Coach's Corner: Compliance - Are you the compass?

The act of submitting according to certain accepted standards.

A simple yet often daunting definition of compliance. 

Is your first thought: I can't stand the seemingly outrageous rules put in place by boards or insurance? 

Look again. 

Compliance: The act of submitting according to certain accepted standards

Does this relate to patients? Results in your practice? Growth? Success? Of course it does. 

Compliance as applied to patients can be defined as a patient's loyalty to their follow through with your standards of care. This will NEVER happen unless your accepted standards also become your patients as well. They need a guide and you are their compass.

Understand, there are two types of patients when it comes to compliance; people who try to schedule your world around their own, and those who schedule their world around yours. The first will begin to miss, reschedule or rearrange their visits, where the second  group of patients will reschedule other aspects of their life in order to remain on schedule with their chiropractic care. The biggest practice growth this year, will come to those teams who lead their patients to make their specific schedule of chiropractic adjustments, their top priority. When this is done properly at the beginning of care, there are very few challenges with changing schedules. However, when it is not handled right at the beginning, a multitude of challenges, schedule fluctuations and patient drop-outs can be expected in the future. Compliance includes, attendance to workshops, adjustments, re-exams, reports, getting the family checked, writing (or videoing) a testimonial, taking your recommended nutrition, performing the right series of home exercises and traction, and studying various recommended sources of information.

The more you see the entire shift a patient must "willing submit" to, the clearer and more compassionate you become in leading them this new lifestyle. Once a patient has made their chiropractic lifestyle a centerpiece in their lives, it becomes very difficult for them to ever stop their care. They love who they are in this new paradigm, and become a spokesperson to anyone who cares to listen to their story. This is why you and your team owe it to each and every patient, to stay right on their hip, and proactively instill the beliefs,values and habits which produce the magnificent result known as the chiropractic lifestyle. Compliance begins by each patient knowing that correction and healing only happen by RHYTHM. The EXACT times and days of their adjustments are responsible for fifty percent of the results! Without this singular commitment, patients will most certainly begin altering their schedule, the moment they begin to notice a positive change from their chiropractic care.

In turns out, your office policies are the guide posts. The canteen, map and the compass to a person thrusted into completely unknown territory. They are not penalties or a prison sentence, rather the vital keys to unlocking a life full of health and happiness. When you can envision Zero Missed Visit Consciousness (ZMVC) for your each of your patients, you are well on your way to masterful compliance (<5% MV's, Whole Family Check-Ups, Standing Room Only Workshops), and explosive growth.

When you and your team decide to be compliance experts and become the compass your community needs you will be well on your way to reaching your full potential. 

Until Next Time...Practice with Passion!

Coach CJ

Coach's Corner: Education. It's a World Changer

Are you a game changer...or a world changer?

Small distinction yet huge difference. And Education is the key

People learn new information everyday from a nearly unlimited number of sources. However,  seldom does any of this seemingly endless stream of information, initiate change in people's lives. The principle behind teaching your patients anything is to cause a change to occur in their lives. Why? Because you must be convinced the knowledge you possess will lead to a happier, healthier, longer, functionally superior life if they choose to walk our walk. Patient education should be aptly called behavioral conditioning and you should be the trainer.

Living a chiropractic lifestyle is similar to being a vegetarian, in that a specific path of behavior is set before you. Taking drugs, eating an unhealthy diet, exercising and stretching inconsistently  or possibily never, getting a few pain relief adjustments here or there, is a recipe for disaster. Yet that sadly is how much of the profession practices. 

Is it due to lack of knowledge? Intention? Confidence? 

Raise the bar and raise your voice.

You are not simply another voice in the crowd, what you know extends, improves and saves lives. Proper patient education should be three parts revelation, two parts inspiration and one part tough love. The revelation comes from the chiropractic principles about health and healing they have never heard before. The inspiration is the knowledge, they can apply these principles to create a better life. Tough love is the accountability you stand on so old habits die away, and new habits are born.

Patient education shouldn't feel like something you have to do, but instead the steam which powers the engine of your success. Put yourself on the line everyday to produce the very best leadership possible. Do not get fooled by patient care. Patients are only here for now unless you boldly lead them to a new paradigm, and equip them with new habits for a better life. 

Together, we can change the health of this planet. We can be world changers. Let's get to work!

Until next time...Practice with Passion!

Coach CJ

Coach's Corner: Conversion - A Work of Art

A timeless work of art

Something to be remembered

A moment that changes things...permanently

How do your conversions compare?

Imagine a situation where someone who has no idea who you are or what you do. Coincidentally they meet  you and three days later, pays you $3500 and commits a year of their life to you. The beginning of a perpetual cycle that changes their life - permanently. 

Then imagine that happening a 150 more times each year for twenty years in a row. What would this be called? Legendary. 

And what would it have been that you said to all these people that could make them so emphatically committed to invest in your care? Something like, "There is a power you can't see or measure that contains a unique intelligence, which somehow knows where you need healing and does it. I'm going to adjust you with my hands on your spine, and when I do, that power I just mentioned is somehow released although that would be really hard to prove. Yet If you commit to $3500, remain commitment and exercises patience, come in an get adjusted about eighty times this year, and completely trust in your body and what I have told you, things should turn out just fine".

