Kats Chiropractic Consultants CHIROpulse

208 Building Patient Relationships

• Marisa Mateja

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Welcome to the KC CHIROpulse Podcast.  

This week’s topic:   The Keys to Building Long-term Patient Relationships

The KC CHIROpulse Podcast is designed for Chiropractic professionals ready to elevate their practice to new heights, and is hosted by Kats Consultants coaches Dr Michael Perusich and Marisa Mateja.  Michael and Marisa are both seasoned experts in Chiropractic business development.  This podcast provides invaluable insights and actionable strategies to help you create a flourishing and sustainable Chiropractic business.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How important it is to practice success to understand the principles of building relationships
  • Why the doctor is the last point of contact in building patient relationships
  • The value of developing staff as part of your patient loyalty strategy
  • How every point of contact with patients is about building relationships
  • …and so much more…

In each episode of KC CHIROpulse, we delve into crucial aspects of building a successful Chiropractic practice, covering topics such as establishing a strong foundation, adopting a patient-centric approach, mastering marketing techniques, achieving financial fitness, fostering effective team building and leadership, integrating technology and innovation, and navigating common challenges in the field.

Whether you're a seasoned chiropractor or just starting your practice, the KC CHIROpulse Podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and personalized practical advice to help you navigate the intricate world of Chiropractic business. Join us on this journey as we explore proven strategies, share success stories, and connect with industry experts to empower you in your pursuit of building a thriving Chiropractic practice.

Don't miss out on the latest insights and expert guidance. Subscribe now and unlock the secrets to taking your Chiropractic practice to the next level. Your success is our priority at Kats Chiropractic Business Advisors.

DISCLAIMER:  The information presented in this broadcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to offer legal, investment, accounting, or medical advice, and represents the opinions of the speakers.  Seek the consultation of a professional for advice in those areas. And remember…your results using this information may be different than described.

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KC CHIROpulse Podcast. Helping Chiropractors keep their pulse on success. Thanks for listening.



Dr. Michael Perusich:

How do you build strong patient relationships when the doctor is the last point of contact? Hi everybody. Welcome to the KC ChiroPulse Podcast, brought to you by Kats Consultants and Chiro Health USA. I'm Dr. Michael Perusich, and I'm joined by my co-host today, Marisa Mateja. Marisa, this is an interesting topic because it's one

Marisa Mateja:

of my favorites. I know,

Dr. Michael Perusich:

right? As the ca let's back up As the doctor. We're usually the last person, the last point of contact in the clinic. When a new patient walks in the door or when a new patient calls the clinic, they don't talk to the doctor. So our staff has to be on point to help us build those great patient relationships. From the very first moment they have contact with patients.

Marisa Mateja:

Yeah. They're the ones that start that patient experience. You know it, it's finding out what's going on with them. It's really talking to them. It's showing empathy. It's all these things. Having good communication skills, all of these things matter. For creating that experience for the patient from that first moment that you talk to'em all the way through till, years down the road, hopefully when they're still in your practice. So it, it's definitely something that we start with our cas and so we have absolutely, we have to be very intentional about building strong patient relationships in our practice because that's the retention factor

Dr. Michael Perusich:

I. When you just use my favorite word, intentional

Marisa Mateja:

retention,

Dr. Michael Perusich:

I probably over use it. Yeah. Intentional retention. That's an interesting topic. Yeah. Intentional retention. We'll have to remember that. It doesn't happen by accident. Yeah. So you have to break down the communication process and not only understand it, but train and develop on it so that it becomes habit. Otherwise, we as humans have a tendency to just fall into old, usually bad habits. Yeah. And we're not building those strong patient relationships and we're missing a huge opportunity there.

