Welcome to the Planning for Practice Success Newsletter

Practice Startup Success

Information Advice Encouragement

July 2, 2007                                                                            ISSN 1934-3248

Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.           Thomas Carlyle, British author

In this issue:

For Newsletter subscribers ONLY:  Thanks to my very picky assistant, we have a few Planning for Practice Success™ books that are slightly less than perfect, and I’m offering them to newsletter subscribers only, for a limited time at the special price of $69.95.  You will receive all of the additional material that comes with the books, including a recent update of the spreadsheet file.  Cindy (my assistant) says: “Some front and some back covers have black scuff marks on them.  A few pages are dog eared or crinkled.”

Why credit scores are important to lenders:

Here is a chart from Experian.com that shows the default rates for various credit ratings.

 You can see why the first thing the bank will ask you is your credit score.  Also note that the cost of borrowing goes up for those with lower credit scores.  I saw this chart on a website called www.prosper.com , which matches borrowers with lenders.  The bottom line:  If you don’t already have a high credit rating, do what you can to raise it before you go in for that business loan.  You might also check out www.prosper.com . 

What’s Your Story?  What sets one practice apart from others is the personality of the owner and the practice’s philosophy and image.  I talk often about USP, your unique selling proposition, but I want to emphasize the importance of including your life story and your journey to chiropractic in this discussion.  Some call this “emotional marketing” – getting patients interested in your services because of how they feel about you and your practice.  Every chiropractor has a story to tell – how he or she became a chiropractor, how the practice was started (trials and tribulations), but successful chiropractors turn their story into a connection with patients.  Include your story in your initial discussion with patients, but go beyond this personal story to talk about how you feel about your practice, especially your mission.  Make your practice the “hero” of your story; let your patients join in the story.  If you have a creative way to do this in your practice, let me know and I’ll pass it on to other readers. 

Using MySpace.  You’ve probably heard of MySpace, the social networking site.  You may already have a blog there.  But don’t neglect it as a way to communicate with 20-somethings about your practice.  One chiropractor I know has a MySpace site, where he blogs frequently about health and wellness topics of interest to others (he’s in his late 20’s.). 

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 Ask Dr. Jean Murray a question (email jean@dcpracticesuccess.com )
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