245 Is Your Ringer On

This week’s topic:  Does your phone ring or do you have the ringer off? 

The KC CHIROpulse Podcast is designed for Chiropractic professionals ready to elevate their practice to new heights.  This week, the show is hosted by Kats Consultants’ coaches Dr Michael Perusich and Dr Troy Fox, seasoned experts in Chiropractic business management.  This podcast provides invaluable insights and actionable strategies to help you create a flourishing and sustainable Chiropractic business.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How we can inadvertently become unavailable to our patients 
• Why capacity and schedule management is important
• Why reducing scheduling chaos can vastly improve your bottom line
• How a highly coordinated team can make you more available to patients
• …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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Transcript

245 Is Your Ringer On

Is Your Ringer On? Why Patients Can’t Reach You (Capacity Reality Check)

[00:00:00] 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Okay, doctors, is your ringer on silent? Hi everybody. Welcome to the KC ChiroPulse Podcast, brought to you by Kats Consultants and Chiro Health, USAI am Beavis and the, no.

This is the little, little off camera joke there, everybody, 

Dr. Troy Fox: right? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: I am Dr. Michael Perusich, and this is Dr. Troy Fox. We are your host for today's show, Troy, we were talking about this a little bit before we got on, got on camera about the fact that some doctors just don't make themselves for whatever reason.

They don't make themselves available to their patients. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah, it, it didn't make, it didn't make 

Dr. Michael Perusich: sense. Turn the ringer off on the phone, even 

Dr. Troy Fox: turn the ringer off on the phone, or they don't accept new patients for weeks on end. And, and, and I gotta tell you, you're, I, I, if you're, if you're seeing 30 to 40 patients a day.

You're saying you don't have enough, you don't have enough capacity to see a new patient. You're not managing your time [00:01:00] well, I'm just gonna go ahead and, because I have, I have new patient slots available for up to four new patients every day, seeing 50 plus patients a day. And, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: and you have plenty of room for it 

Dr. Troy Fox: and run a ton of other other services.

While we're doing a shockwave dry needling, I'm running all over the building. So if I see 50 plus patients, I may be doing 75 services during that time. And, and you, those of you that have done dry needling and that sort of thing, I don't do the shockwave, I do the mapping, but so I'm doing a lot of services during a day's time, but yet I've still got time for new patients.

So if, if I'm shutting my patients down and going, we don't have time to do this. Specific service, then I'm doing myself a disservice and I'm doing the patient a disservice. And guess what they're gonna do? They're gonna go somewhere else and find that service. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Truly will. 

Dr. Troy Fox: We've heard about it. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: So you're, you're talking about capacity and schedule management and I want to dive into that.

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: [00:02:00] Um, pretty deep here. We need to take a, a, a quick little break here word from our sponsors, but we'll be right back to find out if you doctors have your ringer on.

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All through a compliant discount medical plan. The result, doctors stop undercharging, raise fees, and increase income by about 20% without sacrificing care. That's not a discount strategy. It's a business strategy. Learn more@cairohealthusa.com.

The “Batman Light” Mindset: Make Yourself Available + New Patient Slots

Dr. Michael Perusich: All right, everybody, we are back and we're talking about whether or not you're a doctor who's a dead ringer. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. Can 

Dr. Michael Perusich: you, there you go. We just coined a new phrase. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Can you imagine if Batman shut his light off? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Right? 

Dr. Troy Fox: I mean, come [00:03:00] on. Yeah, I mean, and you guys are like Batman. There are a lot of people that need you.

You're like the person that saves, I mean, every one of you has a cool story about something that shouldn't even have happened in your practice, but did just coincidentally when you adjusted somebody and changed somebody's life. That's the Batman light coming on. Don't shut that button. It's off. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It's off.

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: We we're talking about making yourself available to your patients and to the patients who want to come and see you. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And you know, Troy, you mentioned a waiting list practice, and you know, if you're seeing a thousand or 2000 patient visits a month and, and, uh, you may have a little bit of a waiting list.

I know at times you and I both have had mm-hmm. At times, you know, it was a week or two sometimes to get in to see me, but man, everybody went on a. On a call list and if something opened up, we'd get 'em right in right way before that. But if, if you're the traditional ChiroPulse office seeing 40, 50 patients a day or less.

