“Progress is
impossible without change, and those who
cannot change
their minds, cannot change anything.”
- George
Bernard Shaw
The doctor who invited me to lunch was looking down at
the white table cloth, running his fingers around the borders of the still
empty plate, as he humbly confided that he was ‘lost’. After 16 years in an
integrative practice, having invested a small fortune into a centrally located
office, and the latest technology with an equally impressive price tag, this remarkable
healer was at wits-end to the unrelenting up and down’s of his outwardly
successful practice.
There is a place between success and failure that I’ve come
to know as the seesaw of survival. It seems most prevalent in the business of healthcare
especially. Brilliant, gifted and passionate healers who spend their entire
career working very hard serving their patients, spending long hours in the
office, and lost in thought at the dinner table, who never experience the geometric
growth that can be seen everywhere else in nature.
At the point of conception, a new life begins with just one
cell, then it divides into two, four, six … twelve, thirty four. A trillion. If
it followed the linear progression of most health businesses it would never
survive. Fortunately, or paradoxically, a practitioner can subsist by the hairs
of his chinny chin chin for decades, never failing completely but never
succeeding entirely.
Over the years I’ve had the unique opportunity of
interviewing and hosting remarkable healers who seemed to have accomplished the
impossible, they’ve developed a seven-figure practice that depended very
little, or not at all, on the angry bureaucracy of third-party reimbursement.
They fell back in love with the practice of medicine, their patients experience
the healthy benefits of a time-generous practice; and the doctor has the
personal time to actually enjoy life. Having spent the last fifteen years in
the business of marketing integrative doctors (before they were known as such)
I’ve personally known physicians who were able to propel to astronomic personal
and financial success, as well as those who continued to, for the most part,
keep their head above water, lamenting their lack of business and marketing acumen
for the frustrating state of affairs.
The latest, most advanced vehicle, when driven on fumes will
never tap its innate ability for full self-expression. It will never be able to
perform the way it was designed or reach the speeds it is capable unless it has
the fuel necessary to perform at its maximum potential. The fuel of any business,
including healthcare, is its ability to reach and educate the public about the
unique attributes of its service. Build trust; impart knowledge, confidence and
understanding, while conveying a palpable proficiency to help solve my problem.
In a recent interview with Doctor Ronald Hoffman, MD the
founder and host of the “Intelligent Medicine” radio program, and Manhattan-based
center bearing the same name, the well-known practitioner and pioneer of the
modern integrative medicine movement, shared the humble beginnings of his
impressive success trajectory. Once he graduated medical school it did not take
long for him to realize the limitations of an insurance-based practice. So he
left that model, and hung up a shingle for his free-market, direct pay center.
And although consumed by fear and doubt at first he knew that this was the only
way he could practice the kind of medicine that made sense to him.
In the early days Dr. Hoffman would search out any
opportunity to speak to groups, even though he thought of himself as naturally
shy, and a public speaker who he considered to be awkward at best. Willing to
drive to a different borough and subject himself to the life-draining traffic
of our bustling metropolis, he would address intimate groups that could comfortably
fit around a kitchen table, at some tiny health-food store, and share his
unusual perspective on health and healing. As he developed a proficiency of speaking
in public, an opportunity presented to host a radio program, on a small scale
at first, but then nationally, reaching millions of people who he was able to
educate, serve, and provide a valuable perspective without seeking anything in
return. This generosity and consistency endeared a generation of listeners who
saw Dr. Hoffman as the expert of experts and lined up at the reception desk of
his modern office.
To activate your Flux Capacitor, according to the eccentric
Dr. Emmet Brown of ‘Back to the Future’ fame, you have to reach 88 mph. If your
DeLorean Time-Machine only reaches 87 mph, you will cruise at that speed forever
or until you crash into the movie theater at the end of the mall’s parking lot.
