Tips from a Chiropractic Mentor
Mentoring a new graduate:
I recently had the opportunity to mentor a new graduate from chiropractic college. At the time of his graduation he received recognition for his academic and clinical excellence. He decided to return to his hometown to establish a practice. In one of our encounters I asked if he would share his perception of his strengths and weaknesses. After a few moments of etched silence, he shared with me that he felt quite confident in his clinical management of patients but felt insecure on the business side of practice. He felt he had relatively good communication skills, but was uncomfortable about the idea of "selling himself" to the community and looked at networking as a process that he did ot want to engage in.
With that level of honesty, we had a good starting point. It didn't take long to convince him that if he didn't become a student of the business of health care it would not take long for his new practice to be in deep trouble.
He agreed that one of the first things he would do would be to develop a business plan to include the marketing strategies necessary to launch the practice. He went to the local community where SCORE had an office that provided him with free support in the development of his business plan. With that in place, he now had a guidance system to follow on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
It did not take long for him to recognize that if he did not put his best foot forward on a daily basis and get out into the community that he had known since his childhood and reconnect with family, friends, former classmates and the rich resource of people there that he would have a difficult time getting the practice off the ground. With prodding and encouragement he worked at the development of a 30-second infomercial that he could share with individuals that he came in contact with on a daily basis. What he essentially said was how happy he was to be back home to follow his dream of becoming a chiropractor and he had opened his office and if the need should ever arise for chiropractic care he hoped they would consider coming to him.
At this point he would hand them a business card, and ask for theirs. That evening he would either send an email or a written note to the individuals that he met that day thanking them for taking the time to chat with him. His goal was to complete 10 encounters each day with this kind of interchange.
Although it was difficult in the beginning, he found that connecting with people could be a pleasant experience and within 10 weeks he had met over 500 people and was meeting his goals and
objectives that he set in his business plan.
He had also arranged for 1 speaking engagement a month as well as in-service programs at local family/internal medicine offices.
He took his weakness and converted it to a strength. You can do the same if you are willing to apply determination and persistence to reaching your goals.