Yeah. Um, and you tell me you don't have time to get a [00:04:00] new patient in, you don't have time to do a SA service for a patient. You don't have time to do a progress exam. I, I'm gonna call you out on the carpet and tell you your ringer's not on because 

Dr. Troy Fox: Right. 

The Art of the Schedule: Triage Services, Daily Huddles & Running On-Time

Dr. Michael Perusich: You, you're, you're not managing your capacity Well, and this is incredibly important, and it goes back to a lot of it goes back to the art of the schedule.

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: That's 

Dr. Michael Perusich: true. And I call it an art because it's, it's an orchestrated piece of work to create the right schedule for a clinic. And like you mentioned, you should have relegated times for new patients and so forth. Mm-hmm. And if you don't, it's gonna be helter skelter and total chaos. 

Dr. Troy Fox: And even when you have.

A, a a, a very good process to get through this. There's still things like having team huddles every day that we get together and we review the schedule one more time. Are there any errors that we need to correct before it happens? Right? 'cause once we set this thing in motion for me, I'm going a hundred miles [00:05:00] an hour till the session's over.

And so if there's something wrong with that session, I got staff in the background trying to fix it. But if we catch it before it happens, we make a quick phone call, we sort it. So there are a lot of moving pieces when that happens. You know, I was talking to my dermatologist a while back and my derm was asking me, he's like, you were on an on-time practice.

And I said, yeah. He goes, how do you do that? It is so foreign to the medical side. They have everybody come in at one 30 or one o'clock or whatever. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah. They 

Dr. Troy Fox: pack the building and then everybody's irritated because the first person's not irritated. 'cause they're in and out in 15 minutes. Yeah. But about the fifth person's irritated, which is usually me because I'm in there for 45 minutes.

Then they put me in a room for another 30 to 45 minutes and then they finally come in and work with me and it's like. How inefficient can we be? So I told him about it. What was interesting was the next time I went into his office, after I explained how easy it was to triage [00:06:00] different services, pick out all the services in your office for a dermatologist, it wasn't that many.

For a ChiroPulse, it's not that many. You would think that we have a lot of services. Oh, they all take different types. It's pretty easy to actually triage that, figure out what you do. So my dermatologist, if he can do it. The next time I went in, I was door to door, 20 minutes in his office and he's moving people in and out on a cycle now.

And he told me, he said, Troy, I can't believe it. People are so much happier. Yeah. 'cause if you're in and out of the office, he goes, they're not having to wait. So running an on time clinic is not something that gets thrown to the side. When you start making new patient hours every day or you start, and here's the thing, well, I don't want to have to set for a half hour if I don't have a new patient scheduled.

You know what, there's continuing ed. There's usually notes to be written. There's probably a PI case to review, or you know, there's always something on my [00:07:00] desk when I get back here, if I have a half hour to burn or if you really don't and it's Friday. And the feelings, right? Get on your Facebook and go ahead and scroll it.

It's Friday afternoon, you're burning daylight, but whatever. Every time I get on Facebook, it's a waste of time, but hey, but. You really will utilize all that time and you will actually cherish sometimes when you get really busy, sometimes it's almost a blessing to have an opening. You go, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: yeah, 

Dr. Troy Fox: oh my gosh, I got an a half hour opening.

We haven't had one in three weeks. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It's also those, those are also spots where you could put call-ins for the day. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Oh yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And the front desk can have the permission to just say, Hey, something just opened up at 10 o'clock. Didn't just open up, we just didn't fill it with a new patient. That's okay. You know?

And like you said, there's always something that can be done in the office. When was the last time you went and sat out in the waiting room and just looked at the practice from the patient's point of view? Um, I, I know all of you have notes to do. Everybody [00:08:00] does all the time. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: So there's always call, call tomorrow's new patients and introduce yourself.

Dr. Troy Fox: The whole call in thing. I love that because that's, a lot of times what we'll do is we'll release that time slot over the lunch hour. We'll get into the lunch hour, we'll get ready and we haven't had anybody call this morning as a new patient and we'll go, you know what, let's release that for call-ins.

