I was at a grocery store the other day, and, noticed some people picking out fresh produce - They were picking up apples to check for bruising, squeezing red peppers to check for firmness, and pulling back husks of corn to get a better look at the cob.
And then it hit me - These people were putting more effort into selecting their produce than many of my clients put into selecting their patients!
Wait... Selecting their patients?
Of course!
After all, what is marketing but a form of patient selection? You tell the world what you have to offer in your marketing, and the people who like what they see, end up coming in.
It just makes sense that the way you craft your marketing message, the way you position your practice, will have a HUGE impact on who comes in, doesn't it?
In an even more specific sense, the patients in your practice that you choose to market to (if you choose to market to them) are also selected by you - in this case, they've been selected as patients you're trying to keep with your internal marketing.
How selective are you?
When you're shopping for produce, do you just grab what's on top of the bin? Or do you spend a bit of time to find the GOOD produce, rather than hoping what you picked will turn out all right?
When you're marketing for new patients - Or to your existing patients - Do you market purposefully, or indiscriminately?
Do you put in a bit of work up front to attract patients who will stay with you, who will follow your treatment plans, and in general be a joy to work with? Or do you just hope that you'll get them... somehow?
"Best" and "Worst" patient models
Do you know which new patients are most likely to have 30% more visits than average?
Do you know which new patients are likely to have 25% FEWER visits than average?
Questions like these are the core of patient modeling.
The idea is simple - If you look at all of your patients who you consider your "best" patients, and contrast them with the group you consider to be your "worst" patients, you can find the areas where the two groups differ significantly.
Please note - When I use terms like "best" or "worst", I'm not implying a value judgment – I’m sure all of your patients are wonderful human beings. "Best" and "Worst" can be thought of as "most (least) profitable", or "Easiest (hardest) to work with" or any other measure you'd like to compare & be able to predict.
Putting the model together
Okay, so let's assume you've got a model of your best & worst patients, and you realize the following:
The best patients will have15 more visits over their active lifetime than the 'average' patient. They tend to be older than 45 years of age, live within a 7 mile radius of your practice, and almost without exception, they never let more than 5 days pass between visits for their first 10 visits.
The worst patients have 10 fewer visits than the 'average' patient. They are under age 25, live within a 10 mile radius, and they let upto 10 days pass between appointments over their first 10 visits.
What do you do with this new information?
Putting the model to work
Well, the first thing that seems obvious is that you'd want to put as much marketing money & energy as possible into attracting people over 45 years of age who live within a 7 mile radius of your practice.
Additionally, when new patients join, it would make sense to keep tabs on how long is passing between visits - and encouraging these patients to book all of their visits within 5 days of their previous visit.
You'd do these things, of course, because you want to do everything in your power to re-create the "model" patient - In other words, to set up the circumstances so that most of your new patients are similar to your best patients.
This is especially important in those cases where you do NOT have an unlimited budget, or unlimited time to work. It's especially important when you have to make decisions on where to use your resources.
Selecting only the best
By making use of statistical models of your practice, you not only get a good idea of what is happening - you also see what you can do to get the best results.
By taking the little bit of extra time and effort to make use of these models, you can see some incredible things start to happen in your practice.
Or, you can end up going home with a crate full of bruised apples...
Want to learn more?
Patient Modelling is one of the many strategies covered in Real World Growth Strategies for Your Practice – an exciting new marketing program for Chiropractors. To find out more, e-mail info@svachiro.com
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Shawn Veltman is a marketing consultant and the creator
Of the highly acclaimed ‘Real World Growth Strategies’ program
for Chiropractors. To find out more, e-mail info@svachiro.com
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