Attorney Blog

Marketing to Thousands of Patients - What is Stopping You?

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Reaching thousands of people with your message consistently takes a lot of work or a good plan. For some, that sounds over whelming - but it doesn't have to be.

Halloween is scary - your marketing doesn't need to be, it's exciting, and it's doable when using a simple solution and following a carefully designed plan!

The single most valuable asset you have in your practice, other than yourself, is your list and the most important business development activity you can pursue is to create an ever expanding list of people who will respond to your marketing because you already have a relationship with them.

It's really that simple. So why is it that almost NO PROFESSIONALS, including professionals in the health industry, nurture, grow, and harvest this resource that, if tended to correctly, will enable you to achieve almost EVERY professional and personal goal you can pursue? The answer is they don't have the right tool to manage, maintain, and develop their list. Every Professional, Every Business, needs a powerful, automated, marketing database that makes communicating with your list easy. Top Practices will teach you how to use this tool along with your marketing plan to grow your company. The most important part is to have a plan!

The marketing database we recommend using as a tool is from Blue Orchid Marketing. It helps keep your marketing plan on the move automatically while you focus on building your practice. Whichever marketing database you use needs to be simple and not limited in its functionality. While using the many campaigns and additional marketing programs that have been developed by Top Practices, a marketing database makes working the plan easy while building your list. The Blue Orchid marketing database was designed with physicians and lawyers in mind. It's easy to learn in an hour or two. It's not a high expense product like the big Customer Relations Management Programs are. They were designed for companies with 50 or more employees in mind.

Top Practices will show you how to market online, offline, and use multi-step campaigns, newsletters, and virtually any kind of marketing effort you can think of, keeping in mind that this is what's at the heart of converting people into patients/clients/ and customers.

Some of our Top Practices Marketing Mastermind Members are experiencing high conversion numbers 38% or higher after 8 months with the use of our campaigns.

There really is a million dollars hiding in your office. All you've got to do is open the box, pour the contents into your marketing database, and add a campaign and you are on your way to building the practice you've always wanted.

If you have more questions about Top Practices please contact us at 717-625-2025 or visit our website at www.toppractices.com

Do You Know Your Numbers?

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST

Know Your Numbers and What to do With Them

I speak to a lot of doctors and the biggest problem they have is that they are seeing more patients today than ever, but they are getting paid less. One doctor told me today that there are weeks they struggle to make payroll.

Doctors face a lot of challenges today, including dealing with insurance companies, setting up an electronic medical records, and handling employees. These are just a few of the many issues that need to be handled. You can no longer just be the doctor. You have to be a business owner as well. The problem is there is never enough time to do both.

Well, it is time that you get your life back. It is time that you walk into your office every day and have a big smile on because you can't wait to start your work day. Wouldn't it be great to be in an office that runs very smoothly and efficiently? An office where your staff is happy and productive. Is it possible to have such an office with very little stress?
This can definitely happen. No, I am not in never ever land and I am not dreaming and I am not giving you any B.S. This kind of office does exist. More importantly, it can exist even if you are on vacation. If you can analyze your numbers, not your staff, and if you can train and re-train your staff, and set up systems to make your office flow smoothly, then you can have your dream practice. This is not going to happen overnight. It will take time. However, with two courses that Top Practices University offers, you can have a complete system set up for you within six weeks.

The first course is titled "Knowing Your Numbers and What to do with Them." In the course, you will learn how to conduct a comprehensive review of your practice and gauge the areas of practice strength and weakness.

You will:
• Use diagnostic formulas to understand the underlying causes for the strength
and weaknesses that will help you grow your practice.

• Develop a prescription for solving your problems and building on your
strengths, and,

• Work directly with me to implement the cure and be able to manage
your practice using an objective and data-driven approach.
The bottom line is that I can get my numbers via e-mail and be able to analyze my practice even without me being there. I can then put into place a plan to make the practice grow.
Analyzing your numbers for greater success is one thing, but the practice cannot grow without having systems in place, It is like inviting guests for dinner, but the house is a mess. Do you think the guests will return? I don't think so.
That is why we have another course entitled, "Organizing Your Staff and Practice: Managing your staff professionally by using comprehensive management tools, and procedures."

• Learn to use manuals provided through the course to create and implement
individual job descriptions for front office/back office/professional staff/
marketing staff/ and additional staff.