And it's funny, you know, when you have intent and purpose, all of a sudden the phone rings and somebody calls and then another person calls and then I look down and I go, I thought I had, oh, it's full now. Like, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: and that's precisely why you have to have your ringer on. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yes, you gotta have the ringer on. But it's amazing when your intent, and I think the analogy of having the ringer on, is having your finger on the Pulse of your practice or, and or having the right intent and purpose when you're in your practice.

You're not there to just get to the end of the day. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Right. 

Dr. Troy Fox: You're there to help patients and you're there to do it in an efficient manner that breeds [00:09:00] excellence. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. 

Dr. Troy Fox: You know? 

Set Hours, Don’t Dilute Your Day: Compact Schedules, ‘Room for One More’ & Community Visibility

Dr. Michael Perusich: Now, now I wanna, I wanna flip this around a little bit. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Uhhuh 

Dr. Michael Perusich: be available for your patients when you're open. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: What do I mean by that?

Because that, that sounds like, oh, well, yeah. Duh. When I'm open, number one, make your clinic look like it's open. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: But number two, and I, and I'll, I'll analogize this by telling you guys the story. So had a, had a doctor one time tell me that he had always opened his, unlocked his front door 15 minutes before opening time.

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And he would always notice that there would be three or four cars in the parking lot and you know, those three or four would come right on in. And so when it got to be four or five or six. That were out in the parking lot when he'd opened the door early, he started opening not 15 minutes early, but a half hour early, and then pretty soon same thing was happening.

Now all of a sudden he's got five or six coming in a half hour early, so he backed it up again and started opening 45 minutes early. Mm-hmm. He got to the point where he was opening an [00:10:00] hour and a half early and he was diluting his day so bad that he never looked busy. And he was burning himself out because now instead of a a six or seven hour patient day, he's working nine or 10 hour patient days.

Dr. Troy Fox: Yep. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: So make sure you set your hours and stick to them. You don't have to open early. I know every once in a while you may have a patient who calls and says, Hey, doc, I'm, I'm really hurting. Can I come by before work? It's gonna be a half hour before you, you, you open, but don't un don't leave the door unlocked.

Let 'em in, treat 'em, let 'em out, lock the door. Um, now we don't wanna avoid patients, but I, the other thing I hear doctors do is they create way too many hours. It's kind of a subset of this way too many hours in their, in their week. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: You know, you, you don't need to work six days a week and only have 10 patients on every day.

That's not a good use of [00:11:00] your time, and it just ruins your lifestyle. So. You, you've gotta compact your schedule so you look busy, number one, and you can still have a life and get things done that you need to get done. 

Dr. Troy Fox: And that's, you know, that's what we do. Like with Thursdays. A lot of the time in my practice, you and I, a lot of times are speaking, or you and I are recording podcasts or we may, there's a whole variety of things.

We're doing staff meeting or we're doing marketing. We literally just go, you know what? Our schedule kind of gets jacked on Thursdays just because of all the outside commitments I have Anyway, so Thursday is a day that when we came into this practice, we said. We don't need to be here from nine in the morning until five 30 in the evening.

We're not gonna start till 10, 10 30, and we're gonna finish by four o'clock in the afternoon. Squeeze. Guess what? Busy The whole time we're here, I've still got plenty of time to get stuff done and it feels like a really short day. Like, you know, [00:12:00] as we're speaking right now, you and I are recording during a break for me.

I'm gonna walk back in and I'm gonna work for an hour and 45 minutes and I'm gonna go home. I've got every slot full right now. Now, perfect. You can say, oh my gosh, you got every slot full. What if somebody else calls? Well, you know what? There's always room for one more. Trust me. Yep. We will slide 'em into that schedule existing.

When I say every slot is full, it doesn't mean I don't have any slots available. It just means every slot's full right now. Yeah, it looks full when I look at it, but I could always see another patient or two when need be because you know what? My primary focus is on the patient. What if I get outta here three minutes later than I planned on?

No big deal. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: No big 

Dr. Troy Fox: deal. Is my ringer on? It's going ring and ding, ding. Let that phone ring my girls, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: absolutely. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Girls are, are doing a, a, a, a staff meeting right now for just staff and I just walked out of it when I started doing this. Guess what the phone is on. Messaging right now. They're gonna [00:13:00] come off of that guaranteed.

They're gonna tell me we've added two to your schedule Doc. All I have to do is talk about it, and that'll happen. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It'll happen. You probably have four now. 

