Both Dr. Rosen and I have both run highly successful vitalistic family wellness practices and sat in the coach’s box helping others to do the same.  At Rosen Coaching, we are so thrilled to be helping other chiropractors around the world looking to THRIVE in a Care vs. Scare True Wellness Model!

Speaking with chiropractors day in and out, whether for one-on-one coaching, group coaching or consults with those looking for guidance, I wanted to share a perspective from the Chiropractic Coach’s Box that may help you with the challenges you face in your personal life or your practice.

Sometimes our job is to help our clients see a Wide Angle perspective.  Perhaps they are stuck on a detail or issue and can’t see the big picture. So we ask questions to help them pull back and see the ‘forest for the trees’.  For example, if a chiropractor is having trouble with their Chiropractic Assistant doing recalls, there could be an underlying cause that we can’t see until we use the Wide Angle lens.  It could be that we’re not setting clear expectations with the patient on the Report of Findings about keeping appointments, leading them to miss and the recalls are just the symptom of this fact. But without the pulling back to get a wide angle view, we could never see this as a possible solution.

And sometimes we need to zoom in, using a telephoto lens, to really clarify what is going on, and what we are trying to accomplish.  Often times we will hear someone breeze over something that is very important and could be the major piece that is holding them back.  From the coaches box we zoom in and look at the underlying cause or details of the situation.  For example, a chiropractor may have a low sign up rate or see poor follow through with their care recommendations, and we need to zoom in on a need to be liked that is holding them back from speaking their truth.

Your ability to adapt as a chiropractor to different challenges, situations, questions and conversations with your staff or your patients is part of what will make you a masterful communicator.  You adaptability is based on sitting in a ‘coaches box’ as well, and listening for whether you need to help someone gain perspective or whether you need to help someone zoom in on the details and underlying cause. Each perspective is very different and often looks entirely different than the one we were in.

We want to help you be a wellness coach to your practice!  We want you to lead your team so they truly become a Dream Team!  We want to help you communicate in a congruent Care vs. Scare model to have the practice success you desire.

Tags: Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Consultant, Chiropractic Practice Management, perspective, rosen coaching, telephoto, wide angle, zoom

I’ve been overseas this past week, speaking at the UCA conference in England and visiting chiropractors in Spain.  And between my travels and coaching chiropractors all around the world, I’ve observed a distinction that needs to made clear about the answer to this question, “Can chiropractic help”?  It is a question that no matter where you practice, it  seems to be an important question; one that is dangerous if not answered well.

When a person asks this question, they want to know if chiropractic can help their specific symptom.  If we say “yes”, chiropractic now becomes a mechanistic and allopathic natural “treatment” for their problem. This is a lose-lose scenario.  If it gets better and they disappear satisfied, they never get to experience what wellness chiropractic can do for them.  If it doesen’t get better, they disappear frustrated that chiropractic didn’t work. And they tell 100 of their friends just that.

If we say “no”, they are more than likely to turn their back on chiropractic care (no pun intended), because it’s not what they are looking for.  Again a lose-lose scenario.

If we tell them that chiropractors don’t care about symptoms and only want to correct subluxations, the person doesn’t feel like their needs are getting met. Yet another lose-lose scenario.

So what is the answer to the question?

It is our job to connect the dots so that people understand that their symptom could very well be related to a vertebral subluxation.  The good news is, if they have a subluxation, then we can help!  It is also our job to help them understand the bigger picture of a subluxation, how it relates to symptoms but more importantly how their lifestyle stress creates subluxations over and over again. And slowly, teach them under the radar, and stretch their consciousness to the big picture of chiropractic! Truly a win-win scenario.

If we are going to have a TRUE wellness practice, we must answer this question in a congruent way.  At Rosen Coaching, both Dr. Russ Rosen and Dr.Angie Meyer work with chiropractors on the foundation of their certainty, beliefs, philosophy and communication to do so!

Tags: Certainty, chiropractic, Chiropractic Coaching, communication, Dr. Angie Meyer, Dr. Russ Rosen, Philosophy, rosen coaching, Speaking, Subluxation, Symptoms, Treatment, True Wellness Practice

Tags: excellence, high performance, Leadership, olympics, Rosen Chiropractic Coachin g, vancouver 2010

Is there a difference between wellness and maintenance care in today’s chiropractic practice?

As a chiropractic coach, I speak to chiropractors around the world day in and day out about their practice and life challenges, wins and how to create the life of their dreams.  And I get a good idea of the head space of what is going on in our chiropractic profession. This is a discussion that arises frequently and feel the distinction between Wellness Care vs. Maintenance Care is an important one to clarify.  From the standpoint of practice management, as well as from a person’s experience with care.