• Develop an Organizational Flow Chart.

• Use organizational tools, measurement tools, and benchmarks to evaluate
Performance.

• Learn how to prioritize a professional practice and the daily tasks involved.

• Learn how to significantly reduce stress, redundancies, inefficiencies, that
create a negative working environment and poor results.

Both courses are six weeks long and come with my unconditional guarantee that you will love it. Only six participants can participate at once and the deadline is approaching fast. The courses begin Wednesday, October 5th.

Be well my fellow colleagues. We are here to help.

Effective Marketing Will Bring Those Patients You Want to See Through Your Doors!

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

Build the Audiology Practice You Want

Owning your own Audiology Practice can be very rewarding if you decide to market it correctly. Whether you've just opened your doors or have been at it for 15 plus years, if you make the decision to take control of your business' future you can rollout or remake your practice in 3 to 6 months with a well designed marketing plan.

As business owners, we are a very fortunate group of people. We are truly responsible for our own success and we don't have to ask anyone's permission for anything. We recently conducted an exercise with a group of top performing Top Practices members. In this exercise, we discussed the differences in investing time and money in our own businesses compared to any other investment vehicle we could fathom. What we learned was incredible. Not one member could come up with a better investment than his/her own business. Nothing even came in as a close second. Of course there are always those crazy stories of incredible windfall returns, but we weren't discussing one-time investments that couldn't be replicated, we were discussing good solid investments that were reproducible year in and year out.

So why does all this matter:

As the Owners of Our Own Businesses, We Are Blessed to Have the Best Possible Investment Available to Us Under Our Own Direct Control!

So with that said then:

Why do so many of us find marketing our businesses so frustrating?
Why do we feel that marketing is a black hole that we pour money into that returns little or nothing?
Why are most of us working harder and longer and making the same or less money?
Why are so many of us exhausted much of the time?

The answer to these questions is easy to understand. No one taught us how to effectively market or promote our business in school. As a result we look around and just do what the next guy does. For whatever reason there's reassurance in doing the same thing as everyone else.

Because we are so overwhelmed where and how to start marketing, we just don't. Instead we believe that if we provide wonderful patient care and maintain a great work ethic then the word will get out and our business will grow. The only problem is that this approach is not sustainable. You will not acquire enough new patients to consistently grow your practice by just word of mouth.

So what's the answer?

At Top Practices we believe that every successful marketing program requires a system. A system that is opposite from what everyone else is doing.

Here is a top-level look at the Top Practices Audiology Marketing System:

1)Be Different - All your messaging, all your advertising, all your marketing must be different than your competition. This is accomplished by focusing on your prospective patients - not you.
2)Be Provocative - Now that you've got their attention because you focused on their issue(s) you've got to keep their attention in the form of a high value offer that is easy for prospective patients to accept.
3)Capture the data - You must build your list as big as possible and keep it fresh and maintained. You must always require contact info for which in return your prospective patients receive your high value offer.
4)Begin to market to your list intensively and persistently - With an informational conversion marketing campaign continue to educate these people who reached out to you for your initial high value offer.

Stop accepting the practice that walks through your doors! Find out more about how to effectively market your practice by visiting Top Practices at www.TopPractices.com.

Rem Jackson's Advice about the Market and What You Should Do

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

The answer to the question on everyone's mind about what to do about their investments is simple. Just keep doing what you are doing now. Invest your money in the market every month and then don’t obsess about what it does. It's called dollar cost averaging and it just works. It always has and it always will. Listen to any other advice and you're crazy.

But here is my number one stock pick for the next 10 to 20 years.

It is Your Practice.

The Best Investment You have Ever or Will Ever Make

Your Practice is the number one best investment you have ever made or ever will. It is under your complete control. It is capable of producing the best returns that you can get. Better than anything anyone can tell you about or give you a hot tip on.

No one can mess up this investment -except you.

The Best Time to Begin Marketing Your Practice like a Pro is the Day You Open it.

The Second Best Time is now.

If You are Going to Walk Through A Landmine, Follow Somebody

The problem that most doctors have is that they just aren't sure how to market their practices. And I've got the answer to that too.

Simply come to Las Vegas Nevada on Sept. 16,17, and 18 to Attend the Top Practices Double Digit Growth Conference for Podiatrists(in about 45 days) and learn how to do it right. At this conference you will learn exactly what to do to take the best investment of your life (your practice) and have it return Double Digit Growth in the next 12-18 months.

