Emotional Triggers
Major human nature rule here, pay attention. People don’t buy features, they buy benefits! They buy and do things based on an emotional response to how it makes them feel. In other words, they don’t want the product, they want how the product is going to make them feel. Hard Lesson Here: (Put your philosophy on the shelf. You are running a business now, not sitting in Chiropractic Philosophy Class) Patients could care less about chiropractic, but they do care about how it makes them feel.
Real Life Example: People buy cars for different reasons. Find out why they want a particular car. A “soccer mom” wants a mini-van for comfort and taking the kids to games. So you would not try to sell her a sports car. You have to approach and educate her differently than another soccer mom looking for more storage space and airbag safety. Different benefits, same features.
Same with chiropractic. A soccer mom may want chiropractic for a different reason than the teenage athlete. She needs to get back to taking care of the kids without her back hurting or the house will fall apart, and the teen wants to beat the track record this school year.
Your job as a skilled clinician is to find their Emotional Hot Button.
How do you do that? Easy, use the first rule of good communication. SHUT UP and listen! Great doctors know that 90% of your diagnosis comes from what the patient says. Stop talking so much and let the patient spill the beans. You have to be in tune with what they are saying while observing their mannerisms.
I’m sure you have heard it before, you have two ears and one mouth, use them accordingly. Note here: Listening intently doesn’t mean losing control of the conversation. Don’t let them ramble on incessantly. Steer the conversation to where you want it to go. How do you do that? By asking open ended questions. (More on that later)
Examples of Hot Buttons: Ask about hobbies, career, activities they enjoy, things they love to do but no longer can because of the condition. Write these on the inside part of their chart so the Hot Buttons are visible at every visit. When you get busy with more patients you will forget. Bring them back to the hot button every week. Drop me a line and let me know how this strategy works.
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