Whether the practice is older and in need of a recharge or young and quiet in too many spots, the question I get asked in coaching all the time is, “How do I get past this stagnant point?” In almost all cases it’s not rocket science. The energy that brought the practice to life, needs to be rekindled and the best strategy to do so is create intensity by compressing the day. I believe that one of the worst places to be stuck in is an empty office. These are places that were designed to be full of life and exude life. Sporadic bookings with no momentum kill that energy and kill the spirit of the doctor and the team.
I remember having a conversation at a seminar with my dear friend Jim Sigafoose. He said it best when he was at his first Parker seminar as a lonely, underachieving DC. When asked how he was doing in practice he would say, truthfully “I’m seeing 500!” Although he was actually adjusting a fraction of those 500, he was “seeing” them. He never lost the vision of where his practice would be one day. The rest is legendary.
When you awaken to start the next practice day, you have a choice as to how it will play out. It will either drive you(nuts) or you will drive it. Most DC’s chase a dream of more, more and more rather than realize that there are production limits to the system you have set up. So often DC’s read about monster practices that can occur overnight with the right marketing etc..These are probably the same DC’s addicted to infomercials or MLM schemes. The reality is that the practice you have is a perfect reflection of your level of clinical and management skills combined with entrepreneurial expertise.
I suggested that compression of the schedule was a good starting point. Even if you are seeing a few patient visits in the hour or in the morning, schedule them all in the same slotted time frame. This gives the perspective of a full practice; it creates a buzz of momentum in the flow and most of all it frees the day up for you to spend the time entrepeneuring. This simple cluster booking saves you the indignity of waiting for the one patient. Remember that an efficient appointment book is scheduled horizontally and then vertically. I created the ABC’s of staff responsibilities, where A stands for Appointment book management. I will review these ABC’s at a later date.
Once the cluster booking has been firmed up, it’s time to literally go to work. Servicing the patient is the easy and straight forward stuff for us. It’s the allocation of time and energy to be the CEO that needs to be learned and implemented. I suggest that you agree to work at least 40 hr a week until your plate is full. Not that hard a request. If you do the math and allow for missed appointments and slow times you would only need to, at most, invest 27 hours in adjusting, examining and reporting time to see 250 pv/week. That leaves a full 13 hours to be the CEO(Creative Exceptional Organizer)(DF’s acronym). Sadly most DC’s see the 27 hours and book a play date instead of working their plan for the other 13.
I know this sounds pretty Dad and Mommish…put the nose to the grindstone but there is a reality of getting paid for the system that you create and manage. I once trained with a hedonistic coach who was all about maximal efficiency and minimal hours. My practice languished for some time until I reorged the schedule. Let me just say from business experience, and I know billionaires who gladly put in 60 hour weeks; work should feel like play, so learn to love the business as much as you love adjusting.
Interested in learning how to be great in practice and create your own Greatness Action Plan? Book a free consult time with docfletch. Fill in the Mind the Gap info and send it through. You can also just call Linda at 905 831 9696 and she’ll set aside 20 uninterrupted minutes to have a chance to chat about coaching and growing the practice.
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