GET THE CONFERENCE INFO AND REGISTRATION FORM HERE

Think about this….is there ANY OTHER INVESTMENT ANYWHERE that can do that for you in the next 12-18 months?

No, there isn't. And yet, because you worked for years to earn the DPM degree and took the risk to open your own business, you now have the privilege of being able to control the single most valuable asset and investment there is -your practice -your small business.

WE JUST GOT A BIGGER ROOM AT THE HOTEL IN VEGAS

The Conference is being held at one of the nicest little hotels in Vegas according to TripAdvisor.com. The Platinum Hotel. Every room is a suite. And they just redesigned their meeting space for us and opened up 20 more seats. Seriously…they did.

Here is what will happen if you take my advice and come to this conference along with 120 of your colleagues.

The following Four Doctors and their staffs are going to compete for the Top Practices Marketer of the year award by presenting on stage EXACTLY HOW THEY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GROW THEIR PRACTICES SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE LAST 24 MONTHS. This is a "show and tell" presentation in which you will see exactly how your fellow doctors have used the Top Practices system to do EXACTLY what I've told you above is possible. These Doctors are:

Dr. Peter Wishnie from Piscataway NJ
Dr. Brandt Gibson from American Fork, UT
Dr. Misty McNeill from Elmhurst Il
Dr. Craig Thomajan, Austin, TX

You will be shown in a step by step fashion how to conceive, set up, promote, and implement a Heel Pain Center in Your Practice and literally explode the number of heel pain patients coming in the door. This applies to fungal nail centers, in-grown toenails, diabetes, wounds or any other niche area you want to develop
You will participate in a FIRST OF IT'S KIND closed door session for doctors only. This is a session to enable the doctors who own the practice and the doctors who work for them as associates (or partners) to work together much more effectively and get the most out of this critical business relationship. The more effectively you work together, the bigger and better your results will be.
You will see THE VERY BEST INTERNET MARKETING for podiatrists that can exist and learn exactly how to do it. There are so many snake oil salesman out there right now selling First Place on Google plans that are useless and terrible investments. You will know the facts before you leave the conference
You will learn how and when to spend your money.
You will learn how to turn your practice into a REFERRAL MACHINE.
You will also learn how to get your nights and weekends back -permanently by managing your practice differently.

I CAN'T DO ANYTHING MORE THAN ADVISE YOU

I can't sign you up for this conference. YOU HAVE TO DO THAT PART. But I can guarantee that this conference will be absolutely worth your time and money and that you will get EXACTLY what I say above and more.

Here is how: THIS CONFERENCE (THE ONLY ONE IN PODIATRY THAT I KNOW OF) IS 100% GUARANTEED. IF, AT ANY TIME, EVEN THE LAST FIVE MINUTES, YOU THINK THAT THIS CONFERENCE HASN'T DONE EVERTYHING I'VE TOLD YOU IN THIS EMAIL OR IN THE BROCHURE, YOU CAN TURN IN YOUR MATERIALS (WHICH INCLUDE A MARKETING PLAYBOOK WITH EVERYTHING IN IT) AND GET A 100% REFUND. NO QUESTIONS. NO CRYING. NO PROBLEM

I SLEEP VERY WELL AT NIGHT -HOW ABOUT YOU?

I have investments, just like you do. I would like the Dow to be a 20,000 just like you would. I know I can't control the market just like you know it. But I know that my business is a priceless, controllable, asset and investment in my future and my family's future. The number one thing I think about is the emotional and financial stability of my family and loved ones. So I focus on WHAT I CAN CONTROL -My Business. And I let dollar cost averaging take care of the rest. I'm 51 years old. The Dow will blow past 20,000 sometime in the next 20 years. IT WILL -IT ALWAYS HAS GROWN AND OUR AMERICAN SYSTEM - AS SCREWED UP AS IT IS, IS A WORK OF GENIUS. You're smart people -read your history -the US economy and political system is a hot crazy mess and has been since about 1778. Whatever. I focus on the incredible asset called my business and I IGNORE ALL THE IDIOTS AROUND ME WHO ARE RUNNING FOR THE DOORS. They have a name for those people -losers.

