Bill was once quoted as saying something along the lines of, "Microsoft has had lots of competitors over the years. It's a good thing we have museums to record those moments in history." Ouch. Not a good thing to think about if you were one of those competitors, that's for sure. But, you certainly don't need to be a competitor of Microsoft to feel the sting of business competition. With the quantity of chiropractors in practice today, and the quantity of new doctors coming into the profession every year, I'm sure you'd agree, it's a pretty darn crowded and competitive chiropractic marketplace out there. The number of shrinking incomes and struggling doctors, certainly confirms that. So, how do you go about being on the winning side... the success side... of chiropractic business competition, instead of on the losing, struggling side? 2 ways... 1. DIFFERENTIATION. 2. USING YOUR PRACTICE METRICS PROPERLY. Let's talk about differentiation first. In order to excel in a crowded profession, you must be able to show prospective patients and active patients what makes you and chiropractic care in your office different from what every other doctor or chiropractic office is offering. Mainly, you must offer patients benefits and unique value they can't get from one of the other local doctors competing with you. And, if you really want to protect your practice and income from current competition and any future competition, you must learn how to position your chiropractic practice uniquely in the mind of consumers. In other words, you've got to learn how, through your marketing, to have prospective chiropractic patients view your chiropractic practice compared to others, as if comparing apples to oranges. This only happens when you take proactive action to create that differentiated, unique positioning through your patient acquisition and retention methods. And, here's where your practice metrics come in... Plain and simple, the only way to rapidly grow a chiropractic practice (and sustain it) is to understand and manage your key practice metrics (measurements/numbers). Just like acquiring wealth and becoming financially free is all about properly managing and measuring certain numbers (i.e. your bank balance, your income, your expenses, etc.). The same applies to your chiropractic success. Sadly, most chiropractic schools never teach this concept to graduating docs. New chiropractors then go into an insanely competitive marketplace, with tons of practicing chiropractors, struggle to build their practices, and end up tremendously frustrated. Can you blame them? I certainly can't.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Todd Brown
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