Dr. Troy Fox: That's why you don't need 10 hours to sit there and stew and brew about why you don't have enough patience on your schedule. Squeeze it in, get involved in your community.

In the meantime, go out and help the Kiwanis Club go out. That's, that's how the ringer gets on, is by you. Broadcasting, here's my phone number. Here I am. Come get me. I love it. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Exactly. You know, to back up just a little bit, you know, Thursday was my last day of the week too. Mm-hmm. And my staff knew that if patients called in and they needed in today, they couldn't wait till Monday.

Great. We get 'em in the schedule. I didn't care if I stayed a half hour late at night. Right. We had a ringer on and we let people come on in and, you know, and we had an incredibly busy schedule all the time, but we made room for our patients. We were always available to 'em, so nobody ever got shut [00:14:00] out or left behind.

And I, I hear that a lot. You know, if my schedule gets too busy, I can't get anybody in, well, I'm gonna call you on the carpet again on that one. Mm-hmm. Because you can, there's, you know, and we talk about this concept all the time. There's always room for one more. 

Dr. Troy Fox: There's this overwhelming desire with some people to be able to say, oh, I've got a waiting list practice.

I can't see any more patients. That's all a matter of perspective, my friend. It really is. Unless you got 2000 or 2,500 on the schedule, and I'll guarantee you so, so we knew a guy shout out to Jim West back in the day. That guy was, saw an amazing number of patients all the time, and I guarantee you there isn't a day that went by that Jim didn't say.

One more. Bring them in. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: Patient numbers, dipping staff overwhelmed, and another marketing idea, promising the world, but delivering nothing. These pressures feel familiar to nearly every ChiroPulse clinic today across the country. [00:15:00] Chiropractors work hard, yet many find themselves stuck balancing patient care with the nonstop demands of running a business.

That's where the real strain begins. Most clinics face the same set of hurdles. Inconsistent new patient flow, operational bottlenecks, and the constant challenge of staying visible in an overcrowded digital space. National reports show that over 60% of clinics struggle with scheduling efficiency alone and even more lack of clear marketing strategy that reliably converts.

But the good news, these challenges aren't roadblocks. They're signals with the right procedures, smarter outreach and guidance built specifically for ChiroPulse practices, clinics can turn daily stress into sustainable growth. Stronger clinics start with smarter strategies. Grow your practice with confidence.

Book your strategy session with Kats Consultants.

Dr. Troy Fox: We did the same thing because you and I literally [00:16:00] lived that from a standpoint of going. We've got plenty of time. We were, we were younger then, right? So we were, I, I think I had a little more stamina. Not that I didn't do it now, but man, I was eager then I didn't care.

I was like, yeah, five more. Oh, you know, I'd look sometimes in the last time saw of the day, there'd be eight people in it. I'm like, holy, we, but that's the kind attitude that you have to have. If, if the ringer's on, that means you're willing to see more patients, you're willing to stay later. Now, I get it that every once in a while you're gonna, but what about blah, blah, blah?

You're gonna say, but what if my daughter has a valet recital tonight? Hey, I totally get it. You know what? Family first, you are gonna shut it down early that day. You are not going to walk all over the top of your daughter's ballet recital because somebody that hadn't been in, in, in four months decides they need to come see you today.

I totally get that. You're still the doctor, you're still in charge. It's still your practice. All we're saying is serve [00:17:00] the patients to the best of your ability. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And it, it, what we're talking about is managing the schedule. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And not, not letting it just be a free for all. We need to take a quick break and I want to come back and talk about what really makes a free for all in your practice.

Mm-hmm. And how to correct it. We'll be right back.

Okay. 

Kill the Chaos: Avoid Walk-In Mayhem, Schedule Ahead & Build a Predictable Practice (Wrap-Up)

Dr. Michael Perusich: Troy, we're having a great time here. Talking about having the ringer on. Yeah. You know, be before this, this last break, um, I mentioned it's, it's all all about managing your schedule and being available to your patients. But that doesn't mean in a chaotic manner, right? That doesn't mean just having the doors open from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM and letting people come in and out whenever they want.