Marisa Mateja:

Absolutely. I was talking to a clinic this morning and we were talking about the fact that you always have to be looking to improve your efficiency. You always have to be looking to improve what you're doing in your practice. And building strong patient relationships is definitely one of those places that you always have to be improving upon. And it's because patients come in and they compare us not only to. Other chiropractors, but other, other physicians, other dentists, other experiences that they have, whether it's a restaurant or a car wash or whatever it may be. We're being compared to those things, so we constantly have to be looking for the better way to improve, to stay on top of. Okay. Build our patient relationships and make'em really strong so they continue to come see us and stay under our care.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Yeah, you bring up a good point. We know this from our studies of consumer buying habits that we are judged, every business is judged by every customer service point. The patient in our case or the consumer. Has come in contact with, so if they, if your patient just came back from a, I don't know, make something up, a trip to Disney. Yeah. Where customer service is usually over the top, they're comparing your service to what they just received at Disney. So I wanna dive into this a little bit more and break this down. We need to take a quick break, but we're talking about developing staff. Into really success partners, basically. To help us build those strong lifetime patient relationships with our patients and our practices. So we're gonna talk about more about this. We're quick word from our sponsor. I can't talk today. Quick word from our sponsor. I'm so excited. We'll be right back.

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Dr. Michael Perusich:

All right, everybody. Welcome back to the KC ChiroPulse podcast. We're talking about cas being that frontline contact to help us start building patient relationships from the get go.'cause that usually doesn't start with the doctor. Yeah. And Marisa, I wanna break this down a little bit. I, if we talk about the basics of communication, we can talk about active listening, empathetic listening. It's basically the same thing. And while that concept may seem simple it actually isn't really intuitive. And so it, it's really something that you need to drive and build a habit out of. And so I wanna talk about the importance of all that. It, it starts with making good eye contact with people now. Absolutely. First point of contact doesn't allow for eye contact because it's usually the telephone. Yeah. So we've gotta replace that loss of eye contact on the telephone with some really good communication skills.

Marisa Mateja:

Yeah. When we're listening, it's also reaffirming that we heard. Exactly. So I think that's one big point that a lot of cas miss because a lot of times our offices give us a script. And we've gotta follow the script and we've gotta make sure that the script, is in our head and we're telling all the things that are on the piece of paper. And when we do that, we sometimes miss the opportunity to be an active listener, right? I had this happen to me a couple times, calling different offices and things to schedule, and the person on the other end completely missed the fact that I had just told her the information that she was now asking me. That's not active listening. You don't, active listening would be reiterating the fact that I said, oh, I've been under chiropractic care for 20 plus years. Have you ever seen a chiropractor? Yes. Yes, I have. I've actually worked one with one for a very long time. She totally missed the conversation instead of, yeah, she was

Dr. Michael Perusich:

going by a script.

Marisa Mateja:

Because she was so ingrained in what she had to do, we were missing the patient building relationship opportunity. So you have to go back to answering and listening and having statements like, oh gosh, I hear you. I've been there. Or you know it, it's that. I completely can sympathize with what you're telling me. I have empathy for what you're going through, and guess what? You've called the right place because we're gonna help you through this. It's giving them that reassurance so they may not see you, but you can definitely smile and they can feel that they

Dr. Michael Perusich:

can, you

Marisa Mateja:

can, you can definitely have an encouraging, exciting voice on the other end that's telling them, I hear you. I understand what you're going through and you've called the right place. We're going to help you through that. That must be frustrating. We're gonna help you, our doctor's really good about sitting down with you and going through everything that you have. Make sure you bring your MRI results with you. Make sure you bring your X-ray results with you. It's these little things that goes over the top and they can feel that. So even it's, even if it's over the phone for that first point of contact there's ways around that.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

So you mentioned the reassuring comments, which are so important. But let's contrast that with a very mechanical phone call.'cause somebody's trying to follow a script or there's a bunch of distractions around them at the time, and so they're really not paying close enough attention. And can you hear the difference when, hi, this is Smith Chiropractic Clinic, how can I help you? Great. I. Yes we have chiropractic appointments. We can get you in tomorrow afternoon at three. Be sure to bring your insurance card, blah, blah, blah. Absolutely. This is very mechanical as opposed to, oh my gosh, I know you're suffering from that low back pain. It sounds horrible. I've been there. I completely understand how it feels, and I can tell you one thing, our doctors are great and wanna be great when we can get you out of pain too.

