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Build A Profitable Chiropractic Practice Through Complementary Products PDF   E-mail
Written by Neil Butterfield   
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
As chiropractor you are all too aware that many people do think of medical professionals as business people. However, just like other businesses, you need to make more revenue and build a more profitable business. While boosting the efficacy of your practice through changes to scheduling and billing may help increase your profits, it may not be enough. Fortunately, you have a number of unique opportunities to offer complementary products through your practice.
by NeilButterfield


As chiropractor you are all too aware that many people do think of medical professionals as business people. However, just like other businesses, you need to make more revenue and build a more profitable business. While boosting the efficacy of your practice through changes to scheduling and billing may help increase your profits, it may not be enough. Fortunately, you have a number of unique opportunities to offer complementary products through your practice.

One way that many chiropractors are increasing revenues is by offering other alternative health services such as acupuncture and massage. This makes sense because recent patient surveys show that many patients see their chiropractor as a trusted source of information for alternative health techniques. This provides an excellent opportunity for chiropractors to diversify their services by offering add-on services such as therapeutic massage.

One of the best complementary products for boosting your profits is nutritional supplements. Your patients are probably already using supplements of some type and are very likely to believe that supplements will help maintain their good health. You will have little competition from traditional doctors. A study on the use of supplements by primary care doctors found that supplements were rarely recommended as a result of the doctor's discomfort with their own experience and knowledge of supplements and their benefits. Furthermore, on a quiz about the known benefits of certain supplements, primary care doctors scored very low. This is probably why patients are most likely to talk with their chiropractor about supplements. This means that you have an outstanding opportunity to sell a product your patients already want and believe will benefit them.

Selling supplements to your patients benefits your business in ways that go beyond the profit earned on the supplements themselves. When your patients purchase supplements from you, they often will develop a level of comfort and trust with you and your recommendations. Due to this improved relationship with your patients, you will be very likely to see an increase in referrals from your patients and repeat business.

Building a successful supplement business requires that the chiropractor consider each patient and his history when recommending supplements. Making recommendations that align with a patient's health concerns will create a greater impact and a deeper level of trust. For example, recommending fish oil as an intervention for a patient with high triglycerides builds trust and credibility for the chiropractor. Ideally, the chiropractor should select a line of high quality supplements that can be purchased wholesale. It is also important to stock the supplements. This way the chiropractor can recommend and sell the supplement during the same visit. This is similar to the way a traditional doctor might send a patient home with samples of a recommended drug. Purchasing supplements wholesale and having them on hand to send home with a patient will allow a chiropractor to build a successful supplement business and lead to greater improvements in revenue.

Boost your chiropractic practice's bottom line by incorporating additional alternative health practices including supplements. Surveys have shown that patients have a greater degree of trust towards their chiropractors when it comes to alternative and complementary health techniques. Selling a high quality line of supplements can help patients maintain better health while earning decent additional revenue.

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