We have a Wellness Revolution that has fallen onto our laps.  The public truly wants what chiropractic can deliver, they just don’t know we do that.  They instead view us as pain relievers and back pain specialists, because that’s what we’ve educated them on in the past 90 years.

And the truth is, our chiropractic profession is still stuck in the antiquated 3:2:1 communication model of, “We’ll get you out of pain: then do corrective care: then onto maintenance”.  The only difference is now, we substitute the word “wellness” for “maintenance”.

So are they the same thing?  I think not!  From a definition perspective, maintaining something at the same level is much different than increasingly enhancing and moving towards new levels of health and wellness.  From a care frequency perspective, you might be able to “maintain” someone’s level of symptoms at a once a month frequency but you certainly won’t be helping them move forward towards greater levels of health and well-being.

Wellness care would have to be much more frequent to evolve someone’s nerve system and optimal health, depending on their lifestyle of course.  And from a person’s perception: if we are providing maintenance care at a maintenance frequency, is it possible that they have settled for their lower level of symptoms as ‘normal’? That they finally feel that chiropractic “didn’t work” because they still have x,y,z?  Or that they feel chiropractic care is only for symptom-relief care?

The big question is, how often do you and your family get checked? Isn’t it time that we told the people we care for the truth and offered them the chance to live the lifestyle and levels of health and wellness that our families do?  What’s the worst thing that can happen if they come in more often to get checked? That’s right, they don’t need to be adjusted!  We need to celebrate and educate them that this is EXACTLY what we hope for – to be functioning at 100% for that period of time.

I challenge you to look at what you are recommending for ongoing care.  Is it congruent with your understanding of chiropractic, our vitalistic philosophy and the goals of what you are trying to accomplish with people?  If you are still focused on pain relief, it might be time to recognize that people want TRUE wellness, not just an expensive aspirin.  A profession will step up to lead the wellness revolution, the question is, “Will it be chiropractors”?

If you want support and coaching, how-to’s on communicating this message, please contact us and see how we can help. Our mission is to have chiropractors be the leaders of TRUE health care and the wellness revolution!

Tags: Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Practice Success, maintenance care, Rosen Chiropractic Coaching, Wellness Care, wellness chiropractic practice management, wellness revolution

Here is a post from one of my heros, Seth Godin, an author, marketer and thought-leader, on the lifetime value of a customer.  Too often when we’re coaching chiropractors or when chiropractors are considering coaching, marketing or any other ‘cost’ to growing a practice it is seen as just that – a cost vs. an investment.

At year end, have a look at your retention (Patient Visit Average) for the year of 2009.  We consider 60 PVA a bare minimum for a wellness practice.  Then calculate how much a new person is worth to you.  Not because we see people as dollar signs, but so that you can make good decisions on investments to grow your practice.  If a new person is worth on average $2000, don’t you think it’s important to have your systems and communications wired so you don’t blow it when they come in?  How about ROI and marketing decisions?  Without this knowledge, as Seth Godin states below, $50 investment can seem expensive.

Enjoy the read!

Embracing lifetime value

Tags: chiropractic, Chiropractic Coach, chiropractic communication, Chiropractic Consultant, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Practice Success, chiropractic systems, Chiropractic Wellness Model, Lifetime Value, PVA, Retention, Rosen Chiropractic Coaching, rosen coaching, Seth Godin

The following is a guest post from Dr. Steve Silk, the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Chiropractic Awareness Council. He has graciously agreed to share a recent post on H1N1 to help chiropractors to communicate with their practices and communities.  People need empowerment and not fear, they need Care vs. Scare communication. So please share your truth ~ the people of the world need to hear it! For those of you who would like to do a Swine Flu talk, please email me, as Rosen Coaching has some resources for you.