It never ceases to amaze me how anyone would ever accept our perspective, and at the  exact same time, how absolutely foolish they would be if they didn't. The real conversion lays within us. Every single time we are confronted with another opportunity to convert a person to chiropractic care, our soul is challenged with where our level of belief is in the story we are about to tell. We are also challenged by the amount of love within us at that moment to truly extend to another human being. Lastly, we are always challenged by the first law of leadership, "someone is always leading". Are we going to lead or let ourselves be led? 

Conversion is considered a "zero sum game". Meaning, whether your last conversion was good or bad, you start all over again as if it never happened. Our purpose in helping sick people GET well and STAY well, rests in the balance of our ability to rise to the challenges set before us. This is why a precise and systematic approach to conversion, is the only way to produce reliable and consistent results. I

n the end, those who master conversion, will have crafted their communications into a work-of-art. Something to be remembered. A moment that changes things...permanently. This is my hope and prayer for you. 

Until next time...Practice with Passion.

Coach CJ

True North: It's Raining

It's Raining....New Patients!

Every year, I'm amazed to see the reports of how much more prescription medication was taken than the year before. This past year was no different. We ended last year with a higher number of Rx than the year before. There is no drought when it comes to people who want and need help, sadly they are finding the "help" in the wrong place. They are looking for rain in the desert.

Do not be fooled, the continued increase in prescriptions aren't to the people already taking drugs - do not think that they are just taking more drugs - there is a constant and never ending source of hurting people looking for the answer to solve their problem. It is our job to be their solution, even if they don't know it yet.  You are not looking for New Patients, people to help, people to save...They are surrounding your practice as you read this. A miserable group that is puddled all around you, searching for an answer that is right in front of them. They fill up the churches, schools and businesses that surround your practice. You can't take a step and not be ankle deep in them.

If they knew who you were, and what you do and why you do it, you would have a waiting list of new patients on your schedule book TODAY.  Do not be passive. Do not sit back and wait for them to show up. It's like automated sprinklers going on in a rainstorm. Get off auto pilot - refocus where you are looking and you will see raindrops everywhere. 
It's time to put out your buckets and use your voice to catch the rain.

Until Next Time...Keep Climbing

Coach CJ

Coach's Corner: NP's - The Unrelenting Persistence of Waves

Sitting on a beach and watching the waves roll in and out.

The power and unrelenting persistence of the waves never ceases to be amazing. 

The water rushing back out sea is equally stunning, as it rips through the next set of waves. Meanwhile, the waves coming in to shore won't be stopped by anything or anyone. Both requiring one another, but fighting seemingly for the same space in time. 

This is the plight of the law of attraction in your life and practice. 

As a wave of new patients is curling toward your schedule book, your purpose forces you to go back out to your community and generate another wave of new patients. The secret to continuous waves of new patients, is to allow a multi-layered marketing campaign to follow a continuous flow of new patient visualization. There is nothing in practice more important than thinking about helping new patients who are struggling today. Often, chiropractors and their teams make the mistake of developing a marketing plan, then thinking the plan itself will produce the new patients. The law of attraction mandates we must project our love and desire to serve others, continuously - with unrelenting persistency. I would rather see a team have continuous thoughts of attracting and serving new patients, and an incomplete marketing plan, than a great plan but inconsistent new patient visualization.

The outside temperature can rise or fall, but waves continue to crash against the shore. Never let your marketing visualization or multi-layered planning become seasonal. When we are in a season of harvest, continue to execute and focus on attracting sick people into your practice. Likewise, in a quiet season of new patients, do not get distracted by other projects, promote chiropractic with all your heart and soul. As you condition yourself this way, the universe recognizes your passion and dependability, and you will continue to be well rewarded. Avoid gimmicks at all costs because they only lead to inconsistent and disjointed marketing. You are not searching among the grains of sand on the beach. Lift up your eyes and see the waves. There are hundreds of new patients every single day who would be  thankful to learn what you know and receive what you do. 

Eye's up my friends...there are waves on the horizon.

Until Next Time...Practice with Passion!

Coach CJ   

True North: Allostatic Load...The Future.

Allostatic Load.
Can it predict the future?

Wellness expert Dr. James Chestnut knows it can.

Just 5 days ago in Las Vegas, Dr Chestnut blew the entire Parker seminar audience away when he introduced this groundbreaking new test that will accurately predict a person's future health. Imagine being able to see how your body functions will certainly impact how its future function and therefore future health. If you email him telling him that Coach CJ told you to contact him personally at drchestnut@thewellnesspractice.com  he will send you two free test kits so that you can evaluate it yourself. No doubt, chiropractic care and the right healthy habits can now be measured and proven within the scientific community. The Allostatic Load Test will also be a fantastic tool to lead your patients into and through wellness care. Just like cholesterol was the number of the 90's  - allostatic load will be the number on people's mind for the future.

Don't delay, find out your score today and begin leading your patients down the correct wellness path to their True North.

