from Honora Lee Wolfe (with help from Daniel Schulman)

1. Set Your Fees and stick to them. You can offer an occasional discount day for special groups, fundraising events, clients’ birthdays, patients’ children, or an ongoing pay-at-the-time-of-service discount if you regularly bill insurance. But you work with all your brain and body on each patient…don’t sell yourself short.
2. Do the Math. Figure out what you need for overhead and a decent living. Assume the average patient will visit you six times (this is remarkably accurate in most cases). With these numbers you can see how many patients you need each year, month, week, etc. This may be easier than you think to accomplish. For example, to create $100,000 per year before tax, you need 200 patients to average six visits with at $75 per visit (treatments, herbs, other product sales). Put another way, you need 1200 patient visits per year, 100 per month, or 25 per week at about $75 per visit. The math makes it feel less overwhelming.
3. Be Clear about everything: fees, policies, beliefs about whom you can help and how many treatments it will take. Remain flexible, but the more clear and honest you can be with your patients, the respect you will receive in return is remarkable. When asked “can you help me” and “how long will it take,” you can honestly say “the treatment is the diagnosis” and you’ll know more in two or three treatments. Such an answer allows you to be clear…even about your lack of clarity.
4. A Modest Confidence. Even when confronted with the most complex, confusing cases, know that you can trust the lineage of the medicine. Don’t melt down in fear and confusion (at least not in front of the patient!). Do a treatment with the most love and confidence you can muster, and see what happens. You will often be happily surprised.
5. Provide Comfort. Make your treatment rooms into havens. The lighting, atmosphere, music, air quality, art, pillows, temperature, furnishings…should all be designed to foster relaxation and quell anxiety.
6. Non-attachment to Results. Do your utmost and best with each patient in diagnosis and treatment. Do not allow yourself to be lazy. Then be an impartial spectator with regards to results and average out your effectiveness rate over 4-5-6 weeks, not one or two treatments. Learn from each patient encounter and allow your practice to flow and unfold.
7. Develop Good Habits. In your first years of practice, everything from how you set up treatment rooms, what type of history/intake forms you use, how your phone gets answered, to what acupuncture style you adopt, will become hard-wired. Force yourself to try different things that you’ve learned so you don’t fall into clinical ruts. Ask yourself, “could I do this part of my practice better?” or “do I like this system that I’ve developed.”
8. Plan Your Work; Work Your Plan. When marketing and connecting with your community, don’t let fear or laziness get in your way. When you get a “no” or resounding silence from one idea you’ve pursued, move on to the next. There is no need to be discouraged and every reason to pick up the phone or put on your walking shoes and make the next call, arrange the next visit, do the next lecture.

Assume success and have faith in yourself!

Honora Wolfe is co-author of Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists. See her books, classes, blog archive at www.bluepoppy.com. Dan Schulman practices in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Get more free stuff from Honora at www.honoraontheroad2012.com!

by Honora Lee Wolfe

Today I had a discussion with my son about the relative merits of voice mail vs. text messages. He’s right, I need to give it up and learn to use texting if I want to stay in touch with him. That said, although I am trying to march bravely into the 21^st century where technology is concerned, I still believe that we need telephones and we need to use them wisely to be successful. Here are notes from a recent lecture I gave about the importance of your telephone. While it seems like a no-brainer to me that our phones should function like any professional medical office, my experience is that at least 80% of acupuncturists rarely answer their phones! When I call an acupuncturist's office during working hours and all I get is an answering machine, my response to this is always "really?"..."I mean, come on folks!"  "Can't we do better???" "

My belief is that we could do better and that the practitioners who are making the best living made a decision early in their careers to hire someone else to answer the phone for them, promptly, intelligently, and courteously between 9 and 5! If we want to have "medical parity" in terms of respect and public expectation, this would be one good way to move in that direction. So...here are my suggestions.

Staffing your phone

If you cannot always answer the phone, create a way to get your messages as instantaneously as possible:

• Answering service, buzzer on your belt, pager, check messages once per hour, MyReceptionist.com
• Make a short-term goal to have someone answering your phone within a year. I guarantee you will make more money and there's plenty of other stuff this person can do to help you grow and manage your practice! For a laundry list of ideas about that, see page 205 of the current edition of Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists

Inbound calls: Make the number easy to find.