Marisa Mateja:

Yeah you're giving an affirmation statement right there. You're having the patient agree with you immediately. That puts them on a different level with you, and then when they come in, you've already made some sort of connection with them. There's already a moment that says, we're here to help. So when they walk through that door and you're saying, you must be Bob Smith, we're so glad to see you. Can't wait to help you with that low back pain. Oh my gosh. That's huge for them. They're not a stranger walking in the door having no idea what's gonna be on the other end. They already have a feeling that it's going to be okay.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Yeah. And how frustrating is it to a patient when they call up and say, I'm having low back pain, I need to get in to see you. And they give you all this information over the phone and you probably, it probably gets recorded on a piece of paper or something. Yeah. And then they come into the front desk and you act like you've never heard of this person and they have to repeat. Absolutely everything. They just gave over the phone and then they go to the exam room and they have to repeat absolutely everything that they. Now have told twice. Now it's three times. So we And filled out on

Marisa Mateja:

paperwork.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

And filled out on paperwork. Exactly. So we, they've given it to you four times and yet we're not paying attention to it. That's not active listening. That's passive listening. And it's really not listening at all.

Marisa Mateja:

And it's poor communication on our end. It ends up making the patient feel unheard, unseen. Unwelcome. And those are not things that any of our chiropractic offices ever want a patient to feel. We know that we have to have really good, effective communication. And it starts with active listening.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

It does. It does. And you brought up effective communication that's that next step is what are we doing with the information? How are we communicating back to the patient? Are we. Being positive. Are we maintaining a positive tone or are we being very stoic? And as doctors, we have to be careful about throwing out the big 50 cent words that we know, we've gotta make it so it's clear and concise to the patient so they understand it because why are they there? They're not there to hear about your education. They're not there to hear about how dramatic the subluxation can be on your health. They're there to find out if you can help them with their problem, and do you have a solution? Yeah. And if we don't lead them down that path, then we're not effectively communicating with the patient.

Marisa Mateja:

Yeah. And then you jump over to the ca portion of that and it's, can you schedule me when I want you to, and. Can I afford what you're doing? And us being able to effectively communicate all of those points are huge for patients, and when you come in prepared and you're actively listening to what they need and you can watch them, that's the other thing I think is important with, effective communication is watching them now that they're in front of you, do they have their arms crossed in front of you? Are they, what's their posture telling you? Because you can pretty much pick out those people that have money concerns or scheduling issues or anything like that, before it even happens.'cause they're telling you. If we're paying attention, we can effectively maneuver around those things and get them under care and have them scheduled out and have them paying for care and all of those kind of things with that effective communication.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Yeah. And sometimes we have patients that just don't want to open up. I, maybe they've been to a whole bunch of other doctors, nobody's helped them. They're not sure why they're here or if you're gonna be able to help. And that's honestly one of the biggest reasons why people are tentative about going to the doctor.'cause they don't know if it's going to help. They don't know what it's going to cost. They don't know how long it's gonna take and all these things. So we've gotta make sure that our communication is effective enough that we're answering those questions, but we've gotta bring empathy into the picture. All the way. So the patient starts to feel a connection to us and that's how we sometimes open up those patients that maybe are a little tough or maybe they have some reservations or, maybe it's just a difficult patient. Yeah. We've had that before. I can remember doing a second opinion exam on a PI case one time and I walked into the exam room you had prepped me'cause you had just walked out and said, this patient won't talk about. Their condition at all. And I walk in and, arms folded, scowl on the face. I'm not telling you anything. And you've gotta learn how to be able to break those people down just enough to get them to open up. And so in those situations, you have to stay calm and professional. I can remember many times somebody coming in with their bill in their hand wanting to rant and argue about, a few dollars that they might owe on their account. And it, and that's fine. People do that and more power to'em. If they think they sh they owe something different, then we need to take care of that. We need to help them with that. But you would immediately. By staying calm and professional, break that person down into not being angry and willing to give you the time to research what was going on and how can we help. And that's the kind of attitude you have to deliver. We offer solutions. That's what we do in our clinics, and I don't care if it's. Solutions regarding patient outcomes for their condition and their pain, or if it's solutions about payment options solutions about a bill that they got from us solutions about a test that we send them for. That's what we do. We absolutely, we give solutions for people and we have to remember that.