“Friends…
I don’t believe I have seen such a contrived panic about a relatively innocuous issue in my life.  You would think the end of the world was right around the corner.  I have already talked about this one-on-one in the office with many of you, but for the rest, let’s have a few minutes of logic, truth and reality.
First, I need to get the legal stuff out of the way.  So let me absolutely clear: I am not attempting give any sort of advice on how you should proceed with taking care of the health of you and your loved ones in any form or model of health-care delivery but my own: Chiropractic.  The following is based on the expressing of my personal opinion.  But I can assure you that my opinion is based on historical data, research evidence and 20 years of clinical experience.
Second, I also want to be absolutely clear that my heart goes out to anyone who has lost a loved one…to H1N1, “regular influenza” or any reason.   There are FAR too many premature deaths in our society, driven by the increasingly toxic world we live in and accentuated by allowing a sickness-treatment model of care dictate how we create health.  It’s a lot like a bankruptcy agent telling you how to invest your money…not being broke is a lot different from being wealthy.
Finally, I believe that we all need to take that deep breath I mentioned in the subject line.  Go ahead, do it.  That will help you begin to deal with the anxiety that is building across our nation.  That anxiety is in the form of mass hysteria that is bubbling up regarding the predicted scourge of Swine Flu (now called H1N1).  It is a situation driven by one emotion: Fear.
Fear is a great motivator, it makes us do knee-jerk reactive things.  Just look at what it did in Salem Massachusetts in 1692 (a lot of probably nice men and woman were burned at the stake or hung for the crime of being “witches”), the north-east US during the War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938 (a lot of people went berzerk and starting preparing for the end when they thought that Martians had invaded New Jersey) and a large chunk of the German populace during the Holocaust from 1941-45 (an AWFUL lot of Jews, gypsies, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, eastern European immigrants and mentally challenged people were medically experimented on and sent to the gas-chambers for simply being “different”).  Now we have the drums being banged for H1N1.
For those of you who are currently sick or have sick kids…I get the fear you are feeling.  I had a really good dose of it myself when I picked up malaria in a remote village in Northern Thailand…all by myself a million miles from home, sicker than I had been in my entire life and wondering if it was my time to meet the Creator.  Well, once I got over my initial anxiety (and all the wild fear-driven thoughts that went with it), I became quite excited at the level of fever I was experiencing, the amount of fluids coming from various parts of my body and just how intent my immune system was at keeping me alive.  So while it was no fun, the lesson I learned from it was that this earth-suit my soul calls home is well-equipped to look after my needs with no help from absolutely ANYONE!
Before you decide on how you will deal with this issue (and again, I am NOT telling you what to do…I’m not your mother!), here are a few things that you really need to consider:
1)  You are still more likely to pick up Tuberculosis (which is really running rampant these days on northern Ontario native reservations), get hit by a car (will you be driving today?), drown in the bathtub (planning on being clean this week?) or die from taking over-the-counter medication (more on that later)…so why isn’t the Ministry of Health and the media screaming about these more vital issues?  I don’t think that people realize that the risk of being infected with this germ is really low, with risk estimates at about 1 in 175,000 (about the same risk as being attacked by a shark) from info supplied by Health Canada.  You risk of dying?  That is put at about 1 in 425,000 (less than 0.0002%) which is just a bit less than your risk of dying from a meteorite strike.
2)  The predicted “high-season” (based on WHO algorithms) is the last two weeks of October and the first two weeks of November.  We are half-way through this “epidemic”, so hang in there people, we’re all going to be OK.
3)  Now this is a BIG one, so really consider this: Healthy people don’t get sick, and definitely don’t die…sick people do.  The inference in a lot of the reporting is that healthy people are being affected.  This is ludicrous.  The people who are getting sick are run-down at some level, and the ones who die are immuno-suppressed…it’s as simple as that.
4)  The best to survive ANY infectious process is still the same as it has been for the entire length of time humans have roamed this planet: our immune system.  Here are my suggestions on how to almost guarantee that your immune system will NOT let you down…ever!
1)  Get adjusted regularly (ensured the growth of my profession and got a LOT of people
thru the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918!)
2)  Eat well (especially fruit and veggies), and consider supplementing your diet with
Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Omega 3 fats
3)  Drink lots of fluids (mostly water and tea)
4)  Exercise daily…even if it is just a 15 minute walk
5)  Get a good night’s sleep
5)  Recognize that there are a lot of innuendoes, half-truths and flat-out lies being disseminated throughout our media by some of our “trusted health leaders”.  We are being told that research shows that the H1N1 vaccine is both safe and efficacious.  I suggest if you are considering rolling up your sleeve for the H1N1 shot, that you ask the person giving you the jab a few questions on efficacy (does it create a specific antigen-antibody complex, necessary for true immunity?) and safety (does it have any nasty side-effects?).   I know the answer to both, No to #1 and Yes to #2.  However, most people will be told the exact opposite, because most of the folks delivering the procedure have no clue about the background of what they are doing, they are simply “following orders”.  Just so you know, the “research” that has been quickly done was carried out on a very small group of people (and to the best of my knowledge, none of it on kids by the way), with no long-term follow-up of side-effects (the only study that I am aware of that looked at this only tracked their participants for three days after their injection).  So this is a typical case of “buyer beware”.
5)  You need to know another little tidbit of info: ANY flu-shot shows very LITTLE ability to reduce influenza rates ANYWHERE.  For example, Ontario introduced “free” (translation: we pay it with our taxes) flu-shot’s in 2000 and has seen the rate of usage almost triple….yet influenza infections and deaths have risen significantly during the same time period.  The obvious conclusion?  The shots don’t work.  The Ministry of Health’s conclusion?  We need to vaccinate more people.
6)  Want a really good overview of the pro’s and con’s of this whole debacle?  Go to the following website ( http://swineflu.mccoypress.net) and poke around a bit…well-laid out with tons of good information to help you come to a confident conclusion on the topic of Swine Flu.
I hope that the content of this email helps you to weather the storm, and allows you to relax a bit and NOT react to the fire of fear that is being fanned by the media.  I also hope that it helps you to make the absolute best decisions regarding your health…both for this issue and for every issue that impacts you”.
Sincerely,

