your. I'd go back to your college, wherever you went to chiropractic school, go back there, support them. If that's not convenient, at least go to your state convention. So there's, you know, pick one of the two or both, which is great. I'm not saying only do three. If you haven't ever been to FCA, the national FCA event in Orlando, um, it's amazing. It's humongous. Um, So go to it because all the vendors are there and go to Parker, you know, and if Parker's out of reach, come to Orlando, but go to Parker every once in a while as well, because there's a ton of vendors there too. And it's not always the same people. So you really get immersed in what's happening and you know, you may see a vendor and a, and a. Some new software, some new technology, or some new therapy device when you go to FCA national, and then you might see him back at your homecoming as well. And you get a chance to talk with him further. And if you're thinking about adding revenue centers or anything like that, number one, don't buy the shiny thing. Make sure you run the numbers and compute its value in your practice and make sure that you and your staff are going to utilize it and get it engaged with patients. But you get better deals when you go to these shows as well on things. Um, there are companies that are giving out free samples and things for you to try. I, we, we had a booth at FCA and the company next door to us was handing out bags of, of, uh, uh, Uh, Arnica. Thank you. Samples. Yes. Um, sample samples of topical analgesic and they were just handing out bags of them. You could, you could take a bag of that back and try it with different patients and see how it works. You know, so if you're missing these kinds of things, again, that's kind of one of those points where you have your head in the sand. You should also have somebody coaching you or mentoring you. That is. Keeping those doors of light open for you and showing you those kinds of things. So make sure you're plugging into podcasts like this one. And, um, if you're listening to this one, pat yourself on the back, huh? You're probably listening. If you're patting yourself on the back, um, you know, listen, listen to podcasts that are bringing you good, valuable, relevant information. Don't just immerse yourself only in chiropractic technique. I'm not saying avoid it. That's good, but it's not all you need. You need to be able to open yourself up to new ideas and things. You know, we always say this, that we're continually in this disruptive thought process. How can we improve how chiropractors run and manage their practice? How can we help them improve their profitability? We're constantly evaluating that and tearing it apart and rebuilding it and, and testing it and seeing how we can make chiropractors. Even more profitable work less hard and enjoy practice more, you know, so you need and avoid being that statistic that we heard earlier, you know, being that statistic that after, you know, one year, five year, 10 years, you're not in practice, or if you are in practice, you're not enjoying it, or you're not taking home a paycheck. Or your practice value values drop so much because you've let it go, you know, I mean There's so many things to pay attention to to stay Uh above the curve, you know, and we heard, you know from somebody, uh At fca, you know, they coach themselves on things And that's great if you're able to do that, but even you and I have coaches, you know, even you and I have people that we lean into as well to make sure that we're moving forward. So don't ever stop learning. Don't ever stop looking for ways to improve your practice and ways that you can, you know, make sure that you just. Can't say, well, we've always done it that way. So, and, and never be so arrogant and, and I don't mean that term maliciously. Okay. Sure. Honestly, it's the only word I can think of that really fits, but don't be so arrogant to yourself that you're telling yourself, I don't need help. I don't need anybody to help me with this. You do, because individually we can not. Open all the doors and see all the lights and all the pathways that are available to us. You need somebody helping you do that in an unbiased manner that is willing to keep you accountable. And keep you engaged, but more importantly, keep you moving forward. So you're not always doing things the way you've always done it and finding yourself behind the eight ball and part of that statistic that 10 years down the road, maybe you're still in practice, but you don't like it and you're not profitable. And so you think, well, I'll just sell it. And if this is piggybacking on what you just said, Marissa, you, you don't realize it, but you have no value left in your practice. So, you know, there's so many key factors here that you could be missing. The joy in practice is not only seeing the patients improve, also putting yourself in a position where you improve, your family improves, your staff improves, because you set forth an opportunity for everybody to be, to be profitable. Absolutely. Absolutely. Wow. That's a good topic. It was a good topic. So all right, everybody. Hey, if you haven't done so already, we are KC Chiropractic Business Advisors, Kats Konsultants. Go check us out at Kats Consultants. com and make sure you check out our events page. Because we do lots of different events, get involved with those. We've got lots of different downloads and things on there. Dive in on some of those. And if you're ready to move your practice to a path to profit, give us a call, check us out. Let's set up a breakthrough call. Talk about your practice, Marisa, anything else to add? No, give us a holler. We'll be happy to help. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening to the KC CHIROpulse podcast brought to you by Kats Consultants. We will see you next time.