| Your inactive patients are a gold mine. Quite often, the | | | | so that flap opens up when facing the address page |
| only thing an inactive patient needs to return is a simple | | | | when flier is folded. This requires just one fastener as |
| reminder. We all lead busy lives and for the cost of | | | | opposed to two if it opens on the bottom. Your mailing |
| one postcard stamp, reaching out to those who have | | | | house may have other suggestions. |
| benefited from your services in the past is a | | | | 5. Print labels for everyone who has not been in one |
| no-brainer! How would your bottom line change if only | | | | year. Edit labels - pull off ones that are redundant, |
| 10% of your inactive patients returned for care? | | | | moved, etc. |
| A news report in Chiropractic Economics (Vol. 50, | | | | 6. Send mailing service data file for mailing or give |
| Issue 9) on the use of complementary and alternative | | | | them labels. |
| medicine (CAM) stated that about 15 million people in | | | | 7. If you do it yourself, simply place the labels on the |
| the United States sought help from chiropractors | | | | flier, affix stamp or run through postage meter, and get |
| during the prior 12 months, yet 40 million people | | | | to post office. |
| reported having had chiropractic care sometime in their | | | | 8. 2 weeks after your mailing has been sent begin a |
| life. | | | | phone follow up campaign. DO NOT ignore this step. |
| This would suggest that 25 million chiropractic patients | | | | This will easily increase your return by 20%-%30. |
| are currently inactive. Assuming about 60,000 | | | | A simple but effective phone script would be: |
| chiropractors currently in practice, this translates into | | | | CA: This is (name) calling from __(name of clinic). The |
| more than 400 inactive patients per chiropractor. | | | | reason I am calling is to see if you received the letter |
| Reactivating only a fraction of this number could | | | | we sent you recently. |
| represent a significant increase in practice volume for | | | | Patient: Yes I did, or, No I did not. |
| thousands of chiropractors. | | | | CA: Well, let me explain. Dr. (name) has set aside |
| Chiropractic consultants suggest that mailing a | | | | some time over the next few weeks to help his |
| reactivation letter yields a 2 percent to 3 percent | | | | former patients make sure they are as healthy as |
| positive response. A follow-up phone call yields about | | | | possible. He asked me to call you to set up an |
| 7 percent to 8 percent response. | | | | appointment since it has been so long since we last |
| My own research suggests a much higher return is | | | | saw you. Can I set up an appointment? |
| possible with the right combination of tactics. Based on | | | | Patient: Yes (appointment made), or, No. |
| 720 phone calls to patients who had not visited the | | | | CA: (If patient says "no") Fine. Would you mind me |
| office in 6-24 months I found that, on average, 288 of | | | | asking if there is any reason why you wouldn't make |
| those calls resulted in appointments. | | | | an appointment at this time? |
| Here are the action steps in deploying this successful | | | | Patient: (gives reason) |
| reactivation strategy: | | | | CA: Thank you for telling me and I'd like to invite you to |
| 1. Write a letter with a strong reason why the patient | | | | let us know if we can be of any help in the future. |
| should come back for a checkup, and use a special | | | | Good bye. |
| offer to make it risk free. Format a second sheet for | | | | The research confirms what you already suspect: |
| the address. Use a two page self-mailer, a tri-fold with | | | | You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from |
| three panels. Both sides of one sheet are printed. | | | | implementing a well-planned reactivation program. |
| 2. Decide if you want to mail first class yourself, or | | | | Consider your own reactivation research project and |
| have a mailing service do it for you. If a mailing service | | | | learn from the reasons given by patients for not |
| does it for you, figure about .50 per piece, includes | | | | making appointments. Then use this information to |
| paper, printing, folding, postage, delivery, etc. EG, 1000 | | | | modify or improve your office procedures accordingly. |
| fliers about $500 with little staff time/interruption. | | | | Remember, there are 25 million people out there |
| 3. Get letter printed. | | | | waiting to come back to chiropractic. |
| 4. Before printing, make sure that pages are adjusted | | | | |