Until Next Time...Keep Climbing,

Coach CJ

Coach's Corner: Vision. The Simple Resolution of Winners.

The idea of winning is only a single thought away from winners. Why? It's very simple. 

Winners are trained to see the vision of the future BEFORE the circumstances of the present. Boxers never go into a ring afraid of being hit or even thinking they won't get hit. In the same way, winners realize challenges are simply part of the ante to being in the game. The resolution of winners is what separates themselves from everyone else.

If winning has escaped you for a while, let's resolve to put winning into your present vision. What do you look forward to; your next vacation, round of golf, barbecue, college or pro sporting event, concert or one of your children's programs? All success has proven and repeatable principles.

The first principle.

Winning requires vision. The ability to create the emotion of looking forward to growth. Even though winners don't always win, they always expect to win. It is in the spirit of expectation, growth feels good and natural. As a chiropractor, people responding successfully to adjustments, feels good and natural. Why? It's simple. We expect people to improve with chiropractic care. That doesn't mean they always do, it means that's what we always expect.

When you are working with patients, do you focus more on where they are or where you want them to be through your care? The focus on your practice is no different. The resolution of winners begins with the understanding that all success is created twice; first on the inside, then in reality. If you aren't creating and visualizing your future growth on a regular basis, then you are violating the first universal law of success. Think of your challenges as a test. It's not that they don't deserve focus, the test is whether you give them center stage attention. "What you think about you bring about", is a cliche but really it's a powerful principle because it has stood the test of time. The main purpose of setting goals is to stretch yourself into the future, see your success and then return to today sprinkling some of your future upon it. Pareto's Law reminds us twenty percent of the people experience eighty percent of the success. Interestingly, only twenty percent of the people spend eighty percent of their focus on what they want to create and where they want to go. What 80/20are you?

The second principle.

Solve ALL problems TOWARD the picture of your future success. Some of the greatest boxers in history are referred to as "counterpunches". Meaning, a problem presents itself (being hit with a stiff jab) and the boxer RESPONDS with a vicious right uppercut, and their opponent falls to the canvas. The problem became a cornerstone of the the creation to success. Winners see challenges as a steppingstone to their success, rather than something uniquely separate from their journey toward prosperity. Without a picture of what you wish to produce, a picture will be provided for you. Unfortunately, the world's picture for you is often a twisted, fractured, diluted fraction of the potential you have been given to win. Since all winners must address challenges, then problems can not be the deterrent to winning. What does your future look like? How often do you speak of it with others? When you share your future, are others inspired to hear of it? You see, this is the litmus test for our path. Without a future, we are merely existing, waiting to see what happens.

Why is this seemingly so hard to do?! Because fear of failure has a much bigger, meaner, uglier brother... The fear of success. What if you try, but it doesn't work? What if I grow and get too busy? Will I look greedy or selfish if I continue to grow? If I grow, how will I be able to provide quality care for my patients? More growth means more employees and all the troubles and worries they can bring, doesn't it? Doesn't a lot more money really mean more taxes and more audits? These are not questions of failure, rather the enormous anxiety which can come from thinking about success. How can you prevent this from happening to you? Answer: focus on others more than you focus on yourself. You have been blessed to be a blessing to others. Success isn't ugly, it's beautiful. Serving others is the reason we grow. Make your resolution this year to push through the fear based mental traps which can steal your passion.

Keep it simple. Helping sick people get well and stay well, is the chiropractic legacy you need to leave. Make no mistake, your purpose is to grow - because your passion is to increase the number of people you serve. Lets make this a record breaking year using winning resolutions.

Until next time, practice with passion!
Coach CJ

True North: An Open Door

Every Month.

For 21 Years.

It seems that I have set my calendar to when Coach's Corner would be published. After over 20 years to see the WCA Journal close its doors saddens my heart yet I have full faith that when one door closes another door opens.

Yet sometimes we are called to be the one to pull the door open.

Creak go the hinges because its a new day. Starting this week Coach's Corner will now be a blog that you can access anytime anywhere. It will have the same powerful coaching content that you have expected since it's inception plus photos, links and more details on how to transform your practice in tiny steps or massive leaps.

So mark your calendar and lets train together.
The door is open...I will meet you in the Coach's Corner.

Until Next Time...Practice with Passion!
Coach CJ

2013. What are you going to do with it?

2013.

365 new days to create, inspire, dream, master and chart your destiny.

3 are already in the history books and only 362 left.

What will you do with the days given to you this year?

As the calendar flips another page to a new year, our family is are excited to bring you Coach's Corner in blog format.  Since 1989 you have been able to read inspiring and transformational articles that have changed the course of lives and practices around the globe...now you will have digital access 24/7 to all new trainings and many archives from the past.
This is a perfect place to maximize your 361 remaining days. 

So on day 3 of 2013, from our family to yours - we wish you unparalleled success in 2013 and pray that you find Coach's Corner a place inspiration to bring your practice, vision and life to a new level. Open the door, come on in...I will meet you in the corner.

Until Next Time...Practice with Passion!

Coach CJ