Tags: Care vs. Scare, Empowerment, Fear, H1N1, Hysteria, Media, Rosen Chiropractic Coaching, rosen coaching, swine f, Swine Flu, Wellness Chiropractic

Why haven’t chiropractors marketed chiropractic as well as ShamWOW has marketed a stupid sponge cloth? That thing is a global phenomenon in a microcentury and chiropractic is 1000x more amazing and has been around for 114 years! (If you don’t know what I’m referring to, click here).

One of my favourite leadership gurus is Robin Sharma who’s coined the term, Merchant of WOW.  And I think it’s time chiropractors started acting like Merchants of WOW.  It means obsessive attention to detail in every aspect of your office, it’s decor, the chiropractor’s healthy image, the “red carpet” service to every person that contacts or comes into the office. It means refining your technical skills, growing your understanding of our philosophy and taking your communication skills and procedures to the next level.

Every step of the way we want people to think and to say, “Wow”.

The trouble is, a lot of practice management companies teach chiropractors to make their patients say, “Wow, I had no idea things were so bad”.  And from our perspective, there is no place for Scare Tactics in a TRUE wellness chiropractic practice.  We feel people should say, “Wow, I had no idea chiropractic could help me in so many ways! Wow, I had no idea you could affect my nerve system and my entire body”!  We want to be motivating them by what they want, as opposed to motivating them with fear and what they don’t want. It’s subtle, but has huge ramifications on the relationship long term. Sure you might be short term compliance with fear, but it doesn’t last and the relationship is tainted.

So how do we do that? We teach them under the radar, planting seeds and asking questions to help stretch their consciousness with every interaction in the office: How the CA answers the phone, your First Visit Forms, the look and feel of your office, your communications and procedures of Visit 1, Visit 2, Daily Interactions, Re-Evaluations and Re-Reports, how you handle difficult questions and situations, and how you manage your team.

It’s time that people start saying ChiropracticWOW! The wellness revolution is upon us and it’s time we step up and lead it.  If you want to know more about our chiropractic coaching and how to THRIVE in a TRUE wellness model, let us know. We’re here to help.

Tags: Chiropractic Coach, chiropractic marketing, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Wellness Model, communication, LAASR, Leadership, merchant of WOW, Robin Sharma, scare tactics, Success, Wellness Chiropractic, Wellness Chiropractors, wellness revolution

What do successful chiropractic practices around the world all have in common? Chiropractic technique? Size and shape of the doctor? The politics of the area? Nope, none of those things.  We find, across the board, there are two things that make chiropractors successful and have the practices of their dreams.  What are they?

1. Certainty and Congruent Beliefs

2. Communication Skills

3. Congruent Procedures

I’ll get to the second point in a later post, but let’s start with the foundation of certainty and beliefs!  Recently, I spoke at Dr. Tedd Koren’s KST Seminar on this exact topic and felt like it was one I wanted to share with all of you.

As a chiropractor, you may have unshakeable certainty about who you are and what you do. Or, like many other chiropractors out there, might have some doubt and uncertainty about what you offer. Why?

Don’t you think that after years of education and practice that chiropractors would know who they are and what they offer? That they would be certain about what they deliver? Well across the board, day in and day out, we coach and speak with chiropractors on the phone who are not. And when we survey audiences around the world (with their eyes closed to keep it anonymous) most chiropractors have some uncertainty.

Why?  We believe the original sin in chiropractic is the rah-rah seminar that makes the audience yell out, “Chiropractic can help everything”! And then there is someone in your office who doesn’t get any response to your care. Then what? Either chiropractic failed or you did. So in creeps the doubt and uncertainty!  In our LAASR process, we help you make a promise to truly help people, and to keep your promise!

Here is our Rosen Chiropractic Coaching’s Formula for Certainty:

· Who are you as a chiropractor?

· What do you offer?

· What would you like to deliver?

