Frequency of Treatment, Markets

[Guest guest]

I find good results can be had treating once or twice a week, without using

herbal medicine. I try to get people to take herbs! Most people will take

them home, but compliance ranges from excellent to very poor. The ones who

take their herbs get better faster, although I'm continually amazed at how

well many do with just acupuncture. Americans are often unwilling to follow

a regimen that is " bitter, " in the broadest sense of the term. It's

definitely hard to get people to understand that Chinese herbal medicine is

real medicine and that you're not going to experience kidney failure, heart

failure, etc., if you work with a good practitioner.

 

I'm in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area. Of the 350 or so acupuncturists

in the state, about 80 percent are in that area. There are at least three

colleges in Boulder county and at least two or three or more in Denver. I

think you can support yourself here if you stay on top of things, but it's

not like going to some pristine place. Interestingly, patients are

relatively sophisticated about acupuncture and Chinese medicine in Boulder

proper, but outside Boulder city limits, it's more like the rest of the

country.

 

Marketing has been the biggest challenge for me. It's hard to be an expert

in marketing while you're busy trying to be an expert in medicine, and it

takes a lot of time and some money to do it right, both of which are in

short supply. The colleges generally don't teach anything about how to

successfully market your practice, because there are just too many other

things that take precedence. A lot of us had the illusion that patients

would just turn up on our doorsteps when got certified, but of course that's

not what happens.

 

We all like to think our results will speak for themselves, but it's been my

experience that giving good (or even excellent) care is simply not enough,

at least not in this area. The majority of my patients come from word of

mouth - referrals from existing patients and other practitioners. Yet, you

would be surprised how many of them " saw me in the phone book " or " found me

on the Internet. " I'd never dream of choosing any health care practitioner

that way. Most people in the States still don't have a clear idea of what

Chinese medicine is, let alone how to choose a good practitioner. There are

a lot of people moving to this area now, and most of them are too busy

working to make friends who could give them referrals. They have to go by

tangibles: your brochure, business card, shoes, haircut, etc. Their choice

is necessarily based on gut feelings.

 

I've observed mediocre practitioners in many different fields with a full

practice, and fine practitioners who had to constantly work at marketing

just to survive. Of course, the reverse situations also arise. My point is,

business and marketing don't always make rational sense, and people's

decisions about their health care are often more emotional than rational.