The vast majority of people in your community do not depend upon you for anything.
You've never given them any reason to.
The vast majority of people in your community do not trust you. It's not that they mistrust you but they don't strongly trust you.
You've never given them any reason to.
The vast majority of people in your community don't strongly like you. Again, it's not that they dislike you (or I hope that's not the case) but you've never given them a reason to go out of their way to like you.
And last but not least, the vast majority of people in your community may not even know you exist. Period.
So if the vast majority of your community doesn't know you, especially like you, trust you or depend on you, is it any wonder that the growth rate of your practice is bordering on close to zero?
Think about all the places you spend your money.
How many purchases have you made lately where you didn't know, like, trust or even possibly feel dependent upon the person you were about to do business with?
Getting people to know you is easy. Exposure. Get in front of people. Wouldn't it be great if you had a magic wand and tomorrow morning everyone in town woke up knowing exactly who you were?
Well, it's not going to happen but you will move in that direction by meeting one, five or ten new people every day.
Have a goal, have a plan and do it.
Getting people to like you is a bit harder
It has to do with your personality. You are either a genuine likeable people-person or you are not.
Having people like you is not something you can buy with a six-figure marketing budget.
It's all up to you and your staff as well.
Are you and your staff warm, caring people-people or are you and they angry, uncaring, rude and obnoxious and belong in a non-people profession like being a research scientist who works in a windowless office surrounded by test tubes and other equipment but completely devoid of human contact?
If I don't like you it's going to be very difficult for me to have anything to do with you.
I think you would feel the same way.
Trust you.
Okay, I know who you are. As a matter of fact I think I like you having met you once or twice. But when it comes to trusting you, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that you've never given me a reason or opportunity to trust you.
Understand the difference?
If I had seen you speak (and had been impressed) and read about you in an article that was written by someone I trust, then the needle on the trust meter would start moving in the right direction.
What have you done today to gain my trust?
Depend upon you.
Can I get through my week without any help from you?
Are you my ‘go-to' person when I need health-related information?
If no, then the bond between us may be good if I know you, like you and trust you but it goes through the roof if I have become dependent upon you.
It's that weekly ‘must-read' newsletter you send me. It's those ‘I can't believe it's free' health seminars you are giving the first Wednesday of each month.
It's that radio show you do on health issues.
I don't necessarily need you today but the minute I do or someone I know does, you're the person I am going to.
I've gotten to know you, like you, trust you and depend upon you and when it comes to my chiropractic well-being there is no one else I would rather talk to or be taken care of by than you.
(Please re-read the last sentence.)
How many people in your community will wake up tomorrow morning being able to honestly say and feel those powerful 40 words from “I've gotten” to “taken care of by than you”?
Everything you do, no I mean really everything you do in your chiropractic practice should be moving either one person (your patient at the moment) to the entire community in the direction of knowing you, liking you, trusting you or depending upon you a little bit more than yesterday.
If you work on the four points – know, like, trust, depend – every day, one day you will wake up to a much larger, more profitable practice and you'll be able to point back to the day you read this newsletter and at the fork in the road when you picked the right path to follow. |
of Your Practice Will Explode