• Your phone number should be on every piece of written material that goes out your door
• You need to write down what you or your receptionist will say when people call. How do you want your phone answered? Don't let someone else determine this for you!
• What are the most common questions prospective patients ask and how will you answer them? (This could also be used as an FAQ on your website and a handout in your presentation folder).

Inbound calls: Answering the phone

• Speak clearly, slowly, and smile when you answer the phone (People can hear it.)
• Return calls promptly
• Better yet, answer your phone every time!
• “White Crane Clinic, this is Joseph, how may I help you?” Or…“Thank you for calling White Crane Clinic. How may I help you?”

Inbound calls: Answering questions

People ask pretty predictable questions, so write down how you want to answer the most common ones. You’ll sound more intelligent and your receptionist will thank you!

• Do you do acupuncture? (Of course you do, but what other services?)

• How much does it cost for a treatment?

• How many treatments will I need?

• Can acupuncture treat my________?

• Do you have experience treating ____?

• How often will I have to come in?

• Are there any discounts?

• Can you bill my insurance?

Inbound calls:  When patients have problems

How will you answer these types of question? My thought is not to be defensive, listen carefully, don’t panic, be honest, and have a plan in advance. (Such as having them come back in, offering a liniment to help with any bruising, reviewing their chart to see if you missed something…but generally going TOWARD the problem and not stonewalling or running away from it.)

• “Hi, this is ___ and I was in yesterday. You gave me some herbs…well, I took them last night and I couldn’t sleep. So I stopped taking the herbs. What do you think I should do?”

• “Hi, this is ___ and I was in this morning. Well, I have developed a bruise where you needled me. It’s kind of painful and I need to know when this will go away.”

Outbound calls…

• Bonding call: “Hi, this is Joe from White Crane Clinic. We like to call our new patients within 24 hrs of your first visit to our clinic to see how you are doing, if you have any further questions, and what your response to the treatment was.”

• Reminder calls: A call/text message/email the day before every single appointment cuts down on patients forgetting or blowing off their appointments by 50% or more!

Outbound calls: To research the reason for a disappearing patient

• Hello, this is Joe from White Crane Clinic. We noticed that you had cancelled your last treatment and haven’t rescheduled. We were wondering…..

- if there was any problem

- if you are all well

- if there is something we could have done better

- if you’d like to try a different type of therapy that we offer

Outbound calls:  To request referrals

”Hello, this is Joe from White Crane Clinic. I recently sent you a letter about my specialty acupuncture practice in sports acupuncture. I wonder if you’ve had time to read it. At present, I have a patient who needs something other than what I offer and I may wish to refer them to you. Do you have time to chat for a few minutes, or could I visit you at your clinic later on this week?”

The Telephone is not dead!!!

•  People like to speak with a real person

•  People like to feel heard and understood

•  Really using the phone effectively is a way to set yourself apart in our profession! (unfortunate, but true)

•  Use the phone effectively and not jst 2 txt ppl or chk eml or whtevr.

•  Remember that many patients are boomers and they, at least, still like to talk on the phone! For most of the above uses, a real voice is better than a text message.

To check out my video on the above topic, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_dXVu2bZhY&list=UUlUh7FwkY04rwqWzOnJQX3Q&index=12&feature=plpp_video

For more marketing articles see this blog archive or check out my book, Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists.

by Honora Lee Wolfe

Remember when you were a student or a brand new practitioner? Chinese medicine was endlessly fascinating and working with each new patient was an exciting challenge that propelled you to your office with a combination of joy and curiosity each day. After a few years in practice however, the bloom may be off the rose. Practice may feel repetitive and not very interesting. You may feel tired of listening to other people’s complaints and daydream about being a NASCAR driver, a photographer for National Geographic, or a rock star. Maybe your practice is full and you are making a decent living, but cannot find a way to grow your practice or your income any further. In recent weeks, I’ve spoken to several successful practitioners with these types of problems asking me to help them re-energize their interest in their work, get their groove back, or just figure out how to change their current practice situation so that it brings them more satisfaction. I’ve been giving these issues some thought and here are my ideas for those of you in the doldrums for one reason or another.

