How To Develop An Upper Cervical USP

Just by the very fact that you are an upper cervical doctor, and you have an upper cervical
practice, you already have the ground work for developing an effective USP.

But just being an upper cervical doctor is NOT a USP.  You can’t tell someone, “I’m an upper
cervical doctor, that’s what makes me different,” and expect them to know what you’re talking
about.

You have to speak your patient’s language, and express what you do in a way that they’ll un-
derstand.

You have to clearly state your distinctives in language that your patient can then turn around
and state to others.

Your first step is to sit down with a sheet of paper and state all the distinctives about your
practice.

• How are you different from other chiropractors in your area?
• What are the distinctive needs your practice meets?
• Are there any demographic distinctives?
• Are there any patient services that are distinct? (Being an upper cervical clinic is a big one)
• Are there any cost distinctives?
• Are there any staff distinctives?
• What is your track record?
• Are there any visionary distinctives?

The next step in the development of your USP is to ask your existing patients why they choose
to do business with you rather than all of your competition.

• Are they satisfied with their care?
• Is there anything they would like to see you adjust, or change?
• What caused them to choose you?
• Have they been to other chiropractors in the area, if yes, why?
• Is there a crucial or obvious need that is overlooked and not being taken care of?
• What would they say is unique about you, or that separates you from the other chiropractors
• in the area?

It’s also important to ask your employees what they think your USP is.  You may be surprised
to find out that their ideas are nowhere close to your ideas.

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Upper Cervical To Utilize CT Imaging

Years ago, when I was practicing in Sarasota, FL, I came in contact with a neuromuscular dentist who was showing me around his office.

These dentists are specialists who are focused on cosmetics, but their work has much farther reaching capabilities in that their patients often see relief of migraines and breathing problems… all by changing the way the teeth come together.

Most of these dentists are trained at the Las Vegas Institute, and at one time, they were encouraged to seek out upper cervical doctors because it was determined that getting the atlas corrected greatly complemented the neuromuscular dental work they were performing on their patients.

So anyway, this dentist was showing me his office, and he showed me an amazing piece of equipment.

It was a Mini CT scanner that took up about 6 square feet of office space, had a chin rest, and head clamps.

One press of a button, and you get a full 3D image of the patients head and cervical area.

The pictures were unbelievable, and the software looked very similar to the upper cervical analyzing software that was just coming out for digital xray.

I couldn’t believe that upper cervical doctors weren’t all over this, but no upper cervical doctor I talked to had heard anything about it.

I tried to get doctors and even a well known upper cervical imaging rep interested in this instrument, but no one seemed to care.

Well then, this week, Dr. Tom Forest’s weekly email had this blurb from Dr. Ray Drury of the Upper Cervical Health Centers:

The talk was great.  We had three M.D. get up and say things in favor of UC that I never thought I would witness in my life time.  One said that “As medical doctors they are excellent at giving a patient a diagnosis but maybe they weren’t so good at getting their patients well.  That UC seems to do a better job of helping patients get well and that they need to embrace this “new” technology and work with the UC docs in order to help more people.” The head MD told the story of an MD in the 1880’s that stood up against his own profession and pointed out a mistake that was commonly made by MD’s in the delivery of babies that caused the babies and often the mothers to die.  He was ridiculed by his profession, his license taken away and he was committed to an insane asylum where he later died.  He said this cannot happen again.  He acknowledged that this was like declaring war on his own profession.  But, if the patient’s better interest was the most important, then they have to acknowledge that UC is better at helping people get well of a wide variety of conditions than medicine.  He also stated that Dr. Drury had taught him things about the body and the nerve system that he did not know.  Such as the body could heal itself naturally as long as the brain stem and the nerve system was clear of interference.  Pretty incredible coming from a highly decorated MD.

He and I are partnering up to open the first UCHC of Italy in Rome.  It should be open in February.  We are going to use the seated 3-D CAT scan on our patients and he wants to start with an MS research project.  This research project will start in San Marino and we’ll continue it in the Rome office.  His name along with another MD and the UC docs participating in the study will be on the study.  He expects this to be published in medical journals all over the Europe (maybe in the US as well.)  He is also a board member of the most prestigious medical school in Europe.  All pretty unbelievable stuff!

Finally, it looks like upper cervical care is entering a new frontier.

I hope to interview Dr. Drury soon and ask him about the CT scan.

If you’d like more info on the Mini CATs you can check out these two websites:

http://www.xorantech.com/ContentHtml/miniCAT.php

http://www.conebeam.com/?q=cbct-clinician/manufacturers

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Principle 1: Developing an Easily Understood, Differentiating Message (U.S.P.)

What is a U.S.P. & why is it important

If you don’t know why you’re in practice, then your patients certainly don’t know, and if they
don’t know, then they are just going to go with their cheapest option.

