Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 I went to an David Singer marketing seminar which I found really interesting and amazingly hypnotic. Singer is really good at what he does. As he says he is a " 9th degree blackbelt in sales " . He said a few things that really tickled me. One was he made a point of describing acupuncture in terms of blood circulation. He says, " Americans don't understand the word energy. And if they do they probably don't have enough money to pay you " . That got a laugh. The other interesting point was how much he and the other Chiros in the room felt the public and the medical profession were against them. I find this behind the 8 ball approach useful as a marketing tool like an underdog boxer trying to gain the upper hand a superior opponent. From an outsiders perspective it appears Chiros have defined themselves in the injury market really well and it is acupuncture that has the problem of a public wary of needles. I guess the grass is always greener somewhere else. Singer also made a big point about the dangers of drugs. This is a good stand for us as acupuncturists to learn from especially from a marketing standpint. TCM as a group seems less polarized about this than Chiro. perhaps because we are also practicing our version of internal medicine. Or perhaps AP's need to learn a thing or two about marketing from Chiro's. I like that part of Chiropractic philosophy and am using that appraoch more especially how I talk about drugs and the process of maintaining health with my patients. I am more and more about holistic programs to reduce the mind-set of dependence on drugs (if not the actual things themselves) mostly by educating patients about their side-effects and appropriate alternatives through nutritional/herbal progrmas or at least nutrient depletions from drugs. This search has taken me towards functional medicine and Western nutrition than TCM and sales. yes sales. Anytime anyone asks me about what I do it is a sales conversation that is if you want more patients Meanwhile the political will of the California Medical Association (CMA) is to marginalize acupuncturists. This at the same time that integration and complimentary medicine are becoming key phrases. Someone in the CMA obviously doesn't know or doesn't like what service we are providing - holistic health care - or maybe they do and they are threatened by it. Certainly the title acupuncturist doesn't fully explain what we (I) do. The way I view it acupuncture is a discipline that includes many aspects of holistic health care not just a technique. Perhaps the real problem is nobody ever explained to AP's (at least this one) how to market themselves. I thought Singer was really excellent about explaining how to explain what acupuncture is. Somehow it took a Chiro. Explaining this for me to get it after 8 years of practice. I didn't sign up for his year long package but I will say it is well worth going to one of his weekend seminars. A real eye opener. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 And so how many acupuncture patients does Mr. Singer treat (successfully) in a week? And over how many years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Alex, Glad to hear you enjoyed this seminar. Also glad that you did not sign up for what could be a big set of concerns. I happen to know of chiro's who use this system some successful at it and others an economic nightmare. What should be careful of here is the usage of prepays that Singer stresses. These have been deemed the practice of insurance (by the NAIC) and you need another license for that. I do like that stressing of education but have found that patients are not usually given enough time to understand things and dimissed if they do not follow verbatum. Humaness is usually lacking but profits are up. Good info though. Mike W. Bowser, L Ac > " Alex Berks " <aberks > > > Learning from Chiropractic marketing >Mon, 25 Jul 2005 08:24:04 -0000 > >I went to an David Singer marketing seminar which I found really >interesting and >amazingly hypnotic. Singer is really good at what he does. As he says he >is a " 9th degree >blackbelt in sales " . He said a few things that really tickled me. One >was he made a point >of describing acupuncture in terms of blood circulation. He says, > " Americans don't >understand the word energy. And if they do they probably don't have enough >money to >pay you " . That got a laugh. > >The other interesting point was how much he and the other Chiros in the >room felt the >public and the medical profession were against them. I find this behind >the 8 ball >approach useful as a marketing tool like an underdog boxer trying to gain >the upper hand >a superior opponent. From an outsiders perspective it appears Chiros have >defined >themselves in the injury market really well and it is acupuncture that has >the problem of a >public wary of needles. I guess the grass is always greener somewhere >else. > >Singer also made a big point about the dangers of drugs. This is a good >stand for us as >acupuncturists to learn from especially from a marketing standpint. TCM >as a group >seems less polarized about this than Chiro. perhaps because we are also >practicing our >version of internal medicine. Or perhaps AP's need to learn a thing or two >about >marketing from Chiro's. > > I like that part of Chiropractic philosophy and am using that appraoch >more especially >how I talk about drugs and the process of maintaining health with my >patients. I am more >and more about holistic programs to reduce the mind-set of dependence on >drugs (if not >the actual things themselves) mostly by educating patients about their >side-effects and >appropriate alternatives through nutritional/herbal progrmas or at least >nutrient >depletions from drugs. This search has taken me towards functional >medicine and >Western nutrition than TCM and sales. yes sales. Anytime anyone asks me >about what I >do it is a sales conversation that is if you want more patients > >Meanwhile the political will of the California Medical Association (CMA) is >to marginalize >acupuncturists. This at the same time that integration and complimentary >medicine are >becoming key phrases. Someone in the CMA obviously doesn't know or doesn't >like what >service we are providing - holistic health care - or maybe they do and >they are threatened >by it. Certainly the title acupuncturist doesn't fully explain what we (I) >do. The way I view >it acupuncture is a discipline that includes many aspects of holistic >health care not just a >technique. Perhaps the real problem is nobody ever explained to AP's (at >least this one) >how to market themselves. > >I thought Singer was really excellent about explaining how to explain what >acupuncture is. >Somehow it took a Chiro. Explaining this for me to get it after 8 years of >practice. I didn't >sign up for his year long package but I will say it is well worth going to >one of his weekend >seminars. A real eye opener. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 , " turiyahill " <turiya@j...> wrote: > > And so how many acupuncture patients does Mr. Singer treat > (successfully) in a week? And over how many years? Himself personally, none. He is not an Acupuncturist. He has trained AP's to do it. All I was saying in my earlier post that to go to a seminar to learn how to do a health fair, or structure the close of a lecture to get patients in your door is great stuff. It gave me a lot of food for thought. You may not agree with how he does it, but for $25 it is worth going to see what he has to say. I questioned him at a break about how Acupuncture wasn't Chiropractic and that how could an AP see a high volume of patients. His answer was about the idea that quality of care does not necessarily translate into increased time spent with the patient. This can be especially true if you have a properly trained office staff. I am not endorsing Singer. I didn't sign up for his year long program. But atleast he is broaching the subject of patient acquistion and retention and teaching people how to make a living without sacrificing their soul in something they like to do. isn't this, at least in part why we all got into AP in the first place? What if there was a way to earn a decent living as an AP and didn't have to be poor (as Ed Kasper points out in an earlier post) to do what you love? If many Chiro's can do it with modification of thier systems why can't an Acupuncturist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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