1. Practice fewer hours or fewer days per week. If your practice is full and the load is getting you down, change your schedule. Let go of one day per week for six months and see if that refreshes your psyche and allows you to be more present for the patients that you do see. You might consider hiring someone else to take over the day or days that you are not there. Charge a little less for appointments with the new practitioner, and pay them a flat salary for standing in for you one or two days per week. You are giving a younger practitioner a job and much needed experience, you can still make a little money on this person’s work, and you have time to rest your bodymind. Then….
2. Take up a new hobby or learn a new skill. This might be dance classes, large metal sculpture in the afternoons, learning to sing, speak a new language, or do amateur NASCAR style racing! You could also work for a political cause that’s near and dear to your heart. Whatever it is, it may allow you the variety in your life to feel that your work is interesting to you while you are there.
3. Take up a new in depth subject within Chinese medicine. Have you felt that one or more areas of study eluded you when you were in school? Did you feel that you could learn herbs again from the beginning? Is there a teacher out there whose work has fascinated you but you have yet to attend any of their classes? Would you like really become good at one specialty? Do you have an interest in one of the new doctoral programs? Do you want to learn Chinese so that you can access the medical literature in its original tongue? If so, then do it now. Take that time you have gained back from practicing less and use it to increase your skill and knowledge. You may be surprised at what you learn and how much it energizes you.
4. Take a “vacation” and volunteer for a free acupuncture program. There are more and more opportunities these days for expanding your horizons about what this medicine can do. There is the Guatemala Acupuncture Project, Acupuncturists Without Borders, the Yayasan Bumi Sehat Clinic in Bali with a satellite clinic in Banda Aceh, or numerous small local volunteer efforts around the country. If you cannot find an organization like this that suits your interests, then create one! How about a Native American reservation? Or a free public clinic in Uganda? You may find that being a volunteer for a few weeks for people who really, really need your services may give you incredible inspiration and be something you want to do every year.
5. Steer your practice toward a very specialized niche that you enjoy. It is always true that being a specialist allows you to get really good at something. The confidence that comes from going really deeply into one group of diseases or one type of treatment has many benefits. Confidence is seductive; people can feel it radiate from you and they will respond to it. Also, everyone knows that specialists charge more than GPs for their time.
6. Raise your prices. It may be that you feel completely different about your work when you are making more per increment of time spent. You may lose a few patients, but most people experience that they end up with the same number or even more when they take this step. When was the last time you raised your rates? If it was more than three years ago, it really is time to do it.
7. Repaint your clinic with some bright, bold colors, buy some new artwork, fountains, carpets, window coverings, or a new treatment table. You will be surprised by how much changing the look of your clinic can alter your state of mind. Do this especially if you have white, grey, tan, or cream colored walls surrounding you every day. Remember that rich colors and beautiful surroundings are healing both to your patients and to you!
8. Go buy some beautiful new pieces for your wardrobe. Have you ever watched one of those “make-over” TV shows?? Did you ever notice how the “after” person is usually more attractive, more powerful, and more effective than the “before” person? You can experience this phenomenon, too, by getting a few really beautiful and probably expensive items to wear to work. I am not saying that clothes will make you a better acupuncturist, but I do know from experience that when I am dressed like a million bucks, I not only feel more beautiful, but more powerful, more energized, even more intelligent! While I don’t suggest shopping therapy on a regular basis, I do know that we should wear our most beautiful clothes to the office. Why should they stay in your closet? What are you waiting for? Again, remember that beauty is healing.
9. Hire an intern. If you have been in successful private practice for some time, you probably have a lot to share with a student or new practitioner, whether you know it or not. By hiring a part time employee, you serve the community by creating a job, take off some of the load of work in your practice, and you also do a great service by helping a young practitioner learn what it really takes to run a practice. When we what we know by teaching by teaching it to others, even in an informal way, we find out the depth and breadth of our knowledge as nothing else can show us. Who knows, you may be inspired enough to hire an advanced student or young practitioner each year to help them toward their own success. Bringing in other people adds energy and a new element to your practice, so sit down and make a list of all the things such a person could do to lift responsibilities from your shoulders.
10. Work on a list of long-term goals. What would you like to be doing in 10 years? What will it take to get there? Who do you need to contact for help to reach these goals? What are your absolutely wildest dreams? If they don’t include the practice of this medicine, then how will you plan your departure for the least chaos and the most success? If they do include the practice of this medicine, how would you want it to be different from what it looks like today?