Advertising that you’re the cheapest is not really a good idea because someone can always go
lower, no matter how low you go.

A Unique Selling Proposition is essential for an upper cervical practice so that it knows exactly
why people should do business with them.

A Unique Selling Proposition, or U.S.P. is a statement, in 90 words or less, that answers the
question: “Why should I do business with you versus any and every other option available to
me… including doing nothing.”

It is your “elevator speech.”  If you’re ever in an elevator, and someone asks you what you do,
it’s the speech you give them.

When you can answer this question in a succinct manner, then you have your practice’s U.S.P.

This is vitally important and is the foundation for all of your communication efforts with your
patients.

If you can’t succinctly state why you’re different, and why your patients should choose you as
their doctor, then you won’t be able to tell your patients succinctly why you’re different and
why they should choose you as their doctor.

If you can’t tell your patients, then they won’t be able to tell anyone else why you’re different,
and why other people they’re trying to refer should choose you as their doctor.

Don’t discount this step.  This seems simple and straightforward, and it is.  A USP is a very
simple thing, but simplicity of object does not mean that it is easy to develop.

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7 Principles of Shrewd Upper Cervical Marketing

There are many, many different types of chiropractic practices.

Full Spine, Gonstead, Activator, Nucca, Atlas Orthogonal,…

On and on the list goes, but for all of the differences that make these practices unique, there is one undeniable truth about these and all practices:

A practice, is a business, & fundamentally, all business is the same.

All business is merely an exchange of goods or services for an agreed upon medium of equiva-
lent value.

Whether your a chiropractor, a plumber or a fast food franchise owner, people do business with you for the same reason they do business with any and all other businesses.  Those reasons do vary, be they cost, product, service, convenience, but fundamentally, all business is the same.

In fact, the biggest mistake that any practice makes, is assuming that it’s different from any
other business.

This one mistake causes all practices that make it (the mistake), to ignore means and methods for improving their performance simply because no one else in their industry is doing it.

Practice owners look to see how everyone else in the chiropractic industry does things, and then proceed to model what they do based on what they see, and all they succeed in doing is making themselves look like a commodity.

This leads to marketing incest, and eventually the practice gets lost in the heap created by all the other practices all doing what everyone else is doing.

Just pick up any Yellow Pages, go to the section on chiropractors, and see what I mean.  How many ads in that section are saying anything different from any other ad there?

But there is a much better way to run your practice.

There is a way to set yourself apart from the pack, become the lead dog and leave all of your competitors staring at your backside as you run away with all of their business.

And this essentially boils down to a more effective marketing plan accomplished applying as little as 7 principles to your upper cervical practice, and not requiring you to spend any more money on advertising, but simply leveraging existing assets that you may have never thought of.

The 7 principles are:

1. Developing an easily understood statement that makes you distinctive from other chiropractors (also known as an upper cervical Unique Selling Proposition (U.S.P.)).
2. Integrating your upper cervical U.S.P. into every piece of media that leaves your practice (including what your CA says on the phone).
3. Collecting present & past patients into a database.
4. Communicating your upper cervical USP to current and past patients.
5. Developing a practice newsletter.
6. Collecting letters of endorsement and testimonials.
7. Properly communicating with prospective patients.

Not only will we go over these principles, you’ll see how to apply them to your practice.

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Dr. B.J. Kale | Upper Cervical Interview

Below is an interview I did with Dr. B.J. Kale, son of Dr. Michael Kale Inventor, Publisher, Philosopher, Lecturer, Writer, Scientist, Researcher and The World’s Leading Authority on Upper Cervical Specific Knee-Chest Technique as taught to him by Dr. Lyle Sherman, protege of Dr. BJ Palmer.

In this interview, Dr. Kale discusses:

• How his dad, was abandoned by the side of the road at 5 years of age.
• How his dad was mentored by and worked with Dr. Lyle Sherman.
• What it means to “…Ride in the truck with Kale.”
• Where did “TIC” come from.
• Where did “Brain Stem Specialist” come from.
• What it’s like teaching specific chiropractic worldwide.
• How to live your life by the principle “Is the line straight?”

This was a fantastic interview to conduct, and is as much about how to build a legacy as it is about specific chiropractic.  Please enjoy.

Download Dr. B.J. Kale Interview

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In Depth Interview With Dr. Tom Forest

Below is an interview I did with Dr. Tom Forest.

Dr. Forest is a 1974 graduate of Palmer College, and has been a practicing upper cervical doctor for over 30 years.

When he was still a young doctor, he was introduced to the Blair technique, and is now a certified instructor.

He has spoken at Palmer College in Davenport, Iowa, and Life University in Marietta, GA.

He is the son of a chiropractor, and has two brothers who are upper cervical chiropractors.

Dr. Forest was also featured in the upper cervical documentary film, The Power of Upper Cervical.

