New Patients in the Northeast, Part 2 – Spinal Screenings

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Dr. Tom Boch

What chiropractor doesn’t get all warm and tingly inside at the very thought of going out and doing a spinal screening? No, you say? Well, in my coaching with AMC Family Members, I have this conversation quite a lot.

Before we get started, you need to understand that effective spinal screenings are just one of over 100 new patient acquisition tools and procedures that AMC has available.

When someone joins AMC, they do not have to take a blood oath to do spinal screenings or they are banned from the tribe. No, we coaches always encourage and guide in proven directions, but the final decision is yours.
Continue reading →

Getting New Patients In the Northeast … Part 1

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Dr. Tom Boch

Contrary to what you may have been told in chiropractic college, hanging out your shingle is not all it takes to get new patients and start your practice. All of you who have been in practice for longer than a month, know that new patients are the life blood of your practice. Until everyone knows and understands what it is that you do and about the many benefits of chiropractic care, not all of your acute patients will still be in your practice as maintenance patients this time next year.

We need a steady supply of good new patients to maintain and grow our practices. The things is, that practicing up here in the NE (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont & New Hampshire) is a different game that requires a different game plan, compared to practicing in the south, the central US or the west.

I know of what I speak, because as NorthEast Director of AMC, I have not only observed what works up here, but in the last nine years, I have personally coached over 200 practices, from Florida to Hawaii, and from Wisconsin to Texas. At last count, I believe I have had AMC Family members as coaching clients from all but 1 or 2 states.
Continue reading →

Let It Let It snow, Let It Snow…..on your practice?

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Dr. Tom Boch

As I write this weeks’ blog article, I am looking out the window of my home in South Central Pennsylvania, and I don’t think I have ever seen this much snow on the ground as it continues to fall from the sky in blizzard-like conditions.

It seems as though it will never stop. Of course it always does. The first year I moved here was the winter of 1977. We were living in a small apartment with 3 small, but growing children. Using AMC practice management principles from Dr. Owen, I had gotten off to a great start, even though the practice had been set up just a few months ago.

We were seeing 70-80 patient visits a week by that time. Then the snows started in January. Have you ever noticed how snow storms, the really bad ones, seem to come in weekly “waves”? That is exactly how it happened that year. Just when the practice was up and running smoothly – WHAM!
Continue reading →

Surviving and Thriving in the Great Recession of 2009? – Part 3

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Dr. Tom Boch

They say that, many times, you can pinpoint the exact time and location where your life took a “life changing turn.” My new friend simply asked me, “Have you ever considered going to chiropractic college?” That was easy to answer because I had never heard the word in my short 17 years of life when I thought I knew everything I needed to know already.

As a result of that one question, I went to Logan college in St. Louis in the fall of 1964. By going straight through winter and summer, I was able to graduate in 3 years. I had finished 3rd in my class. The 2 ahead of me had 4 year undergrad degrees. I had come straight out of high school, so I was just barely old enough to get a license at age 21. I had even gotten an A+ in the one management class that was given in my senior year.

My wife, who was 5 months pregnant when I graduated, and I immediately moved to Florida to open our first office. The old joke told is that, in that first office, my entire practice totaled just ½ of one new patient. That is a new patient who never comes back for their report.
Continue reading →

Surviving and Thriving in the Great Recession of 2009? – Part 2

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Dr. Tom Boch

success So, here I was a 17 year old high school junior who grew up totally illiterate about matters Chiropractic. As I said earlier, I literally had not heard the word Chiropractic until I met a man who changed my life completely.

I had always had an innate interest in “natural” things like diet and exercise. The problem I had as a high school junior is that I did not have a clue what I wanted to do for a career, which made it very hard to decide which college to attend.

In those days, you could wait until you graduated. Today, with the so-called “helicopter parents”, panic starts to set in if little Johnny or Suzy’s parents can’t get them in to the right preschool as the first stepping stone toward admission into Harvard or Yale. Actually, one of my sons is a double graduate of Harvard Dental School, which was a complete surprise to his mother and me! In another article, I will prove my earlier statement that with the right attitude and tools, you can accomplish anything in Chiropractic, and your life. I will describe to you how my son might have never amounted to much without that attitude and tools.
Continue reading →

Surviving and Thriving in the Great Recession of 2009? – Part 1

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Dr. Tom Boch

success Is it over for Chiropractic and your practice? Will we ever experience the golden days of practice when almost anyone could hang out a shingle and develop a great practice in a relatively short time? Maybe an old timer can help you out.

There are some in the profession and the political arena that would have us believe that life as we knew it will never be the same. If you accept those pronouncements and beliefs then it will most definitely be true for you.

I have been around long enough to know that if you have the right attitude, and the right tools, any negative situation can be turned around. When I say that I have been in the profession for awhile, perhaps I should clarify that just a bit. You might learn something from someone, like me, who has been an active participant in our beloved profession for over 40 years.
Continue reading →