It is not unusual—in fact, it’s the norm—for successful businesses of all shapes and sizes to factor their marketing costs into their products and services.
Duh! Right?
But most businesses don’t factor in marketing costs at all, and that’s why they struggle to survive and prosper.
They don’t do this simple calculation…
Monthly marketing expense divided by # of new customers per month.
Or if you can accurately track where customers come from…
Monthly marketing expense divided by # of new customers who were not referred in.
This simple calculation does two things.
#1 – It reveals the “cost” to attract a new customer.
#2 – It motivates you to spend more on marketing.
For example…
Let’s say that you average 20 new patients per month, of which 10 were not referred in, and you spend $1,200 on marketing each month.
$1,200 divided by the 10 who were not referred in equals a procurement cost of $120 per patient.
Is that good? Is that bad?
Of course, it all depends on many factors.
The most important being…
RETENTION AND REFERRALS.
See, the more a patient is “worth” in their lifetime, the more money you can spend to “get” one.
Now, the old me knew this well and was all about this.
That’s how I succeeded so quickly back in the day and was running up to five full-page ads in “Dynamic Chiropractic” all at the same time!
No one could touch me.
A. My competitors didn’t have a product worth selling, hence they couldn’t keep a customer if their lives depended on it, and…
B. My competitors didn’t know their numbers.
But as the market and I evolved, what I sold and how I sold it became much more “Elegant”.
I figured out a way to build ChiroTrust whereby its product is its marketing and its marketing is its product and how to do the same FOR each and every member of ChiroTrust.
Stay with me. In a moment, this will make sense to you.
Here’s an example of what I mean…
Instead of a new patient fee of, let’s say, $150 for the first visit… WHAT IF your normal first visit fee was much lower?
That way, you don’t have to spend as much real money to attract a patient.
Your product and what you charge for it IS the marketing!
Now does this mean that whoever charges the least for their product and/or service wins? Not necessarily. Actually, rarely is this the case.
But when you do everything right…
the right product,
the right message,
the right market,
the right experience,
the right results,
and yes, the right price,
THEN not only will your marketing costs go down, but your profit margins will go up!
In other words, these days, if you don’t have high patient satisfaction, high patient retention (notice I did not say “high PVA” or “patient visit average”), and a lot of patients coming back and referring others, then you may feel tempted to do any or all of the following:
- Charge patient and/or insurance companies too much.
- Add unnecessary modalities to increase per visit fees.
- Sell long-term care plans.
- Feel the need to pressure and persuade patients into doing what they truly don’t want to do.
- Do a lot of manual labor marketing like spinal screenings and lay lectures.
- Spend a ton of time and money marketing online and offline.
So how do you get thousands of dollars worth of Chiropractic Marketing each and every month for free?
Don’t over charge.
Sure, it can cover marketing costs, but it repels customers.
Price right and do right and you won’t need to spend a lot on marketing.
Does this mean that you have to lower your adjusting fees to 20 bucks?
Absolutely not.
But it does mean that there IS a right number for your market and you need to know what that right number is, and I typically relate that number to average home values (I’ll cover this soon).
Think of the money “lost” by charging less and recommending less as marketing money that you didn’t have to spend.
High fees and long-term treatment suppresses your new patient and your recurring visit numbers.
So why not simplify EVERYTHING so that what you do and sell is perceived as valuable, is easy to understand, and is more in line with what patients want?
ChiroTrust markets its members’ practices by positioning them properly in the marketplace so that they don’t have to do all the things most D.C.s think they must do to succeed.
That way, their “product” IS their marketing and their “marketing” IS their product!
THAT’S how you get more results from less money spent.
In essence, you are getting what it takes most businesses thousands of dollars per month in marketing to get absolutely free.
No need to spend a ton on patient attraction.
Patient attraction (and reactivations and referrals) will be a BYPRODUCT of everything positioned and done right.
Everything.
With ChiroTrust, you have everything that you need:
Marketing done for you at a low cost, the guidance and support to assure that your message always matches the market, and consistent, appropriate, and ongoing communication with your list.
Nothing else to do. Nothing else to buy.
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