So, If you want to get out of the madhouse and learn from people who think that 10%-20% -28% growth in their practice year over year is a good thing that is achievable (they think this because they did it last year and the year before) then come to Las Vegas and join a group of winners. Cancel your newspaper subscription, and start planning for achieving your goals in both your professional and your personal life.

The Decision is now in Your hands

You can go to Top Practices and get the conference info and get registered before these last few additional seats are gone, or you can close this email and get started with your day.

The choice is all yours.

But I can tell you this…if you come to Las Vegas (and attend the conference -not the attractions) you will know exactly how to take MAXIMUM ADVANTAGE of the best investment you ever have made or will ever make -YOUR DPM LICENSE AND YOUR PRACTICE.

I GUARANTEE IT.

Dedicated To Your SUCCESS,

Rem Jackson, CEO AND FOUNDER OF TOP PRACTICES

PS - GO TO Top Practice s to get all the info you need.

Marketer of the Year Contest is Heating Up

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

The top podiatric practices in North America will be competing for the title of Marketer of the Year at the Top Practices Marketing and Management Summit to be held in Las Vegas, NV on September 16-18, 2011. This is a group of podiatric practices that have been achieving double digit growth in spite of poor economic conditions. The candidates are currently submitting their complete marketing plans to Top Practices in order to vie for this honor. A panel of judges will choose the top 4 podiatry marketing plans to be presented live at the Top Practices Summit. Prizes (including a new iPad2) will be awarded to all of the contestants that are selected to present and the top winner will be crowned Marketer of the Year 2011.

But the real winners are the podiatrists that will be in attendance. Summit attendees will be able to see in detail exactly how each practice implemented their innovative ideas and how they built their practices into some of the most successful practices in podiatry today. This is a great opportunity to see precisely how 4 of the top podiatric practices in North America have achieved their success as they "show us their best stuff".

Of course, this is only one of many reasons to attend the Summit. We will also teach you how to launch a heel pain center in your practice, how to be number one in your market on search engines, how to turn your practice into a referral engine, and how owner doctors and associate doctors can practice together effectively. You will leave with your own marketing plan that you can put into action to achieve double digit growth in your practice.

Space is limited and we are almost at capacity. A few seats remain. Click here to register right away. See you Vegas!

Benefit #14 of Membership in Top Practice Mastermind Group

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

The Benefit #14 of membership in the Top Practices Mastermind Group can be summed up in two simple words - Forward Momentum. Many of our members tell us that joining the Top Practices Mastermind Group was a pivotal moment for them, helping them to end the frustrations they had with their practice marketing and the way they manage their practices in general. One of the first steps you will take upon joining the group is a goal-setting exercise that allows you to clearly define your goals for your business and your personal life. This simple act alone gives you the definiteness of purpose that you need to move your practice forward. You will find that clarifying your goals gives you a roadmap to where you want to go. Having that roadmap in place helps keep you moving in the right direction. All of the other features of the Top Practice Mastermind Group help you on your way. You will begin to associate with other positive minded podiatrists and practitioners who have taken the same steps to improving their practices. You will benefit from their successes. Once you implement the Top Practices marketing program you'll begin to see many of the other benefits of membership: more new patients, more free time for you because your practice marketing is running like a well-oiled machine, and the feeling of looking forward to coming to work each day. Membership in the Top Practices Mastermind Group allows you to close the door on past frustrations of marketing and managing your practice and gives you forward momentum towards reaching all of your goals.

Join Rem Jackson for a FREE Webinar on How to Grow Your Podiatry Practice

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

Join Rem Jackson, CEO of Top Practices www.toppractices.com at 8PM on Tuesday July 19th for an unprecedented, no cost, public webinar focused exclusively on how you can grow your podiatry practice in double digits in the next 12 months.

There is a way (a system) that will enable you to attract the kinds of patients that you want in the numbers that you need, regardless of the economy, regardless of the situation in your local market. This webinar will outline the essential components of that system. This is a sophisticated training session that is being offered to the entire profession at no cost.