Remember, a good relationship with your work is not unlike a marriage. It requires a little work and TLC every day to keep that spark of interest alive. If you have other ideas on how to keep your interest in your practice alive and energized, please send them to me at honora@bluepoppy.com

Honora Lee Wolfe, Dipl.Ac., lives in Boulder, CO and is the author of Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists and The Successful Chinese Herbalist. For other books and free articles by Honora, visit www.bluepoppy.com.

by Honora Wolfe

As we get older, time becomes our most precious commodity. There is never enough and every piece of our work, every patient, every errand can become a burden on what seems to be our stretched-too-thin schedules. Our personal lives, our relationships, and our health may suffer the consequences.  So, here are a few tips to help you keep yourself organized and your time managed in such a way that a bike ride, time with your family, a manicure, or a trip to your own massage therapist or acupuncturist (imagine that!) fits into your schedule with more ease. If you really get good at this, your schedule will feel more like easy, free-flowing qi than a rigid, “scheduled”, life.

1. Invest some time to plan each day.
At the end of each work day, take a few minutes to review and prioritize a to-do list for the next day’s work. Block out time for each task or set-of-tasks and put them onto/into your calendar or other planning software or system.  The, when you come into work the next day, you can use your to-do list or planning calendar to keep yourself prioritized and on task.

2. Consolidate paper!
Eliminate all but one planning tool/software or calendar. Get rid of those little sticky notes, to-do lists, and scraps of paper.  If you use planning or calendar software, try to integrate phone numbers into the software or into the calendar so you can reference them quickly.

3. Batch all the little tasks.
Bills to pay? Errands to run? Trying doing them all at once if you can. You might even take a ½ day per week and just do all your errands at that time, both personal and professional. Do the same for phone calls that you need to make or emails to answer, creating a block of time on your calendar to get them done. You cannot imagine how good it feels to get your most-dreaded marketing phone call out of the way by 10AM! Or, take twenty minutes at the end of each day to call patients, both checking on the new ones that just came in or contacting the old ones that you have not seen for months.

4. Keep quiet.
See what happens if, for one week, you never talk to your patients or your staff and colleagues about anything other than the care of your patients. No movies you’ve seen, gossip about the neighbors, what’s happening with your son’s soccer team, just your patient’s health and care. Most people in our profession are too friendly and, as such, we get sucked into talking to our patients about everything under the sun. Just think what it would be like if you gained back 5-15 minutes from every patient visit! You could do more marketing, see another patient if you don’t need to do any marketing, or go to that yoga class you’ve been thinking about. Learning how to control your own talking and the talking of your patients without being rude, can be a huge boon to you personally and to your practice.

5. Never handle a piece of mail more than once.
Read it and respond, pay the bill, file the report, recycle the paper, or do whatever is required, and then forget it. If you go to the office early, take time to go through and process the mail. That way it does not pile up on your desk and get lost. Create an “end-of-day or end-of-week” file for any pieces that require more time or thought. Look through the file at least once per week and decide what you want to do with that piece of information and then do it. This is another powerful tool for maintaining order on your desk and in your brain.

6. Can you say yes to this one?
Do more than a few of your emails and phone conversations begin with “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to your sooner, but...”?  If so, you may really need the above suggestions!

7. Find some supplies to help you stay organized....
Take a trip to the closest Crate & Barrel, OfficeMax, or other store with supplies for helping people stay organized. Think about the ways in which you like to store and retrieve information and what your personal habits are in your office. Spend a little time and money choosing and purchasing some items to help you stay organized. Choose ones that you really like so that you will actually use them!


8. What could be automated?
These days almost everything except treating your patients can be done online! Appointment scheduling for your patients, banking (automatic monthly payments, payroll deposits), purchasing supplies, can be done by your computer with a small outlay for software or monthly payments for various functions.Even some marketing functions can be automated with regular email marketing companies. What could you set up so that you only have to think about it once a month or once a year?

9. Read up.
Really want the low down on organizational skill and time management?  Get a book by Peter Gordon, one of the best time-management gurus out there.

I hope one or two of these ideas help you get more organized and give you the time you need to reach your goals, grow your practice, or just relax more often, more quickly. For more tips on growing your practice and managing it efficiently, keep you eye open for my book, Points for Profit: The Essential Guide to Practice Success for Acupuncturists by Honora Wolfe, Eric Strand, and Marilyn Allen, 4th edition!