Now. People can call, but let's get 'em on the schedule. Do yourself and your patients a favor by scheduling. Scheduling reduces chaos and makes patients feel like you've actually got room for them. You've got a spot for them. You're ready for them. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: When it's just chaotic. If they walk into a waiting room full of [00:18:00] 20 people, chances are they're probably gonna turn around and walk out.

And they're gonna come back at another time. So let's make sure that part of our availability process to patients and managing the schedule includes scheduling people correctly and not just creating the, uh, the, the chaotic mess of a walk-in practice. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Right, and that is the, that is the problem that you see.

Because if, if you think about it, even with your scheduling practice, you know that there are, there, there are, are what we'd call busy times during the day, right? 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yep. 

Dr. Troy Fox: I know, I know. At five o'clock in the evening, man, everybody wants on my schedule. I know at three, three in the afternoon, everybody wants on my schedule at 11:00 AM everybody wants on my schedule.

And at seven 30 or eight o'clock in the morning, everybody wants on my schedule. If I'm open that early. If not, they'll take that first available. So first available appointment. So you've got your hotspots throughout the day. Yep. But if you just didn't ever schedule anybody and just let things go willy-nilly, I would be [00:19:00] insane.

By the end of the day. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: That'd be Be nuts. Be nuts. It's so nice. It's so nice to have that predictable practice. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Yeah. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: And, and I'm gonna give you guys an exercise. Go look at your schedule six weeks from now. Go look at it eight weeks from now, 10 weeks from now, look out three months how many patients are on the schedule.

If it looks pretty sparse, give us a call. Let us help you fix that because the predictable practice is so nice and you can create that pretty easily. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Right. And, and, and there, you know, when we were talking about you, you were talking about that, that not scheduling. I can tell you that even for me personally.

The, I I went to get adjusted the other day and I was going to get adjusted and trade with a doc that does a walk-in clinic. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Mm-hmm. 

Dr. Troy Fox: And there were, there were four cars in front of his door. When I, when I drove by and I say drove by because I'm just, you kept 

Dr. Michael Perusich: driving. 

Dr. Troy Fox: I'm like, I'm busy right now. I don't have time to wait for four people to get [00:20:00] adjusted and then me get adjusted and I drove and went home.

Dr. Michael Perusich: Yeah, 

Dr. Troy Fox: I'm just as, that's the thing, if people don't have a scheduled appointment time and they think they're just gonna have to wait and take the number. For me, I think having appointment times, and I think having a, a, what we call advance multiple scheduling when, when we're doing scheduling in advance, not, not, what I'm talking about, is not like three times a week for two weeks, or four weeks, or six weeks.

What I'm talking about is if I'm seeing a patient once every two or three weeks. Perpetually because that's their cadence of care that we've got 'em scheduled out for the year. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: Sure. 

Dr. Troy Fox: I got all kinds of people always, yeah. Just put my appointments down for the rest of the year and guess what they are at nine o'clock on Tuesday on their appointment time, and they know it, and they know when to walk in the door and they love it because they walk in and get taken care of.

So there is an advantage to that, and there's an advantage that when you look out on your schedule, I will say from a psychological standpoint, looking out three [00:21:00] months on your schedule and seeing warm bodies on that schedule. It is a pretty nice feeling. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: It is, yeah. 

Dr. Troy Fox: You know, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: yeah. It really is. Makes, makes your cash flow pretty predictable.

So 

Dr. Troy Fox: yes, 

Dr. Michael Perusich: if you're having trouble with any of these kind of things, if your schedule's chaotic, if you're not making yourself available by having your ringer on, so to speak in your practice, give us a call. Um, go check us out @Katsconsultants.com. Our phone number's on there. You can schedule for a free breakthrough call with us.

Um, you can check out all the, the free downloads and all the things that we're doing to help chiropractors. Run more efficient and profitable practices. So, Troy, anything to add? 

Dr. Troy Fox: You're Beavis today. And I'm Ricky Bobby, I'm on fire. 

Dr. Michael Perusich: All right, man, 

Dr. Troy Fox: you got it going on 

Dr. Michael Perusich: today. 

Dr. Troy Fox: Give us 

Dr. Michael Perusich: a call. Go, go get him this afternoon.

All right, everybody, from all of us here at Kats Consultants, we want to thank Chiro Health USA for being one of our good friends and great sponsors as well. So from all of us here, we'll see you next time. See [00:22:00] ya.