Topics that will be covered in this webinar:

How to evaluate your existing marketing efforts and, based on that evaluation, create a simple and targeted plan to increase your new and reactivated patient volume at greater than 10% in the next 12 months
How to use the Internet correctly to accomplish this goal
How to reinvigorate your referral marketing
How to stop spending money on marketing that doesn't work (including some examples of good ideas executed poorly)

There is no fee for this webinar, but you must register to participate. Simply click on the link below to reserve your seat. There are limited seats available (a large number but there is a limit and this is being offered to the entire profession so those seats will fill up rapidly) if you can't register for this webinar send an email with your contact info to lori@toppractices.com for assistance.
Join us for a Webinar on July 19 at 8:00 pm EDT

Join us for a Webinar on July 19 at 8:00 pm EDT

Registar Now - Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar Seat Now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/486835450

Top Practices Members Come to the Aid of a Fellow Podiatrist

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST

Last month, a podiatrist wrote to PM News with this inquiry: "I was wondering if many people out there have had experience with Rem Jackson's "Top Practices" seminar or his group in general. Has it been helpful and worthwhile?" Stephen Pirotta, DPM, Bentonville, AR

We were humbled by all of the kind and generous responses submitted by our Top Practices members. Of course, the responses did not come as a complete surprise to us because we hear great things every day from our members about the positive influence Top Practices has had on their practices and their lives in general. And it makes us feel really good to know that we are helping our members to grow and to reach their goals and dreams. Another reason that the response was not a total surprise to us is that we see the generosity of our members every day. Members in the Top Practices are achieving success in their practices, many say like they never have before, and they are willing to share their successes with everyone else in the group.

Understandably, Barry Block, DPM, Editor of PM News, had to close the discussion because there were just too many responses to include in the daily newsletter. We want to make sure that you get a chance to read all of them in their entirety so we added them to our website and you can find them here.

A heartfelt "Thank You!" to everyone who responded to Dr. Pirotta's inquiry. And, by the way, he decided to join us at the Top Practices Marketing and Management Summit in Las Vegas in September of this year. I hope you will join us too, so you can see firsthand how great our members are and begin to see the same results that they have experienced.

A Down Economy Doesn't Need to Impact Your Podiatry Practice

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST

A down economy, a slow recovery, a localized situation that is impacting employment in your local market is not a reason for your practice to be suffering. Your practice growth does not have to be declining, This is not an emergency.

The reason I can say this with confidence is through my direct experience. I founded Top Practices in Jan of 2007 and since that time have worked directly with Podiatrists, lawyers, other medical practices and some small businesses and have seen them achieve double -digit growth in the exact market in which other medical practices were down 10%, 15%, or more. The single difference is that these Top Practices had a program in place to grow their practices that was relied on nothing outside of their practice. In fact, as you already know, they grew their practices through "Word of Mouth". And "Word of Mouth" is completely under our control. Forget Washington, D.C., forget your state capital, and forget insurance companies too.

The fact is, any medical practice can market and grow their way to prosperity (by this I mean double-digit growth year over year) by taking control of their growth and by using their number one asset -their list. That list of people who know, trust, like and respect you.

Focusing on word of mouth does not mean hoping your happy patients will tell others about your or your referring medical practices will step it up. It means building a foundation that supports, builds, grows, and reaps the benefits of managing your list.

I've written extensively on how this works and I outline the foundation and the pillars of successful marketing in my book "Why Most Podiatry Marketing Doesn't Work and what you can do about it". You can have a free copy of this answer to effective practice marketing at http://www.toppractices.com/.

What Professional Relationship is Most Important?

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST

This critical relationship can often be difficult and frustrating for both parties, and yet it must be successful in order for both parties to achieve their professional and personal objectives. The challenges that face the doctors can be many: generational, personality, training, and lack of congruency of the goals to name a few. But the biggest issue is communication and cooperation.

The issue, as I see it from my direct work helping these doctors market their medical practices is that the new practitioners have highly developed skills, often quite beyond the training of the doctors who are hiring them to work in the practice, but they come with unrealistic and unmanageable expectations of what it is really like to work in a private practice. The pace and the kind of work that is needed to succeed is very different than what they learned in their training.

It is imperative that the wisdom and experience of the veteran doctor and the energy and expertise of the newer practitioner be integrated for the health and growth of everyone involved.

Frustration practicing together, confusion and stress are not a requirement of practicing in a multi-generational practice. I'm hosting a workshop at the Top Practices Summit that directly addresses this challenge and offers strategies to sort it out.

Go to http://www.toppractices.com/ to download the conference brochure and learn more. This CLOSED DOOR SESSION for doctors only is described on page three of the brochure.

What Does a Good Marketing Program Look Like?

