All doctors want their staff involved in the practice. All want them to experience better
health through Chiropractic. All want them to refer their family members and friends for Chiropractic care. Most of all doctors want their staff members talking to the public, telling them how fantastic Chiropractic is and how they should consult their doctor for care.
Question is…..is your staff really out there telling the world how great you are? More likely than not your staff really likes you, really appreciates you and will refer patients to you, however; are they shouting your name from the highest rooftop? Hope they are, however; if they are not there are ways to get your staff excited about you, your office, what they do and why they do it.
While it is said money cannot buy happiness I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t enjoy having a bit more than they do. One way for your staff to earn more money is to establish an incentive program wherein they are rewarded for helping your practice grow. Establish incentive in one or more areas. It can be for number of new patients seen in a given period of time, number of patient visits, amount of income received. All of these will get the staff involved and enhance practice growth.
First thing to do is obtain an average for all of the areas you wish to include in the incentive program. Go back a minimum of six months and see how many new patients you are seeing per month, week, day. Same with patient visits and income.
Once the averages are obtained a goal shall be sat for the next month. Lets say you’d like to see a 5% growth over average. You set each of your goals to grow 5% then pay incentive on everything above that goal.
Incentive programs are nothing new, however; many are not set up for constant success. Too often a goal is set for the month but nothing in between. Staff gets excited when the program is first mentioned, however; will not be rewarded until the end of the time frame established to be rewarded. If the goal seems within reach in the 3rd week of the month they will go like the dickens, if not then they may adopt the attitude… “ah, what’s the use….we’re not gonna reach that goal!”
You also want to keep incentive rewards on their mind constantly. To do so break down incentives on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. They will be rewarded in every area goals are reached. While daily incentives for new patients may not be practical, weekly NP goals/incentives surely are. Daily goals can easily be established for patient visits and income. Lets say your averages over the past six months reveal you had 20 NP Per Month, 600 PV’s and an Income of 10,000.00. You now set your goal for the coming month shooting for a 5% increase in all areas. That would mean you need to see 21NP, 630 PV and generate 10,500.00 income. Breaking that down weekly you will need to see more than 5 np,158 pv and take in more than 2625.00. Daily can include np at more than 1/day, pv of 32/day, income of 657.00/day. Now establish the incentives. Graduate them from smaller to larger going from day to week to month. Something like this:
For np’s over 1/day=2.00, over 5/wk = 5.00 and over 21/mo=10.00
For pv’s over 32/day=.25, over 158/wk=.50 and over 630/mo=1.00
For every 100.00 over 657./day=1.00, every 500.00 over 2625/wk=5.00 and every 1000/mo=10.
Before long a tremendous team effort is underway. Every staff member is doing their part to see to in incentives are reached. Everyone is working on getting new patients. The staff member mainly responsible for scheduling will work harder to see patients keep/reschedule appointments and the staff member who handles AR’s will work harder to see to it accounts are being paid.
Understandably there will be days where some goals are met and others aren’t. Days where none of the goals will be met but some or all will at the end of the week or month. This type of graduated incentive program keeps staff on their toes, keeps them excited about doing their job and can have a substantial impact on their income. In the true sense of the definition they are becoming partners in the practice. Incentives start all over the next month using the 5% growth factor based on the end figures of the month. If one monthly goal is not reached it remains the same until it has been.
When using daily, weekly and monthly goals the practice is growing in little but constant increments; however a persistent 5%/month growth will result in a 60% growth per year…..accomplishing more than ½ again what was being accomplished before the incentive program was incorporated.
There could be one “BIG” incentive for all to consider. Look at your goal for the year for income. Set a figure several thousand dollars higher than the goal letting the staff know upon reaching that goal each staff member shall receive an all expense paid 7 day cruise. Close the office for a week and celebrate a job very well done.
Getting your staff involved and more excited about the work they do will result in priceless rewards for you.