In this interview he discusses:

• The history of the Blair technique
• The importance of unification of the upper cervical techniques
• What it takes to be “On Purpose”

This was a fun interview, it’s about 70 minutes long, divided into two parts.

Please enjoy.

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/forestpart1.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Tom Forest part 1

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/forestpart2.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Tom Forest part 2

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In Depth Interview With Dr. Larry Allen

Below is an interview with retired upper cervical chiropractor Dr. Larry Allen.

Dr. Allen is 89 years old, and an upper cervical living legend.

At 12 years of age Dr. Allen had an accident that left him paralyzed for almost 2 and a half years.

He was literally found by Dr. John Grostic, who adjusted his atlas, and within seconds he had feeling in his legs, and in a short while had enough strength to walk.

He decided right then that he wanted to become a chiropractor, and he went to Palmer, and graduated at 18 years of age.

In this interview, Dr. Allen shares with me:

• His early days growing up in Michigan.
• His paralysis and experience with Dr. Grostic.
• His experience with BJ Palmer.
• Some truly miraculous cases he was involved in.
• Stories of presenting chiropractic to the United Nations.
• The story of the origin of his industrial pre-screening program.
• And he Even shares how he was The Original Culligan Man’s chiropractor.

Dr. Allen is truly a treasure, who has lived a lot of upper cervical chiropractic history, and I really enjoyed talking with him.

This interview is in two part, and is around 80 minutes long.

I hope you enjoy it.

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/larryallenpart1.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Larry Allen part 1

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/larryallenpart2.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Larry Allen part 2

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The Doctors TV Show Features Upper Cervical

On the tv show The Doctors, on November 25th they featured atlas orthogonal doctor Patrick Kerr of New York City.

This is the second time Dr. Kerr has been featured on a national TV show as he is Montel Williams chiropractor, and was featured on that program as well a few years ago.

For more info, go to http://www.thedoctorstv.com.

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In Depth Interview With Dr. Kirk Eriksen

Below is a great interview with Dr. Kirk Eriksen.

Dr. Eriksen is very well known within the chiropractic community, and is an upper cervical doctor, licensed in Alabama and Georgia and has been in private practice since 1991. He is the vice president of the Society of Chiropractic Orthospinology, which teaches and certifies doctors in the Grostic Procedure of precision spinal care.

In addition, Dr. Eriksen:
Has been appointed to the College of the Upper Cervical Spine, a five-member board responsible for developing a curriculum and administering tests for a 300-hour Diplomate of the Upper Cervical Spine postgraduate program; was awarded “Chiropractor of the Year” by the Alabama Chiropractic Council (ACC) in 1997 and in 2004 by The Society of Chiropractic Orthospinology; was designated as “Researcher of the Year” for 2006 by the World Chiropractic Alliance; is a renowned lecturer and has taught around the world on various topics; has published several research studies; is the author of two landmark books: Upper Cervical Subluxation Complex, A Review of the Chiropractic and Medical Literature and his latest textbook, Orthospinology Procedures: An Evidence-Based approach to Spinal Care.

In this fascinating interview Dr. Eriksen discusses his early life, including;

• A connection to the icon Buford Pusser.
• How his high school football experience rivals that of the movie “Facing The Giants.”
• How he was introduced to chiropractic. How he decided to pursue upper cervical chiropractic.
• His experience as a student of Dr. John Grostic.
• His early practice experience.
• What it’s like to author and have published a major text book.
• And much more.

Dr. Eriksen is a great storyteller; we talked for over 2 hours, and I know you’ll love this interview.

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/eriksenpart1.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Kirk Eriksen part 1

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/eriksenpart2.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Kirk Eriksen part 2

[podcast]http://www.uppercervicaldocs.com/Audio/eriksenpart3.mp3[/podcast]

Download Dr. Kirk Eriksen part 3

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Life West hires H. Charles Woodfield, DC as new research faculty

Life Chiropractic College West has announced the addition of Charles Woodfield, DC, RPh, as full-time research faculty. Woodfield’s has more than 25 years of research experience in healthcare service, and he was a major contributor to the recent widely publicized paper on hypertension.

Woodfield will propose new research at Life West, serve as a facilitator approaching funding sources, and help build stronger relations with the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA) community. Future projects will include further collaboration with George Bakris, MD, of the University of Chicago in pursuit of the validation of the clinical processes and measures used to determine an Atlas misalignment.

Woodfield developed the hypertension study protocol and was a major contributor to the Journal of Human Hypertension publication of the results. Recent investigation has involved a case study in measuring changes of cerebral blood flow resulting from an Atlas correction using Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging Angiography (PC MRA).

Source: Life Chiropractic College West, www.lifewest.edu

Life West is fast becoming THE upper cervical chiropractic school.

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