Marisa Mateja:

Yeah, I think it's important, keeping somebody calm. Is huge for the practice. Number one. Other patients are around potentially and can see that and hear that and those kind of things. So we always want to put a good face on and make sure that we're just helping, Hey, I'm here. I'm on your side. I'm here to help you. Let's do this and give them a plan of action that you are going to do. To resolve it. That's the big thing is that's all they're looking for is some kind of resolution to their problem. And especially with a difficult patient, you mentioned ones that came in for second opinions or those kind of things, they're already feeling frustration. They're already upset and guess what? It's not at us, it's. Somebody else that they went to who didn't give them the answers that they were looking for. And I don't know how many times I remember you sitting down with people and saying, let's just go over the MR mri. Let's just look, let's just read the report together. Let's just do these things and see if we can't come to what's going on, what your best options are and what's gonna be the next step for you. Yeah. And a lot of times when we do those kind of consultations with patients. It could be a referral. Yep. And that's okay. But you found them a solution and I think that's important for people to realize is. Handling those difficult situations. You may not keep every patient, but guess what? You found them the solution, so you are going to be somebody they refer to. Yeah. There's still a win-win somewhere down the line for the practice, so sometimes we have to remember that. I think when we're looking for all of our communication factors to build those relationships, sometimes the building of the strong relationship may not be even someone you treated.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

And I'll give you a great example. We had a, a grumpy old guy one time, and I don't remember what the condition was or anything, but

Marisa Mateja:

I think we had multiple grumpy old men.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Yeah, probably. And he just, he didn't wanna be there, which, I understood. And he didn't wanna go through care. He didn't really have anything to do necessarily with, he didn't believe in it. He just didn't want to do it. And so I said, you know what and you mimicked this at the front desk. We told him, you know what? That's not a problem at all. You know what's going on. You know what your options are now. So if you want to think about it, if you don't wanna do it, whatever. If you wanna call us down the road, that's totally fine. And the guy left, we never treated him, and he referred probably 20 patients into us. And I saw him out in the community one day and I said, Hey, I just want to thank you for the referrals, but. Explain. I never treated you. You never knew what kind of outcomes we get for people. You know what he said? He said, you're the only people that ever listened to me.

Marisa Mateja:

Yeah.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

And I just appreciated it.

Marisa Mateja:

It's amazing when you just stop and, you mentioned something earlier about distractions. And I think that we're all distracted anymore by the little block that we carry around with us called the cell phone. So I think we have, I dunno

Dr. Michael Perusich:

what you're talking about.

Marisa Mateja:

I think we have to be careful in our practices to not let those kind of things be seen by patients either, I still think it's important to make sure, we used to get text messages on a phone up front, a cell phone, and I would always make sure a patient knew, just one second. This is a patient messaging. Let me, finish with this real fast. I didn't want them to ever feel like I wasn't there for them because I was doing something personal. I.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Right.

Marisa Mateja:

You always want'em to make sure that they know you are handling something for the practice and those kind of things. I think it's important for them to see those things and understand that sometimes even though those phones can be distractions and those kind of things, it could be that you are actually giving good listening skills to a different patient at the time.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Exactly. Exactly. So this is all great stuff. We need to take another break, but when we come back, Marisa, I want to talk a little bit about how do we train and develop our team into being this highly effective, personable relationship building communication machine. So we're talking about communication and we'll be right back.

Kats Consultants:

Kats Chiropractic consultants, your partner in chiropractic success. We are dedicated with one-on-one guidance to bring you all your practice management needs. Let's supercharge your practice. Give us a call today.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Welcome back to the KC ChiroPulse podcast. We're talking about utilizing communication in an effective way, active listening way, so that we build strong patient relationships. And we said when we came back from the break, that we were gonna talk a little bit about how do we train and develop our team to be this amazing communication machine.

Marisa Mateja:

I will say this, I hear a lot we've always done it this way, so it's fine. And

Dr. Michael Perusich:

It's my favorite thing.