Wed, 25 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

I am frequently asked what a good marketing plan looks like for a medical office, whether it is a podiatry practice, aesthetic surgery practice, audiology, or any of the medical specialties we work with here at Top Practices. New members to Top Practices say it like this - How Can I Market my Podiatry Practice without breaking the bank. My first response is that marketing shouldn't be frustrating or expensive, as long as it work. The problem is that most marketing doesn't work because most doctors are doing it backwards. Here are the key mistakes they are making in their medical practice marketing:

They rely on salespeople to teach them what to do. There are swarms of salespeople who would like to do nothing more than separate you from your profits, all in the name of marketing. They are always selling something - Websites, SEO, Val-Pak, telephone books, or the newest one -online services from the same people that brought you the phone book. Don't rely on salespeople to give you marketing advice, it's inherently flawed.
They practice what I a friend of mine calls MSMD marketing, "Monkey See, Monkey Do." Just because everyone else in your market is doing something doesn't mean it is working, in fact, it usually means the opposite. So, don't try to outdo your competitors all that will happen is that you'll both waste bigger and bigger amounts of money.
They don't have a plan. The most successful doctors I work with all have a plan. A plan that is built on a solid foundation. A plan that is designed to attract new patients to you from many different sources and then, over time, convert them into patients. They key is to do it over time. There is no silver bullet -only salespeople will tell you that. But there is a sold plan with a good foundation that can help you build the practice you want, not the practice that just keeps coming in the door.

The key strategy they do employ that works is to listen to people who have earned the right to tell them what to do, because they've done it and it works. That is the entire point behind becoming a member of Top Practices. Getting the very best advice (invaluable advice) from how to grow your medical practice from doctors who know how because they've done it and from the experts who have helped them accomplish it. Visit http://www.toppractices.com/ and request Why Most Podiatry Marketing doesn't Work which you can have at no cost immediately and learn about the foundation of good medical practice marketing.

Vegas! What Top Practices does in Vegas Definitely Won't be Staying in Vegas!

Tue, 10 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

What happens in Vegas definitely won't be staying in Vegas this September after Top Practices holds its 5th annual Marketing and Management Summit. This year's program is full of great ideas on how to build a really effective patient attraction system for your practice. We will be covering a big range of podiatry marketing topics including how to launch a heel pain center and dominate your market, how to be page one on Google in your market and stay there, and how to turn your practice into a referral engine that never loses steam. We'll also cover podiatry practice management topics such as turning your staff into a motivated team, and handling growth and eliminating the stress of running a practice so you can get your nights and weekends back. And this year, for the first time, we will be holding a closed door session for doctors and their associate DPMs only. The goal of this session is to teach both parties how to practice together more effectively. This is a core issue in any practice that has associate doctors and we intend to address it head on.

The Summit will be held September 16, 17, and 18 at the Platinum Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. The Platinum is voted one of the top 5 best hotels in Las Vegas on tripadvisor.com. The Summit WILL SELL OUT just as it has in past years, so register early by visiting http://www.toppractices.com/or click here to see the full conference proceedings.

Open Your Mind To The Possibilities

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST

There are two ways you can view the coming changes in Podiatry. You can, as many do, see a future in which you have to work harder, see more patients, be paid less, and struggle just to maintain the levels you are at now.

You can view the upcoming changes as an opportunity (possibly the greatest opportunity in your career) to move your practice forward and build the practice you want instead of accepting the practice that just continues to walk in the door. The building blocks are all there if you are willing to open your mind to the possibilities.

Consider the following:

1. As our population ages there will be a very large group of people (the largest generation in the history of the human race) experiencing an ever-increasing series of problems with their feet and ankles.

2. As the government and other forces continue to intrude into health care, those podiatrists who are less equipped to deal with change will leave the profession and there will be fewer doctors to treat this expanding population.

3. The services that a podiatrist is now able to offer his/her patients are continuing to grow significantly, offering podiatrists the ability to provide a very high level of care and increase the health of the bottom line of practice as well.

4. There is now a deep understanding of how to market a podiatric practice that simply didn't exist in the past and a culture of sharing best practices is emerging in the profession.

Don't Send the Wrong Message

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

Most marketing doesn't work because we are sending out the wrong message. People don't care about us, they care about them. They are too busy to focus on anything except what's important to them. So if you want to attract heel pain patients focus your marketing message on the problems and concerns that heel pain patients have. Good marketing always "Enters the conversation that is already going on in the mind of the person you want to attract."

