Finances Drive The Business

Most doctors make the mistake of setting an objective to make as much money as they can in practice.  It is a goal that is un-achievable.  A far more appropriate goal would be to make as much money as you want.  Here’s an approach.

First, create two personal budgets.  The first is your “needs” budget and it is what it will take to maintain the status quo.  It includes your rent or mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, transportation…the basics.

Next is your “wants” budget which includes fun, travel, vacations, retirement, children’s college fund, taxes, house repair and maintenance, etc.

Now, create your business operating budget-your fixed overhead expenses.

Now you know how much money it will take to get what you want.

Lets say its $500,000.  There are 52 weeks in a year.  That comes out to about $10,000. per week.  If you’re working a 4 day week, that comes out to $2500. per day.  If you work an 8 hour day, that becomes about $300. per hour.  If you collect $30. per adjustment, you must be able to give great service to 10 people per hour.

This creates a number of different scenarios:

    Serve more people per hour and reduce your hours.

    Collect more per adjustment and reduce your hours.

    Make your time spent efficient and effective.

    Fill your schedule.

Be a chiropractor that lives the life you want.

Here’s how finances drive marketing and sales.

Based on the percentage of leads converted to qualified patients, how many leads does marketing have to generate in order to produce the amount of business needed to create the income you want?

For example, in the above hypothetical practice seeing 320 patient visits per week, 320 visits is a composite of new patients and retention.  If your retention is 80 then the number of qualified new patients needed to sustain such a practice would be 4 per week.  Now, if you need 5 prospects to produce 2 qualified new patients, then marketing would need to produce 10 leads per week.

Get it?

You reduce your reliance on marketing by having sales convert a greater percentage of leads.  And, if sales can produce high retention and leads back to marketing as referrals, you have a self-perpetuating system.

Developing this system based on your individual strengths rather than Steve’s steps to referrals and retention is the way to make this work for YOU. 

Fill out the coaching questionnaire and get it back to us to see how this could work for you.