Marisa Mateja:

I know, right? So one of the things that bothers me with that is if you have that mindset or you have a staff person that has that mindset, the problem with that is you're never gonna be able to grow properly because. You have to have the mindset that you are always learning, you're always evolving, you're always looking for ways to be more efficient. You are looking for how does technology help our practice? I don't know how many times I hear doctors say oh, I do not wanna use a computer. Oh, I don't want to. There are so many good tools to help your practice, and if you are closed off to those things, I'm just saying you're missing. Some of the opportunities that may lie in front of you, and growth is one of those things. So we have to be open to continuous learning to help us continuously grow. And I think that's important. I know in our practice we were constantly doing things like rearranging the clinic or whatever to see can we be more efficient if we do this? Yeah, we add a kiosk to the front for, patients just to sign in. I saw this happen at a hospital the other day. I went in for some lab work, and in their diagnostic imaging, you walk in and the first thing you do is you type in your phone number and that's how you're. Put in queue, basically. Sure. And then you get called to the front desk to talk about anything that you might need to, but you're already in queue. You're already, the people in the back already know you're there. They're already working to get you in and get you seen. So there's just. Tools out there that I think we have to remember can help the practice. And help you be more efficient in everything you do. So learning is, number one, is learning what's out there, what do you have that you can, become. Better at, are you reading all the industry publications? Are you watching podcasts? Are working with the management team? Are what are you doing to help not only yourself, but your cas?

Dr. Michael Perusich:

And you can't do a lot of this by your, just by yourself. You've gotta have opportunities to plug into tools and things and coaching and mentors and you know it. And I'll give us a shameless plug. That's one of the things that we do at Kats Consultants is we really help train teams on this good, effective, proper communication to build those patient relationships. But there are a lot of opportunities out there too. Just taking your team out once in a while to. A high-end department store, for example, and just paying attention to the customer service they deliver and how are they talking to their patrons and what are the kinds of things are they saying? And you pick up a lot of good tools when you do that. Pay attention to when you go to a restaurant, how are the servers, are they really communicative? Are they really diving into what. What maybe is on the menu that might interest you and those kind of things. So you can pick up a lot of really good tools. Banks are great too. Just by paying attention in your community to other companies and businesses, and then. You can plug into to books on communication and do an office read, for example. Maybe you find a great book and together you read it and you talk about it in your weekly staff meetings. Those are great ways to just continue that learning process all the time and then practice. A lot of this requires. Role playing in practice. If you have scripts, great. Use them to learn, but make sure they're not being read over the phone because that pulls you back into that mechanical aspect. And, patients are like dogs who pick up on fear. Patients understand when you're not being genuine in your communication, and they can sense it even over the phone. So you have to make sure that you're really practicing these kind of things and always working towards that mastery. Of the process so that you get better and better over time.

Marisa Mateja:

Absolutely. And everything that you do through continuous learning helps build stronger relationships with your patients. Because the more you train your cas, the longer they're gonna stay with you, the more connections they're gonna make. All of these things tie together. It's one big, full circle back to the practice in a positive way.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Very much very much Marisa, I think we've covered this topic incredibly well. Yeah, I know there's a lot of doctors out there that really could use some assistance with this. So go and check us out@Katsconsultants.com and see all the great things that we're doing for doctors. One of the things that we do. I almost said do. One of the things that we do is we do complimentary consultations for doctors. If you wanna jump on our schedules when you go to cats consultants.com, you can see my calendar, you can see Marisa's calendar, jump on our schedule, let's talk about your practice. What's going on? How might we be able to plug in and help you with some of the resources that, that we offer through our consulting and coaching.

Marisa Mateja:

Absolutely. There's just a little button at the top that says, let's chat. That's all you have to do is click that and you can pick one of us to chat with. Yes,

Dr. Michael Perusich:

absolutely. So it's very

Marisa Mateja:

easy,

Dr. Michael Perusich:

no reason not to do it. But in the meantime, we appreciate all of you listening to the podcast. We have grown like crazy and that's because of you out, you listeners out there. So remember to subscribe, share, let everybody know that this is a great podcast to tune into because we're talking about the business principles of making your practice successful. Marisa, anything to add?

Marisa Mateja:

No, I think that's great. Just get out there and build those strong relationships.

Dr. Michael Perusich:

Awesome. All right, everybody. On behalf of Kats Consultants and Chiro Health USA, we appreciate you tuning into the KC ChiroPulse Podcast. We'll see you next time You.