The Most Important Thing You Can Do

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

The most successful people in every profession have one characteristic in common. They are goal driven. Truly successful, high performing people have written down their goals and they review them at least twice a month. You should write goals in the following categories: Lifetime, 3 Year, 1 Year, Quarterly. You should have goals for your Business, Personal Life, Financial, Health, and Fun. One of the greatest competitive secrets in life is that almost no one takes the time to do this. But those that do achieve more than everyone else combined. Remember: A Goal, not reduced to writing and reviewed often, is a mere wish.

How to Motivate Your Staff

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST

Stephen Covey wrote in "The Seven Habits of Highly Motivated People" that Trust is the highest form of human motivation. People respond when they know that you believe that they are the absolute best person for the job and that you trust them to get the job done right and on time. This trust doesn't preclude the fact that you need to train and inspect work until they rise to the level of that trust, but nothing will motivate people more than to simply know that you believe in them.

Yellow Pages Near Extinction

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST

Yellow-pages industry hit hard by economic downturn

According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal online last month, the yellow pages industry is facing near extinction. Customers have migrated to the Web in recent years and have left print directories like the Yellow Pages behind. The industry tried to keep up by offering online directories, but that strategy has not worked out for them, mostly because the audience for online directories remains small and traffic growth is slowing. Print and online ad spending on yellow pages is expected to drop by 6.3% next year, more than double the rate of decline expected for other media. Within the next four years, ad spending on print directories will decline by 39%.

It is no longer practical (or economical) to rely solely on the Yellow Pages for your marketing. They are going the way of the dinosaur. It' s now more important than ever to build a marketing machine that will continue you to provide a steady stream of new patients that need the services you provide!

Marketing Mindsets

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST

Mindset Number ONE: The true purpose of your practice or business is to serve YOU and to fund your IDEAL LIFESTYLE – not the other way around. YOU MUST BEGIN BY PUTTING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE FIRST AND GETTING YOUR PRACTICE PRIORITIZED CORRECTLY.

Mindset Number TWO: A goal not reduced to writing and reviewed often is a MERE WISH.

Database Marketing

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST

BlueOrchidMarketing provides the best marketing database tool on the market. It makes it easy to set up any marketing campaign to grow your business or practice. This company is top-notch at handling all the details to make sure your campaign is rolled out to your targeted list according to your specifications.

How to Recession Proof Your Practice

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST

How To Recession Proof Your Practice

In his book No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits marketing guru Dan Kennedy states that there are two steps to take to thrive in business during economic downturns or what he calls "crisis opportunities". The first step is to "provide an ever escalating, exceptional, even phenomenal level of customer service, delivered by exceptionally competent, highly trained, highly incentivized, and highly policed humans." While all of the other masses of businesses in your field and in general are doing the opposite and cutting costs by cutting level of service you will be able to distinguish yourself by providing exceptional service. The second step is to "design your business and aim your marketing at the affluent consumers who are least affected by overall economy ups and downs, who do not use price as a decision factor, who have demonstrated preference for exceptional service and a willingness to pay for it." While at first glance this may not seem like very practical advice for a medical practice, members of the Top Practices Mastermind group know that there are all kinds of ways for podiatrists to up sell and cross-sell to their patients who are not limited by cost and health insurance restraints.

Postage increase causes some business owners to cut back on mailings.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST

According to this survey, the recent postage increase will affect the amount of mailing done by 43% of your competitors. This is not the time to cut back on your mailing - it's the time to mail more to take advantage of this competitive edge!

August 1, 2008 — infoUSAPoll.com surveyed thousands of small-business executives across the country on June 30th about whether the increase in postage will change business practices, in particular advertising spends. In the poll, regarding the question, “Will the postage increase affect your advertising?” the results were relatively close, however, 7 percent more of businesses surveyed said the additional costs would impact business versus those who responded the costs would not have an impact.

The results:

· 43 percent (451 respondents) said yes, it would affect advertising.

· 36 percent (372 respondents) said no it would not affect advertising.

· 21 percent (214 respondents) said it does not apply.

The margin of error for this week’s poll is plus or minus 3 percent. infoUSAPoll.com emailed the survey question to small business executives across the country.