Chiropractic Practice: The Conflict Between Want and Need

Welcome to this Week’s Thrive in Five. I’m Dr. Bob Hoffman for The Masters Circle Global, where legends are made in legendary practices are built through chiropractic coaching. Today I want to discuss the conflict between want and need. If you are part of the majority within our profession, you’re probably unaware that there’s an important conflict going on every day with almost every single patient visit that you must find a resolution to. How you resolve this conflict will determine your clinic results, your relationships, your reputation, your joy, your fulfillment, and ultimately your income. So let me ask you, how do you respond to the conflict between giving patients what they want and giving patients what they need? So let’s be real. Patients come to see you because they want their problem or their pain to go away. They want easy, inexpensive, and painless, perhaps above all else.

They want quick and convenient. Of course. Way too many of them wait until their problem or pain has progressed near the point of no return. Many want you to fix their problem in one or two visits even though what has been going wrong has been going wrong for months, years, or probably decades. Remember, symptoms are the last thing that shows up in the disease process, and in addition, we all know that it’s unresolved. Physical, chemical and emotional stress always causes damage. Then deterioration and finally disease. So get this. I’m all in for helping them, for treating their pain, for making their booboo go away and resolving what the patient wants. So here’s my issue. If that’s where your care ends, either by the patient’s decision or yours, then that’s a huge problem and unacceptable to me and embarrassing for our profession. In truth, if this was really all the patient wanted, taking a painkiller will work just about as well and be less expensive and more convenient.

It’s your job to give them what they want, but it’s your professional obligation to give them what they need. The patient doesn’t know what lies below the surface. They don’t understand the seriousness of what may be wrong and they don’t know how to connect the dots. They’re not fluent in the language of chiropractic. We as a profession have trained them to think, well, the bone slipped out of place and they’re just hoping that you could push it right back into place and that the moment you do all is good, back to normal and no more pain. 

Your professional obligation is a full history, a thorough exam, connecting the dots, your vast knowledge and deep experience to find the cause of their outer problem, the pain as well as the inner problem or problems of what’s causing their pain called subclinical findings. You’re obligated to tell them the truth even if they don’t want to hear it. What are you concerned about? What did you find abnormal? What does this really mean? And making your full and complete recommendations according to these findings. It’s also quite important that you be ethical, moral, and honest. No scare tactics, no bs, just the truth. On the other end of the spectrum, where most DCs live unfortunately, is please, I’m begging you, do not sugarcoat what you find either. An example might be you’re going to do beautiful. I found just two bones out of place. They’re really easy to fix, and once I put them back in place, you’re going to be just as good as new.

Let me tell you, when the patient hears that, they hear this, thank God there’s nothing serious. And in that moment, you and your precious care just became a luxury and not a necessity. And also in that moment, the odds are overwhelming that the patient may get what they want, but they will never get what they need. You must be willing to let go of the past to embrace the present and prepare for the future. Yes, of course, give the patient what they want, but learn to master also giving the patient what they need. And when you do, your practice will grow, your reputation will grow, your confidence will grow, and so will your influence and your impact. This is most likely not occurring currently in your office and certainly not occurring on a consistent regular basis. And you can change that. You can refine that and you can improve it in a moment.

I can assure you that many of the doctors in our program are masters in the art of speaking their truth, of giving the patients what they want and also giving the patients what they need. And this is how they shatter Practice records year after year after year. Take your patients way past pain to ongoing care to achieve their optimal neurological expression so they can live their best life. They can age gracefully. It also creates lifetime patients, which should always be our overarching goal. How awesome would it be if your patients wanted to be in your office, looked forward to your care, totally trusted you, and realized that continuing with your care way past pain is what they need to do and probably one of the smartest decisions they’re ever going to make. 

Let’s remember that pain is not the problem. It just indicates that you have a problem and eliminating pain doesn’t make anyone healthy. It just gives you the false impression that you might be healthy. And how would you feel if these same lifetime patients referred their friends, family, coworkers, neighbors to you because of the remarkable and predictable clinical results you achieved? Remember to have what only 5% of what our profession has. You must be willing to do what the other 95% are not doing. Quite frankly, important concepts like this and the six essentials should always be part of your daily and weekly training. 

If you are really serious about making an impact and moving in the direction of becoming best in class. If you’re not familiar with these strategies, then start scanning the QR code on your screen right now. Yes, go ahead. Take out your phone, take out the camera part. Open up that app and scan that QR code. Once you do that, it will show you how to make the invisible visible in your practice, what you’re doing right, what you’re not doing right and what you might need to change. 

The six essentials are a critical piece of the future of your practice, and this is why we’re inviting you to scan that QR code. Go ahead and do it and learn so much more about this timely and important information to help you refine, modify, and improve what you believe and the actions you take each and every day in your practice. I want you to recognize the fundamentals have changed, the focus has changed, the business model has changed, and the ability to influence how your staff and your patients think and behave have changed. You need to know what these changes and refinements are and how to implement them properly and effectively to grow your practice like never before. We’ll be back next week with another Thrive in Five.

Checkout our other Thrive In Fives

Don’t forget to learn about our Practice Growth Calculator