When is free care appropriate and what can it do for your practice.

I want to start by reminding you that your practice is a business. Full stop. By this I mean that first and foremost it exists to solve the problem of the customer, and secondly it needs to make money.

Therefore, a practice that gives away free care in the hope to please the patients, will fail. But you already know that!

So when is free care appropriate? This is a topic that really does divide opinion, should it be free for those who cannot afford it? Is making it free something that devalues the service you provide?
Whatever your stance on the aforementioned, that is not necessarily what I want to discuss today.

Growing a practice really is simple when you break it down. It requires two things:

1.       Skill to be able to solve the problem.

2.       A heart so your patients know you care.

Get those two right and you will have patients for life.

So putting point (1.) aside for the time being. Let’s inspect this notion of ‘knowing you care’. Your patients and the public at large are frustrated and fed up with services that simply do not care, or do not demonstrate their caring for the customer.
Just think the late delivery with out apology, just excuses. The GP appointments that are impossible to get. The waiting lists, the absent-minded check out staff. Do I need go on?

The world is crying out for face-to-face caring services.
And what does this have to do with free care?

Nothing really.
Because I am not suggesting giving away free care to show you care.

What I am aiming to demonstrate is how you can really go above and beyond in your service and in time of need, demonstrate a massive caring and nurturing attitude.

To do this I have an appointment in my practice called the ‘continuation’. This is a free adjustment visit for anyone that I deem is struggling outside of their normal care plan or routine. If I think an extra adjustment outside their schedule would really help them, I ask them to come in for a ‘continuation’ adjustment.

Something like this; “Jo it is unusual for you to struggle like this, tell you what come back in for another adjustment this week. On me. I just want to make sure you are ok.”
“If you ask the team and book a ‘continuation’ they will sort it out, no charge.”
“I’ve got you, we’ll get this sorted.”

So, what are some examples of times that you could give a continuation?

1.       Patient on regular fortnightly/monthly maintenance visits has a flare up.

2.       Someone who has had a bereavement or loss. (We know emotions affect their subluxation).

3.       Someone who was just too tense and stressed on the day.

This is your choice and your discretion.

I know early in practice the thought of giving away free care is insane. But trust me, one or two of these a week will dramatically shift your practice.

And if you truly do this from a place of caring and loving. That energy alone will skyrocket your success.

Try it this month and see.

With love,

Tom