To get your health business to propel beyond the seesaw of survival, you must
engage the local market and you must do so consistently, boldly, creatively and
unapologetically. Most practitioners, who spend money on marketing, do it as an
afterthought, cautiously reaching 15 mph; surprised and frustrated by the sparse
results. In fact they only remember to do any promotion at all, when the eerie quiet
emptiness of their office and a very bored front desk person reminds them. That
is the main reason why potentially great practices never make it out of the
mall’s parking lot, and great healers remain a local ‘best kept secret’ carefully
passed down from one ecstatic patient to the next like some valuable family heirloom
reserved for the benefit of a select few.
It is also why the insurance and drug companies took control
of healthcare, for they have no qualms about spending a significant portion of
their resources on getting in front of the public, and telling their story.
As a nation, we are one of the most unwell generations of
people who have ever wobbled to a local artery clogging non-food establishment,
exhausted from lack of physical activity. There is no dearth of people needing
your expertise there is not one person who wouldn’t benefit from your advice or
care. Our entire three trillion dollar medical system is focused on the
indefinite management of disease and the clumsy suppression of symptoms
resulting from a chronic and unaddressed underlying cause. There is a problem
with the infrastructure of this model of care, and the modern, proactive doctor,
who wants to focus on helping her patients thrive at their maximum level of
human expression, is sacrificed on the altar of a third-party controlled system
of medicine and the bureaucratic payment schemes that promise the illusive access
to free care.
Your only competition is not the doctor across the street
but apathy among your neighbors. Other practitioners can be a source of
referrals, comradery and support, but if the public is not educated about the merits
of prevention, if they are not motivated to take action on improving their
wellbeing, we will continue to experience the devastating results of escalating
diseases of neglect.
When you signed a contract for your office space, you agreed
to a monthly expense that came along with it. It’s part of doing business. You
pay your rent when you’re busy and you pay it when you’re slow. It’s a
commitment that is included in your annual budget. And one that is built into your
fees. I believe that if you are to break the inertia and get off the seesaw of
survival, your marketing investment should be at least 10% of your gross
revenue, and be included in your expense projections for the year. It is the
fuel of your business and one that is missing in most free-market healing
centers that I’ve seen. If you don’t engage a properly fueled engine to take
you where you want to go, then you have to rely on the wind, the current, and
the kindness of strangers.
Marketing, why none of
it works, and how all of it does.
With the new political environment there has never been a
better time for the entrepreneurial-minded doctor interested in a free-market
practice to thrive. The soon to be de-regulated three-trillion dollar system of
care will become more malleable and ready to be re-engineered into one that is wellness-oriented,
prevention-minded, accessible and affordable for those who need it.
If things are to get better, as it regards our national
well-being, someone has to make the time to take a stand.
Health Media Round Table
Free-Market Think Tank
- · At this live event, like-minded practitioners have an opportunity to introduce themselves and their healing approach to local colleagues, who can be a source of ongoing referrals.
- · We discuss innovative ways to engage the market and develop a loyal following.
- · Real-time feedback on what kind of marketing compilation garners the best practical results.
- · How companies with proprietary professional products and innovative technology can help our doctors access a marketing platform and leverage their promotional resources.
- · Effective free-market practice structures that allow for a life-long relationship between doctor and patient, gutting perverse incentives, and creating the time necessary to address the underlying cause by laying the infrastructure for prevention and optimal wellbeing.
- · Learn from successful healer-entrepreneurs who share the steps they took to achieve impressive tangible and intangible rewards available solely in a free-market practice.
- · How breakthrough technology will improve the relationship between doctor and patient and refocus care from the management of disease to that of human optimization.
- · Discover the latest products and companies that will enhance your practice and impact the efficacy of patient care and retention.
- · Understanding the role of money is a tool and how instead of working hard for money you can get your money to work hard for you.
For an invitation to a future Health Media Round Table
please send your contact information to alex@healthmedia.us or 516.596.8974.