· What are you certain you deliver?

· How do you monitor what you deliver?

· How do you communicate what you deliver?

· What is your vision and mission?

· Define your persona statement (and become it)!

We suggest sitting down with yourself and your complete honesty and completing the above sentences. Then we suggest that you sit down with your team and do the same. See what truths, insights (good or bad) or “ah-ha’s” that you get from doing this! Once we can get your beliefs congruent, then we install congruent procedures and communications to have the practice of your dreams!

We feel it is healthy to have a difference between what you would like to deliver and what you are certain you deliver. It is always a good thing to be striving to become better at your technique, to grow and evolve your skills as a chiropractor. The truth is, the more you do, the more certain you will be. Only a closed mind is 100% certain, so it is always important to keep growing!

Here are some resources to develop your life purpose, vision and mission.  For those of you who are interested in completing the entire Certainty program, click here.

It’s time to be the best chiropractor you can be, so that chiropractors can become the leaders of true health care!

It’s your choice! It’s either one or the other:

Tags: Beliefs, Certainty, Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Coaching, Chiropractic Practice Management, communication, Health Care, Leadership, Success, Wellness Chiropractic, wellness practice management

September 18th, 2009 is chiropractic’s 114th birthday!  On that day, Daniel David Palmer made the connection between the spine, nervous system and overall health and well-being. And the trusting deaf  cleaner Harvey Lillard allowed DD to adjust him, which resulted in his hearing being restored.

We’ve come a long way since then: chiropractic is a household name, from the original Palmer Chiropractic schools there are now dozens around the world including Australia, New Zealand, U.K and most recently Barcelona Spain! We’ve done a great job getting our name out there.

But where we’ve failed miserably in chiropractic is letting the public know what we do. I dare you to go outside your practice and ask 100 people what chiropractic is. What would they say? Neck pain? Back pain? Check out this video of someone who braved the streets and dared to ask:

What about inside your practice?  If Dr. Rosen and I sat in your reception area and asked the next 100 people who came in, “What are you hear for?  What is chiropractic?” What would they say?  If you don’t like the answers you are hearing, it means they don’t get the whole story.  You might be educating them, but they way you are educating them isn’t working. If they can’t articulate the whole story themselves, we’re in trouble. Our practice and our profession.

We feel there is a communication crisis in that the public does not know what we do. And our profession is stuck at a minimal percentage of the population utilizing our services. And the ones who do don’t really know that we are health and wellness doctors. They think we ‘crack bones’ to help back pain.

So what can you do to celebrate chiropractic’s birthday? How about commit to yourself to clearly define your Certainty as a chiropractor?  How about learning how to communicate the simple chiropractic truths in a way that people ‘get it’ and stay, pay and refer?  It is time for chiropractors to become the leaders of TRUE healthcare.  If you’re interested, we can help!  We are committed to helping the profession grow to lead the wellness revolution and transform the way the public perceives chiropractic care. We want you to THRIVE in a TRUE wellness model!

Tags: chiropractic, Chiropractic Coach, Chiropractic Coaching, Chiropractic Consultant, Chiropractic Practice Management, chiropractic profession, chiropractor, communication, Leadership, Wellness Chiropractic, wellness re

We hear again and again that our profession has an identity crisis, but from our perspective, we have a communication crisis!

What chiropractors know (no matter if they practice in a pain-based model or a wellness-based model) is that we help people have better lives! We’ve surveyed hundreds and hundreds of chiropractors around the world, and no matter how they practice, they all recognize that we can not only help people with their pain and symptoms, but also with improved function and a better quality of life!

Our problem as a profession is that the message that we’ve communicated and marketed to the public isn’t unified or clear.  Not like the tequila marketing sign above.  The public thinks that we help with neck and back pain and we know we help people get healthy and stay healthy to essentially have a better life!

As a profession, what we’ve been doing for communicating the chiropractic message isn’t working. Otherwise, at this 114th birthday of chiropractic, we’d be seeing more than 8-10% of the population.  If people understood what we do, because our communication and marketing was working, we’d be a lot further along right now.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to communicate in a true wellness model, in a care vs. scare approach, we encourage you to check out our LAASR program and seek out the support of a coach.  Lecturing and telling people until you’re blue in the face isn’t working. We need to figure out what people really want and then show them how to get it.  Let’s find a better way and start to move our profession into the position of leadership in the wellness revolution we deserve.

Tags: chiropractic, chiropractic birthday, Chiropractic Practice Management, Chiropractic Practice Success, chiropractic profession, communication, communication crisis, identity crisis, LAASR, Leadership, Wellness Chiropractors, wellness model, wellness revolution