So, I realize this is a weird way to start a conversation. But follow along…
When you were a teenager and you were going to your friend’s home for dinner you would always be on your best behavior. At least I would (this is Rob writing this, for what it’s worth). I would bring my plate to the sink, I would use my manners, I would say “please” and “thank you” and probably even used “ma’am” or “sir”.
Why did I act so polite and friendly? Because I wanted my friend’s family to like me and invite me over for more dinners, for sleepovers, and all of that fun stuff. I wanted them to like me! So I made sure to put my best foot forward.
Matt and I, upon opening the office in 2010, were having a conversation over beers at Brewer’s Alley. We had already decided to be “basic”, and that we wouldn’t be trying to amaze any patients with nonsense devices and services that seem fancy and hi-tech but which don’t actually do anything much to help patients. We were, of course, going to try to be great chiropractors and honest businessmen, but we decided to simply embody another basic principle that we thought would go a long way towards establishing ourselves as the type of chiropractors, and the type of people, that you would want to be do business with.
To put it quite simply, we planned on treating all of our patients like not just friends, but we are going to treat them like our best friend’s mom. So when you come to see us you will actually be treated like someone we want to impress. We don’t do this because it’s a way to make money, we do this because it’s a very simple and easy way to do things. Instead of treating people like co-pays or like potential payments from insurance companies, or trying to convince people to sign up for long-term treatment plans…instead of all that we just give everyone a competent assessment, a realistic explanation of their issue, a conservative and non-nonsense treatment plan, and then we do our best to treat everyone just like we would want to be treated. We find that, over anything else, being a good human goes pretty far. And when you treat people well, then you gain their trust and respect, and that is a better way to build a business than offering deep discounts, silly sales, or trying to tell people that if they don’t follow our recommendations that they will never get better.
It’s our hope that we are building relationships and making friends, not just being chiropractors.